Charlotte Cushman Club Records Ms
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Charlotte Cushman Club records Ms. Coll. 1223 Finding aid prepared by Siel Agugliaro. Last updated on February 01, 2018. University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts May 25, 2017 Charlotte Cushman Club records Table of Contents Summary Information....................................................................................................................................4 Biography/History..........................................................................................................................................5 Scope and Contents....................................................................................................................................... 6 Administrative Information........................................................................................................................... 6 Related Materials........................................................................................................................................... 7 Controlled Access Headings..........................................................................................................................8 Collection Inventory.................................................................................................................................... 10 I. Administrative records....................................................................................................................... 10 II. Financial records...............................................................................................................................13 III. House and property records............................................................................................................ 18 IV. Membership records........................................................................................................................20 V. Correspondence and relations with other organizations.................................................................. 22 VI. Guests.............................................................................................................................................. 25 VII. Events............................................................................................................................................. 26 VIII. Publicity and informational material on Charlotte Cushman Club.............................................. 31 IX. Library and museum materials....................................................................................................... 31 X. Photographs.......................................................................................................................................33 XI. Clippings..........................................................................................................................................35 XII. Scrapbooks..................................................................................................................................... 37 XIII. Manuscripts and scripts................................................................................................................38 XIV. Playbills, programs, and brochures..............................................................................................40 XV. Plays and libretti............................................................................................................................61 XVI. Drawings and engravings.............................................................................................................64 XVII. Magazines, journals, articles, and books.................................................................................... 68 - Page 2 - Charlotte Cushman Club records XVIII. Memorabilia............................................................................................................................... 70 XIX. Artifacts........................................................................................................................................ 71 - Page 3 - Charlotte Cushman Club records Summary Information Repository University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Creator Charlotte Cushman Club (Philadelphia, Pa.). Title Charlotte Cushman Club records Call number Ms. Coll. 1223 Date [bulk] 1907-1998 Date [inclusive] 1818-2000 Extent 16.6 linear feet (26 boxes) Language English Abstract Founded in 1907, the Charlotte Cushman Club was originally intended to provide respectable lodgings for actresses appearing in Philadelphia theaters. In the years of World War II the Club ceased to provide residential services, becoming a favorite gathering place of theater lovers as well as of the many actresses and actors visiting the city with their touring companies. The Charlotte Cushman Club Records offer insight into the activities, the administration, and the membership of the Club during the whole life of the organization, until its closure in 1998. The collection also includes part of the holdings of the former Club’s museum and library. - Page 4 - Charlotte Cushman Club records Cite as: Charlotte Cushman Club records, 1836-2000, MS. Coll. 1223, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania Biography/History Founded in 1907 by Lydia Ellicott Morris and a group of subscribers, the Charlotte Cushman Club was intended to provide respectable lodgings for actresses appearing in Philadelphia theaters. After having discarded the original idea of naming the Club after British actress Sarah Siddons – a member of the famed Kemble theatre family – Morris and her friends opted for a local figure, and eventually dedicated their organization to Charlotte Cushman (1816-1876), America's first internationally renowned actress, who briefly served as manager of the Walnut Street Theatre in the 1840s. The Club’s main house changed several addresses over the years. Initially located in a building on 10th and Pine Street, which the management had leased for one year, the house moved first to 1200 Locust Street, and later to 1010 Spruce Street (1920), where it would remain until the Depression years. In that period, financial difficulties led many touring companies to reduce their activities, and the Club, deeming its lodging services no longer a priority, relocated its headquarters to a suite at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in the years between 1932 and 1941. By the time the organization opened its new house at 1216 Locust Street, in 1942, it was no longer a residential club, having become a favorite gathering place for theater lovers as well as for the many actresses and actors visiting the city with their touring companies. A museum and a library were also opened and maintained during the clubhouse's subsequent relocations to 1314 Locust Street (1958-1964) and to the former home of the Poor Richard’s Club, at 239 South Camac Street (1964-1998). The activities and events organized by the Club included member parties and receptions in honor of some among the most prominent actresses, actors, and companies visiting Philadelphia. These events are very well documented in the collection, along with other initiatives launched by the Club beginning in the 1950s. The most notable of them was the Cushman Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, inaugurated in 1957 as “a tribute to a man or woman for distinguished contribution to the vitality of the American theatre”. The list of recipients of the Award includes Helen Hayes, Julie Harris, Dame Judith Anderson, Angela Lansbury, Katherine Hepburn, Richard Burton, John Houseman, Henry Fonda, Joshua Logan and Zoe Caldwell. Other activities included the Fanny Kemble Award, annually bestowed in the 1960s to honor an actress and an actor for performances in Philadelphia in non-featured roles, and the Charlotte Cushman Scholarship Award (1970-1998), to support promising actresses and actors in the early stages of their career. In the late 1990s, believing that the Club had overcome its original residential and educational purposes, the management decided to cease its activities. In 2000, the clubhouse was - Page 5 - Charlotte Cushman Club records sold, and its collections, including the Eleanor Westcott Library of rare theater memorabilia and books, were dispersed. The Club has recently transformed itself into the Charlotte Cushman Foundation, which awards theater-related grants in the Greater Philadelphia area. The Foundation also provides scholarships to performing arts students in area colleges and universities and continues to give the Cushman Award “for outstanding leading actress in a play”, as part of the Barrymore Awards for Excellence in Theatre organized annually by Theatre Philadelphia. The University of the Arts, where the Foundation now has its offices, is home to the Cushman Club Board Room and Exhibit, which were established in 1999. Scope and Contents The Charlotte Cushman Club records offer insight into the activities, the administration, and the membership of the Club. At the same time, because of the direct involvement in the Club’s activities of several theatrical actresses, actors, directors, playwrights, and theater companies that visited Philadelphia during the whole twentieth century, the collection provides a privileged perspective on many of the theatrical events organized in the city in that period. The clippings, photographs, and correspondence documenting such events,