- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Creator:
- Davenport, Fanny, 1850-1898
- Title:
- Fanny Davenport Collection
- Repository:
- Manuscripts Division
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/n870zq87r
- Dates:
- 1870s-1890s
- Size:
- 8 boxes and 3.9 linear feet
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-8
- Language:
- English
Abstract
Consists of papers of Fanny Davenport, a popular nineteenth-century American actress and theater manager.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Description:
The collection consists of papers of Davenport, an actress and theater manager. Included in the collection is correspondence of Davenport with Frances Aymar Mathews, a playwright, T. Henry French, Elizabeth Marbury, Victorien Sardou, and other actresses, actors, real estate brokers, bankers, theater owners, costume designers, friends, and fans. Theater-related materials include scripts for Fedora and Gismonda , costume sketches, contracts with the Tremont Theatre and with Frances Aymar Mathews for her to write the play Warrior , and reviews of Fedora and Sarah Bernhardt. There is a large group of financial papers consisting of a log book of salaries paid to actors in various cities, over 1600 cancelled personal checks (1878-1896), journal pages of expenses for 1888 performances, 26 envelopes of accounts of performances for 1896-1898, and several hundred receipts for personal and company related purchases. Memorabilia includes two small silver-plate souvenir trays, a menu, stationery, notes, and newspaper clippings. There is also an account book (1859-1861) for the Howard Athenaeum kept by Davenport's father, Edward Loomis Davenport, and a framed photograph of him acting in "Blackeyed Susan."
- Collection Creator Biography:
Davenport, Fanny, 1850-1898
Davenport first performed on stage at the age of eight. As an adult she performed in Philadelphia at the Arch Street Theatre, then with Augustin Daly's company at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York, acting in revivals, new plays, Shakespeare, and other plays. Around 1877 Davenport formed her own company with which she toured around the country. From 1883 to 1895 she also appeared in four plays, Fedora , Gismonda , Tosca ,and Cleopatra , by the French dramatist Victorien Sardou in roles originally performed by Sarah Bernhardt.
Collection History
- Processing Information
Folder inventory added by Feng Zhu '14 in 2012.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Conditions Governing Use
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. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
- Credit this material:
Fanny Davenport Collection; Manuscripts Division, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Permanent URL:
- http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/n870zq87r
- Location:
-
Firestone LibraryOne Washington RoadPrinceton, NJ 08544, USA
- Storage Note:
- Firestone Library (scamss): Box 1-8
Find More
- Subject Terms:
- Actors -- United States -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Actresses -- United States -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Theater -- United States -- 19th century.
Theaters -- New York (State) -- New York -- 19th century.
Theatrical managers -- United States -- 19th century -- Correspondence.
Theatrical managers -- United States -- Finance, Personal -- 19th century. - Genre Terms:
- Correspondence -- 19th century
Financial records -- 19th century
Memorabilia -- 19th century. - Names:
- Howard Athenaeum
Davenport family
Bernhardt, Sarah, 1844-1923
Sardou, Victorien, 1831-1908.
