Visual Materials

Subseries B. Minstrel (large size)

Description: This subseries contains 61 large-size items that pertain to minstrel show entertainment primarily in the United States from the 1850s to the 1920s. The majority of items consist of lithographic posters related to minstrel dance, comedic, and musical acts, often with caricatured depictions of African Americans; blackface entertainers both in costume and in formal dress; and female minstrels.
Type: Visual Materials(Opens in new tab)
Date: approximately 1853-approximately 1925
Call number: priJLC_ENT
Creator: Last, Jay T(Opens in new tab)
Provenance: Gift of Jay T. Last, 2005.

Subseries B. Minstrel (small size)

Visual Materials

The Jay T. Last Collection of Entertainment: Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera contains more than 2,600 printed items primarily advertising theatrical and musical entertainment and related performers in the United States from 1839 to the 1940s, with the majority of items dating from the 1870s to the 1890s. The collection consists of advertising and promotional materials, business records, and illustrations pertaining to a wide variety of performance genres that have been grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The collection has 442 large-size items comprised mainly of lithographic theatrical and minstrel posters that were intended to advertise specific shows or performers. Small-size items in the collection number approximately 2,130 and are comprised mainly of promotional ephemera and business documents such as trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text. The collection provides a resource for studying the history of the American theater and the evolution of advertising strategies for the performing arts in the United States in the late 19th century. As graphic materials, the items offer evidence of developing techniques and trends in printmaking, and of the artists, engravers, lithographers, printers, and publishers involved in the creation of these prints.

priJLC_ENT

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Subseries A. Music and Theater (small size)

Visual Materials

priJLC_ENT

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Subseries C. Magic and Miscellaneous (small size)

Visual Materials

priJLC_ENT

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Minstrel, A-Z by company (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Visual Materials

priJLC_ENT

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Minstrel (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

Visual Materials

priJLC_ENT

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Series I. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (small size)

Visual Materials

This series contains approximately 1,850 small-size printed items that pertain to theatrical and musical entertainment in the United States primarily from the second half of the 19th century. The materials consist of advertising and promotional ephemera, illustrations, and business records related to performers, theatrical and musical events, and venues in a wide variety of genres grouped broadly as music and theater (including theater, music, dance, burlesque, comedy, pantomime, and variety); minstrel (including minstrel shows, blackface entertainers, and female minstrels); and magic and miscellaneous (including magicians, motion pictures, and Wild West shows). The majority of items in this series promote plays and actors, and images primarily depict scenes from theatrical or musical events or contain portraits of performers. Item types include trade cards, programs and playbills, souvenir booklets, photographs, die-cut cards, and printed billheads and letterheads with manuscript text.

priJLC_ENT

Subseries B. Minstrel (large size)

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Subseries B. Minstrel (small size)

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Subseries C. Magic and Miscellaneous (small size)

Minstrel, A-Z by company (8 x 10 inches or smaller in size)

Minstrel (between 8 x 10 inches and 11 x 14 inches in size)

Series I. Performing Arts Prints and Ephemera (small size)