Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections Rare Book Division One Washington Road Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Language(s) of material:
English.
Abstract
The bulk of the American Minstrel Show Collection consists of advertisement material promoting minstrel performances from the 1850s through the 1920s. The collection includes broadsheets, posters, newspaper clippings and programs, as well as pictures and photographs of minstrel show performers. In addition, a small portion of the collection contains sheet music and song and joke books.
This small collection contains two boxes of folders arranged alphabetically by minstrel troupe name. Included in these folders are programs and smaller advertisements of the companies' performances arranged in chronological order. A third box contains song and joke books, sheet music and other miscellaneous minstrel show materials. One oversize box contains bigger advertisements and posters, also arranged by troupe name. In addition, the collection includes a folder of oversized posters.
Collection Creator
History
The minstrel show, one of the earliest indigenous forms of American entertainment, developed in the 1840s, peaked after the Civil War and remained popular into the early 1900s. The minstrel show evolved from two types of entertainment popular in America before 1830: the impersonation of blacks by white actors between acts of plays or during circuses; and the performances of black musicians who sang, with banjo accompaniment, in city streets.
The “father of American minstrelsy” was Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice, who between 1828 and 1831 developed a song-and-dance routine in which he impersonated an old, crippled black slave, dubbed Jim Crow. This routine achieved immediate popularity, and throughout the 1830's Rice had many imitators. Dan Emmett's Virginia Minstrels, the first blackface troupe, which debuted at New York's Bowery Amphitheatre in 1843.
During the 1840s the show was divided into two parts. The first concentrated largely upon the urban black dandy, the second on the southern plantation slave. Both featured stereotyped caricatures rather than genuine depictions of blacks, and were usually demeaning. By the 1850s, however, black elements had been reduced and moved to the concluding section of a three-part show. Music of the “genteel” tradition now prevailed in the first section, where popular and sentimental ballads of the day and polished minstrel songs supplanted the older and cruder dialect tunes. The middle part consisted of the “olio,” a potpourri of dancing and musical virtuosity, with parodies of Italian operas, stage plays, and visiting European singing groups. The high point of the show was the concluding section, the “walk-around.” This was an ensemble finale in which members of the troupe in various combinations participated in song, instrumental and choral music and dance.
Mixed casts of white and African American performers were forbidden by law in many parts of the U.S., but were secretly included in some white companies. After the Civil War, mixed and all-black minstrel companies toured America and Great Britain. Most troupes were all male, using female impersonators in the skits. In later years, some minstrel troupes included women and an all-female group, Madame Rentz's Minstrels, toured burlesque circuits in the 1870s.
By 1919, only three troupes remained in the U.S. Economic reasons contributed to the decline, as did a growing craze for gigantic minstrel shows, exemplified by Haverly's Mastodon Minstrels, with over 100 performers and lavish stage settings, and the famous Lew Dockstader's Minstrels, who presented elaborate programs related to modern vaudeville rather than to the older, simpler form.
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
American Minstrel Show Collection; 1854-1943 (mostly 1850s-1920s), Rare Book Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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