National and World’s Peace Jubilees and Music Festivals collection
Overview
Contains programs, newspaper clippings, prints, photographs, plans, and souvenirs relating to two jubilees and music festivals held in Boston, the National Peace Jubilee and Music Festival in 1869 and the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival in 1872.
Dates
- Creation: 1869-1872
Creator
- Harvard Theatre Collection (Organization)
Language of Materials
English
Conditions Governing Access
A portion of this collection is fragile: restricted. Consult curatorial staff to see any restricted items, which are noted in the file description. The remaining portion of the collection is open for research.
A portion of this collection is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.
Extent
1.5 linear feet (2 boxes and 22 oversize folders)National Peace Jubilee and Music Festival materials relate to the promotion, planning, and commemoration of the event in 1869. These include programs, newspaper clippings from Boston regional newspapers, plans for seating in the coliseum constructed for the events, and prints depicting views of the coliseum exterior. Further materials include souvenir tickets, commemorative prints, and promotional posters.
Included in the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival grouping are similar items relating to its planning, construction, and promotion from 1872. Among these are publications, newspaper clippings from regional papers, and illustrated articles from the Dramatic News and Sporting Journal. Planning materials include seat plans, and further materials relate to the construction of the Great Coliseum for the Jubilee, including photos during and after construction.
Biographical / Historical
Held in June, 1869 in Boston, Massachusetts, the National Peace Jubilee and Music Festival was a celebration of the end of the United States Civil War (1861-1865) organized by P.S. (Patrick Sarsfield) Gilmore (1829-1892). The Jubilee included performances by an orchestra, chorus, and soloists, with more than 11,000 performers on stage throughout the event. In 1872, Gilmore directed the World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, an eighteen-day festival honoring the end of the Franco-Prussian War. For the Jubilee, a colosseum intended to seat 100,000 people was constructed, designed by architect William G. Preston.
Arrangement
Arranged in two groupings, with all materials relating to the 1869 National Peace Jubilee and Music Festival followed by those relating to the 1872 World’s Peace Jubilee and International Music Festival.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository, pfd (P2.C2.02.02 [Folders 1-14]), ppf (P2.C2.02.03 [Folders 15-22])
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Acquisition information is unknown.
Processing Information
Processed by Betts Coup, 2018 August.
Creator
- Harvard Theatre Collection (Organization)
- Title
- National and World’s Peace Jubilees and Music Festivals collection, 1869-1872 (MS Thr 1837): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2018 August 17
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02992
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu