https://archivalgossip.com/collection/files/original/9649e49502c6c509a4e24c267a7f1a6f.JPG 76dcfd02f55a6e614f993fd9739f3976 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sallie Mercer Description An account of the resource Scrapbook by Stebbins' older sister Garland, Mary Stebbins, 1815-1882 Scrapbook : 81 p. : b&w ; 35 x 29 cm. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/items/detail/scrapbook-relating-to-emma-stebbins-7824">Scrapbook</a> relating to Emma Stebbins, page 46 Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1858-1882 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Cushmania Subject The topic of the resource Cushman, Charlotte Saunders, 1816-1876 Stebbins, Emma, 1815-1882 Gossip--Published Gossip--Private Relationships--Networks Italy--Rome Description An account of the resource A collection of archival material (letters, diaries, articles, auto/biographical accounts) collected from different archives (cf. <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/sources/archives/">list</a>) that showcase the life of Charlotte Cushman, one of the most successful US American actresses of the nineteenth century. We invite you to either look for specific items via the tag cloud at the bottom of the page or the search function at the top, <a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/browse?collection=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">browse all items</a> in this collection, or explore thematic compilations of selected items in our "<a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/exhibits" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Exhibits</a>." <h6 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/files/original/c4226e025914fe32ca1542c728bd11cc.JPG"><img title="Item Locations" alt="Item Locations" src="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/files/original/c4226e025914fe32ca1542c728bd11cc.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="349.5" height="237.5" /></a>(<a href="http://hdlab.stanford.edu/palladio/">Palladio</a> visualization, Dec 2021: location of items in collection, size nodes)</h6> <h6 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/files/original/44bccce1e23bf9efe34d0078d3cc97f0.JPG"><img title="Item Locations" alt="Item Locations" src="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/files/original/44bccce1e23bf9efe34d0078d3cc97f0.JPG" style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="349.5" height="324.5" /></a>(<a href="http://hdlab.stanford.edu/palladio/">Palladio</a> visualization, Dec 2021: letter correspondence for items that have values defined for "location sender" AND "location recipient," size nodes)</h6> Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived Library of Congress New York Public Library Philadelphia Historical Society Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1816-00-00/1920-00 Person An individual. Occupation secretary maid housekeeper Admin Comment Comments for further research, pending questions, tasks that still have to be completed birth and death date? cf. #302: Sallie travels with ECC after CC's death Secondary Texts: Comments Secondary sources that have explicitly commented on the respective item or raised important concerns/questions that are of interest "Sallie had long since become much more than a usual maid. Her strong opinions might surprise Charlotte at times, especially her frank distaste for the fawning attention that swirled around fame, but between them had grown a working relationship that far exceeded the ordinary ties between mistress and servant. Charlotte never discounted the solidarity that hard-headed Sallie lent to her life." (Leach 246) Birth Date 1828-00-00 [?] Sex Female Nationality US-American Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Sallie Mercer [dates unknown] Subject The topic of the resource Mercer, Sallie Racism/Racist Violence Type The nature or genre of the resource Person Reference Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context 0027 Description An account of the resource Sallie Mercer starts working as a maid for <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/1" title="Charlotte Cushman">Charlotte Cushman</a> 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 these three decades, Mercer takes on several roles in Cushman's professional and private life, most importantly taking care of her theater costumes, arranging her travels, and managing her household in Rome. In <a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/19" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stebbins's memoir of Cushman</a>, Mercer is described as follows: It was about this time that Miss Cushman's well-known maid, Sallie, became a part of her family, — I might well say a part of herself, for she always called her "her right hand." Any memorial would be incomplete which would leave out the friend and companion of all her wanderings, the sharer of her trials and her triumphs, the good, devoted, faithful Sallie Mercer. (37) In her <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/660" target="_blank" rel="noopener">will</a>, Cushman bequeaths "to her faithful servant, Sallie Mercer, $500 yearly and the use of a house in Philadelphia free of rent." Cushman's partner <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/2" title="Emma Stebbins">Emma Stebbins</a> continues to mention "my good Sallie" (<a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/244" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter to Anne Whitney, July 6, 1878</a>) as her companion even after Cushman's death, which suggests that the two stayed not only in touch, but shared the <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/12" title="Newport Home">home in Newport</a>, to which both were given "use" in Cushman's will. <a href="https://archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/945" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Letters addressing her touring in the South</a> before the Civil War point to Cushman's reluctance to travel there for fear of the safety of Mercer, who was African American. Other letters include greetings from Mercer to Cushman's correspondents which stresses Mercer's standing within this network of women (e.g. by <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/343" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Geraldine Jewsbury</a>). Our collection also includes one <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/217" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> (by Matilda Hays) addressed directly to Sallie Mercer. Her own handwriting survives at the end of <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/892" target="_blank" rel="noopener">this letter from 1865</a>. While we do not know the exact date of her death, we can infer that she died in or shortly before 1894, since her death is referenced in this <a href="https://www.archivalgossip.com/collection/items/show/206" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a>. Update! Independent researcher Mary Jo Watts has kindly shared with us the following information: "She was born in Philadelphia in 1828 (sometime between January and the middle of August)  and died in New York State at 66 years old on August 14, 1894" Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived image credit:<a href="https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/emma-stebbins-scrapbook-8553" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> "Emma Stebbins scrapbook, 1858-1882." Smithsonian Archives of American Ar</a>t (p. 46)