Custodial History
A theatrical company directed by William H. Chippendale likely used the scripts that constitute this collection. It is believed that actor and theater manager Solomon Smith (1801–1869) arranged for Chippendale to direct and tour the United States with an English dramatic company. While on tour, the company was victim to theft and needed to replace their costumes and scripts. The police recovered the materials after the tour, but the company could not afford to ship them back to England, and the materials remained in the possession of Smith’s family. The family bound the scripts at an unknown date. During the 1980s, Gregory Crow inherited the collection from Mrs. Emerson Brown, Smith’s great-granddaughter. Crow donated the scripts to the Library in 2018.
Print sources do not document the company’s U.S. tour. Chippendale signed, dated, and annotated many of the scripts. These markings show that he used the materials while managing a dramatic company at Niblo’s Garden in New York City from 1841 to 1842 and when Smith employed him as a stage manager in 1850–1851. Chippendale did not date any of the scripts after 1851, the year his employment with Smith ended, which suggests that they were stolen at this time. It is unlikely that Chippendale parted with the materials willingly, as he had used them for many years. Other actors also signed a few of the scripts, which further supports the existence of a company. Smith’s son Thad signed a script in 1864, connecting the materials with the family after Chippendale returned to England in 1853. Scripts dating later than 1853 are present, the year that Smith retired from theater and Chippendale returned to England. Consequently, it appears the collection includes a few items added by Smith’s descendants that are unrelated to Chippendale or his company.