History of James A. Maddox : manuscript.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1863.

1 item (36 pages) ; 46 cm

English

Purchased from Between the Covers Books on the Adele Gutman Nathan Theatrical Collection Fund, 2017.

This material is open for research.

James A. Maddox (1841-1863), itinerant performer, son of Elkanah John Maddox of Baltimore, Maryland, and Susan Maddox, originally of New York.

Draft, autograph manuscript, signed, of autobiography of James A. Maddox. Maddox's account documents his father's business ventures, events and activities from his own childhood, schools he attended, criminal acts, run-ins with the law, people with whom he associated, jobs he held, and the traveling and performing he did as a young man, which included singing, dancing, playing the banjo, and acting. Groups with whom and venues at which he performed include: minstrel bands of New York, Colonel Hugh Lindsay's Traveling Show, Taylor's North American Circus, the Baltimore Museum, the National Theatre in Pittsburgh, a show boat on the Mississippi river, Miss Annie Rush's Concert Saloon, and Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.. Maddox also assembled his own shows, including Campbell's Nightingale Opera Troupe in Philadelphia. Maddox's account also documents expenses and income. Manuscript illustrated with several pen-and-ink drawings.

Archives or Manuscripts / Images

January 08, 2019

James A. Maddox, History of James A. Maddox. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

James A. Maddox, History of James A. Maddox. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

Drawings (visual works)