Brander Matthews Papers

Brander Matthews - 1

Ms Coll

Matthews, B.

Brander Matthews

Papers, 1827-1967

20 linear feet (ca. 14,500 items in 41 boxes and 2 flatboxes)

Biography: James Brander Matthews was born in New Orleans on February 21, 1852 to Edward and Virginia Brander Matthews. He received a baccalaureate from Columbia Universityin 1871 and a law degree in 1873.That year, he married Ada Smith an English actress. He earned a Master of Arts in Literature at Columbia University in 1874 and turned to writing to support his family. Matthews began by reviewing plays and eventually became a respected author of novels, plays, short stories, poems, essays, and biographies. He was a frequent contributor to periodicals. He began lecturing at Columbia University in the English Department in 1892 and was appointed Professor of Dramatic Literature in 1900, the first such professorship established in the United States.Matthewsestablished the Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum at Columbia in 1911, the first such museum in the United States. He died at age seventy-five on March 31, 1929.

Summary: The Brander Matthews Collection spans the dates 1827 to 1927 with most of the material dating from 1872 to 1924. It is divided into 5 series: Cataloged Correspondence, Writings, Notes, Works by Others, and Personal files. The collection contains letters, manuscripts, typescripts, clippings, articles, notes, photographs, scrapbooks, and memorabilia. Some of the material, especially the newspaper clippings, is very brittle and fragile.

Finding Aids: Contents list, 15 pages.

Restrictions on Access: Available for faculty, students, or researchers engaged in scholarly or publication projects.

Restrictions on Use: Permission to publish materials must be obtained in writing from the Librarian for Rare Books and Manuscripts.

Provenance: Gift of Brander Matthews, 1912-1928; Harold G. Henderson, 1951; and Jeanne Welcher Kleinfield, 1978.

Processing History: Revised by G. Cannan, August 2000

Microfilm Information: A. P. Terhune, James Bryce and Royal Cortissoz cataloged correspondence are on microfillm

Physical Loaction: In sequence

Related Manuscript Collections: Dramatic Museum;Columbia University. Brander Matthews Dramatic Museum

RLIN ID: 89-A586

I. Cataloged Correspondence, 1876-1926 10 linear ft.

Matthews was an influential figure in the literary and dramatic worlds of New York, Paris, and London in the late nineteenth, early twentieth century. Among his correspondents represented in the collection are William Archer, Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor, Augustin Daly, Austin Dobson, Hamlin Garland, Bronson Howard, William Dean Howells, Henry Cabot Lodge and other prominent figures from the worlds of theater, literature, politics and society.

Brander Matthews - 1

Box 1

Abbey, Edwin Austin

Abbey, Mary Gertrude (Mrs.E.A.)

Abdullah, Achmed

Abot, E

Adams, Charles Francis

Adams, Herbert

Ainger, Alfred

Alden, Henry Mills

Aldrich, Lilian Woodmsn (Mrs.T.B.)

Aldrich, Thomas Bailey

Alexander, John W.

Ames, Winthrop

Amory, Mathilda

Anderson, Edward Pretot

Anglin, Margaret

Appleton, George J.

Appleton, William Worthen

Archer, Charles

Archer, William

Arliss, George

Box 2

Arliss, George (cont.)

Arrowsmith, J.W.

Ashby-Sterry, Joseph

Atherton, Gertrude

Aubert, Louis

Ayres, Harry Morgan

Bacheller, Irving

Baker, Franklin T.

Baker, George Pierce

Baldensperger, Fernand

Baldwin, Charles M.

Baldwin, Charles Sears

Balestier, Wolcott

Bangs, John Kendrick

Barnard,Charles

Barnard, Frederick Augustus Porter

Barr, Amelia Edith

Barrett, Lawrence

Bashford, G. Fred

Bassett, John D.

Bates, Blanche

Beckett., Harry

Beckwith, Carol

Beer, Thomas

Beers, Henry Augustin

Belasco, David

Bell, Edward Hamilton

Belmont, August

Belmont, Eleanor Robson

Benrimo, Joseph Henry McAlpin

Benson, Sir Francis Robert

Bernard, E.G. (Mrs. Wm. Bayle)

Besant, Mary

Besant, Walter

Bigelow, John

Bikle', Lucy Leffingwell Cable (Mrs.

Henry Wolfe)

Bishop, Joseph Bucklin

Bishop, William Henry

Bispham, David

Blaikie, J.A.

Blashfield, Edwin Howland

Blinn, Holbrook

Bois, Jules

Bok, Edward W.

Booth, Agnes

Booth, Edwin

Bosworth, Hobart

Boucicault, Dion

Bourchier, Arthur

Boyeson, Hjalmar Hjorth

Box 3

Boyeson, Hjalmar Hjorth (cont.)

Bradford, Gamaliel

Bradley, Andrew Cecil

Brady, William A.

Brandes, George

Brewster, William Tenney

Bridges, Monica Waterhouse

(Mrs.Robert)

Bridgman, Walter R.

Brieux, Eugene

Briggs, Alanson Tuthill

Brinton, Daniel Garrison

Broadhurst, Thomas W.

Brookfield, Jane Octavia (Mrs. Elton)

Brooks, Joseph

Brown, Henry

Brown, Henry Collins

Brownell, William Crarey

Brunetiere, Ferdinand

Brunner, Arnold W.

Bryce, James

Buel, Clarence Clough

Bunner, Henry Cuyler