Some of the most important works on the history of the American Drama and the American Theatre are given herewith. Under each author, there will be found short individual bibliographies, and in the succeeding volumes of the Collection, other general references will be given which will throw light on the theatrical conditions of the particular theatre periods. Naturally, books relating to modern conditions will be reserved for the third volume.
Allibone, S. Austin. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. (3 vols.) Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1874. (Supplement to Allibone. By John Foster Kirk. Lippincott, 1891, 2 vols.)
Atkinson, F. W. List of American Drama in the Atkinson Collection. 1756-1915. Brooklyn, January 1, 1916.
Bates, Alfred. Drama. Vols. XIX, XX. For American Drama.
Becks. Collection of Prompt Books in the New York Public Library. Bulletin, February, 1906, pp. 100-148.
Brown, T. Allston. A History of the New York Stage. From the First Performance in 1732 to 1901. (3 vols.) New York: Dodd, Mead & Co. 1903.
Burton, Richard. The New American Drama. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co. 1913.
Clapp, William W., Jr. A Record of the Boston Stage. Boston: James Munroe and Company. 1853.
Clark, Barrett H. The British and American Drama of Today. New York: Henry Holt & Co. 1915.
Crawford, Mary Caroline. The Romance of the American Theatre. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1913.
Daly, Hon. Charles P. First Theatre in America: When Was the Drama First Introduced in America? An Inquiry. Dunlap Soc. Pub., n. s. 1, 1896.
Dickinson, Thomas H. The Case of American Drama. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1915.
Dunlap, William. History of the American Theatre. London: Richard Bentley. 1833.
Durang, Charles. History of the Philadelphia Stage. 1749-1855. (Published serially in the Philadelphia Dispatch.)
Duyckinck, Evert A. and George L. The Cyclopedia of American Literature: From the Earliest Period to the Present Day. Philadelphia: William Rutter & Co. 1877. (2 vols.)
Evans, Charles. American Biography. 8 vols. Privately Printed.
Faxon, Frederick W. Dramatic Index. Boston Book Co. 1909 seq.
Ford, Paul Leicester. The Beginnings of American Dramatic Literature. New England Magazine, n. s. 9:673-687, February, 1894.
Ford, Paul Leicester. Some Notes Toward an Essay on the Beginnings of American Dramatic Literature. 1606-1789.
Ford, Paul Leicester. Washington and the Theatre. Dunlap Soc. Pub., n. s. 8, 1899.
Gaisford, John. Drama in New Orleans. New Orleans. 1849.
Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. Female Poets of America, With Additions by R. H. Stoddard. New York, 1843-1873.
Griswold, Rufus Wilmot. Prose Writers of America. Philadelphia: Parry & McMillan. 1854.
Harris, C. Fiske. Index to American Poetry and Plays in the Collection of. Providence, 187-.
Harrison, Gabriel. History of the Drama in Brooklyn.
Haskell, Daniel C. (Compiler.) American Dramas, A List of, in the New York Public Library. New York, 1916. (See also Bulletin of the New York Public Library, October, 1915.)
Hildeburn, Charles R. The Issues of the Press in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, 1886.
Hutton, Laurence. Curiosities of the American Stage. New York: Harper & Bros. 1891.
Ireland, Joseph N. Records of the New York Stage, from 1750 to 1860. (2 vols.) New York: T. H. Morrell, Publisher. 1866.
Ludlow, N. M. Dramatic Life as I Found It: A Record of Personal Experience with an Account of the Drama in the West and South. St. Louis: G. I. Jones & Co. 1880.
Matthews, J. B. American on the Stage. Scribner, 28:321.
Matthews, J. B. A Book About the Theatre. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1916.
Moses, Montrose J. The American Dramatist. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1917.
Moses, Montrose J. Famous Actor-Families in America. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. 1906.
Pence, James Harry. (Compiler.) The Magazine and the Drama. An Index. New York: The Dunlap Society. 1896.
Phelps, H. P. Players of a Century. A Record of the Albany Stage. Albany, 1880.
Rees, J. The Dramatic Authors of America. Philadelphia, 1845.
Roden, Robert F. Later American Plays. 1831-1900. New York: The Dunlap Society. (1900, n. s. 12.)
Sabin, Joseph. Dictionary of Books Relating to America. From Its Discovery to the Present Time. Vol. 1, seq. New York: 1868 seq.
Sabine, Lorenzo. Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution. (2 vols.) Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1864.
Scharf, J. Thomas, and Westcott, Thompson. History of Philadelphia. 1609-1884. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co. 1884.
Sears, Alonzo. American Literature in the Colonial and National Periods. Boston: Little, Brown & Co. 1902.
Seilhamer, George O. I. History of the American Theatre Before the Revolution. Philadelphia, 1888. II. History of the American Theatre During the Revolution and After. Philadelphia, 1889. III. History of the American Theatre: New Foundations. Philadelphia, 1891.
Simpson, Henry. The Lives of Eminent Philadelphians, Now Deceased. Collected from Original and Authentic Sources. Philadelphia: William Brotherhead. 1859.
Smith, Solomon Franklin. Theatrical Management in the West and South for Thirty Years, with Anecdotal Sketches. New York: Harper & Bros. 1868.
Sonneck, Oscar George Theodore. Catalogue of Opera Librettos Printed Before 1800. (2 vols.) Washington: Government Printing Office. 1914.
Sonneck, O. G. T. Early Opera in America. New York: G. Schirmer. 1915.
Sonneck, O. G. T. Report on the Star-Spangled Banner, Hail Columbia, America, and Yankee Doodle. Washington: Government Printing Office. 1909.
Stone, Henry Dickinson. Personal Recollections of the Drama. Albany, 1873.
Times, New York. The Early Theatre. December 15, 1895, p. 13.
Tompkins, Eugene, and Kilby, Quincy. History of the Boston Theatre. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 1908.
Tyler, Moses Coit. The Literary History of the American Revolution. 1763-1783. (2 vols.) New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. 1897.
Wegelin, Oscar. The Beginning of the Drama in America. Literary Collector, 9:177-181, 1905.
Wegelin, Oscar. Early American Plays. 1714-1830. New York: The Literary Collector Press. 1905. (See Dunlap Soc. Pub., n. s. 10, 1900; also the Literary Collector, 2:82-84.)
Wemyss, F. C. Chronology of the American Stage from 1752 to 1852. New York: Wm. Taylor & Co.
Wemyss, F. C. Twenty-six Years of the Life of an Actor and Manager. (2 vols.) New York: Burgess, Stringer & Co. 1847.
Wilkins, Frederick H. Early Influence of German Literature in America. Americana Germanica, 3:103-205, 1899.
Willard, George O. History of the Providence Stage. 1762-1891. Providence: R. I. News Co. 1891.
Wilson, James Grant. (Editor.) The Memorial History of the City of New York. (4 vols.) New York History Co. 1892 seq.
Winsor, Justin. The Memorial History of Boston, including Suffolk Co., Mass. 1630-1880. Boston: Ticknor & Co. 1880.
Winter, William. The Wallet of Time. (2 vols.) New York: Moffat, Yard & Co. 1913.
Wood, William B. Personal Recollections of the Stage. Embracing Notices of Actors, Authors, and Auditors, During a Period of Forty Years. Philadelphia: Henry Carey Baird. 1855.
INDIVIDUAL BIOGRAPHIES FOR PLAYS.
Only essential references are given, and wherever possible the author's name is indicated, rather than the title. In such cases, the full title of the reference may be had by consulting the General Bibliography.
Thomas Godfrey, Jr.
William Allen, American Biographical Dictionary; Dunlap, i, 50; Seilhamer, i, 185; Tyler, Consult Index; Journal of William Black; Journal of Sarah Eve, Extracts from the: Written while living near the City of Philadelphia in 1772-1773 (Philadelphia, 1881); American Museum, 471-472; Journal National Institute Sciences, i: 165, 1915; Nation, 100:415, April 15, 1915.
Major Robert Rogers
Allibone; Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography; Dictionary of National Biography; Duyckinck; Ryerson, American Loyalists; Sabin; Sabine, American Loyalists; Tyler; Winsor. Ellis P. Oberholtzer, Literary History of Philadelphia (1906); Sears. Canadian Magazine, 1914, 42:316-318; Dial (Chicago), 59:68-69; 97, 1915; Historical Magazine (New York), April, 1860, 127; New England Magazine, 1894, n. s. 9:678; Royal Society of Canada Proceedings and Transactions, ser. 2, vol. 6, sec. 2, pp. 49-59, Ottawa, 1900. The reader is also referred to the Nevins re-issue of "Ponteach," in which full bibliographies are given; also to Parkman's "History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac." Consult Caleb Stark's "Memoir and Official Correspondence of Gen. John Stark, with Notices of Several other Officers of the Revolution. Also, a Biography of Capt. Phinehas Stevens, and of Colonel Robert Rogers" (1860).
Mrs. Mercy Warren
Alice Brown, "Mercy Warren" (Women of Colonial and Revolutionary Times). New York: Scribner's, 1896; Duyckinck; Ellet, Women of the American Revolution; Fiske, John, American Revolution; Griswold, Female Poets of America; Mrs. Hale, Woman's Record; Rees, 132; Seilhamer, ii, 3; Winsor, Boston; Wegelin. Adams, Works of John—ed. by Charles Francis Adams.—Consult Index; Blackwood Magazine, xvii, 203; Correspondence Relating to Mrs. Warren's History of the American Revolution, Mass. Hist. Coll., ser. 5, v. 4, 315-511; Harper's Magazine, 1884, 68:749; New England Magazine, 1894, n. s. 9:680; North American Review, lxviii, 415. In studying first editions of plays, the reader is referred to the Bibliographies of Charles Evans and Charles Hildeburn.
Hugh Henry Brackenridge
Allibone; Duyckinck; Victor H. Paltsits, A Bibliography of the Separate and Collected Works of Philip Freneau (including Brackenridge)—New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1903; 1846 edition of Brackenridge's "Modern Chivalry," containing a biographical sketch by his son; Oberholtzer; Tyler; United States Magazine (in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania). The reader is also referred to Mary S. Austin's "Philip Freneau, the Poet of the Revolution: A History of his Life and Times" (1901); F. L. Pattee's "The Poems of Philip Freneau: Poet of the American Revolution"—Edited for the Princeton Historical Association, 3 volumes, 1902-1907; Samuel Davies Alexander's "Princeton College during the Eighteenth Century;" James Madison's Correspondence while at College; W. C. Armor's "Lives of the Governors of Pennsylvania," for a picture and an account of the administration of Governor Thomas Mackean. Consult also, for college atmosphere, the Journals of Philip Fithian, and the Correspondence of the Rev. Ezra Stiles, Letter of July 23, 1762, published by the Yale Press. (Styles encouraged "The Mercenary Match," by Barnabas Bidwell.)
John Leacock
Durang; Duyckinck; Hildeburn; Ford; Sabin; Seilhamer, ii, 10; Tyler; "New Travels through North-America." Translated from the Original of the AbbÉ Robin [Claude C.], one of the Chaplains to the French Army in America, 1783. (Observations made in 1781); Sonneck's "Early Opera in America;" Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia;" Philadelphia Directories as mentioned in text.
Samuel Low
Dunlap; Duyckinck; Sabin; Seilhamer, ii, 284; Stedman-Hutchinson, Cyclopedia of American Literature; New York Directories as mentioned.
Royall Tyler
Allibone; Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography; Dunlap, i, 137; Duyckinck; Ireland, i, 76; Stedman-Hutchinson, Library of American Literature; Winsor; "Memoirs of the Hon. Royall Tyler: Late Chief Justice of Vermont. Compiled from his Papers by his son, Thomas Pickman Tyler, 1873" (Unpublished). According to information (1917), this manuscript, incomplete, is being brought to a close by Helen Tyler Brown, great-granddaughter of the Judge. There is likewise a life of Mary Tyler, unpublished, written by herself when quite an old woman.
Consult also: J. T. Buckingham's "Personal Memoirs and Recollections," 2 vols., 1852; J. T. Buckingham's "Specimens of Newspaper Literature," 2 vols., 1850; Vermont Bar Association Proceedings, 1878-1886, vol. i, pp. 44-62, an article by the Rev. Thomas P. Tyler, D.D., of Brattleboro; Harold Milton Ellis's "Joseph Dennie and His Circle: A Study in American Literature from 1792 to 1812."—Studies in English, No. 1, Bulletin of the University of Texas, No. 40, July 15, 1915; John Trumbull's "Autobiographical Reminiscences and Letters, 1756-1841." The correspondence relating to Shays's Rebellion is to be found in "Brattleboro, Wyndham Co., Vermont, Early History, with Biographical Sketches. Henry Burnham."—Edited by Abby Maria Hemenway (Includes an excellent picture of Royall Tyler); William Willis's "The Law, the Courts and the Lawyers of Maine" (1863). Further references to Tyler are contained in Rees, 131; Mitchell, American Lands; John Adams' Works; Sonneck's "Opera in America," under "May-day in Town;" Seilhamer, ii, 227; Delineator (New York), 85:7; New England Magazine, 1894, n. s. 9:674; North American Review, July, 1858, 281.
Among Tyler's works, other than those mentioned in the Introduction, may be recorded:
1. "The Algerine Captive; or, The Life and Adventures of Dr. Updike Underhill, Six Years a Prisoner Among the Algerines." 2 vols. Walpole, N. H., 1797.
2. "Moral Tales for American Youths." Boston, 1800.
3. "The Yankee in London: A Series of Letters, written by an American Youth during Nine Months of Residence in the City of London." New York, 1809.
4. Tyler wrote for the newspapers with Joseph Dennie, Walpole, N. H., and published selections from his contributions under the title of "The Spirit of the Farmer's Museum and Lay Preacher's Gazette." He also contributed poems to the Farmer's Weekly Museum, to the Portfolio, to the Columbia Centinel, to the New England Galaxy, and to the Polyanthus. Prose works were likewise included therein. Some of his contributions to the Farmer's Museum were gathered together in 1798 under the title of "Colon and Spondee Papers," and issued by the pioneer American printer, Isaiah Thomas.
William Dunlap
The reader is referred to Dunlap's own "History of the American Theatre," and to his numerous other prose works, notably his Lives of Charles Brockden Brown and George Frederick Cooke. The Dunlap Society's Reprints of "AndrÉ" (iv. 1887), "Darby's Return" (n. s. 8, 1899), and "The Father" (ii, 1887) contain biographical data. See Oscar Wegelin's "William Dunlap and His Writings," Literary Collector, 7:69-76, 1904; O. S. Coad's "William Dunlap: A Study of his Life and Writings, and of Contemporary Culture" (scheduled for issuance by the Dunlap Society in 1917); Dunlap's Diary, in the Library of the New York Historical Society: Vol. 14, July 27-Dec. 13, 1797; vol. 15, Dec. 14, 1797-June 1, 1798; vol. 24, Oct. 15, 1819-April 14, 1820; vol. 30, June 27, 1833-Dec. 31, 1834. Consult also Duyckinck; Rees, 76; Stedman-Hutchinson, Library of American Literature; Seilhamer, Index; Wood, Personal Recollections; Sonneck's "The Musical Side of George Washington;" Analytical Magazine, i, 404, 466; New England Magazine, 1894, n. s. 9, 684. See Wegelin, Evans, Hildeburn.
James Nelson Barker
Dunlap, ii, 307; Durang; Ireland; Rees; Diary of Manager Wood, in possession of the University of Pennsylvania. Also Griswold's "Poets and Poetry of America;" Oberholtzer's "Literary History of Philadelphia;" Simpson. Barker's political writings were extensive.
Mordecai Manuel Noah
Dunlap, ii, 316; Ireland, i, 356; Jewish Encyclopedia; National Cyclopedia of American Biography. See also Allibone; Duyckinck; P. K. Foley's "American Authors;" Oberholtzer's "Literary History of Philadelphia;" Rees; Scharf and Westcott; James Grant Wilson's "Fitz-Green Halleck;" International Magazine, iii, 282; American Jewish Historical Society Pub., No. 6, 1897, 113-121; Lippincott, i, 665; J. T. Trowbridge's "My Own Story. With Recollections of Noted Persons" (1903).
