Browse Items (972 total)

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Elizabeth Barrett Browning
In a letter from Elizabeth to her sister Arabel Malton Barrett from October 22, 1852, Browning describes the relationship between Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays a "female marriage."The Brownings lived in Italy for some time, in Florence (Casa…

Sallie Mercer [dates unknown]

Sallie Mercer
Sallie Mercer starts working as a maid for Charlotte Cushman at around age 14 in 1844. She is the only one to accompany Cushman on her first trip to England and will stay with her until her death. Over the course of these three decades Mercer takes…

Anne Hampton Brewster

Photograph of Anne Hampton Brewster
Anne Hampton Brewster is an American novelist, journalist and foreign correspondent. She is born to Maria Hampton and Francis Enoch Brewster. In the 1840s, Brewster and Charlotte Cushman meet in Philadelphia, where Cushman is manager of the Walnut…

Sarah Josepha Hale

Portrait of Sarah Josepha Hale
Hale is an important business partner and friend of Cushman, as Hale becomes the editor of Godey's in 1837. She is Godey's editor for fourty years, from 1837-1877.

Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury

Geraldine Jewsbury (left) and Jane Welsh Carlyle (right), April 1855
She writes several novels, among which Half Sisters (1848) is her most famous one. It comments on Victorian society and gender norms. The character Bianca, an actress who is half Italian, is said to be loosely based on Charlotte Cushman with whom…

Mary Howitt

Portrait engraving of Mary Howitt
Charlotte Cushman and Mary Howitt become friends at an early stage of Cushman's career in England. Mary writes an autobiography and a journal. In 1846, she publishes her article on the Cushman sisters, which is titled "The Miss…

Romeo and Juliet Performance, Haymarket Theatre, London, Dec 30, 1845

RomeoJuliet.png
Charlotte Cushman performs as Romeo and her sister takes over the role of Juliet.Cushman's performance as Romeo is generally met with wild enthusiasm. There were, however, also critical voices, among them Mary Russell Mitford (1787-1855). Mitford was…

Diary Entry by Anne H. Brewster about the Breakup of Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays

ABP Box 4 5, diary 1876. On CC and Hays_excerpt.pdf
The complete diary entry for June 5, 1876 is 24 pages long and details the time Harriet Hosmer and Anne H. Brewster spent together. The last eight pages (transcribed here) recount, how Hosmer witnessed the passionate breakup of Charlotte Cushman and…

Final New York Performance on Nov 7, 1874

1874. The_Boston_Globe_Farewell. Omeka.pdf
Charlotte Cushman performs for Booth's Theater in New York for the last time. She acts as Lady Macbeth on stage together with George Vandenhoff among others. Credit Newspaper.com(article only attached as illustration)

Elkanah Cushman

Cushman is a merchant of the West Indies trade. Elkanah Cushman is Charlotte Cushman's father and married to Mary Elizabeth Babbitt.

Mary Elizabeth "Eliza" Babbitt Cushman

Mary Eliza Babbit
Mary Elizabeth Babbitt Cushman is the second wife of Elkanah Cushman.

Poem by Cushman about Macready, The Anglo American, Jan 1844

The Anglo-American_Macready Poem by Cushman (1 Jan 1844).pdf
Cushman writes the poem in December 1843 and publishes it in January 1844. There is no entry in Macready's diary, and it is unclear how Macready reacted to Cushman's lyrical praise. CreditEBSCO

Howitt's The Miss Cushmans (1846)

1846. People's Journal. NYPL Stead Article. Howitt about Cushmans.pdf
In this biographical article, Mary Howitt recounts events from Charlotte Cushman's life and emphasizes her personal virtues, her talent on stage and the struggles she faced in her career. She describes Cushman's long and painful struggle to success,…

Robert Browning

Print portrait of Robert Browning
Robert Browning is married to Elizabeth Browning. Both live for some time in Italy, in Florence and Rome. They are friends with Charlotte Cushman, Harriet Hosmer, Isa Blagden, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Emma Stebbins is hardly ever mentioned at…

Henry Fothergill Chorley

Profile of Henry Fothergill Chorley
Chorley is a musical critic who writes for The Athenaeum. He also writes plays, e.g., "Duchess Eleanor" for which he asks for Cushman's support. When Charlotte Cushman performs as Queen Katherine after Rosalie's death, starting in October 1847,…

Helen Hunt Jackson

Photographic Print of Helen Hunt Jackson
Hunt addresses Charlotte Cushman as "Regina" or her "Queen" in the letters she writes between 1869 and Cushman's death. Cushman repeatedly tells Hunt that she loves her and admires her for her literary work.Hunt is known as "HH" to the public and…

William Wetmore Story

Portrait photograph of William Wetmore Story
William Wetmore Story is critical of CC and her circle, Lisa Merrill describes him as Cushman's "adversary" (Merrill, When Romeo Was a Woman, p. 231). He is US consul in Rome before Cushman's nephew Ned Cushman takes over after Lincoln's re-election.…

William James Stillman

Charcoal Portrait of William James Stillman, 1870
US consul to Rome 1861-1865