George and Hart's Georgia Up To Date Minstrels Scrapbook
name: label: Creator
content: George, J. Edward (manager)
label: Creator
content: Up To Date Georgia Minstrels (performers)
label: Creator
content: San Diego Historical Society
label: Creator
content: Hart, G. E. (manager)
label: Names
content: Cissel and Mines, entertainers
label: Names
content: Oliver and Gilliam (entertainers)
label: Names
content: Cissel, Clarence (entertainer)
label: Names
content: Gillam, Harry (entertainer)
label: Names
content: Gilliam, Bessie (entertainer)
label: Names
content: Mines, Augusta (entertainer)
label: Names
content: Oliver, Jack (entertainer)
label: Names
content: Williams, Billy (entertainer)
topic: label: Topic
content: Minstrels -- 1900-1910
label: Topic
content: Revues -- 1900-1910
label: Topic
content: Contortionists -- 1900-1910
label: Topic
content: Minstrel shows -- 1900-1910
label: Topic
content: Troubadours -- 1900-1910 -- United States
label: Topic
content: African American entertainers -- 20th century
label: Topic
content: Acrobats -- 1900-1910
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The material was donated to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History by the San Diego Historical Society on March 11, 1997. The Society has no further information about the scrapbook which was outside the scope of its collecting policy.
creator: label: Creator
content: George, J. Edward (manager)
label: Creator
content: Up To Date Georgia Minstrels (performers)
label: Creator
content: San Diego Historical Society
label: Creator
content: Hart, G. E. (manager)
setName: label: See more items in
content: George and Hart's Georgia Up To Date Minstrels Scrapbook
abstract: label: Summary
content: Scrapbook contains articles and ephemera relating to an African American troupe of thirty five minstrels who performed in the Pacific Northwestern United States.
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: George and Hart's Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were an African American troupe of thirty-five entertainers about whom this scrapbook was created.   In 1901, these minstrels were described as "the only colored show running for thirty years."  The troupe, which began circa 1866, was billed as "the most popular" troupe of performers from California to Montana to Washington to New Mexico to Colorado to Minnesota. They performed standard minstrel acts and included a contortionist, an acrobatic act, and a male impersonator. This form of theater entertainment was used by African American dramatic performers for consistent employment with reasonable wages. The Up To Date Georgia Minstrels were said to have been the "highest paid" performers in the area, making five to fifteen dollars a week. The troupe was managed by George Hart.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 0.1 Cubic feet (1 box, 1-map folder)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1876-1901
custodhist: label: Ownership and Custodial History
content: Donated by the San Diego Historical Society. The initial contact was between Sally West, San Diego Historical Society Assistant Archivist, and National Museum of American History Chief Archivist, John Fleckner.
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0576
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Advertisements
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is arranged in one series.
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Collection processed by Ida Jones, archivist, May 1997; Deborra Richardson, archivist, May 1997; and Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, archivist, 2015.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 1880-1910
label: Genre/Form
content: Advertisements -- 1900-1910
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The scrapbook offers documentation of the troupe's activities dating from 1876-1909 in the Pacific Northwestern United States.  It contains articles, ticket stubs, newspaper and magazine clippings, and programs. Also included are brief biographical sketches of Billy Williams, the contortionist, and Harry Gillam, the "Hebrew acrobat," and an article about the managers of the Up To Date minstrels, J. Edward George and G. E. Hart.  In addition, there are business cards from other minstrel performing groups including, Cissel and Mines and Oliver and Gilliam, with accompanying pictures. There are loose materials which were probably once part of the scrapbook, including programs and letterhead stationery.  There are also photographs of the troupe taken in Missouri in 1900 standing outside a train car as they travelled from one location to another. The materials are arranged first by type and then in chronological order.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History

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