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- Tags: gender norms/bending
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Rosalie Sully
Rosalie and Charlotte are in a relationship from 1843 until 1845. Rosalie is the daughter of Thomas Sully who once painted the actress. She dies on July 8, 1847, in Philadelphia.
Harriet Goodhue Hosmer
Harriet Hosmer is one of the most well-known sculptors of the nineteenth century, esp. for The Sleeping Faun and Zenobia in Chains. Besides her art, she is most well known for masculine attire and activities. Both her father, "Dr." Hiram Hosmer, and…
Geraldine Endsor Jewsbury
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…
Romeo and Juliet Performance, Haymarket Theatre, London, Dec 30, 1845
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…
Tags: gender norms/bending, London, travel/touring
Diary Entry by Anne H. Brewster about the Breakup of Charlotte Cushman and Matilda Hays
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…
Howitt's The Miss Cushmans (1846)
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,…
Stillman's The Autobiography of a Journalist (1901), Vol. 1
Charlotte Cushman is mentioned on pages 359-365.Cushman and her "clique" (365) included Miss Stebbins, Harriet Hosmer, "and one or two others of lesser fame" (359).He states that she used her fame or even Stillman (critic) to denounce other sculptors…
Bradford's "Charlotte Cushman" (1925/1932)
In his biography Biography and the Human Heart (1932), Bradford republished the article (The North American Review, Vol. 221, No. 827 (Jun. - Aug., 1925)) as a chapter. Other biographical chapters covered Walt Whitman or Henry Longfellow, for…
"Letters from the Capital," by Grace Greenwood, National Era, 1852
Grace Greenwood offers a glowing review of Cushman's performances in Washington, D.C. (as Romeo and Rosalind respectively) that stresses the sexual undertones of her audience's attraction to the actress (e.g. "She compells your half-bewildered…
"The Cabinet", Farmer's Cabinet, Feb 2, 1859
In one of the entries in this column, Hosmer and Cushman are reported to be living together in Rome.
Credit
Readex: America's Historical Newspapers
Macready's Diary – Cushman mentions (edited by Toynbee, 1912)
The diary entries depict an interesting dynamic between Macready's and Cushman's relationship. There is no diary entry from the beginning of January, 1844, when Cushman published her poem about Macready in the Anglo American Journal. Usually,…
Letter from Elizabeth Browning to Henrietta Cook, Dec 30, 1853
The letter implies that Hays and Hosmer live together.
John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's Secretary
In the context of social gatherings in Washington after 1862, Nicolay took notes about meeting Cushman and Stebbins.
Vandenhoff's Leaves from an Actor's Note-Book; With Reminiscences and Chit-Chat of the Green-Room and the Stage, in England and America (1860)
Same text but different page no. published as Dramatic Reminiscences; or, Actors and Actresses in England and America (1860, London, T. W. Cooper).The autobiographical text was translated by A. v. Winterfeld and published in German as Blätter aus dem…
Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, May 11, 1865
Charlotte writes about Lincoln's assassination and its impact on her and people she knows. Additionally, she tells Emma Crow Cushman about guests who stayed in her house that were not particularly welcome. Most of all, this letter is about…
Bessie Rayner Belloc's A Passing World (1897)
Credit
Hathi Trust
Edmund Burke Fisher
Fisher works as an editor and writer, for the New Yorker among others. He regularly presents himself as an admirer and suitor of Cushman. He actively shapes her career by facilitating business contacts and expanding Cushman social capital.
Byrne's Gossip of the Century: Personal and Traditional Memories (1892)
A retrospective account of Cushman as actress and of her private life: The Memories serve as a good example for how the public image changes after Cushman's death and her success as an actress is being forgotten step by step.Gossip of the Century…
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Charlotte Cushman

Charlotte Cushman becomes widely known on both sides of the Atlantic as the first successful US-American actress. Earlier, she was a singer under the tutelage of James G. Maeder, married to actress Clara Fisher, in Boston. Charlotte has been the sole financial support of her mother since her father…