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Mrs. Walker's Reminiscences of the Life of the World-Renowned Charlotte Cushman (1876)
The biography traces Cushman's successful career and mentions many business partners and friends. However, it excludes every references to Cushman's same-sex relationships. It is published after Charlotte Cushman's death.The Cushman-Macready-…
Vandenhoff's Leaves from an Actor's Note-Book; With Reminiscences and Chit-Chat of the Green-Room and the Stage, in England and America (1860)
Same text but different page no. published as Dramatic Reminiscences; or, Actors and Actresses in England and America (1860, London, T. W. Cooper).The autobiographical text was translated by A. v. Winterfeld and published in German as Blätter aus dem…
Transcripts of Letters from Emma Stebbins to Sidney Lanier, Sept 23 + Feb 14, [1876]
![JLP 2 Stebbins to Lanier, Sept 23, [1876].pdf](https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/files/square_thumbnails/511a35699af62b132b52272e95afb781.jpg "JLP 2 Stebbins to Lanier, Sept 23, [1876].pdf")
Emma Stebbins reimburses Lanier for his investements relating to the biography of Charlotte Cushman and attempts to get the money for the payment of Osgood (publisher of memoir) from the trusties of Cushman's estate. Ned and the Cushman family miss…
Partial Transcript of Letter from Emma Stebbins to Sidney Lanier, July 14, 1876
Emma Stebbins laments that Lanier acted too hastily when he made an arrangement with a publisher. She never intended to imply an immediate conclusion. She also regrets having asked Lanier to annul the contract with Osgood as she would have preferred…
Partial Transcript of Letter from Emma Stebbins to Sidney Lanier, July 6, 1876
Emma Stebbins tells Lanier about several letters from Charlotte Cushman to her mother. She does not want to include letters of an early lover of Cushman, a person Cushman seemingly was engaged to. She does not include a name here. The documents have…
Stebbins's Charlotte Cushman: Her Letters and Memories of Her Life (1878)
Biography of Charlotte Cushman, written after her death by her spouse Emma Stebbins. The transcribed correspondence between Stebbins and Sidney Lanier (who had originally been chosen as the author of the biography) details the painstaking process of…
Letter from Grace Greenwood to James Fields, Nov 1, 1853
Greenwood asks Fields for more money because she wants to make a few purchases "necessary [...] to keep up a respectable bridal appearance." She does not want to ask her husband as he is busy with The Little Pilgrim.Greenwood informs Fields that she…
Letter from Geraldine Jewsbury to Emma Stebbins, Feb 6, 1877
While working on the memoir of Charlotte Cushman, Emma Stebbins has made a request to Jewsbury, asking for her letters from 30 years ago. Although there are no 'secrets' in those letters, Jewsbury seems reluctant to hand them to Stebbins. The…
Howitt's The Miss Cushmans (1846)
In this biographical article, Mary Howitt recounts events from Charlotte Cushman's life and emphasizes her personal virtues, her talent on stage and the struggles she faced in her career. She describes Cushman's long and painful struggle to success,…
Letter from E. B. Fisher to Charlotte Cushman, Oct 7, 1836
Fisher asks Charlotte Cushman to refrain from contacting him again. He expresses a firmly rooted disappointment in and aversion to society ("a scandal loving world"). Fisher touches upon an issue of Cushman being involved ("intimacy") with the…
Letter from Kate Field to Emma Crow, July 10, 1860
Field admits her disappointment in not being able to see Romeo (referring to Charlotte Cushman) and her Juliet, Emma Stebbins. She addresses Cushman with the pronoun 'he.' In a witty account, Field teases Crow about her age, heritage, and appearance.…
Letter from Kate Field to Emma Crow, May 20, 1860
In this witty letter, Field criticizes the Union and advises Emma Crow to not enter the US until the next presidential elections. Field writes in the context of the Italian revolution. (She dreams of "decapitating Francis Joseph"). Reflecting the…
Letter from Kate Field to Charlotte Cushman, Mar 15, 1860
Kate Field talks about her thoughts on Italian and American patriotism and how there is nothing quite like American boys and girls. Furthermore, she seems very content with the circle of people she has herself surrounded by, and mentions Casa Cushman…
Letter from Edwin Cushman to Charlotte Cushman, Jan 14, 1852
In his letter, Edwin justifies not writing to his mother Susan. He tells Charlotte about an affair that some family friends wanted to hide from her as they were afraid of her reaction. Eventually, he sends love to Hays which indicates that Hays and…
Letter from Ned Cushman to Susan Muspratt, n.d. [before June, 1854]
In this letter, Ned Cushman mentions Hays and Charlotte Cushman's friendship ("friends"). He tells his mother about financial concerns and gossip-related incidents both at the Naval Academy as well as the dangers for girls at boarding…
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, Dec 12-13, 1862
Charlotte Cushman faces "going out to my social duties as a sort of relief" from her illness (cold). Large parts of the letter address social gatherings and US American citizens in Rome, most of whom are "well bred."The actress is still haunted by…
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, Dec 5-6, 1862
As Emma Crow Cushman is married and busy decorating and furnishing her house, Charlotte Cushman thinks nostalgically of more frequent and longer "old time letters." Repeatedly, Charlotte mentions that Emma's husband, and Charlotte's nephew and…
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to George Combe, Nov 23, 1845
Cushman has received a favorable reply from George Combe in which he calmed her down in terms of the reputational damage that Combe implied in his first letter to the actress which put her in distress earlier.
Credit
National Library of Scotland
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to George Combe, Nov 21, 1845
Cushman presents herself as shocked and surprised at the "gross motive [that] might be attributed" to her performance of Romeo on stage together with her sister Susan: "your hints have only plunged me into trouble — for I find the subject, in a new…
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Charlotte Cushman
Charlotte Cushman becomes widely known on both sides of the Atlantic as the first successful US-American actress. Earlier, she was a singer under the tutelage of James G. Maeder, married to actress Clara Fisher, in Boston. Charlotte has been the sole financial support of her mother since her father…