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Creator
New York Public Library
Call number
*T-Mss 2011-031
Physical description
2.7 linear feet (16 volumes and 7 oversized folders)
Language
Multiple languages
Preferred Citation
Magic scrapbooks and posters, *T-Mss 2011-031. Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Sponsor
Conservation and digitization of many of the posters was made possible through a generous gift from Kathryn and Alan C. Greenberg.
Repository
Billy Rose Theatre Division
Access to materials
Request an in-person research appointment.Restrictions apply
Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

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, inclding Albini, Brush, Dunninger, Imro Fox, Germain the Wizard, Haldeen, Hardeen, the Herrmann family (Compars, Alexander, Adelaide, and Leon), Houdini, Kellar, Laurant, Martinka & Co., the Roucleres, 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)

Added Houdini poster to Series II (2022-11-10)

Additional posters added to Series II (2025-03)

Additional posters added to Series II and publisher and date information revised in other poster entries (2025-05)

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).

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 restrictions

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