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Creator
Mason, Edward T. (Edward Tuckerman), 1847-1911
Call number
*T-Mss 2012-041
Physical description
3.04 linear feet (1 box, 13 volumes, 1 oversized folder)
Preferred Citation

Edward Tuckerman Mason papers, *T-Mss 2012-041. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library.

Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.

Edward Tuckerman Mason (1847-1911) was an American literary and drama critic. The Edward Tuckerman Mason papers, 1833 to 1914, consist of 15 scrapbooks and a file of letters.

Biographical/historical information

Edward Tuckerman Mason (1847-1911) was an American literary and drama critic. He was from New York City, but lived in Poughkeepsie for much of his life. Mason's early literary criticism was published in the Protestant Churchman beginning in 1870. His theater reviews and commentary were published in The New York Tribune, The New York Times, The Nation, and other periodicals from the mid-1870s onward. Mason is best remembered today for editing anthologies of British and American literature.

Scope and arrangement

The Edward Tuckerman Mason papers consist of scrapbooks (1863-1911) and letters he or his wife received (1896-1914).

Fifteen scrapbooks comprise the bulk of the collection. The earlies volumes (1863-1866, entitled "Dramatic Scrapbooks") have assigned numbers. They contain clippings, programs, and Mason's commentary on and annotations of articles, reviews, actors, and the general theater scene in New York City.

From 1870 to 1886, his scrapbooks (entitled "Journal Scrapbooks") are combinations of journal entries; clippings of his own and others' writings on theater from The New York Tribune, The New York Times, The Nation, the Protestant Churchman, and other serials, with Mason's comments; programs; and several photographs of Mason, his friends, and his family. In some books, Mason notes which articles or reviews are his, but in others no distinction is noted. The journal entries document his day-to-day life, and usually do not discuss theater topics. The scrapbook dating from 1907 to 1909 contains only personal photographs and postcards. An additional set of mounted theater clippings and programs dating from 1902 to 1911 is unbound.

Correspondents in the letters file include Edith Wynne Matthison, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, and Thomas Russell Sullivan. Matthison's letters include signed photographs of the actress. Letters dating from after Mason's death are addressed to his widow, Fannie.

The papers also hold an essay, dated 1833, by Richard H. Dana titled "Kean's Acting."

Most of the scrapbooks and their contents are in excellent condition. The Theatre Division initially cataloged the components of this collection individually. The assigned classmarks are noted in the container list.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged by format.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Unknown.

Processing information

Compiled by Matthew Snyder, 2014

Using the collection

Location

Billy Rose Theatre Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor

Conditions Governing Use

The author/creator retains copyright of materials. For information on obtaining permission to publish, contact the Theatre Division at theatre@nypl.org.