Browse Items (92 total)

  • Tags: public intimacy

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Helen Hunt Jackson, Dec 6, 1869

At this state, Charlotte Cushman is "a poor shaky old 'queen'" who contemplates going back to the US.She comments on her relationship with Emma Stebbins and reveals a breach of trust with, presumably, Emma Crow Cushman:"You are wrong dear in you…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, May 11, 1858

CCP Box 15 CC to ECC 1858 May 11.pdf
Charlotte Cushman reassures Emma Crow of her love. Cushman calls Emma her "little love" and "bird." Charlotte asks for Emma's permission to keep her letters, which Charlotte calls "heart records," but she would also destroy them if Emma wants her…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, June 30, [1858]

CCP 1, 68-70, CC to ECC, June 30, [1858].pdf
Cushman regrets that Crow could not be with her, due to Crow's father not allowing her to come with to New York. She was disappointed to only see Crow's mother instead of her. Crow's parents had decided that Cushman was too occupied for their…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow, Apr 27, 1858

CCP Box 1 CC to ECC 1858, April (marriage to ES).pdf
Charlotte Cushman feels poorly, so "unlike" herself lately. She is busy rehearsing and refers to her past life as a "hotel life" in which she was a "wanderer." Emma's father, Wayman Crow, is doing business in Baltimore and known as an honorable…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, May 8, 1860

CCP 1, 147-152, CC to ECC May 8, 1860 (feelings to be hidden acc. to Markus) - OV.pdf
Emma is with Miss Whitwell who interferes with Emma's traveling plans to see Charlotte. Cushman feels that Whitwell is jealous of Charlotte and Harriet ("Her remarks with regard to your dear friend Miss Cushman are simply womanish spite"). A ring…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, May 3, 1860

CCP Box 1 CC to ECC May 3, 1860 (feelings to be hidden acc. to Markus).pdf
This letter is particularly hard to read since it was written in pencil.Cushman will meet Emma in a hotel in Paris. She goes over detailed travel arrangements.Cushman and Emma Crow hope for a future that allows them to be together as much as…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, May 23, 1860

CCP 1, 147-152, CC to ECC May 23, 1860 (feelings to be hidden acc. to Markus) - OV.pdf
Cushman assures Emma Crow of her love for her. Cushman will travel from Paris to London soon and meet Crow in the accomodation arranged by Mr Fields, which Cushman, however, deems to be way too expensive. She touches upon the issue of protecting her…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, May 11, 1865

CC to ECC, May 11, 1865 - LoC, CCP, Box 2,787-790 -2.pdf
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…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, July 15, 1860

CCP 1, 172-173, CC to ECC July 15, 1860 (ecstacy acc to Markus) - OV.pdf
Cushman mentions Emma's "deep tender passionate love" for her. Cushman laments that she finds herself "constrained" in her action denied "free frank expression of love" for Emma, "for fear of wounding & hurting others."She informs Emma about a…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, Jan 30, 1863 [1864?]

CCP Box 2 1863 Jan 30.pdf
This letter seems to be a follow up of Jan 22, 1864, and hence have the wrong date. Instead of "1863," the letter is probably from 1864.Charlotte Cushman tells Emma Crow Cushman that she never shows her letters to anyone except for reading single…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Emma Crow Cushman, n.d.

CCP 3, 846-847, CC to ECC, nd. Omeka.pdf
Charlotte Cushman discusses accommodation arrangements and laments the physical distance between her and Emma, she "cannot bear to have you down there & I up here." Credit Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript Division,…

Letter from Charlotte Cushman to Annie Fields, June 29, 1873

CC to AF, 1873-05-29.pdf
The commissioned sculpture of an angel in Central Park, created by Emma Stebbins, was met with ridicule by several papers. Cushman urges Annie to help her act against this slander. Fields could help to "destroy the effect of this dirty article" in…

Letter from Bellew to Charlotte Cushman, March 16, 1856

CCP 9, 2652-2653, B+++er to CC, March 16, 1856.pdf
The author of that letter accuses Matilda Hays of a "scheme" to end the friendship between the writer and Charlotte Cushman but spreading false information which is described as 'perverting' the author's conduct. Hays is called Cushman's…

Letter from Adeline Manning to Anne Whitney, Mar 2, 1876

Manning to Whitney 1876 March 2.PNG
Adeline Manning expresses to Anne Whitney her satisfaction about the posthumous praise of Charlotte Cushman. Credit Wellesley College Archives, Papers of Anne Whitney (MSS.4): Correspondence. 56.

Jennie Lorenz about Stebbins's Biography

JPP Box 5 Notes.pdf
Credit Library of Congress, Charlotte Cushman Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Howe's Memories of a Hostess (1922)

Howe edited some of Annie Fields's diary entries. Some entries refer to some events and letters that are part of the Fields Papers, which can also be accessed in this collection.The diary entries mention Stebbins as Cushman's "guest[]," and Cushman's…

Henry Cushman's A Historical and Biographical Genealogy of the Cushmans (1855)

Cushman_A Historical and biographical genealogy of the Cushmans.pdf
The entry about Charlotte Cushman spreads across 15 pages. It quotes several accounts of the press, without, however, giving any sources. It is overwhelmingly positive and portrays Charlotte as a noble, ambitious, hard-working, and gifted actress.The…

Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Mrs Stowe and Her Neighbors in Rome," Lowell Daily Citizen and News, July 23, 1860

1860. Beecher Stowe, Harriet_Rome Neighbors_Lowell_Daily_Citizen_and_News__July_23_1860.pdf
Originally, the article was published in the New York Independent on July 12, 1860. Stowe describes social gatherings in Via Gregoriana in Rome. She explicitly mentions Cushman's household, Stebbins, and Hosmer, who are living together. The short…

Gossip Letter from Atlanta, Atlanta Constitution, June 23, 1875

The notice misrepresents the living arrangement of Cushman and Stebbins in Newport. Stebbins is called Cushman's niece. Credit Newspaper.com

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…