Guide to the Helena Modjeska Collection MS.R.037

Processed by Su Kim Chung; machine-readable finding aid created by William Landis; edited by Sara Seltzer

Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries

The UCI Libraries

P.O. Box 19557

University of California, Irvine

Irvine, California, 92623-9557

949-824-3947

spcoll@uci.edu

Title: Helena Modjeska collection

Identifier/Call Number: MS.R.037

Contributing Institution: Special Collections and Archives, University of California, Irvine Libraries

Language of Material: English

Physical Description: 2.1 Linear feet (4 boxes and 5 oversize folders)

Date: circa 1877-1989 and undated

Abstract: The artificial collection comprises primary and secondary source materials on Helena Modjeska, a nineteenth-century Polish stage actress who had a successful career in the United States. Most items pertain to her stage career, while others provide insight into Modjeska's life at her Santiago Canyon ranch, Arden, in Orange County, California. Primary sources include original and photocopied Modjeska correspondence, ephemera, programs and playbills, photographs, scrapbooks, and artifacts. Secondary sources include biographical information on Modjeska in newspaper clippings, manuscripts typescripts, and published journal articles written by a number of authors.

Creator: UCI Libraries. Department of Special Collections and Archives.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Researchers must use preservation photocopies of restricted fragile items in Box 3.

Publication Rights

Property rights reside with the University of California. Copyrights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or to publish, please contact the Head of Special Collections and Archives.

Preferred Citation

Helena Modjeska collection. MS-R037. Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California. Date accessed.

For the benefit of current and future researchers, please cite any additional information about sources consulted in this collection, including permanent URLs, item or folder descriptions, and box/folder locations.

Acquisition Information

Acquired, 1984, 2009, and 2013. Gifts of Ellen K. Lee in 1986 and Santa Ana College (Ernest Phillips material) in circa 1965. Source is unknown for some materials.

Processing History

Processed by Su Kim Chung, 1998. Additions made by Sara Seltzer, 2013-2014.

Biography

Helena Modjeska was born Helena Opid on October 12, 1840 in Krakow, Poland. Her interest in acting began at a young age, and she left school early to train with a local actor. Under the management of Gustave Sinnmayer Modrzejewski, she made her theatrical debut as Helena Modrzejewska in Bochnia, Poland in 1861. Although she had two children by Modrzejewski, they never married, and after the death of her three-year old daughter in 1865, she left him and returned to Krakow with her young son Ralph.

As a member of a local theater company in Krakow, Modrzejewska's fame continued to grow as the company toured Poland. It was during one such tour that she met Karol Bozenta Chlapowski, a young Polish aristocrat who had recently spent a year in a Prussian prison for participating in revolutionary activities. They were married in September 1868, and with Chlapowski now managing her business affairs, the couple moved to Warsaw. As the leading actress of the Russian-controlled Imperial Theater in Warsaw, Modrzejewska played 284 roles over the course of six years.

Although Modrzejewska's position brought professional success, the strenuous workload was detrimental to her health. It was at this time that Modrzejewska, at the urging of friends, decided to visit the United States in an effort to regain her strength, and possibly to seek a career on the American stage. Chlapowski, who hoped to establish a colony of Polish emigrants in California, eagerly embraced the plan.

The members of Chlapowski's Polish colony (eight in all) settled in Santa Ana, on a small rented farm not far from Anaheim, in October 1876. In January 1877, Modrzejewska left for San Francisco in hopes of re-establishing her theatrical career. After studying English for only four months, she felt confident enough to audition for her first role. With her name anglicized to Helena Modjeska, she then made a highly successful American debut in Adrienne Lecouvreur at San Francisco's California Theater in August 1877. For the next thirty years (excepting intermittent periods of illness), Modjeska toured the United States and Europe, establishing a reputation as one of the greatest dramatic actresses of the late nineteenth century.

By March 1878 Chlapowski's Polish colony, its members unsuited to pioneer life, had disbanded. Chlapowski (who had adopted the name of Count Charles Bozenta Chlapowski upon his arrival in the United States) resumed his personal management of Modjeska's career. Together they would make numerous successful tours of Europe and America from 1878 through 1907. Lauded on both continents for her performances in plays such as Macbeth, As You Like It, Mary Stuart, and Camille, Modjeska's leading men included both Edwin Booth and Maurice Barrymore. As a result of her European tours, Modjeska's circle of friends grew to include such notables as Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and the pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski.

During the American theatrical season, Modjeska traveled from town to town in a private railway car with her company and her managers. Although they adopted the Clarendon Hotel in New York City as their headquarters, they were frequent visitors to Southern California as well, often staying at the Santiago Canyon ranch of their close friends, the Pleasants family.

By 1887 Modjeska had declared in both newspaper interviews and letters that she wished to make Southern California her permanent home. The following year, she and Chlapowski purchased a large piece of property (adding to the property they had already purchased from the Pleasants in previous years) in Santiago Canyon and commissioned architect Stanford White to remodel and add to the existing cottage. Soon after its completion, Modjeska named it "Arden" after the Forest of Arden in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Between Modjeska's theatrical tours of Europe and the United States, they would spend a great deal of time at Arden entertaining friends and family from all over the world. Bozenta, determined that Arden be a working ranch, continued to purchase acreage surrounding their property in the hopes of raising successful groves of olive trees. Like the earlier farming ventures of the Polish colony, however, Bozenta's olive groves failed to prosper.

Despite her frequent absences from Arden, Modjeska played an active part in Orange County life when she was in residence. She enjoyed close friendships with Orange County pioneers such as the Rice, McCoy, and Yoch families. On more than one occasion she appeared in benefit productions at French's Opera House in Santa Ana with local amateurs she had trained herself.

In May 1903, after her last acting season in Poland, Modjeska's career appeared to be fading, and she was unable to find work for almost two years. In 1905, her old protégé Paderewski arranged a testimonial concert for Modjeska at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York as a tribute to her long-time devotion to the American theater. The testimonial raised $10,000 for Modjeska and enabled her to obtain a theatrical contract for the next two years.

In the spring of 1906, Modjeska and her husband sold Arden and its surrounding property (totaling 1,341 acres) to a Long Beach investment company which planned to develop it into a country club. After their final theatrical tour in 1907, they rented a furnished house in Tustin where Modjeska began her memoirs. The following year, the couple purchased a small beach cottage on Bay Island in Newport Bay, and it was here that Modjeska completed her memoirs. On April 8, 1909, less than two months after her final stage appearance at a benefit performance in Los Angeles, Modjeska died at her Bay Island home. After funeral services at St. Vibiana's Cathedral in Los Angeles, Modjeska was buried in Krakow, Poland.

Immediately after her death, a distraught Count Bozenta engaged Ernest Phillips, a Santa Ana actor who had performed with Modjeska during her final theatrical tour, to aid him in packing up Modjeska's things. Bozenta also gave him several mementos of Modjeska's career, and Phillips later created a scrapbook of the memorabilia from his stage work with Modjeska. Bozenta died in 1914, scarcely five years after his wife, and was buried next to her in Krakow.

Arden and its surrounding acreage went through a number of owners until it was finally sold (with the original property size greatly reduced because of a number of subdivisions) to the Charles S. Walker family of Long Beach in 1923. In 1986, descendants of the Walker family sold the Modjeska house and 14.4 acres of land to the County of Orange so that it might be preserved and developed as a historic park. Today it appears on the National Register of Historic Places and is California State Landmark #205. In addition, the two-mile stretch of Santiago Canyon once owned by Orange County's most famous actress is now known as Modjeska Canyon.

Chronology

1840	Born Helena Opid in Krakow, Poland on October 12th.
1861	Gave birth to son Ralph by her stage manager Gustave Sinnmayer Modrzejewski.
1861	The White Camellia
1861	Established the New Sandec Company (included her sister and several brothers) with Modrzejewski and successfully toured neighboring Polish towns.
1865	Left Modrzejewski after the death of her three-year old daughter Marylka and moved back to Krakow with her son.
1868	Married Charles Bozenta Chlapowski.
1868	Became the leading lady of the Russian-controlled Imperial Theater in Warsaw for six years.
1876	Modrzejewska and Chlapowski sailed to America with a small group of friends in order to establish a Polish immigrant colony in Southern California.
1876	Chlapowski took the name of Count Charles Bozenta Chlapowski upon arrival in the United States, but would be more commonly known as Count Bozenta.
1876	Members of Polish colony took up residence at a small rented farm near Anaheim.
1877	Left to study English in San Francisco in January.
1877	Adrienne Lecouvreur
1878	Her success continued with appearances in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington D.C.
1878	The Polish colony experiment ended in March, and Bozenta joined Modjeska and her son in New York to serve as her personal representative.
1879	After her second year on the American stage, Modjeska returned to her native Poland for a winter of theatrical appearances.
1880
1880	Spent the next two seasons acting in London.
1882	Modjeska and her husband returned to America, and she began the first of several seasons with Maurice Barrymore (father of Lionel, Ethel, and John) as her leading man.
1883	At the close of the theatrical season, Modjeska and her husband returned to Southern California for a vacation at the Santiago Canyon ranch of the Joseph E. Pleasants family.
1883	Bozenta purchased a half-interest in the ranch in the hopes of starting a joint cattle-raising venture with Joseph E. Pleasants.
1884	Modjeska and her husband returned to Europe in the early summer.
1884	On a visit to Poland, the couple befriended pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski and helped him to further his musical studies in Vienna.
1885	After a series of theatrical engagements in Europe, the couple returned home and began another American tour.
1886	With Barrymore as her leading man, Modjeska played in Los Angeles for the first time.
1887	At the end of the year, Bozenta purchased additional property next to the acreage he already owned jointly with Pleasants.
1888	After the death of Pleasants' wife, the couple purchased the remaining half-interest in the ranch (160 acres) and 134 acres of an adjoining homestead.
1888	Modjeska and her husband commissioned New York architect Stanford White to remodel and add to the existing cottage on the Pleasants' property.
1889	Spent a large part of this year and the following year touring American theaters with Edwin Booth (brother of Lincoln's assassin John Wilkes Booth) considered at the time to be America's finest actor.
1890-1891	On tour in both Europe and on the East coast of the United States.
1892	Returned to Arden.
1892	Modjeska scandalized by the murder of Arden ranch manager William McKelvery by farmhand Francisco Torres, who was later hanged by an angry mob.
1894	Upon completion of their American tour, Modjeska and her company performed in Los Angeles, and Modjeska appeared in a benefit performance at French's Opera House in Santa Ana.
1895	Russian edict of banishment issued against Modjeska forbidding her entry into Russian-controlled Poland. She was never again allowed to act in Warsaw.
1896	Returned to Arden in March for convalescence after suffering a slight stroke two months earlier while on tour in Cincinnati.
1897	Modjeska ill much of the year.
1897	Mary Stuart
1898	Modjeska and her husband purchased an additional 320 acres of land in nearby Harding Canyon, bringing their Orange County holdings to 1341.14 acres.
1898	Antony and Cleopatra
1899	Marie Antoinette
1900	Construction began on a dam in Harding Canyon to conserve water and provide a source of irrigation for Bozenta's olive groves. Completed the following year, it failed to save Bozenta's olive trees.
1902	Modjeska and her husband departed for Poland in the fall and remained there until the following spring. It was her last acting season in Poland.
1903-1904	Modjeska unable to obtain a contract for the coming American theatrical season.
1905	Former protégé Ignace Jan Paderewski arranged testimonial concert honoring Modjeska and her devotion to the American theater and raised $10,000.
1905	Modjeska's appearance attracted the attention of stage managers who offered her a contract allowing her to extend her career for two more years beginning that fall.
1906	Arden and its surrounding acreage sold to a Long Beach investment company which planned to open a country club on the property.
1906	Departed for final theatrical tour of cities in the Eastern United States in September.
1907	Modjeska and her husband took up residence in a furnished house in Tustin.
1908	The couple moved to a small beach cottage they had purchased on Bay Island in East Newport.
1908	Modjeska completed her memoirs.
1909	Modjeska appeared at a Los Angeles benefit performance for the victims of the Messina, Italy earthquake. It was her last stage appearance.
1909	Died April 8th at her home on Bay Island. Funeral services held at St. Vibiana's Cathedral in Los Angeles, and Modjeska was later buried in her native Krakow.
1914	Bozenta died in Poland and was buried next to his wife.
1923	Arden sold to the Charles S. Walker family of Long Beach.
1986	Descendants of the Walker family sold Arden and 14.4 acres of land to the County of Orange for preservation and development as a historic park.

Collection Scope and Content Summary

The artificial collection comprises primary and secondary source materials on Helena Modjeska, a nineteenth-century Polish stage actress who had a successful career in the United States. Most items pertain to her stage career, while others provide insight into Modjeska's life at her Santiago Canyon ranch, Arden, in Orange County, California. Primary sources include original and photocopied Modjeska correspondence, ephemera, programs and playbills, photographs, scrapbooks, and artifacts. Secondary sources include biographical information on Modjeska in newspaper clippings, manuscripts typescripts, and published journal articles written by a number of authors.

Collection Arrangement

The collection is organized into five series. As portions of the collection were the result of significant donations, the collection has been organized to reflect that provenance:

Series 1. Ellen Lee material, 1881-1989 and undated. 0.3 linear feet
Series 2. Ernest Phillips material, 1881-1923 and undated. 0.6 linear feet
Series 3. Writings on Modjeska, 1907-1967 and undated. 0.1 linear feet
Series 4. Printed items, circa 1877-1986 and undated. 0.3 linear feet
Series 5. Photographs, 1883-1891, 1902, circa 1920s and undated. 0.8 linear feet

Separation Note

Special Collections and Archives has cataloged separately a small collection of books about Modjeska and a number of volumes from her personal library.

Related Collections

Related materials documenting Modjeska's life in Orange County can be found in in the following collections in the Department of Special Collections and Archives:

Modjeska's drop-leaf writing desk, which belonged for many years to the Yoch family of Santa Ana, is also housed in Special Collections and Archives.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Chlapowski, Karol

Lee, Ellen K.

Modjeska, Helena, 1840-1909

Phillips, Ernest C. (Ernest Crozier)

Actors.

Actresses -- Poland -- History -- Sources.

Actresses -- United States

Artifacts

Cabinet photographs -- 19th century.

Ephemera

Photographic prints -- 19th century.

Photographic prints -- 20th century.

Playbills

Polish Americans -- California - -Archives

Scrapbooks

Theater -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.

Theater programs

Ellen Lee material Series 1. 1881-1989 and undated

Physical Description: 0.3 linear ft.

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series comprises primary and secondary source material on Modjeska written or collected by Orange County historian Ellen K. Lee. Primary sources consist of Modjeska correspondence, ephemera, and programs and playbills from her theatrical performances. Also included are typescripts and printed items written by Lee about Modjeska, as well as contemporary and modern photographs of Modjeska and her home, Arden, in Santiago Canyon.

Series Arrangement

This series is arranged by format of material and topically therein.

Correspondence

Box 1, Folder 1

Gilder, Helena, transcriptions of letters dated 1878-1909 from Modjeska and her husband 1959

Box 1, Folder 2

James, Henry, photocopies of original letters from Modjeska 1891-1892

Existence and Location of Originals

Originals are in the collections of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Box 1, Folder 3-4

McCoys, letters from Modjeska and her husband 1895-1909

Physical Description: 2 folders.

Ephemera

Box 1, Folder 5

Memorial card and admittance ticket from Modjeska's funeral 1909

Box 1, Folder 5

Party invitation 1906

Box 1, Folder 6

Polish commemorative coin honoring Modjeska 1975

Box 1, Folder 7

Programs for Modjeska performances 1897-1909

Scope and Content Note

1909 program for a Los Angeles benefit performance contains a holograph annotation noting that this was Modjeska's final appearance on the stage.

Box FB-10, Folder 4

Sheet music for "To Helen" autographed to Modjeska by Oscar Wilde 1881

Photographs

Box FB-10, Folder 4

Modjeska portrait, autographed to Mrs. Joseph Yoch 1897

Box 1, Folder 8

Modjeska ranch (Arden) in Santiago Canyon, exterior and interior views 1974

Physical Description: 45.0 color photographs.

Writings by Ellen Lee

Box 1, Folder 9

Historical background of the Modjeska house, Modjeska Canyon, Orange County, California, typescript 1989

Box 1, Folder 10

A Modjeska letter, production file, including edited typescript, for Lee's keepsake produced for Friends of the Library, University of California, Irvine 1968 and undated

Box 1, Folder 11

Other brochures, essays, and articles on Modjeska 1969-1987

Ernest Phillips material Series 2. 1881-1923 and undated

Physical Description: 0.6 linear ft.

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series contains materials related to Modjeska's theatrical career that were collected by Ernest Phillips. It includes correspondence from Modjeska and her Chlapowski, as well as ephemera related to Modjeska and Arden given to Phillips by Chlapowski at Modjeska's death. Also includes a scrapbook containing Phillips' personal memorabilia of his theatrical career with Modjeska.

Series Arrangement

This series is arranged by format of material and topically therein.

Correspondence

Box 1, Folder 13

Barrett, Lawrence, telegram to Modjeska 1888

Box 1, Folder 12

Chlapowski, Karol Bozenta, letter and postcards to Ernest Phillips 1908-1914

Box 1, Folder 13

Fisk, Minnie Madden, letter to Modjeska 1892

Box 1, Folder 13

Irvine, Henry, letter to Modjeska undated

Box 1, Folder 13

Terry, Ellen, letter to Modjeska 1881

Ephemera

Box 1, Folder 14

Memorial card from Modjeska's funeral 1909

Box 1, Folder 14

Modjeska Inn and Modjeska Ranch printed advertisements 1923 and undated

Box 1, Folder 14

Programs and advertisements for Modjeska performances 1891-1909 and undated

Box 4

Theatrical wig (straight) used by Modjeska in Marie Antoinette undated

Box 4

Theatrical wig (curly) used by Phillips in Macbeth undated

Box 4

Velvet brocade cuff from a Modjeska costume undated

Box FB-10, Folder 5

Scrapbook of clippings, correspondence, photographs, playbills, programs, and typescript reminiscences documenting Phillips' friendship with Modjeska and the final years of her life 1905-1909 and undated

Writings on Modjeska Series 3. 1907-1967 and undated

Physical Description: 0.1 linear ft.

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series comprises miscellaneous notes and writings on Modjeska, some by Orange County historians.

Series Arrangement

The series is arranged alphabetically by topic or surname of the writer.

Box 1, Folder 15

Coulter, Mrs. F. E., curator of the Bowers Museum (Santa Ana), miscellaneous notes and correspondence regarding Modjeska 1966-1967 and undated

Box 1, Folder 16

Madame Modjeska Company touring schedule, typescript 1907

Box 1, Folder 16

Notes on Modjeska's family tree undated

Box 1, Folder 17

Pleasants, Adalina (Mrs. J. E.), holograph and typescript notes on Modjeska and the Anaheim colony circa 1920s

Printed items Series 4. circa 1877-1986 and undated

Physical Description: 0.3 linear ft.

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series contains newspaper clippings and published biographical materials on Modjeska and her husband as well as programs and playbills from selected Modjeska stage roles.

Series Arrangement

The series is arranged by format of material.

Box 1, Folder 18

Articles on Modjeska in The Burr McIntosh Monthly, Theatre Arts Monthly, Theatre Arts, and Polish American Studies 1906-1974

Box 1, Folder 19

Biographical sketches and information on Modjeska 1893-1971 and undated

Box 3, Folder 2

Kyle, Howard, "On tour with Modjeska" undated

Access

Fragile original is restricted. Researchers must use the preservation photocopy in Box 1, Folder 19.

Box 1, Folder 20

Clippings on Modjeska and Arden from newspapers, photocopies 1889-1986 and undated

Box 3, Folder 1

Original clippings 1889-1986

Access

Fragile originals are restricted. Researchers must use the preservation photocopies in Box 1, Folder 20.

Box FB-10, Folder 6

Printed picture of Modjeska as Mary Stuart 1888

Box 2, Folder 1-2, Box FB-071, Folder 4

Programs, playbills, and clippings for performances by Modjeska and her contemporaries, mainly in New York, San Francisco, London, and Chicago 1879-1905 and undated

Box FB-072, Folder 4

Publicity poster of Modjeska circa 1877-1878

Box FB-10, Folder 6

Scrapbook of program and playbill clippings for performances by Modjeska, Edwin Booth, Lawrence Barrett, and others, mainly at the Baldwin Theatre in San Francisco 1885-1895

Photographs Series 5. 1883-1891, 1902, circa 1920s and undated

Physical Description: 0.8 linear ft.

Series Scope and Content Summary

This series consists primarily of cabinet card photographs of Modjeska in costume for various stage roles. Also included are photographs of Modjeska and the interior of Arden, her Santiago Canyon home.

Series Arrangement

The series is arranged by format or subject of material.

Cabinet cards 1891 and undated

Box 2, Folder 3

Adrienne Lecouvreur undated

Physical Description: 6 items.

Box 2, Folder 3

As You Like It undated

Physical Description: 3 items.

Box 2, Folder 4

Camille undated

Physical Description: 10 items.

Box 2, Folder 5

Les Chouans undated

Physical Description: 2 items.

Box 2, Folder 5

Cymbeline undated

Physical Description: 2 items.

Box 2, Folder 5

A Doll's House undated

Physical Description: 3 items.

Box 2, Folder 5

Hamlet undated