![The Stars Always Shine in Oh, Kay! The Smartest of Musical Comedies [opening lines of handbill]. George Gershwin, 1898–1937, Ira Gershwin, 1896–1983, Guy Bolton, 1881–1975, 1884–1979, P G. Wodehouse.](/images/noimage-req.png)
Handbill for the Jazz Age musical comedy Oh, Kay! starring Gertrude Lawrence in the title role. With music by George Gershwin and lyrics by Ira... Read More
Theater program for West is East, a two-act musical comedy produced in 1927 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and featuring an all-male cast including... Read More
Advertising card for a public reading of African American poetry, given by Truda T. Weil at the Woman’s Club of Reading, Pennsylvania. The program consisted... Read More
From “Freshman” to “Sophomore”—a prospectus for Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, cleverly designed to imitate a strip of movie film with each “cell” depicting a.... Read More
![[M.I.T., Cross-Dressing:] Tech Show 1926. Too Many Brothers. '26 R A. Rothschild, Julius B. Goldberg.](/pictures/thumb/3727604_1.jpg?v=1536776991)
Theater program for Too Many Brothers, a two-act musical comedy produced in 1926 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and featuring an all-male cast including... Read More
![[Envelope with Inset Miniature Tintype Portrait of Isabella Jane Hawthorn]. Isabella Jane Hawthorn.](/pictures/thumb/3727513_1.jpg?v=1535409018)
Here, a “gem” tintype portrait of young Isabella Jane Hawthorn, with her hand-tinted rosy cheeks, is conjoined with another Victorian custom of calling cards and... Read More
![[Victorian Calling Card for Mrs. John Mowle with Inset Miniature Tintype or “Gem” Portrait]. Mrs. John Mowle.](/pictures/thumb/3727109_1.jpg?v=1535409018)
Miniature tintype photographs, also called “gem” photos for their diminutive size, were a popular and inexpensive photographic format in the Victorian era. Here a portrait... Read More
![[1842–1917 Combination Bound Volume of Masonic, Musical, and Theatrical Programs and Scrapbook kept by Musician Albert Ritter of Reading, Pennsylvania]. Albert Ritter, c.1838–1915.](/pictures/thumb/3727221_1.jpg?v=1534362500)
For Christmas 1873, musician Albert Ritter of Reading, Pennsylvania was given a scrapbook. He immediately began to fill it with ephemera from the various fraternal... Read More
![[World Expositions: Pocket Watches, Watchmakers:] Enrique Grandjean y Ca. Enrique Grandjean y. Ca., Henri Grandjean, 1803–1879, Cie.](/pictures/thumb/3726731_1.jpg?v=1534362451)
Colorful and beautifully printed ephemera from Swiss luxury watchmakers Henri Grandjean & Cie.—here Enrique Grandjean y Ca.—of Le Locle in the Canton of Neuchâtel. The... Read More
![First Grand Fancy and Citizens’ Dress Ball of the William Penn Library Association ... Chester [Pennsylvania] 1860. [ticket]. William Penn Library Association.](/pictures/thumb/3726703_1.jpg?v=1534362447)
Ticket to a ball held for the benefit of the William Penn Library Association of Chester, Pennsylvania. At its head, these words: “We Strive to... Read More
![[African-Americana:] Class Day ’95. Lincoln University. Lincoln University.](/pictures/thumb/3726691_1.jpg?v=1534362442)
1895 Class Day program of music and oratory from Lincoln University, an historically black university in Pennsylvania founded in 1854. The day’s activities included morning... Read More
Oversized calendar with tipped on color plates depicting women literary characters by American illustrator and poster artist C. Allan Gilbert. The suite of plates depict... Read More
![[From J. Sierer, Dealer in Carpets, Oil Cloths, Mattings Rugs, Window Shades, Lace Curtains and Drapery Curtains, Blankets and Wall Papers…]. Joseph Sierer.](/pictures/thumb/3726472_1.jpg?v=1534786469)
Chambersburg’s Joseph Sierer here promotes what appears to be an expansive business devoted to selling carpets, circa the early 1880s. A large cut at the... Read More
Unrecorded ballad or song sheet printed in New York City c. 1853–1858. The popular religious poem, attributed to J. Adams, was first published around 1840... Read More
Political memorabilia satirizing the “Greenback” Party likely issued during the U.S. Presidential election of 1880. The small, printed leaf imitates the shape and design of... Read More
Political memorabilia satirizing the “Greenback” Party likely issued during the U.S. Presidential election of 1880. The small, printed leaf imitates the shape and design of... Read More
![[1885–1910 YMCA Manuscript Minute Books from Auburn, New York with Related Letters, Manuscripts and Ephemera]. Auburn New York YMCA; Young Men's Christian Association.](/pictures/thumb/3725474_1.jpg?v=1534362308)
Two large ledger books containing handwritten minutes and reports from the Young Men’s Christian Association or YMCA of Auburn, New York, 1885–1910. These two separate... Read More
![Revolutionary Calendar Dedicated to the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution… [caption title]. Jeannette van Salisbury, New York School of Applied Design for Women.](/pictures/thumb/3725985_1.jpg?v=1534362326)
Chromolithographic calendar commemorating the American Revolution printed by Boston lithographers, L. Prang & Co. The calendar was designed at the New York School of Applied... Read More
Advertising pamphlet for P. Lorrilard & Co. tobacco in the form of a vade mecum or pocket reference book with practical business information and sound... Read More
![[The Texas Terrors:] American Football ... Souvenir Programme. Merchant Navy Day Appeal Committee.](/pictures/thumb/3724997_1.jpg?v=1534362297)
Colorful, illustrated World War II program for a U. S. Army demonstration game of American-rules football, played “Somewhere in Australia.” The game was played between... Read More
An ephemeral record of the brief, exploited lives of the Fairy Sisters, two diminutive performers often touted as the smallest persons in the world. The... Read More
Classical music and opera concerts and popular musical and singing performances were favorite leisure pursuits in Belle Époque Germany and Austria. These 61 almost all... Read More
![International Exhibition of 1876. Opening Ceremonies. Order of Exercises, Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, May 10th, 1876 [with:] United States Centennial Commission Invitation [with ticket:] Admit to the Opening Ceremonies of the International Exhibition 1876. [with two tickets:] United States International Exhibition…Package Ticket. John Greenleaf Whittier; Sidney Lanier; Richard Wagner.](/pictures/thumb/145289_1.jpg?v=1534362274)
Almost like being there —not souvenirs or recollections— but five primary and immediate artifacts from the United States’ first world’s fair and its celebration of... Read More
