- unitid
-
{"value"=>"29969", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 939", "type"=>"local_call"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1863-1928", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1863/1928"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Minstrel collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"4.0 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p>Minstrel shows or minstrelsy were an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century. In skits, song, and dance, white performers portrayed Black individuals in a stereotypical manner, such as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and \"happy-go-lucky\". In the 1840s, Blacks began to performe in minstrels. The first African Americans to perform on stage were William Henry Lane and Thomas Dilward. Blacks' first contribution to minstrels did little to diminish the stereotypes set forth by white writers; ironically, it reinforced them.</p> <p>At the height of their popularity in the 1840s, dozens of minstrel companies toured the United States and England, from frontier camps to the White House. Minstrel troupes toured in the same circuits as the opera companies, circuses, and European itinerant entertainers. The venues ranged from lavish opera theatres, such as The American Theatre in New York, the Fifth Avenue Opera House, the Providence Academy of Music, and Griffin and Christy's Minstrels' Opera House to makeshift tavern stages on the Lower East Side of New York.</p> <p>Minstrels consisted of a three-part structure developed by Edwin Christy. The first part consisted of the troupes dancing on stage and exchanging wisecracks and singing songs. The second part, called the olio, consisted of singers, dancers, comedians, other novelty acts, and stump speech. The stump speech was a long speech that would range from nonsense to important matters such as science, politics, and society. In these speeches, the performer would be dim-witted and try to speak eloquently, which would lead to countless malapropisms, jokes, and unintentional puns. The third act, called the afterpiece, consisted of skits in from the early days of minstrels set on Southern plantations; they usually included song and dance. It idealized the plantation lifestyle with happy slaves. In the later years of minstrel shows, troupes started to perform burlesque renditions of Shakespeare and other playwrights.</p> <p>The publication of the minstrel playbooks consisted of a wide assortment of works, including <span class=\"title\">Othello</span> and <span class=\"title\">An Ethiopian Burlesque</span>, from Ames' Series of Standard and Minor Drama. The publications are playscripts, and include such information as the performers, lines, stage settings, and songs.</p> <p>Other minstrel publishing series are Baker's Darkey Plays, the Comic Drama, The Darkey and Comic Drama, Denison's Black-Face Series, De Witt's Ethiopian and Comic Drama, The Ethiopian Drama, Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation, and the Vaudeville Stage. The publishers of the minstrel series are: A.D Ames, Walter H. Baker and Co., The Dramatic Publishing Company, which is still around today, T.S. Denison and Company, The De Witt Publishing House, Robert M. De Witt, and Dick and Fitzgerald. These publishing houses were located in Boston, Chicago, New York, and Clyde, Ohio.</p> <p>After the Civil War and with the rise of variety shows, musical comedy, and vaudeville, minstrel shows declined in popularity. By 1919, only three troupes remained in the United States. Minstrels continued to be shown in the cinema and on television until the 1950s.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The Minstrel collection consists of various published minstrel books from an assortment of publishing series. All of the publishing series within the collection are incomplete. The majority of the collection comes from the De Witt's Ethiopian and Comic Drama publishing series, which was published by Robert M. De Witt and the De Witt Publishing House in New York City. Other series include the Ames' Series of Standard and Minor Drama, Baker's Darkey Plays, Denison's Black-Face Series, Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation, the Comic Drama, the Darkey and Comic Drama, and the Ethiopian Dram. The books are organized alphabetically by publishing series and title. It also consists of works written by Frank Dumont, G. W. H. Griffin, A. J. Leavitt, J. C. Stewart, and Charles White.</p>", "supress_display"=>true}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Unknown provenance.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by Tiffany Carcamo, 2017.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1863
- keydate
-
1863
- date_end
-
1928
- date_inclusive_start
-
1863
- date_inclusive_end
-
1928
- extent_statement
-
4.0 linear feet (4 boxes)
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Minstrel collection, Sc MG 939, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>" The Minstrel collection consists of various published minstrel books from an assortment of publishing series. All of the publishing series within the collection are incomplete. The majority of the collection comes from the De Witt's Ethiopian and Comic Drama publishing series, which was published by Robert M. De Witt and the De Witt Publishing House in New York City. Other series include the Ames' Series of Standard and Minor Drama, Baker's Darkey Plays, Denison's Black-Face Series, Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation, the Comic Drama, the Darkey and Comic Drama, and the Ethiopian Dram. The books are organized alphabetically by publishing series and title. It also consists of works written by Frank Dumont, G. W. H. Griffin, A. J. Leavitt, J. C. Stewart, and Charles White.", "generated"=>true}