Call Number:

Ms. Coll. 1314

Repository:

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

Extent:

3 linear feet (11 boxes)

Preferred Citation:

Alfred Hermann Gumaer theater and music scrapbooks, 1877-1937, Ms. Coll. 1314, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1877-1937 (inclusive)

Creator:

Gumaer, A. H. (Alfred Hermann)

Form:

Playbills, Scrapbooks, Theater programs, and Concert programs

Abstract:

Alfred Hermann Gumaer (1873-1945) was a professor of architectural history at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. He had a lifelong interest in theater and music and collected performance programs and playbills from a 60 year period and compiled them into scrapbooks.

Alfred Hermann Gumaer (1873-1945) (also known as A. H. Gumaer) was a professor of architectural history at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania. Born in Brooklyn in 1873, he graduated from Columbia University in 1898 with a BS in architecture and worked as a draughtsman in Jersey City, New Jersey, from around 1900 until 1907, when he began working at the University of Pennsylvania. Gumaer was interested in music and theater, and he likely attended thousands of performances in his lifetime. Based on the materials in this collection, he appears to have traveled extensively, seeing performances not only in Philadelphia, Jersey City, and New York, but also in London, Paris, Rome, and Munich.

The materials in this collection date from a 60 year period and there is no evidence that he attended every performance represented in the scrapbooks.

This collection consists of eleven scrapbooks dating from 1877 to 1937 (many of the scrapbooks overlap in their dates of coverage). Each scrapbook includes programs and playbills from performances in Philadelphia, Jersey City, New York, London, Paris, and other cities. In addition to the programs and playbills, the scrapbooks also include the occasional clipping or music/theater publication.

The programs and playbills included in these scrapbooks are primarily for theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, and operas, and for music performances like orchestral and band concerts, piano recitals, and glee club concerts. Programs for ballets, dances, and readings are also present. Some of the scrapbooks in this collection contain only materials related to either theater or music, while other volumes include a variety of performance types.

The materials in the scrapbooks are primarily text-based documents, however some of them do include illustrations and photographs or drawn portraits. Programs will sometimes include decoration on the front and photographs of the actors within. Additionally, some programs have advertisements, and these frequently include photos or illustrations.

These scrapbooks collect material from a 60-year time period and thousands of performances. While hundreds of theaters are represented, certain theaters appear more frequently, including Chestnut Street Opera House, Broad Street Theatre, Walnut Street Theatre, the Academy of Music, Knickerbocker Theatre, Lyric Theatre, Forrest Theatre, Royal Opera House, and the Théâtre National de l'Opéra-Comique. Similarly, the names of countless performers appear in the programs and playbills included in these scrapbooks. Some names only appear once or twice, while others recur frequently. Some notable names that appear in these scrapbooks are Maude Adams, Ethel Barrymore, Edwin Booth, Lew Fields, Kathleen Howard, William Ingersoll, Henry Irving, [Alla] Nazimova, Frizi Scheff, and Otis Skinner.

The scrapbooks in this collection are organized chronologically. As previously noted, there is overlap between the volumes, sometimes with materials from one year appearing in as many as four or five scrapbooks.