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Collection Overview
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The William G. B. Carson Papers consists of four accruals:
Accrual 1 includes materials relating to United States theatre history; materials relating to Carson's teaching at Washington University in St. Louis; theatre playbills, programs, magazines, and newspaper articles; correspondence and autograph collection of famous actors, actresses, and writers.
Accrual 2 relates primarily to preparation of Dear Josephine, Professor Carson's biography on Josephine Sherwood Hull. It also includes teaching notebooks prepared for theatre and drama courses at Washington University and diaries Professor Carson kept of theatre and music performances he attended from 1913 to 1966, primarily in St. Louis.
Accrual 3 includes scripts of plays by Washington University students, news clipping about Professor Carson's retirement, theatre programs, and printed material.
Accrual 4 includes materials that fall under two main categories: early New Mexico history and materials relating to Carson's theatrical activities. Carson's research into New Mexico history was prompted by the fact that his great-great-grandfather, William Carr Lane, besides being one of the first St. Louis mayors, was also first governor of New Mexico, 1852-1853. The diary kept by Lane during his governorship was edited by Carson, requiring research into geography and exploration, Indian relations, and political figures of the period. The Theatrical Activities include personal material, material from his teaching at Washington University, material from Washington University's Thyrsus organization, material from his time as a playwright and director, material from Carson as an author, material from St. Louis' Little Theatre and The Players, and his research on theatre and musical performances. This also includes printed material and maps.
Collection Historical Note
William G.B. Carson, a longtime professor of English at Washington University, is best known for his scholarly work in the history of the American theatre and for the active role he played in staging theatrical productions at Washington University and within the St. Louis community at large. Carson's books include Theatre on the Frontier, (1932) and a biography of the great American actress Josephine Hull.
Administrative Information
Repository:
MS Manuscripts
Access Restrictions:
Open.
Use Restrictions:
Users of the collection must read and agree to abide by the rules and procedures set forth in the Materials Use Policies.
Providing access to materials does not constitute permission to publish or otherwise authorize use. All publication not covered by fair use or other exceptions is restricted to those who have permission of the copyright holder, which may or may not be Washington University.
If you wish to publish or license Special Collections materials, please contact Special Collections to inquire about copyright status at (314) 935-5495 or spec@wumail.wustl.edu. (Publish means quotation in whole or in part in seminar or term papers, theses or dissertations, journal articles, monographs, books, digital forms, photographs, images, dramatic presentations, transcriptions, or any other form prepared for a limited or general public.)
Related Materials:
See also WUA00170 William G. B. Carson Papers
Preferred Citation:
Name of the Collection, Washington University Libraries, Department of Special Collections
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series G1-1: United States Theatre History],
[
Series G1-2: Material Relating to Carson's Teaching at Washington University in St. Louis],
[
Series G1-3: Theatre Playbills, Programs, Magazines, and Newspaper Articles],
[
Series G1-4: Correspondence],
[
Series G2-1: Material Relating to Dear Josephine],
[
Series G2-2: Materials Relating to Carson's Teaching at Washington University in St. Louis],
[
Series G2-3: Material Relating to Carson's Research on Theatre & Music Performances],
[
Series G2-4: Realia],
[
Series G3-1: Scripts],
[
Series G3-2: News Clipping],
[
Series G3-3: Theatre Programs],
[
Series G3-4: Printed Material],
[
Series G4-1: Material Relating to Early New Mexico History],
[
Series G4-2: Material Relating to Carson's Theatrical Activities],
[Series G4-3: Printed Material],
[
Series G4-4: Maps],
[
All]
- Series G4-3: Printed Material

- Consists of books and reprints of articles, includes some work by Carson. It is arranged alphabetically by author's las name or by title if there is no noted author. 55 items
- Box 18

- Folder 69

- Item 1: Adams, Henry W. "The Montgomery Theatre 1822-1835. " University of Alabama Studies, Number 9, 1955: September

- 1 item
- Item 2: American Quarterly Review. Number XXXII, 1834: December

- 1 item
- Folder 70

- Item 1: Arizona Quarterly

vol.16, no.3, Autumn 1960
1 item
- Item 2: "A Brief History of Thesbian Hall" Boonville, Missouri: The Thesbian Hall Preservation Committee, 1937

- 1 item
- Item 3: Briggs, Harold E. and Ernestine. The Theatre in Early Kansas City

Printed from Mid America vol. 32: new series, vol. 21, no. 2
1 item
- Item 4: Bryant, Donald C. "Symposium, Of Style" Western Speech, Spring 1957

- 1 item
- Item 5: Byrne, Muriel St. Clare. "Theatrical Records" Archives

vol. III, no. 17, Lady Day, 1957
1 item
- Item 6: Carson, William G.B. "As You Like It and the Stars: Nineteenth-Century Prompt Books" The Quarterly Journal of Speech

vol. XLIII, no.2, April 1957
1 item
- Item 7: Carson, William G.B. "The Beginnings of the Theatre in St. Louis"

Reprinted from Missouri Historical Society Collections
vol. V, no.2, 1928
1 item
- Item 8: Carson, William G.B. "Some Thoughts on Graduate Theses"

Reprinted from Educational Theatre Journal. vol. VII, no.3, October 1955
1 item
- Folder 71

- Item 1: Cowell, Joe. Thirty Years Passed Among the Players, 1844

New York: Harper & Brothers
1 item
- Item 2: Downer, Alan S. "Players and Painted Stage - Nineteenth Century Acting", 1946: June

Reprinted from PMLA: Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. vol. LXI, no. 2, June 1946
1 item
- Item 3: "Drottningholms Slottsteater Program", 1959

- 1 item
- Item 4: Faulkner, T.C. The Dramatic Mirror, and Musical Journal, 1966: November

vol. 1, no. 2, November 1966
1 item
- Item 5: "A Few Particulars Concerning Chang-Eng, The United Siamese Brothers", 1836

Printed by J.M. Elliot, New York, 1836
1 item
- Box 19

- Folder 72

- Item 1: Ford, Paul Leicester. Washington and the Theatre, 1899

New York: The Dunlap Society, 1899
1 item
- Item 2: Freedley, George. "Theatre Librarianship", 1962: January

Reprinted from Bulletin of the New York Public Library. vol. 66, no. 1, January 1962
1 item
- Item 3: Freedley, George. "The 26 Principal Theatre Collections in American Libraries and <em>Museums</em>"

Reprinted from Bulletin of the New York Public Library. vol. 62, no.7, July 1958
1 item
- Item 4: Frenz, Horst. "American Drama and World Drama", 1945: March

Reprinted from College English. vol. 6, no. 6, March 1945.
1 item
- Item 5: Garrick, David. "The Bon Ton; or High Life Above Stairs, A Farce" as performed at the New Theatre in Boston, 1794

Printed by P. Edes and S. Etheridge
1 item
- Item 6: Gates, William Bryan. "Performances of Shakespeare in Ante-Bellum Mississippi", 1943: January

Reprinted from The Journal of Mississippi History
1 item
- Folder 73

- Item 1: Gilbert, W.S. The Mikado: or the Town of Titipu, 1885

New York: William A. Pond & Co.
1 item
- Item 2: Hillyer, Katharine and Katharine Best. The Amazing Story of Piper's Opera House in Virginia City, Nevada, 1953

Virginia City, Nevada: The Enterprise Press
1 item
- Item 3: Howell, Wilbur Samuel. "Sources of the Elocutionary Movement in England: 1700-1748", 1959: February

Reprinted from The Quarterly Journal of Speech. vol. XLV, no. 1
1 item
- Item 4: Hunt, Douglas L. "The Nashville Theatre, 1830-1840" Birmingham-Southern College Bulletin, 1935: May

vol. XXVIII, no. 3
1 item
- Item 5: Johnson, Albert E. "Dion Boucicault: Man and Fable", 1954: December

Reprinted from Educational Theatre Journal. vol. VI, no. 4
1 item
- Item 6: Kernodle, George R. "Stage Spectacle and Victorian Society", 1954: February

Reprinted from The Quarterly Journal of Speech vol. XL, no. 1
1 item
- Item 7: Kernodel, George R. "Symbolic Action in the Greek Choral Odes?" Classical Journal, 1957: October

vol. 53, no. 1
1 item
- Item 8: Lefevre, Carl. "Gogol and Anglo-Russian Literary Relations During the Crimean War", 1949

Reprinted from The American Slavic and East European Review vol. VIII, no. 2
1 item
- Folder 74

- Item 1: Mackenzie, W. Roy "Ballad-Singing in Nova Scotia", July-September 1909

Reprinted from The Journal of American Folk-Lore vol. XXII, no. LXXXV
1 item
- Item 2: Mackenzie, W. Roy. "Ballads from Nova Scotia - Continued", 1912: April-June

Reprinted from The Journal of American Folk-Lore. vol. XXV, no. XCVI
1 item
- Item 3: Mackenzie, W. Roy. "The Debate Over the Soul in "The Pride of Life"", 1922

Reprinted from Washington University Studies. vol. IX, no. 2
1 item
- Item 4: Mackenzie, W. Roy. "A New Source for Mankind", 1912

Reprinted from Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. vol. XXIX, no. 2
1 item
- Item 5: Mackenzie, W. Roy. "A Source for Medwall's Nature", 1914

The Modern Language Association of America. Reprinted from Publications of the Modern Language Association of America. vol. XXIX, no. 2
1 item
- Item 6: Mackenzie W. Roy "Standing Water", 1926: May

Modern Language Notes. vol. XLI, no. 5
1 item
- Item 7: Maverick, Lewis A. "Pierre Poivre: Eighteenth Century Explorer of Southeast Asia", 1941: June

Reprinted from The Pacific Historical Review. vol. X, no. 2
1 item
- Item 8: Maverick, Lewis A. "Yankee Doodle", 1962: April

Reprinted from The American Neptune. vol. XXII, no. 2
1 item
- Item 9: McDermott, John Francis. "Eugene Ney's Mississippi Travels 1830", No date

Reprinted from Mid America. vol. 34, new series vol. 23, no. 4
1 item
- Item 10: McDermott, John Francis. "J.C. Wild, Western Painter and Lithographer", 1951: April

Reprinted from Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly. vol 60, no. 2
1 item
- Item 11: "The Padlock: A Comic Opera", 1795

Performed at the Theatre, Boston, Printed by William Spotswood
1 item
- Box 20

- Folder 75

- Item 1: Patrick, J. Max. Savannah's Pioneer Theater: From Its Origins to 1810, 1953

Athens: University of Georgia Press
1 item
- Item 2: Quinn, Arthur Hobson. "American Drama at Pennsylvania", 1951

Part of this essay appeared originally as the introduction to Check List of American Drama. Philadelphia, University Library
1 item
- Item 3: Roppolo, Joesph Patrick. Audiences in New Orleans Theatres, 1845-1861", 1950

Reprinted from Tulane Studies in English. vol. II, New Orleans: Tulane University, 1950
1 item
- Item 4: Ryan Jr., Pat M. "John Brougham: The Gentle Satirist" ", 1959: December

Reprinted from the Bulletin of the New York Public Library. vol. 63
1 item
- Item 5: Smither, Nelle. "A History of the English Theatre at New Orleans, 1806-1842", 1944

A Dissertation in English, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
1 item
- Item 6: The Southwest Review, Autumn 1946

- 1 item
- Item 7: Stout, George D. "Leigh Hunt on Wordsworth and Coleridge", Winter 1957

Reprint from Keats-Shelley Journal. vol. VI
1 item
- Item 8: Taylor, Tom. "An Unequal Match, A Comedy", 1882

New York: Samuel French & Son
1 item
- Folder 76

- Item 1: Theatrical Apprenticeship of Sol. Smith, 1845

Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson
1 item
- Folder 77

- Item 1: The Theatrical Journey-work and Anecdotal Recollections of Sol. Smith, 1854

Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson
1 item
- Folder 78

- Item 1: The Theatre Notebook, 1950: January-March

vol. 4, no. 2
1 item
- Item 2: The Washington University Librarian , 1979: May

vol. 11, no. 3
1 item
- Item 3: Weisert, John J. "Beginnings of the Kentucky Theatre Circuit", 1960

The Filson Club Quarterly. vol. 34
1 item
- Item 4: Woodress, James et al. "The Idea of Progress", Fall 1957

Reprinted from The Georgia Review. vol. XI, no. 3
1 item
- Item 5: "The Young Quaker, A Comedy", 1794

Performed at the Theatre-Royal Smoke-Alley and by the Old American Company, Philadelphia, Printed by Thomas Bradford
1 item
Browse by Series:
[
Series G1-1: United States Theatre History],
[
Series G1-2: Material Relating to Carson's Teaching at Washington University in St. Louis],
[
Series G1-3: Theatre Playbills, Programs, Magazines, and Newspaper Articles],
[
Series G1-4: Correspondence],
[
Series G2-1: Material Relating to Dear Josephine],
[
Series G2-2: Materials Relating to Carson's Teaching at Washington University in St. Louis],
[
Series G2-3: Material Relating to Carson's Research on Theatre & Music Performances],
[
Series G2-4: Realia],
[
Series G3-1: Scripts],
[
Series G3-2: News Clipping],
[
Series G3-3: Theatre Programs],
[
Series G3-4: Printed Material],
[
Series G4-1: Material Relating to Early New Mexico History],
[
Series G4-2: Material Relating to Carson's Theatrical Activities],
[Series G4-3: Printed Material],
[
Series G4-4: Maps],
[
All]