During the 19th century, Philadelphians flocked to theaters in droves to see burlesque shows, minstrel shows, vaudeville, melodramas, comedies, and musicals. The demand for this type of entertainment can be seen in the sheer number of theaters open in Philadelphia during this time, with the most popular destinations being the Walnut Street, Chestnut Street, Continental, Arch Street, and Academy of Music theaters. The 19th Century Playbills collection at the Free Library provides a fascinating glimpse into the Philadelphia theater culture throughout this time period, not only through the spans of playbills in the collection, but also the dozens of scrapbooks put together by theatergoing fans.
This collection boasts thousands of playbills from several Philadelphia theaters. The Chestnut Street Theater, one of Philadelphia’s earliest, has playbills in this collection dating back as early as 1803. The Walnut and Arch Street Theaters are also well represented in the collection, with hundreds of playbills for each theater.
Each playbill provided all the information the public would need in deciding whether or not they would attend a production. This typically included a list of actors, a schedule of events (most theaters would offer more than one event per evening), ticket prices, and even a synopsis of the plays.
Like film and theater fans today, many theatergoers during the 19th century weren’t satisfied with simply attending a production. They wanted to document their theater experiences by saving the playbills, tickets, and related ephemera of performances they attended. Some enthusiasts even arranged these saved items into scrapbooks. The 19th Century Playbills collection includes dozens of theater-related scrapbooks assembled by Philadelphians. Flipping through the pages of these scrapbooks, one can see the various interests of theatergoers during this period. Some scrapbooks were dutifully arranged by date and location, as if the creator wanted to track their weekly theater consumption. Other scrapbooks resemble collages, with playbills, ticket stubs, and published reviews glued adjacent to one another, representing a more overall experience.
Some were dedicated exclusively to photos of popular actors and actresses, a reminder that American celebrity culture has deeper roots than one might expect. Overall, this was an amazing collection for anyone looking to learn more about Philadelphia theater history.
