Manuscripts

Helena Modjeska letters to Jeanne C. Carr

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Description: Two personal letters written by Polish-American stage actress Helena Modjeska to her friend Jeanne C. Smith Carr in Pasadena, California. The letters consist of a 1888 November 26 letter, written from El Toro, California, declining an invitation and referencing their past visits (3 pages, autograph letter signed, with envelope) (HM 44790), and a 1889 November 30 letter, written from the Broadway Theatre, New York City, discussing Carr's request to write a biographical sketch of Modjeska; Modjeska's role as Lady Macbeth, her feelings about performing roles from Shakespeare, and her stage fright (6 pages, autograph letter signed), with clipping "'Macbeth' at the Broadway" (HM 44791)
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Production date: 1888-1889
Call number: mssHM 44790-HM 44791
Creator: Modjeska, Helena (1840-1909)

Helena Modjeska letter to Mr. Gehen (?)

Manuscripts

A brief one-page letter from Polish-American stage actress Helena Modjeska asking if "Tina" and "Juan" will be accepting her invitation (autograph letter signed).

mssHM 22052

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Helena Modjeska signed Gamut Club program

Manuscripts

This is a Gamut Club March Fourth 1908 program featuring a photograph of Helena Modjeska; it includes her signature. On verso is a stamp of "Sir Henry Heyman" with his address. Also a note by him: "To Mrs. John (?) Walker from her friend Sir Henry."

mssHM 82392

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Modjeska, Helena. 9 letters to Caroline Opid ("Karolka")

Manuscripts

Letters in English consisting of: 190[5] November 20 on Hotel Marquette letterhead with envelope; 1906 June 4 written from Arden; postcard from Quebec postmarked 1906 November 21; 1906 December 16 on "The Imperial," Steubenville, Ohio, letterhead; postcard postmarked 1906 December 23, Newport Beach, California; undated postcard with July, Newport Beach, postmark; undated postcard with October 26, New York, N.Y., postmark; undated letter marked "Wednesday"; undated birthday note to "Karolka" in English on visiting card printed "Mme Modjeska Chlapowska."

mssModjeska

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Modjeska, Helena. 17 letters

Manuscripts

This collection contains correspondence, photographs, and ephemera of Polish-American actress Helena Modjeska and members of the family of Ludwik Opid, dating from 1869 to 1982. Though not biologically related to the Opids, Modjeska referred to them as family. The bulk of the materials consists of correspondence, in Polish, between members of the Opid family in Poland and Ludwik Opid in Los Angeles, California, dating from the 1910s to 1940s. While most of the materials post-date Modjeska's death in 1909, there are some materials created by or related to Modjeska including two handwritten actor's sides for two plays Modjeska starred in the mid 1880s and 17 letters by Modjeska, dated 1902-1909. There are also photographs of her Southern California homes and portraits of her, as well as 31 theater-related fabric and crepe sashes, chiefly with Polish lettering and dating from the 1890s to early 1900s. These sashes presumably were presented to Modjeska in towns where she was performing. The correspondence chiefly consists of letters from Opid family members to Ludwik Opid in Polish; the largest group is a set of 98 letters from Marianna Popielecka to her brother Ludwik (1912-1949). Correspondence to Ludwik also includes: 5 letters from Helena Gocowa (1923, 1946-1947); 10 letters from his younger sister Helena (Opid) Kozutska (1912, 1946-1948); 8 letters from his brother Adam Opid (1914, 1928-1930); 2 letters from his nephew Adolf Opid (1931-1932); 1 letter from his brother Bolesław Opid (1906); 1 postcard from his son, John Opid, and daughter-in-law Eleanor Opid (1926); and 6 letters from his mother Kunegunda Opid (approximately 1900s-1910s?). Within the correspondence series, there are also 2 letters from Modeska's husband Karol Chłapowski (Count Bozenta) (1908 and 1911); 1 letter from J. Kruszyńska (1888); 1 postcard possibly from Ralph Modjeska (1905); 1 letter from Mary Opid to Stefeni (1899); and 11 letters and 1 document by Ludwik's father, Adolf Opid, including letters to Helena Modjeska (1869-1870s and undated) and letters to his mother, Jozefa Bendow. There are 75 photographs in the collection chiefly consisting of snapshot photographs of the Opid family, both in Poland and California, as well as 14 images of "Arden," Modjeska's estate, near Santa Ana, California and 6 portrait photographs of Modjeska at various ages. There are also newspaper clippings about Modjeska both from Polish and Los Angeles newspapers, some later pieces of ephemera, correspondence, and printed items related to the history of Helena Modjeska.

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[Carr, Jeanne C.] Note

Manuscripts

This collection consists of an autograph album containing handwritten notes, letters, poems, and drawings by approximately 200 friends and acquaintances of American author Charles Warren Stoddard, including leading American literary figures, journalists, poets, critics, politicians, and actors of the late 19th century. Among the many notable contributors are Samuel Clemens, Bret Harte, and Joaquin Miller. The earliest item in the book is an 1863 dedication by Thomas Starr King, and continues with contributions primarily from members of San Francisco literary society beginning in the mid-to-late 1860s through the late 1890s, as well as from friends in other locales where Stoddard lived or traveled including Louisville, Kentucky; Washington, D.C.; Massachusetts; New York; and Hawaii. A letter from L.C. Bayles (page 23) introduces lines of verse with the note "in accordance with your request," reflecting Stoddard's curation of the album as a compendium of verse and personal sentiments tailored towards friendships and literary musings. The volume includes two photographs of groups of men and women, captioned, "Riverdale, N.Y., July 4th 1890" (page 116). There are manuscript poems and lines of verse, often penned specifically for Stoddard, from literary friends including Isaac Hull Adams; Daniel Dulany Addison; Benjamin Parke Avery; William Barry; Fred Buel; James F. Bowman; George Burrows; Carrie Carlton; Bliss Carman; Pierre Cauwet; Robert W. Chambers; Sarah M. Clarke; Ada Clare; Katherine E. Conway; Ina D. Coolbrith; R.M. Daggett; Madeleine Vinton Dahlgren; Malcolm Douglas; Theodore F. Dwight; Eugene Field; Hamlin Garland; Grace Greenwood; Bret Harte; Jerome Hart; John Hay; Charles Hinton; Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.; William Dean Howells; Daniel E. Hudson; Thomas A. Janvier; Tremenheere Johns; Ralph Keeler; George Kennan; Orpheus C. Kerr; Alice Kingsbury (Cooley); Rudyard Kipling; Emilie Lawson; James Linen; Fitz Hugh Ludlow; Adah Isaacs Menken; John Malone; Joaquin Miller; Morton Mitchell and Laddie Mitchell; James Whitcomb Riley; James Jeffrey Roche; Edgar Saltus; Richard Henry Savage; Emma D.E.N. Southworth; Frank Soulé; Bella Z. Spencer; Horatio Stebbins; Maria Longworth Storer (with sketches); J.D. Strong; M.D. Strong; H.A. Stuart; T.R. Sullivan; Bayard Taylor; Charles Wadsworth; Charles Henry Webb; May Wentworth; George Edward Woodberry; and R.C. Wyllie. Prose and letters from L.C. Bayles; Frederick Billings; Ezra S. Carr and his wife, Jeanne C. Smith Carr; Samuel Clemens; Laura Cuppy; G.B. Densmore; Annie Fields; Archibald C. Gunter; Francis King Harte; Louise E. Holden; Jules Luquiens; C.T.H. Palmer; Theodore Roosevelt; Anna Josephin Savage; Rodney L. Tabor; Charles A. Wetmore; Virgil M. Williams; and Thérèse Yelverton. Drawings include ones by Reginald B. Birch; John S. Bugbee; Arthur Lemon; G. Thomas; and Theodore Wores. There are also brief notes and/or signatures of individuals including Charles Francis Adams; Henry Adams; Frances Hodgson Burnett; Ada, Dyas; Louise Imogen Guiney; Iza Duffus Hardy; Clarence King; Francis D. Millet; Thomas Nelson Page; Theodore Roosevelt; Charles Dudley Warner; and Lydia Woodworth. The contents are handwritten on blank pages in an "Album" published by Leavitt & Allen, consisting of 241 pages including an engraved title page and frontispiece and [8] other engraved plates with illustrations by Creswick, W.H. Bartlett, W. Tombleson; J. Smillie and T. Addison Richards; engravings by J. Sartain; J. Bannister; Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Smillie; J. White; and C.T. Giles. Edges gilt.

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Frederick C. Schaeffer, New York, letter to Thomas Jefferson

Manuscripts

Autograph letter signed; endorsed by Jefferson. Includes autograph draft of Jefferson's reply to Schaeffer, 1821 November 28. (3 pages)

HM 9150

Helena Modjeska letters to Jeanne C. Carr

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[Carr, Jeanne C.] Note

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