An exhibit from the personal collection of Professor Emeritus Don B. Wilmeth, supplemented by items from Brown’s Special Collections
This exhibit was mounted during September and October 2010.
The exhibit focused on some of the pioneer entertainment forms and entrepreneurs who dominated the amusement business in England and the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. These include pleasure gardens and annual fairs; equestrian demonstrations and dramas featuring animals; the minstrel show and early vaudeville. There are child prodigies, pantomimes, and the early popular museum. Formats include broadsides, playbills, and satirical prints, along with photographs, pamphlets, and posters.
The exhibit was enhanced by the seventh annual Wilmeth Lecture on American theatre and performance. This special event was held on October 3, 2010, in the John Hay Library. The distinguished speaker was Laurence Senelick, Fletcher Professor of Drama and Oratory at Tufts University and an internationally known authority on popular entertainments. His topic was “Custard’s First Stand: The Origins of American Slapstick Comedy.”
Guest curator: Don B. Wilmeth, Asa Messer Professor Emeritus and Emeritus Professor of Theatre and of English, Brown University (retired in 2003). Download Professor Wilmeth’s complete catalog of the exhibit.
