Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1220

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

0.2 linear_foot (1 box)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

Joseph Francis Ambrose Jackson manuscripts and notes, 1906, undated, MS. Coll. 1220, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1906, undated (inclusive)

Creator:

Jackson, Joseph

Form:

Writings (documents), Research notes, and Manuscripts (documents)

Abstract:

Joseph Francis Ambrose Jackson (1867-1946) was a historian, lecturer, artist, journalist, and writer active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This collection offers insight into Jackson's intellectual activity as a theater historian. It includes a manuscript of an unpublished essay on the history of American dramatic literature, an alphabetical listing of American playwrights, a collection of portraits of 18th-century actors, and handwritten notes on the theatrical history of pre-and post-revolutionary Philadelphia.

Joseph Francis Ambrose Jackson (1867-1946) was a historian, artist, journalist, and writer active in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At age twelve, he began working as an office boy at the Philadelphia Public Ledger, where his father was also employed as a printer. He continued in theLedger employ until 1921, after having progressed to writing, reviewing, and editorial work. During his career, Jackson's articles on Philadelphia history and architecture were published in numerous magazines and newspapers, including theLedger itself. He also wrote popular books such asMarket Street, Philadelphia: The Most Historic Highway in America: Its Merchants and Its Story (1918),Encyclopedia of Philadelphia (1931), Early Philadelphia Architects and Engineers (1923), andLiterary Landmarks of Philadelphia (1939). Many of these books first appeared as series in publications such as theLedger or the trade publicationBuilding, for which he also served as editor. Jackson is the author of two bibliographies on local writers George Lippard and Charles Godfrey Leland. He wrote articles about the connections of several literary figures to Philadelphia, including Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, and William Thackeray, and collected material about some of these authors – especially Poe and Dickens –, as well as on Lewis Carroll, American fiction and drama, and music.

The collection of manuscripts and notes by Joseph Francis Ambrose Jackson offers insight into Jackson's intellectual activity as a theater historian, and may be used as an integration of the archival material on and by this author currently held by the Historical Society in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia History Museum. It consists of a manuscript of an unpublished essay on the history of American dramatic literature (dated June 1906), an undated alphabetical listing of American playwrights, a collection of portraits of 18th-century actors, and handwritten notes mostly focused on the musical and theatrical history of pre-and post-revolutionary Philadelphia. These notes, all of which are undated, cover themes such as the history of the Chestnut Street Theatre, the ballad opera The Disappointment (1762), and the work of Philadelphia-born playwright Thomas Godfrey (1736-1763), who authored the first American play ever performed by a professional cast (The Prince of Parthia, 1767). A smaller set of notes about Anglican priest Myles Cooper (1735-1785), actor John Moody (circa 1727-1812), actor and impresario Thomas Jefferson (1728-1807), playwright George Cockings (died 1802), and other unidentified topics is also part of the collection.