Barron (Lester) Collection of Performing Artist Autographs, 1869-1975
Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Lester Barron Collection of Performing Artist Autographs,
- Dates:
- 1869-1975
- Creators:
- Barron, Lester
- Extent:
- 3 boxes (1.5 linear ft.)
- Language:
- English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Lester Barron Collection of Performing Artist Autographs (Collection 1378). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Collection consists of autographs of famous personalities including performing artists, authors, and politicians. Some are accompanied with personal notes, letters, photographs, or other ephemera. Autographs include signatures of Robert Jones Burdett, Thomas Edison, Arthur Foote, Helen Keller, Rudyard Kipling, Nellie Melba, James Whitcomb Riley, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Spencer, Ellen Terry, and Booker T. Washington. Also includes correspondence from Dean Cornwell addressed to Frank as well as 3 Civil War letters and 4 theater playbills. Includes the music score for Feather Your Nest.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Lester Barron Collection consists mainly of autographs of famous personalities from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The original collector, Charles Norton Outcault, requested by mail, the autographs of various celebrities and public figures of his time. In response to his requests, he received not only autographs, but personal notes, letters, photographs, original handwritten music, poems, and booklets. Many of the items he collected are autographed by performing artists, such as musicians, composers, conductors, opera singers, dancers, actors, and actresses. The collection also includes autographs of authors, artists, politicians, presidents, and other notable public figures.
In addition to the autographs, the Barron Collection contains some miscellaneous items which do not appear to be directly related to the rest of the collection. These items include letters from a civil war soldier, letters from artist Dean Cornwell, one music score, and various theater playbills.
The collection was donated to the UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library by Mr. Lester Barron. Little is known about Mr. Barron or how the collection came into his possession. The original collector, Charles Norton Outcault, was the nephew of American cartoonist, Richard Fenton Outcault. The late cartoonist was well known for creating the first color comic strip and the popular cartoon character, Buster Brown. Charles Outcault was just sixteen years old when he started the collection. He obtained most of his autographs by mail from 1912 to 1915. Many celebrities, reminiscent of their own youth, sent him notes and letters containing personal messages.
A photocopy of a newspaper article describing the collection is available in the administrative files of the Department. This article appears to have been printed in a San Diego newspaper in 1931. There are, however, several discrepancies in the article's description of the collection and the actual contents of the collection at the time it was received by the Department in 1984. Several items described in the article are no longer present in the collection. The reader should consult the following pages for a list of the actual items contained in the collection.
When the collection was received by the Department, no particular order or arrangement was discernible. An alphabetical arrangement was eventually imposed to facilitate access by the names of the various personalities whose autographs appear in the collection.
The collection was sorted and arranged by Lorna Lueck and Michael Jerome, Graduate School of Library and Information Science.
- Acquisition information:
- Gift of Lester Barron, 1984. The original collector, Charles Norton Outcault, was the nephew of cartoonist Richard Fenton Outcault; he began collecting autographs at the age of sixteen, and most of the autographs were obtained by mail between 1912-15.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged in the following series:
- Autographs organized alphabetically by last name (Boxes 1-3).
- Letters, theater playbills, and music score (Box 3).
- Physical location:
- Stored off-site at SRLF. Advance notice is required for access to the collection. Please contact the UCLA Library Special Collections Reference Desk for paging information.
Indexed terms
- Subjects:
- Autographs--Collections.
- Names:
- Outcault, Charles Norton.
About this collection guide
- Date Prepared:
- © 1997
- Date Encoded:
- Text converted and initial EAD tagging provided by Apex Data Services, April 1999 . Supplementary encoding added via MS Access or other database program. Frontmatter gathered from MARC record. Supplementary encoding and revision supplied by Caroline Cubé.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE AT SRLF: Advance notice required for access.
- Terms of access:
-
Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Lester Barron Collection of Performing Artist Autographs (Collection 1378). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library.
- Location of this collection:
-
A1713 Charles E. Young Research LibraryBox 951575Los Angeles, CA 90095-1575, US
- Contact:
- (310) 825-4988