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The Robert Cushman Butler Collection
of
Theatrical Illustrations
Cage 430
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The Robert Cushman Butler (d. 1935?) collection was purchased by the Washington State University Libraries from Mrs. Elizabeth T. Butler by Dr. Terry Theodore in 1973. It was arranged, described, and indexed by Terry Abraham, with assistance from Margone Clement, Ruth Jean Shaw, Torchie Corey and Janalee Walters. An edited and revised version of this guide was prepared by Manuscripts Librarian Robert Matuozzi and Mark O’English in April of 2001.
Number of containers 3
Number of oversize folders 60
Linear feet of shelf space 15
Approximate number of items 3,000
Biographical Note
Robert Cushman Butler, cousin of the famed actress Charlotte Cushman, lived in Chestnut Hill, near Philadelphia. As an avocation, he collected theatrical illustrations, manuscripts, and books, apparently with the intention of binding published theatrical material from his personal collection into new, or "Grangerized" editions of theatrical books. Grangerized books consist of casual inserts or published texts ("extra-illustrated texts") combined together in new covers to make idiosyncratic versions of texts that were not actually published together (or even published at all). This "scrapbook assembly within a book" is named after James Granger, who promoted such practices in his Biographical History of England (1769). Although Butler completed two volumes in this fashion, there exist about seven others that needed only certain illustrations before being sent to the binder. For this reason, the bulk of Butler’s collection consists of engravings, lithographs, and a few photographs of theatrical performers. Butler’s collecting appears to have started in a serious fashion around 1880. Possibly as a result of ill health, he abandoned his efforts in the late 1920s. During this period, however, he avidly followed auction sales, patronized dealers, and corresponded with other collectors: the result of Butler’s efforts is a premier archive of theatrical materials.
After his death in the mid 1930s his widow placed the entire collection in the attic of their home. There it sat undisturbed until the early 1970s, when Dr. Terry Theodore, then of the Washington State University Department of Speech, learned of its existence. He negotiated with Mrs. Butler for its purchase, eventually acquiring the Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations for the Washington State University Libraries.
Summary Description and Arrangement
The Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations has been divided into eight series: Series 1: Illustrations; Series 2: Music Covers; Series 3: Playbills; Series 4: Clippings; Series 5: Manuscripts; Series 6: Programmes; Series 7: Miscellaneous Papers; and Series 8: Books.
The Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations consists of over 3,000 items relating chiefly to eighteenth and nineteenth century British and American theater. Original materials include engravings, lithographs, photographs, books, playbills, programmes, music sheets and covers, pamphlets, play manuscripts, prompt books, letters and other theatrical papers. For the theatre historian of this period this archive is a treasure trove. The illustrations of the different actors and actresses in their famous roles, the well-known and little known portraits of the great stars and the little comets in all aspects of theatrical history ranging through the minstrel stage to the "legitimate" theatre--from Broadway to as far off-Broadway as London and San Francisco--represent an a unparalleled theatrical research collection. Although theatrical illustrations were Butler’s main interest, he managed to acquire a rich array of materials for scholarly study in a variety of disciplines, including cultural and social history in Britain and America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Foremost among these resources are the illustrations themselves, which provide a rich resource of iconographical history in American and English life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For scholars in art history and the history of printing, the multitude of engravings, etchings and lithographs are a vital source of information on schools, influences, techniques, and skills.
Included are many proof plates and limited editions and a large selection of the works of John H. Bufford, A. B. Durand, David Edwin, Samuel Hollyer, D. C. Johnston, R. J. Lane, and Albert Newsam. As is evident, the collection is not just limited to American artists, but also includes many of the British or Continental extraction, some of whom emigrated to swell the growing number of native artists who produced these materials.
The music sheets also represent a significant field of study. Of the over four hundred music covers in the collection approximately one fourth are completed with all the words and music, have the first page of music, or list all contemporary publications of that publisher. Unfortunately, Butler’s interest in the cover illustrations meant that much of the music that might have been originally available is missing here.
Bibliographers will find much of interest in the over two hundred theatrical volumes in the Butler collection. Fine bindings, first editions, extra-illustrated volumes and other examples of book production and book crafts are evidenced in the archive.
The small collection of manuscripts in Series 5 is also a treasure trove of primary source material for research. In addition to Edward Robin’s manuscript of his Palmy Days of Nance Oldfield (Chicago, 1898), there is also William Francis’ prompt book (once owned by Charles Durang) and Edwin Forrest’s manuscript copy of Robert Montgomery Bird’s The Broker of Bogota. The other manuscripts (over one hundred) consist of letters and autographs of actors, actresses and managers. Among them are fragments of the papers of manager Thomas McKeon, playwright A. E. Lancaster, and theatrical collector Alexander S. Graham.
Rounding out this collection is a significant sampling of original programmes and playbills from many well-known American and British theatres as well as other memorabilia, pamphlets, and announcements.
For more information on the historical context of materials in the Butler collection, see the exhibit brochure titled Prints and Personalities: The American Theater’s First Hundred Years (Washington, D. C.: National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, 1979).
For engravings, a thorough description regarding the technical differentiation between process line engraving and white-line wood engraving that is developed in Estelle Jussim’s Visual Communication and the Graphic Arts (New York: R. R. Bowker Company, 1974) has not been supplied in this descriptive inventory. Generalized descriptions of a given process should be sufficient to assist in identifying the illustration. The precise technical determination of particular engraving techniques is a task for future researchers to undertake. The physical description of the illustrations in this guide has been simplified through the use of standardized abbreviations:
| col | colored |
| dag | daguerreotype |
| eng | intaglio process, engraving and etching |
| facs | facsimile(s) |
| frontis | frontispiece |
| illus | illustrations |
| l | leaf or leaves |
| lith, Lith | planographic prints |
| ms | manuscript or manuscripts |
| photo | photographic prints |
| port(s) | portrait(s) |
Descriptive Conventions
Main entries in this guide are either in bold, italics, or in bold italics. Sub-units to main entries are in plain text; in Series 8, they are indented under the main entry. Some of the descriptive information supplied in this guide is taken directly from the published texts.
Item entries consist of a main entry (author or artist), title, imprint (place, date, and with published items, publisher) and a note on physical description consisting of size, number of pages or the number of pieces. Some notes supply information about illustrative matter, provenance, attribution or other singular characteristics. For books, Library of Congress classification numbers are given. The format of entries in this guide is based in part on the bibliographic format devised for English Theatrical Literature 1559-1900: A Bibliography (London: The Society for Theatre Research, 1970). References to "Stauffer" (e.g., Stauffer 611) throughout this guide refer to item number entries (not page numbers) in David McNeeley Stauffer, American Engravers Upon Copper and Steel: Part II Check-list of the Works of the Earlier Engravers (New York: Burt Franklin, 1966), originally published in New York in 1907.
When identified, other forms of reproduction are indicated in full.
Size of illustrations is given in centimeters rounded to the nearest half centimeter. Height and width are measured, where possible, either at the engraved border, the plate mark, or at the edge of the image. However, duplicate prints, where one is bound into an extra-illustrated "Grangerized" volume and an identical copy exists elsewhere in the collection among the loose illustrations, may show divergent measurements because of how each item was measured.
Although most of the items in Series 2: Music Covers consist of only the illustrated title page or cover (for Butler was interested in the picture but apparently not in the music), there are several complete scores. These are indicated by the designation "music score". In some cases the cover does not have a portion of the music on the verso; this is indicated in the description by "music sheet". In other words, a music sheet indicates a cover with a portion of the score on the verso and a music score indicates a cover and more than one leaf of the music. The music cover alone, the majority of the items, is not designated in any special way. The entry follows the format for the illustrations, the main entry being the artist rather than the composer, because the emphasis of the collection is on the illustration.
Index
For those researchers who consult The Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations in Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, a comprehensive index keyed to the item entry numbers covering all the items in the collection is available in a separate 3-box card catalog that is shelved with the collection in the archives. Those consulting the digitized version of this guide on the World Wide Web may do full text searches of the electronic text.
The Card Catalog Index
The entries in this index consist of persons contributing to the illustration, including both the original artist and the ultimate engraver (normally the main entry); those writing letters (including both author and recipient); book authors (including inscriptions and bookplates); music cover illustrations (including composers and lyricists who, while listed on the cover, their work--the music score--may have been detached from this copy); and the subject of the item whether actors, actresses, playhouses, or plays.
For most actors and actresses their usual stage name is used, but there are cross-references to other names by which they might be known. The comprehensiveness of the index has been designed to enhance access.
The Robert Cushman Butler Collection
of
Theatrical Illustrations
Series Arrangement
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| Series 1: Illustrations |
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| Series 2: Music Covers |
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| Series 3: Playbills |
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| Series 4: Clippings |
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| Series 5: Manuscripts |
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| Series 6: Programmes |
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| Series 7: Miscellaneous Papers |
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| Series 8: Books |
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Books have been shelved by call number in the rare book stacks of the Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections department in Holland Library.
The content and presentation of data in this guide for items in Series 8: Books (items numbered 1819 to 2018) requires some explanation, partly because of the provenance of this archive.
Entries for the items numbered 1819 to 2018 are listed by the main entry, which can take the form of the primary (publication) author, or by publication title. Main entries for authors are in bold italics; main entries for titles are in italics.
Some entries feature a numbering notation that includes both an item number and a parenthetical number. The first number is the item number for the main entry. The parenthetical number is keyed to page numbers in the item number, and includes a separate bibliographic description of specific contents found in the main entry. These entries are in plain text (i.e., not in italics or bold italics), are indented, and refer to illustrations following the page numbers in the main entry.
Bibliographic References
The table on the next pages correlates item number entries in the Robert Cushman Butler Collection of Theatrical Illustrations with the same items (and their bibliographic description) listed in English Theatrical Literature 1559-1900: A Bibliography (London: The Society for Theater Research, 1970). All numbers refer to item numbers, not page numbers. "A" for American edition and "v" for variant edition.
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