The Boston Museum (1841–1903), also called the Boston Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, was a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

wax museum A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes. Some wax museums have a special section dubb ...

natural history museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

zoo A zoo (short for zoological garden; also called an animal park or menagerie) is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes. The term ''zoological garden'' refers to zoo ...

, and

art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. Although primarily con ...

in 19th-century

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

Moses Kimball Moses Kimball (October 24, 1809 – February 21, 1895) was a US politician and showman. Kimball was a close associate of P. T. Barnum, and public-spirited citizen of Boston, Massachusetts. Biography Kimball was descended from Richard and Urs ...

established the enterprise in 1841.

History

The Boston Museum exhibited items acquired from

Ethan Allen Greenwood Ethan Allen Greenwood (1779–1856) was an American lawyer, portrait painter, and entrepreneurial museum proprietor in Boston, Massachusetts, in the early 19th century. He established the New England Museum in 1818. Biography Greenwood was bo ...

's former New England Museum; tableaux of wax figures; live animals; and artworks by John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart,

Benjamin West Benjamin West, (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as '' The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

Thomas Badger __NOTOC__ Thomas Badger (1792–1868) was an artist in Boston, Massachusetts, in the 19th century. He specialized in portraits. He trained with John Ritto Penniman. Portrait subjects included: John Abbot; William Allen, of Bowdoin College;Maine H ...

and others. Early live shows presented, for instance, "the musical olio, consisting of solos on glass bells, and birch-bark whistling." Theatrical performances began in 1843. Through the years, notable performers included:

Lawrence Barrett Lawrence Barrett (April 4, 1838 – March 20, 1891) was an American stage actor. Biography A native of Paterson, New Jersey, Barrett was born in 1838 to Mary Agnes (née Read) Barrett and tailor Thomas Barrett, Irish immigrants who had settle ...

Edwin Booth Edwin Thomas Booth (November 13, 1833 – June 7, 1893) was an American actor who toured throughout the United States and the major capitals of Europe, performing Shakespearean plays. In 1869, he founded Booth's Theatre in New York. Some theatri ...

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth ...

, Madge Lessing,

Richard Mansfield Richard Mansfield (24 May 1857 – 30 August 1907) was an English actor-manager best known for his performances in Shakespeare plays, Gilbert and Sullivan operas, and the play '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde''. Life and career Mansfield was born ...

E. H. Sothern Edward Hugh Sothern (December 6, 1859 – October 28, 1933) was an American actor who specialized in dashing, romantic leading roles and particularly in Shakespeare roles. Biography Sothern was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of English ...

Mary Ann Vincent Mary Ann Vincent (September 18, 1818 – September 4, 1887) was a British born American actress. Biography Mary Ann Vincent was born in Portsmouth, England on September 18, 1818, the daughter of an Irishman named Farlin. Left an orphan at an ea ...

, and William Warren. An advertisement of 1850 described the museum's key attractions:

"The museum is the largest, most valuable, and best arranged in the United States. It comprises no less than seven different museums, to which has been added the present year, besides the constant daily accumulation of articles, one half of the celebrated Peale's Philadelphia Museum, swelling the already immense collection to upwards of half a million articles, the greatest amount of objects of interest to be found together at any one place in America; and an entirely new hall of wax statuary.... and the immense collection of birds, beasts, fish, insects and reptiles;... paintings, engravings and statuary; ... Egyptian mummies, ... family of Peruvian mummies; the duck-billed platypus;... the curious half-fish, half-human Fejee Mermaid;... elephants and ourang-outangs..."

The Museum held a recruiting office for Company D. of the

22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry The 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an Infantry in the American Civil War, infantry regiment in the Union (American Civil War), Union army during the American Civil War. The 22nd Massachusetts was organized by United States Sen ...

in 1861 at the start of the Civil War.

Architecture

Hammatt Billings Charles Howland Hammatt Billings (1818–1874) was an artist and architect from Boston, Massachusetts. Among his works are the original illustrations for ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (both the initial printing and an expanded 1853 edition), the Nat ...

designed the original museum building, located at 18

Tremont Street Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts. Tremont Street begins at Government Center in Boston's city center as a continuation of Cambridge Street, and forms the eastern edge of Boston Common. Continuing in a roughly so ...

; In 1846 Hammatt and J. E. Billings also designed the museum's next building, at 28 Tremont Street, located next door to the Massachusetts Historical Society, and close to the

King's Chapel Burying Ground King's Chapel Burying Ground is a historic graveyard on Tremont Street, near its intersection with School Street, in Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1630, it is the oldest graveyard in the city and is a site on the Freedom Trail. Despi ...

. The interior of the museum's 1846 building featured decoration by

Ignaz Gaugengigl Ignaz Michael Marcel Gaugengigl (16 January 1855 – 3 August 1932) was a German-American painter and engraver who worked primarily in the United States. He specialized in portraits and historical paintings. Biography Ignaz Gaugengigl was born ...

he buildingis arranged in two main portions with an area between for light and air, one communicating with the other at either end by a wide passage. The building upon Tremont Street, the front of which is of Granite in a chaste and beautiful style of Venetian Architecture, with three spacious balconies running the entire length of the building, contains on the first story, five commodious stores, and the entrance to the Museum. Above this story, the whole front building to the eaves, three stories, is occupied as a grand Corinthian Hall... containing the collection. The galleries... are supported by twenty stately columns rising from the floor.... A spacious staircase and passage-way leads to the Exhibition Hall in the rear building... capable of accommodating nearly two thousand persons."

Images

Image:BostonMuseum TremontSt Boston byAbelBowen.png, Boston Museum, no.18 Tremont St., Boston, 1841-1846 Image:Feejee mermaid.jpg, Feejee Mermaid, 1842 Image:Poster BostonMuseum 19thc.png, Advertisement for the Boston Museum, 19th century Image:Cyprus GleasPict 2.JPG, ''The Children of Cyprus''; 1851 production Image:Cyprus finale.jpg, ''The Children of Cyprus'' (final act); 1851 production Image:John Wilkes Booth playbill in Boston.jpg, Playbill, 1864 Image:1883 Walker map Boston.png, Detail of 1883 map of Boston, showing location of the Boston Museum Image:1894 JuniusBrutusBooth EdwinBooth BostonMuseum.png, Junius Brutus Booth and Edwin Booth, 19th century Image:1885 MrsVincent BostonMuseum.png, Mrs. Vincent, 1885 Image:1894 BostonMuseum2 theatre Bostonian v1 no2.png, Green room, 1894 Image:1903 WilliamWarren as Batkins BostonMuseum.png, William Warren, 1903 Image:1903 BostonMuseum2.png, Theatre interior, ca.1903 Image:The Boston Museum Stock Company, 1889-1890.png, Boston Museum Stock Company, 1889-1890

Selected shows

* ''

The Drunkard ''The Drunkard; or, The Fallen Saved'' is an American temperance play first performed on February 12, 1844.

'' (1844) * ''Aladdin'' (1846) * ''Sweethearts'' (1847) * ''The Forty Thieves and the Fairy of the Lake'', by Michael Kelley (1849) * ''

King Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Batt ...

'' (1849) * ''Children of Cyprus'' (1851) * ''Nature's Nobleman'' (1851) * ''The Seven Castles'' (1851) * ''The Enchanted Harp'' (1852) * ''The Silver Spoon'', by Joseph Stevens Jones (1852) * ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852) * ''The Jewess'' (1853) * ''The Talisman or, The Fairy's Favor'' (1853) * ''Hard Times'' (1854) * ''Make Your Wills'', by Edward Mayhew and G. Smith (1854) * Peter Wilkins Or—The Flying Islanders (1854) * ''The Forty Thieves'' (1856) * ''Neighbor Jackwood'' (1857) * ''

The Sea of Ice ''The Sea of Ice'', (German: ''Das Eismeer'') (1823–1824), is an oil painting that depicts a shipwreck in the Arctic by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich. Before 1826 this painting was known as ''The Polar Sea''.Heuer, p. 169 ...

'' (1857) * ''Bluebeard'' (1860) * ''Buckstone's Married Life'' (1861) *

Dion Boucicault Dionysius Lardner "Dion" Boucicault (né Boursiquot; 26 December 1820 – 18 September 1890) was an Irish actor and playwright famed for his melodramas. By the later part of the 19th century, Boucicault had become known on both sides of the ...

's ''The Octaroon'' (1861) * ''My Lord and my Lady'' (1861) *

Tom Taylor Tom Taylor (19 October 1817 – 12 July 1880) was an English dramatist, critic, biographer, public servant, and editor of ''Punch'' magazine. Taylor had a brief academic career, holding the professorship of English literature and language a ...

's ''Babes in the Wood'' (1861) * ''Uncle Robert'' (1861) * ''Lady of Lyons'', by

Edward Bulwer-Lytton Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, PC (25 May 180318 January 1873) was an English writer and politician. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secret ...

(1862) * ''The Apostate'' (1863) * ''Romeo and Juliet'' (1864) * ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, whic ...

'' (1878) * '' Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde'' (1887) * ''Agatha'', by Isaac Henderson (1892) * ''The Shanghraun'' (1892)Plays and players in Boston. ''New York Times'', Feb. 14, 1892; p.13. * ''Hours with Dickens'' (1892)Plays and players in Boston. New York Times, Feb. 14, 1892; p.13. * ''The Prodigal Father'' (1893) * ''Tobasco'' (c. 1894) * ''The Widow Jones'' (c. 1895) * '' Mrs. Dane's Defense'' (1903)

Selected performers

* Mr. & Mrs. J. W. Wallack, Jr (1850) * Horn, Wells, and Briggs' Ethiopian Serenaders (1851) * Mad. Radinski (1851) * Mr. C. D. Pitt. (1851) * Mrs. Barrett (1851) * Annetta Galletti (1852) * Henry Sedley (1852) * Julia Bennett (1852) * Caroline Richings and Mr. Peter Richings (1853) * Lysander Thompson (1853) * Miss Eliza Logan (1853) * Agnes Robertson (1854) * Annette Ince (1854) * Miss E. Raymond (1854) * Louisa Howard and Mr. H. Farren (1855) * Mr. Geo. Jamison (1855) * Mrs. Annie Senter (1855) * E. F. Keach (1856) * James Bennett (1856) * Mrs Farren (1856) * Annie Senter (1857) * Mr & Mrs E. L. Davenport (1857) * Mr. J. W. Wallack, Jr. (1857) * Mrs. W. C. Gladstane (1857) * Mrs. D. P. Bowers (1857) * Mr. L. P. Barrett (1858) * Virginia Cunningham (1858) * Cooper Opera Troupe (1860) * H. C. Cooper. (1860) * Kate Reignolds (1860) * Miss Joey Gougenheim (1860) * Charles Dillon (1861) * Emma Waller (1861) * Mr. C. W. Couldock (1861) * Mr. Sothern (1861) * Charlotte Thompson (1862) * Edwin Adams (1862) * Fox's Ravel Troupe (1862) * Matilda Heron (1862) * Miss Bateman (1862) *

(1863) * Mary Frances Scott-Siddons (1868) * Walter Montgomery (1871) *

Evelyn Campbell Evelyn Campbell (sometimes known as Evelyn Murray Campbell) was an American screenwriter, writer, and actress active during Hollywood's silent era. Biography Campbell was born in Kansas to J.C. Murray (a lawyer) and Maggie Parker; early on, s ...

(1889-90)

References

External links

* WorldCat
Boston Museum (1847-1903)
* Boston Athenaeum
Theatre history
* Yale University Library
Last nights but two of the engagement of Mrs. Barrett
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boston Museum (Theatre) Defunct museums in Boston Former theatres in Boston Infrastructure completed in 1846 Former buildings and structures in Boston 1841 establishments in Massachusetts 1903 disestablishments Financial District, Boston 19th century in Boston Museums established in 1841