MS115
EDWIN BOOTH
COLLECTION
This collection includes extensive biographical data on the actor, producer, and teacher, Edwin Booth. He was renowned in Europe, and the U.S., [with his brothers Junius and John Wilkes] for his interpretation of Shakespeare's tragedies. Edwin Booth's career spanned from the years 1849, to his last performance as Hamlet at the Academy of Music in 1891, in Brooklyn N.Y.
This collection contains various scrapbooks, theatre collections, stage plans and settings for all plays performed at Booth's Theatre, casts of numerous Shakespearian works, reviews in the Harvard Theatre Collection, and a computer disk containing Booths life and accomplishments in chronological order.
The items served as research material for a student paper and are photocopies, not originals.
This Collection has been designated Accession Number 115 of the Manuscripts Collection, Special Collections Department, William Madison Randall Library, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403-3297.
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Chronology
1833 Nov 13
Born at Bel Air,
Harford County, Maryland, fourth son of Junius Brutus Booth, the elder, and Mary
Anne (Holmes) Booth
1849 Sep 10
Debut appearance on
stage at the Boston Museum, played the minor role of Tressel in Richard III at
the age of 15
1850 Sep 20
Debut New York stage
appearance at the National Theatre, Chatham Street, in the character of Wilford
in Colman's The Iron Chest
1851
Debut as Richard III at the
National Theatre, New York City
1852 Nov 30
Junius Brutus Booth,
the elder, died
1855 Dec 10
Along with Mrs.
Catherine Forrest Sinclair, produced for the first time in America The Marble
Heart or The Sculptor's Dream, in which Booth created the part of Raphael at the
Sacramento Theatre, CA
1860 Jul 7
Married Mary Devlin of
Troy, NY
1861 Dec 9
Edwina, his only
child, was born in England
1863 Feb 21
Became the manager of
the Winter Garden Theatre in New York
1863 - 1868
Co-managed the Winter
Garden Theatre in New York and the Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia along
with his brother-in-law, John Sleeper (Sleepy) Clarke
1864 Nov 25
The Booth brothers,
Edwin, Junius and John Wilkes, performed Julius Caesar
1865 - 1866
Edwin retired from
the theatre due to the Lincoln assassination and the death of his brother, John
Wilkes Booth
1866 Jan 3
Edwin returned to
acting
1867 Mar 23
The Winter Garden
Theatre burned to the ground
1868 Apr 8
Cornerstone laid for
Booth's Theatre at southeast corner of Sixth Avenue and Twenty Third Street in
New York City
1869 Feb 3
Booth's Theatre opened
with Romeo and Juliet
1869 Jun 7
Married Mary
McVicker
1873 Jun 14
Booth's Theatre
closed its' last season
1873 Sep
Economic panic in
America forced Booth into bankruptcy
1871 -1878
Booth arranged for the
publication the text of fifteen of his unusual plays under the editorship of
William Winter as Edwin Booth's Prompt Book.
1881 Nov 13
Mary McVicker Booth
died
1883 Dec 31
The Players Club
opened
1891 Apr 4
Booth's last
performance Hamlet at the Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY
1893 Jun 7
Edwin Booth died in
New York City
Inventory
Manuscript/Box/File
115/1/1
Xerographic Copy of The Elder and Younger Booth by Asia Booth
Clarke [Mrs. John S.].
115/1/2
Copies of Booth's Correspondence and Notes.
115/1/3
Prompt Book: Richard III [2 copies].
115/1/4
Prompt Book: Othello.
115/1/5
Prompt Book: Julius Caesar.
115/1/6
Prompt Book: Romeo and Juliet.
115/1/7
Prompt Book: Hamlet.
115/1/8
Prompt Book: Richelieu.
115/1/9
Prompt Book: Julius Caesar.
115/2
Material relating to Edwin Booth as actor, teacher, and owner of
Booth's Theatre.
115/3
Biographical information, including scrapbook material.
115/4
Additional biographical information, including news clippings
1880-1882.
COPYRIGHT: Retained by the
authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United
States copyright law.