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Creator
New York Public Library
Call number
*T-Mss 2011-31
Physical description
2.7 linear feet (16 volumes and 5 oversized folders)
Language
Multiple languages
Preferred Citation
Magic scrapbooks and posters, *T-Mss 2011-31. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply

The Magic scrapbooks collection contains a significant amount of articles, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, photographs and posters pertaining to magicians, mentalists, conjurers and escape artists from the 19th- and early 20th-centuries, particularly during the Golden Age of Magic.

Scope and arrangement

This collection contains a significant amount of articles, clippings, correspondence, ephemera, photographs, and posters pertaining to magicians, mentalists, conjurers and escape artists from the 19th and early 20th centuries, such as Albini, Brush, Dunninger, Germain the Wizard, Haldeen, Hardeen, Houdini, the Hermanns, Kellar,Laurant, Martinka & Co., Rouclere, Thurston and the Zancigs, among others.

The Magic scrapbooks and posters are arranged in two series:

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

This items in this collection were acquired by the New York Public Library from various donors--most unidentified-- over several decades of the early 20th-century.

Revision History

Removed Saram Ellison scrapbooks to create a new collection. (2020-03-20)

Processing information

Many of these materials were catalogued individually with MZC classmarks when acquired by NYPL. This collection was asembled and reclassified with a manuscript call number in 2011.

Related Material

See also related collections: Dr. Saram R. Ellison scrapbooks (*T-Mss 1915-001); Houdiniana (*T-Mss 2016-010); and Houdini artwork (*T-Vim 2011-293).

Note

Conservation and digitization of the posters was made possible through a generous gift from Kathryn and Alan C. Greenberg.

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

Access to materials

Some collections held by the Dance, Music, Recorded Sound, and Theatre Divisions at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts are held off-site and must be requested in advance. Please check the collection records in the NYPL's online catalog for detailed location information. For general guidance about requesting offsite materials, please consult: https://www.nypl.org/about/locations/lpa/requesting-archival-materials Request an in-person research appointment.

Access restrictions

Posters in this collection are available for consultation by appointment only. Please email theatre@nypl.org to arrange viewing.