Title	[Autograph of Junius Brutus Booth (Jr.)]
Date	Undated
Creator	Booth, Edwin Junius Brutus
Artistic roles	Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (Actor, Manager)
Genre	Tragedy
Theme	Dynasties
Item description	Undated autograph of Junius Brutus Booth (Jr.). The autograph is written in ink on a sheet of paper formerly from an autograph album. Other autographs may have been given on this same sheet, as there are two dates listed underneath areas which have been painted over. The two dates are Oct. 28, 1880 and 1883, therefore dating the autograph during JB Booth Jr.'s life.
Object narrative	Junius Brutus Booth Jr. (1821-1883) was the first son of famed tragedian Junius Brutus Booth Sr. and his mistress Mary Ann Holmes. After his father's death in 1852 and into his acting and management career, he would be known simply as Junius Brutus Booth. Two of his younger brothers would eclipse his own star power, Edwin (1833-1893), the famed Shakespearean and tragic actor, and John Wilkes (1838-1865), the assassin of President Abraham Lincoln. Junius had more skill at theatre management than acting, and over the course of his career managed The Winter Garden and Booth's Theatre in New York, the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, and Boston Theatre. Edwin Booth often starred, sometimes for whole seasons, at his brother's theatres. On November 25, 1864 at The Winter Garden, the three brothers performed a one night benefit of Julius Caesar. This was the only time the three performed together. Junius still performed when he could, and was playing at Pike's Opera House in Cincinnati during April, 1865. After the performance on April 14, when word reached the city that John Wilkes Booth had shot the President, Junius was arrested and sent to Washington D. C. where he was put in prison until cleared of any connection to the crime. That week he had played Othello at Pike's, a role which is pertinent to this autograph. In this undated autograph, Junius signs his name J B Booth and quotes Othello's first line of the Shakespearean tragedy, Tis better as it is.
Type	Text
Original format	Autographs
Original publisher	[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified]
Language	en
Contributing institution	Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives, UNCG University Libraries
Source collection	MSS255 Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection
Series/grouping	6.2: Correspondence and Autographs -- Autographs
Box	79
Finding aid link	http://library.uncg.edu/info/depts/scua/collections/manuscripts/ead/mss255.xml
Preferred citation	[Identification of item], Robert C. Hansen Performing Arts Collection, 1753-2006 (MSS255), Martha Blakeney Hodges Special Collections and University Archives and Manuscripts, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, NC, USA.
Rights statement	http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Additional rights information	NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES. This item has been determined to be free of copyright restrictions in the United States. The user is responsible for determing actual copyright status for any reuse of the material.
Object ID	MSS255.B79.027
Digital publisher	The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University Libraries, PO Box 26170, Greensboro NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5304
OCLC number	872280918

[Autograph of Junius Brutus Booth (Jr.)]

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