Browse Items (74 total)

  • Tags: same-sex attraction

Letter from Mary Devlin Booth to Emma Crow Cushman, Nov 10[?], 1862

Mary Devlin Booth writes an affectionate letter to her friend Emma Cushman. She mentions a yearning for Emma which she has "never experienced before" (page 2): "I know if your husband saw this he would call this silly & me along with it: for he…

Letter from Mary Devlin to Charlotte Cushman, Nov 4, 1858

Darling Miss Cushman,Need I tell you how grateful I am for your thought of me, and how pleased I was at your present, --suffice it is to say that through the politeness of Capt Leitch I received it safely and longed for your presence to kiss, and…

Diary Entry by Anne H. Brewster about the Breakup of Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays

ABP Box 4 5, diary 1876. On CC and Hays_excerpt.pdf
The complete diary entry for June 5, 1876 is 24 pages long and details the time Harriet Hosmer and Anne H. Brewster spent together. The last eight pages (transcribed here) recount, how Hosmer witnessed the passionate breakup of Charlotte Cushman and…

Anne Brewster's "Miss Cushman," Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Aug 1878

1878. August. Blackwoods Magazine. Brewster about CC Omeka.pdf
Anne Brewster describes the relationship between herself and Charlotte Cushman starting at the beginning of the 1840s as an "intimacy" and "intimate friendship". Together they were reading plays and preparing for Charlotte's performances on stage.…

Letter from Anne Brewster to Mary Howell, July 8, 1864

ABP 27 10 Letter to Howell, July 8, 1864.pdf
Anne Brewster describes the fiancé of her cousin Frank as a "well-posé person" whose manners she feels drawn to. She adds: "Had I been alone with her I should have kissed her [inserted] but I would not take a liberty with her before any one for fear…

Letter from Jane Carlyle to Charlotte Cushman, Jan 31, 1862

CCP Box 16, Jane Carlyle Jan 1862.pdf
Jane Carlyle, who had earlier expressed jealousy over Geraldine Jewsbury's attachment to Charlotte Cushman (see, e.g. a 1846-letter to her aunt Jeannie Welsh), here details her deep and sudden affection for Cushman upon finally meeting…

Letter from Jane Carlyle to Charlotte Cushman, [Sept. 1861]

This letter is one of the first ones that Jane Carlyle seends to Charlotte Cushman.

Letter from Jane Welsh Carlyle to Jeannie Welsh, Jan 19, 1846

Jane Carlyle writes about her quarrels of jealousy with Geraldine Jewsbury due to Jewsbury's "friendship" with Cushman. Credit The Carlyle Letters Online/CLO

Cobbe's Autobiography Life of Frances Power Cobbe (1894)

1894. Cobbe Power, Frances_Life of. Cushman Hosmer chapter. Omeka.pdf
The excerpt gives insights into Charlotte Cushman's household in Rome and the introduction of Cobbe to Mary Lloyd in 1861-62. Credit Hathi Trust

Poem by Eliza Cook to Charlotte Cushman, June, 1846

CCP Box 10 Cook, Eliza to CC, June, 1846.pdf
A love letter from Cook devoted to Cushman, addressed to C******** C****** but obvious to those in her social circle. The poem is published in the Weekly Dispatch on June 14, 1846. Credit Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript…

Poem by Eliza Cook to Charlotte Cushman

CCP Box 10, 2976-2977, Cook to CC.pdf
A love letter written in the form of a poem by Eliza Cook and addressed to Charlotte Cushman. Credit Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Eliza Cook's Journal, Poem Addressed to Cushman, January 26, 1850

Eliza Cook's Journal v. 1 1849 - Omeka.pdf
Poem addressed to C.C. (Charlotte Cushman) Credit Hathi Trust

Letter from Charles Cushman [?] to Emma Stebbins

LoC, CCP 8, 2499-2508, Letter from Charles Cushman to Emma Stebbins.pdf
First mentioned in the letter are Charlotte's first successes in Great Britain, of which Sally should be able to tell Stebbins more about. The sender, who could be Charles Cushman because he was in England with Charlotte in the 1840s and talks about…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, February 22, 1858

CCP Box 1 CC to ECC 1858, Feb 22 - Omeka file.pdf
This letter is the first one available from the time after Charlotte Cushman's breakup with Matilda Hays. It is a prime example of Charlotte's longing for Emma Crow whom she met shortly before this correspondence at the beginning of…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, Feb 25, [1858]

CCP 1.55 CC to ECC 1858, Feb 25 - Omeka.pdf
Charlotte writes to Emma Crow about her feelings for her. Apparently, Emma is very fond of Charlotte and Charlotte fears that she cannot meet Emma's expectations. Charlotte also hints at her troubled relationship with Mrs Kemble and mentions 'little…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, Mar 31, 1858

CCP 1.60-61 CC to ECC, March 31, 1858.pdf
In this letter, Charlotte reassures Emma of her love. She promises to visit Emma soon. Charlotte mentions Harriet Hosmer who is trying to find a winter residence in Rome for Cushman. At the end of the year, Charlotte would eventually move to Via…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, Feb 3, 1858

CCP 1.49-50 CC to ECC Feb 3, 1858.pdf
This letter is most likely the first one that Charlotte sends to Emma after they met in St Louis, MO, and fell in love. The preceding week, Charlotte had to leave for Cairo and Emma had prepared basket full of food. Cushman mentions the age gap and…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to James Fields, Nov 21, 1862

Letter from CC to JT, November 21, 1862
Tilton has not been handling the sending of Cushman's belongings very well. Cushman is grateful for the books James Fields has sent her way, but comments on him forgetting to do so as of lately. These two issues cause her describe men (="sex") as…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Annie Fields, Dec 25, 1860

CC to AF, 1860-12-25.pdf
Cushman describes Emma Stebbins as her "much better half" and her "darling." She tells Annie about their stressful journey to NYC and about a favorable article about herself that she encountered. She desires "a likeness of Emerson. with his own…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, Sept 12, 1860

CCP Box 1 CC to ECC 1860, Sep 12.pdf
Cushman is anxious that Emma Crow may lose letters that Charlotte sent: "I don't like such dear letters addressed to me to be lost. or be sent to the Dead letter office. If any 'unscrupulous person or persons' should find it. my reputation might be…