Title: Edith J.R. Isaacs Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1889-1957

Creator:

• Isaacs, Edith J.R. (Edith Juliet Rich), 1878-1956

Call Number: U.S. Mss 47AN

Quantity: 0.4 c.f. (1 archives box)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society Archives / Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research
Contact Information

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

Abstract:

Papers of an editor of Theatre Arts magazine (1918-1946), chiefly consisting of correspondence and manuscripts of articles, poetry, and two operettas by Mrs. Isaacs and members of her family. Among the prominent correspondents are Jacques Copeau, Paul Green, Martha Graham, Edith Hamilton, Robert Edmond Jones, D.H. Lawrence, Thornton Wilder, and Stark Young. In addition to the Isaacs' writings, the collection includes articles by Edward Bourdet, Edward Gordon Craig, Paul Green, and Langston Hughes; an annotated typescript of “A Note on the Theater” by William Saroyan; and notes on Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0047an

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Edith Juliet Rich was born on March 27, 1878, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; she grew up in that city and received her A.B. degree from Milwaukee-Downer College in 1897. She began her long and distinguished career in journalism at the Milwaukee Sentinel, becoming its literary editor in 1903. The following year she married Attorney Lewis Montefiore Isaacs of New York City, where she was to live until her death in 1956. For many years she also wrote under the name of “Mrs. Pelham” for Delineator, Ladies Home Journal, and several other magazines. But she is best remembered for distinguished contribution to the American theater not only as a critic, but perhaps most importantly, as editor of Theatre Arts Magazine from 1918 until 1946. Under her leadership, this periodical grew from a quarterly to a monthly publication in 1923, and published some of the earliest works of Eugene O'Neill, Thornton Wilder, William Saroyan, and Paul Green, all of whom are represented in this collection. She not only encouraged the younger playwrights and published their works first in Theatre Arts, but also promoted a number of scene designers, notably Robert Edmond Jones, Norman Bel Geddes, Jo Mielziner, Donald Oenslager, Lee Simonson, and Mordecai Gorelik. In the field of dramatic criticism she helped launch the careers of John Mason Brown, John Hutchens, and Carl Carmer, to name but a few.

For more than a half-century Mrs. Isaacs championed the cause of all arts of which theater is comprised, including playwriting, acting, directing, dance, music, scene design, and architecture. Her concept of theater included not only the legitimate stage, but also vaudeville, pantomime, the circus, and motion pictures. She was a founder and the first vice-president of the American National Theater and Academy. A devoted promoter of the little theater movement, one of Mrs. Isaacs's dreams was the establishment of a national theater.

Some of the longer publications to be credited to Edith J.R. Isaacs are: Theatre (1927); Plays of American Life and Fantasy,(1929); Architecture for the New Theatre (1935); and The Negro in the American Theatre (1947). In addition to this, she published a series of books on the theater. A partial listing of the authors includes Robert Edmond Jones, Norman bel Geddes, Joseph Urban, Richard Boleslawsky, and Isadora Duncan.

Where lesser women have failed in the manifold and demanding roles of career-woman, wife, mother, and friend to many, Mrs. Isaacs would seem to be most successful in all of these capacities. The collection somewhat uniquely bears witness to this, offering an insight into these many facets of her active live.

Contributed primarily by the Isaacs children, the Edith J.R. Isaacs Papers represents in some way each member of the Isaacs family, as well as their mother. Their father, Lewis Montefiore Isaacs (1877-1944) was not only a distinguished attorney, but also a gifted composer and author. The Isaacs' daughters, Marian Rich Brody and Hermine Isaacs Popper, have also distinguished themselves as contributors to the American theater. Mrs. Brody became a noted teacher of voice in New York. Mrs. Popper, herself a writer, was for many years also on the staff of Theatre Arts Monthly. A great portion of the collection has been turned over to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research from the personal memorabilia of Lewis M. Isaacs, Jr.

In addition to typescripts of works by the Isaacs, the collection contains several original manuscripts and typescripts presumably prepared for Theatre Arts Magazine. Among these are diary notes by O'Neill on the writing of Mourning Becomes Electra, articles by Gordon Craig, William Saroyan, Edouard Bourdet, and Robert Edmond Jones, as well as considerable correspondence from Thornton Wilder, Paul Green, D.H. Lawrence, Edith Hamilton, Martha Graham, Jacques Copeau, and others. It is believed that the typescripts of the early twentieth century operettas, The Spectre Bridegroom and The Revolt of the Flowers, by Lewis and Edith Isaacs, are the only existing copies of these works.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Marion R.I. Brody, Hermine I. Popper, and Lewis Isaacs, Jr., New York, New York, December 6, 1963. Additions presented by Lewis Isaacs, New York, New York, October 7, 1964 and 1969; by Nafe E. Katter, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, October 22, 1964; and by Marian R.I. Brody, New York, New York, 1969.

Processing Information

Processed by MAJ, April 6, 1964; by Margaret R. Hafstad, December, 1964; and by Barbara Furstenberg, March, 1969.

	Correspondence
Box   1 Folder   1	1889-1929
Box   1 Folder   2	1930-1939
Box   1 Folder   3	1940-1957
Box   1 Folder   4	Undated
Box   1 Folder   15	Relating to the death of Lewis Montefiore Isaacs, 1944-1945
Box   1 Folder   15	Relating to the death of Edith J.R. Isaacs, 1956-1957
Box   1 Folder   14	Letters to Nafe E. Katter, 1952-1961, dealing with his thesis concerning Edith J.R. Isaacs
Box   1 Folder   5	Miscellaneous clippings pertaining to Edith J.R. Isaacs
Box   1 Folder   5	Photograph of New York Drama Critics Circle [, 1938?]
Box   1 Folder   5	January 1939, issue of Coronet, containing article on New York Drama Critics Circle
	Variant forms of works by Edith J.R. Isaacs
Box   1 Folder   6	“Who Help Themselves,” a short story, typescript
Box   1 Folder   6	“Jacques Callot, the Artist and Social Historian,” typescript
Box   1 Folder   6	“The Morning Star,” a poem, typescript
Box   1 Folder   6	“The Little Brown House on the Top of the Hill,” a poem, manuscript
Box   1 Folder   6	“The Flirt,” translated from Goethe's “Die Sprode,” typescript, 2 copies
Box   1 Folder   6	“I Married a Musician,” tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   6	Bulletin of American Composers Alliance, 1956, containing article, “I Married a Musician”
	Miscellaneous materials pertaining to members of Isaacs family
Box   1 Folder   7	“E.A. Robinson Speaks of Music,” by Lewis M. Isaacs, Sr., tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“Music and Politics,” by Lewis M. Isaacs, Sr., tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“The Art of Acting,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“Natural Speech,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“Of Voice and the Actor,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“Speak the Speech, I Pray You,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“On View of the Acting Art,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	“Speech in the Theatre,” by Marian Rich, tearsheet
Box   1 Folder   7	Postal announcement of musical program by Lewis M. Isaacs, Sr., and Marian Rich
Box   1 Folder   7	Parke-Barnet sales catalog, January 15-16, 1946, listing “Property of the Estates of the Late Lewis M. Isaacs...”
Box   1 Folder   7	Brochure of Fritz von Unruh Exhibit at Galerie St. Etienne, November 10-29, 1947
	Miscellaneous materials pertaining to Theatre Arts publications
Box   1 Folder   8	8 signed statements in favor of expansion of magazine from quarterly to monthly publication, undated
Box   1 Folder   8	Bulletin: National Theater Conference, Cleveland, Ohio, April, 1948
Box   1 Folder   8	The Publishers' Weekly, January 11, 1941
Box   1 Folder   8	“A Note on the Theatre,” by William Saroyan, annotated typescript
Box   1 Folder   8	“Henry Irving,” by Gordon Craig, original typescript and galley proofs
Box   1 Folder   8	“I Look at the Theatre,” by Humbert Wolfe, typescript
	Variant materials, presumably written for Theatre Arts
Box   1 Folder   9	“The Benson Company,” by Arthur Machen, pencil manuscript
Box   1 Folder   9	“Denouements,” by Edouard Bourdet (in French), corrected typescript
Box   1 Folder   9	“Mourning Becomes Electra - Notes,” by Eugene O'Neill, manuscript
	Variant scripts inscribed to Edith J.R. Isaacs
Box   1 Folder   10	Gypsy Ballads, by Federico Garcia Lorca; translated by Langston Hughes
Box   1 Folder   10	The Searcher, by Velona Pilcher
Box   1 Folder   10	The Lost Colony Songbook, by Paul Green
	Operettas
Box   1 Folder   11	Untitled operetta by Lewis M. Isaacs, Sr.
Box   1 Folder   12	The Spectre Bridegroom, a comic opera in two acts, composed by Lewis M. Isaacs, Sr., libretto by Edith J. Rich, typescript
Box   1 Folder   13	The Revolt of the Flowers, an operetta in two acts, composed by Lewis M. and Edith J.R. Isaacs, three typescripts
Box   1 Folder   15	Miscellaneous items