McManus-Young clipping collection of materials on magic, 1870-1955

Collection Summary

Title	McManus-Young clipping collection of materials on magic, 1870-1955
Span Dates	1870-1955
ID No.	rb019002
Creator	Library of Congress. Rare Book and Special Collections Division
Extent	42 boxes
Extent	Approximate number of items: 17,000
Language	Collection material is primarily in English.
Location	Rare Book & Special Collections Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Finding Aid Permalink	Cite or bookmark this finding aid as: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/eadrbc.rb019002
LCCN Permalink	LC Catalog record: https://lccn.loc.gov/2020365000
Summary	With a date span of 1779 through 1955, the McManus-Young Collection provides a rich survey of the literature of "illusion practices," which includes works on conjuring, ventriloquism, fortune-telling, spiritualism, witchcraft, gambling, hypnotism, automata, and mind reading comprised of a gathering of thousands of pamphlets and offprints. This ephemeral literature is the backbone of modern magic. Through these small publications, tricks are revealed and outlined, techniques are discussed and performances are detailed. The clippings in the collection include nearly 17,000 items.