M.H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann Shakespeare papers and prints
Overview
Contains papers and portraits related to M.H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann's study of portrayals of William Shakespeare in the visual arts.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1710-1913
Language of Materials
English, German
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. 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
10.5 linear feet (12 boxes and 124 oversize folders)Contains materials related to M.H. Spielmann's investigation into portrayals of William Shakespeare in the visual arts. This includes research notes, annotated publications by other scholars, unpublished manuscript material by Spielmann on the topic, as well as photographs and reproductions of prints. Correspondence relating to Spielmann's research is included, mixed with notes and drawings. Further materials include oversized engravings, etchings, lithographs, oleographs, photographs, and additional reproductions of visual portrayals of Shakespeare. A few portrait prints of other inviduals contemporary to Shakespeare are included, such as Elizabeth I of England, Ben Jonson, Anne Hathaway, David Garrick, James I of England, Thomas Lord Coventry, and John Pym, among others. Among the prints are also depictions of memorials and monuments to Shakespeare, his birthplace and home, and churches featuring Shakespeare memorials or in his hometown.
Biographical / Historical
M.H. Spielmann (1858-1948) was a Victorian art critic and scholar who studied portrayals of William Shakespeare, focusing mainly on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. He further wrote on the history of Punch, a biography of John Everett Millais, and was the editor of The Connoisseur and Magazine of Art. To assist with his studies of Shakespeare, Spielmann was an avid collection of prints portraying Shakespeare, including engravings, etching, lithographs, woodcuts, oleographs, as well as photographs and reproductions of prints, statues, memorials, and other art objects.
Arrangement
Oversized materials are arranged in a single alphabetical run by the name of the artist of the portrait. The boxed materials have not been processed and have not been arranged.
Physical Location
Harvard Depository, pfd (P1.C3.04.06 - P1.C3.04.07 [Folders 1-104]), ppf (P1.C3.04.08 [Folders 105-124])
Immediate Source of Acquisition
2007MT-43r. Purchase, New York dealer, who purchased it from M.H. Spielmann, 1938.
Processing Information
Oversized materials processed by Betts Coup, 2019 January. Folder 89 was skipped in the ordering. Boxed materials have not been processed.
- Title
- Spielmann, M. H. (Marion Harry), 1858-1948. M.H. (Marion Harry) Spielmann Shakespeare papers and prints, circa 1710-1913 (MS Thr 1879): Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard University.
- Date
- 2019 January 3
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou03068
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.
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