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54-414: The playhouse's most successful period was under the management of A. H. Purdy. He staged productions of Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom's Cabin beginning in 1852, the success of which prompted him to advertise heavily and to create a special section where African American patrons could sit. Following Purdy's departure in 1857, the theatre entered its final decline. It flip-flopped many times between

108-652: A German troupe. Fox and Curran took over in 1861. They spent a great deal of money to restore the theatre, then reopened on 16 November as the National Music Hall . They failed to turn a profit, and George Lea, manager of the Melodeon on Broadway and Hooley's Theatre in Brooklyn gained control in December. He made the most of his three establishments by using the same actors at all three venues. They would first perform at

162-583: A lecture tour of Britain and, to make up the royalties that she could not receive there, the Glasgow New Association for the Abolition of Slavery set up Uncle Tom's Offering. According to Daniel R. Vollaro, the goal of the book was to educate Northerners on the realistic horrors of the things that were happening in the South. The other purpose was to try to make people in the South feel more empathetic towards

216-504: A newer attached building, and was able to raise the substantial funds necessary to restore the house. It is now open to the public. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Hartford , Connecticut , is the house where Stowe lived for the last 23 years of her life. It was next door to the house of fellow author Mark Twain . In this 5,000 sq ft (460 m ) cottage-style house, there are many of Beecher Stowe's original items and items from

270-459: A special black-only section of the theatre on 15 August. No unaccompanied women were allowed there, and the entrance was separate from the main doors. Purdy expanded the section on 29 October. Despite the great success of the Uncle Tom's Cabin production, Purdy still lost money from advertising too heavily and by splurging on too many gifts for Cordelia Howard , the young actress who was starring in

324-475: A standard melodrama house and a concert saloon before finally being demolished in 1862. Thomas Flynn and Henry Willard financed the construction of the Chatham Theatre in 1839. Under Flynn's management, the playhouse opened on 11 September 1839 with a production of A New Way to Pay Old Debts starring John R. Scott and Mrs. Thomas Flynn . It was essentially a neighborhood theatre at this time, and

378-450: A time before eventually reopening as a playhouse. Admissions were low for the time: 25¢ for the boxes, one shilling for the pit, and six pence for the gallery. The audience now consisted of the lower classes , who on holidays "used to talk, shout, and scream so that the actors went through their parts in dumb show . . . ." Frank S. Chanfrau and W. Olgivie Ewen became joint lessees on 28 February 1848 with Chanfrau as manager. They renamed

432-482: A title-page designed by Hammatt Billings . In less than a year, the book sold an unprecedented 300,000 copies. By December, as sales began to wane, Jewett issued an inexpensive edition at 37 + 1 ⁄ 2 cents each to stimulate sales. Sales abroad, as in Britain where the book was a great success, earned Stowe nothing as there was no international copyright agreement in place during that era. In 1853, Stowe undertook

486-504: A vision of a dying slave during a communion service at Brunswick's First Parish Church, which inspired her to write his story. What also likely allowed her to empathize with slaves was the loss of her eighteen-month-old son, Samuel Charles Stowe. She noted, "Having experienced losing someone so close to me, I can sympathize with all the poor, powerless slaves at the unjust auctions. You will always be in my heart Samuel Charles Stowe." On March 9, 1850, Stowe wrote to Gamaliel Bailey , editor of

540-585: A year, 300 babies in Boston alone were named Eva (one of the book's characters) , and a play based on the book opened in New York in November. Southerners quickly responded with numerous works of what are now called anti-Tom novels , seeking to portray Southern society and slavery in more positive terms. Many of these were bestsellers, although none matched the popularity of Stowe's work, which set publishing records. After

594-581: Is part of the restored Dawn Settlement at Dresden, Ontario , which is 20 miles east of Algonac, Michigan . The community for freed slaves founded by the Rev. Josiah Henson and other abolitionists in the 1830s has been restored. There's also a museum. Henson and the Dawn Settlement provided Stowe with the inspiration for Uncle Tom's Cabin . Charles Western Taylor Charles Western Taylor ( c.  1800 – April 11, 1874), often billed as C. W. Taylor ,

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648-570: Is the former home of her father Lyman Beecher on the former campus of the Lane Seminary. Her father was a preacher who was greatly affected by the pro-slavery Cincinnati Riots of 1836 . Harriet Beecher Stowe lived here until her marriage. It is open to the public and operated as a historical and cultural site, focusing on Harriet Beecher Stowe, the Lane Seminary and the Underground Railroad. The site also presents African-American history. In

702-478: Is the sole master of it, and she cannot draw a penny ... [I]n the English common law a married woman is nothing at all. She passes out of legal existence. In the 1870s, Stowe's brother Henry Ward Beecher was accused of adultery, and became the subject of a national scandal. Unable to bear the public attacks on her brother, Stowe again fled to Florida but asked family members to send her newspaper reports. Through

756-638: The Bowery Theatre in New York City under the direction of Thomas Hamblin . Taylor wrote the first produced non-comedic stage adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom's Cabin in the United States. It debuted on 23 August 1852, with Taylor playing Uncle Tom, but only ran for 11 nights after little success. Taylor's abbreviated play omitted key characters and had a happy ending where Tom gained his freedom. His other stage adaptations included

810-497: The Hartford Female Seminary run by her older sister Catharine, where she received a traditional academic education – rather uncommon for women at the time – with a focus in the classics , languages, and mathematics. Among her classmates was Sarah P. Willis, who later wrote under the pseudonym Fanny Fern . In 1832, at the age of 21, Harriet Beecher moved to Cincinnati, Ohio , to join her father, who had become

864-518: The South . Stowe wrote 30 books, including novels, three travel memoirs, and collections of articles and letters. She was influential both for her writings as well as for her public stances and debates on social issues of the day. Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut , on June 14, 1811. She was the sixth of 11 children born to outspoken Calvinist preacher Lyman Beecher . Her mother

918-470: The 1858-9 season. Early on 10 July 1859, part of the theatre caught fire, apparently from gunfire special effects from the play the night before; the building suffered $ 500 in damages. The building was remodeled once again in November 1859 and reopened on 14 November as the Chatham Amphitheatre . Circuses provided the main attraction. On 6 March 1860, J. Howard Rogers and Joseph C. Foster leased

972-576: The 1870s and 1880s, Stowe and her family wintered in Mandarin , Florida, now a neighborhood of modern consolidated Jacksonville , on the St. Johns River . Stowe wrote Palmetto Leaves while living in Mandarin, arguably an eloquent piece of promotional literature directed at Florida's potential Northern investors at the time. The book was published in 1873 and describes Northeast Florida and its residents. In 1874, Stowe

1026-405: The 77-year-old Stowe started writing Uncle Tom's Cabin over again. She imagined that she was engaged in the original composition, and for several hours every day she industriously used pen and paper, inscribing passages of the book almost exactly word for word. This was done unconsciously from memory, the author imagining that she composed the matter as she went along. To her diseased mind the story

1080-641: The Marshall Key family, one of whose daughters was a student at Lane Seminary. It is recorded that Mr. Key took her to see a slave auction, as they were frequently held in Maysville. Scholars believe she was strongly moved by the experience. The Marshall Key home still stands in Washington. Key was a prominent Kentuckian; his visitors also included Henry Clay and Daniel Webster . The Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site

1134-575: The Melodeon, then travel to the Chatham, to finish up the night at Hooley's. In October 1862, the Chatham Theater was demolished. Part of it survived and was rented to shopkeepers. 40°43′01″N 73°59′42″W  /  40.717°N 73.995°W  / 40.717; -73.995 Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe ( / s t oʊ / ; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896)

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1188-427: The United States. This version, written by Charles Western Taylor , ran for 11 nights but saw little success. Most of the 1853 season was devoted to a much more successful dramatization of Stowe's novel. The production ran almost non-stop from 18 July 1853 to 19 April 1854, when performances were cut back to three nights weekly until 13 May. The play proved so popular with African American audiences that Purdy created

1242-570: The affair, she remained loyal to her brother and believed he was innocent. After her return to Connecticut, Mrs. Stowe was among the founders of the Hartford Art School, which later became part of the University of Hartford . Following the death of her husband, Calvin Stowe, in 1886, Harriet started rapidly to decline in health. By 1888, The Washington Post reported that as a result of dementia

1296-513: The building Chanfrau's National Theatre and tried to reclaim some of the theatre's lost prestige. This lasted until 8 July 1850. A. H. Purdy took over operations in 1850 for what would prove the theatre's most successful period. He renamed the building Purdy's National Theatre . He renovated in April 1852, reopening on 19 April. On 23 August 1852, Purdy produced the first non-comedic stage adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe 's Uncle Tom's Cabin in

1350-589: The building. They opened on 8 March as the National Concert Saloon . The emphasis now was on alcoholic beverages served by attractive waitresses. Admission prices were 12¢ for boxes and 6¢ for the pit. On 3 July, Charles J. Waters took over management and reopened as the National Theatre , a standard melodrama playhouse. George Beane replaced Waters on 6 October and restored the concert saloon theme. This lasted until December, when he gave it over to

1404-639: The campus is now protected as a National Historic Landmark. The Stowes were ardent critics of slavery and supported the Underground Railroad , temporarily housing several fugitive slaves in their home. One fugitive from slavery, John Andrew Jackson , wrote of hiding with Stowe in her house in Brunswick as he fled to Canada in his narrative titled The Experience of a Slave in South Carolina (London: Passmore & Albaster, 1862). Stowe claimed to have had

1458-512: The drama. Despite this one overzealous blunder, Purdy had a flair for advertising. On 1 September 1856, he began his sixth season at the Chatham by erecting a statue of George Washington atop the playhouse while the New York Brass Band played and fireworks were launched. Purdy left during the Panic of 1857 . The theatre then entered a long period of decline. The new owners redecorated before

1512-611: The effects of the Panic of 1837 were still being felt, so the establishment lost money. Nevertheless, Flynn and Willard kept it open for another year, staging comedies and dramas that starred popular actors, including James Anderson, William Rufus Blake , Junius Brutus Booth , and Mademoiselle Celeste . The theatre finally closed in January 1840 due to differences between the two owners. Charles R. Thorne bought Willard's stake and joined Flynn as manager for two weeks in February 1840. Still,

1566-789: The end of her life she was suffering from Alzheimer's disease . Harriet Beecher Stowe died on July 1, 1896, in Hartford, Connecticut , 17 days after her 85th birthday. She is buried in the historic cemetery at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts , along with her husband and their son Henry Ellis. Multiple landmarks are dedicated to the memory of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and are located in several states including Ohio, Florida, Maine and Connecticut. The locations of these landmarks represent various periods of her life such as her father's house where she grew up and where she wrote her most famous work. The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Ohio ,

1620-411: The expansion of married women's rights, arguing in 1869 that: [T]he position of a married woman ... is, in many respects, precisely similar to that of the negro slave. She can make no contract and hold no property; whatever she inherits or earns becomes at that moment the property of her husband ... Though he acquired a fortune through her, or though she earned a fortune through her talents, he

1674-452: The little woman who wrote the book that started this great war", but this story has been found to be apocryphal. Her own accounts are vague, including the letter reporting the meeting to her husband: "I had a real funny interview with the President." Stowe purchased property near Jacksonville, Florida . In response to a newspaper article in 1873, she wrote, "I came to Florida the year after

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1728-542: The national movement toward integration by more than a half century. The marker commemorating the Stowe family is located across the street from the former site of their cottage. It is on the property of the Community Club, at the site of a church where Stowe's husband once served as a minister. The Church of our Saviour is an Episcopal Church founded in 1880 by a group of people who had gathered for Bible readings with Professor Calvin E. Stowe and his famous wife. The house

1782-452: The people they were forcing into slavery. The book's emotional portrayal of the effects of slavery on individuals captured the nation's attention. Stowe showed that slavery touched all of society, beyond the people directly involved as masters, traders and slaves. Her novel added to the debate about abolition and slavery, and aroused opposition in the South. In the South, Stowe was depicted as out of touch, arrogant, and guilty of slander. Within

1836-617: The president of Lane Theological Seminary . There, she also joined the Semi-Colon Club , a literary salon and social club whose members included the Beecher sisters, Caroline Lee Hentz , Salmon P. Chase (future governor of Ohio and United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Abraham Lincoln ), Emily Blackwell , and others. Cincinnati's trade and shipping business on the Ohio River

1890-578: The start of the Civil War , Stowe traveled to the capital, Washington, D.C., where she met President Abraham Lincoln on November 25, 1862. Stowe's daughter, Hattie, reported, "It was a very droll time that we had at the White house I assure you ... I will only say now that it was all very funny – and we were ready to explode with laughter all the while." What Lincoln said is a minor mystery. Her son later reported that Lincoln greeted her by saying, "so you are

1944-497: The theatre saw little success. Thorne then bought out Flynn's stake for $ 500. As sole manager, Flynn led the playhouse to a profitable four years, featuring popular talents such as James S. Browne , Mary Ann Duff , Edwin Forrest , Thomas D. Rice , John Sefton , Henry Wallack , and Bill Williams. In 1844, Thorne sold the theatre to his stage manager , a Mr. Stevens, and to A. W. Jackson , who managed for one season. During this time,

1998-404: The theatre was mainly a blackface minstrel house. On 8 April 1845, Ben De Bar became stage manager, but he soon partnered with William S. Deverna to lease the building. De Bar ceased active management on 5 October. M. S. Phillips was the next lessee, followed by J. Fletcher , who bought the theatre in 1847. By this time, the Chatham Theatre was performing poorly. It became a circus for

2052-447: The time period. In the research library, which is open to the public, there are numerous letters and documents from the Beecher family. The house is open to the public and offers house tours on the hour. In 1833, during Stowe's time in Cincinnati , the city was afflicted with a serious cholera epidemic. To avoid illness, Stowe made a visit to Washington, Kentucky , a major community of the era just south of Maysville . She stayed with

2106-574: The topic. The result was a mass exodus of the Lane students , together with a supportive trustee and a professor, who moved as a group to the new Oberlin Collegiate Institute after its trustees agreed, by a close and acrimonious vote, to accept students regardless of "race", and to allow discussions of any topic. It was in the literary club at Lane that she met Rev. Calvin Ellis Stowe , a widower who

2160-632: The war and held property in Duval County ever since. In all this time I have not received even an incivility from any native Floridian." Stowe is controversial for her support of Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll , whose grandfather had been a primary enforcer of the Highland Clearances , the transformation of the remote Highlands of Scotland from a militia-based society to an agricultural one that supported far fewer people. The newly homeless moved to Canada, where very bitter accounts appeared. It

2214-447: The weekly anti-slavery journal The National Era , that she planned to write a story about the problem of slavery: "I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak ... I hope every woman who can write will not be silent." Shortly after in June 1851, when she was 40, the first installment of Uncle Tom's Cabin

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2268-514: Was Stowe's assignment to refute them using evidence the Duchess provided, in Letter XVII Volume 1 of her travel memoir Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands . Stowe was criticized for her seeming defense of the clearances. In 1868, Stowe became one of the first editors of Hearth and Home magazine, one of several new publications appealing to women; she departed after a year. Stowe campaigned for

2322-614: Was a professor of Biblical Literature at the seminary. The two married at the Seminary on January 6, 1836. The Stowes had seven children, including twin daughters. The Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 , prohibiting assistance to fugitives and strengthening sanctions even in free states. At the time, Stowe had moved with her family to Brunswick, Maine , where her husband was now teaching at Bowdoin College . Their home near

2376-487: Was also influenced by the Lane Debates on Slavery . The biggest event ever to take place at Lane, it was the series of debates held on 18 days in February 1834, between colonization and abolition defenders, decisively won by Theodore Weld and other abolitionists. Elisabeth attended most of the debates. Her father and the trustees, afraid of more violence from anti-abolitionist whites, prohibited any further discussions of

2430-497: Was always softly slippered and generally full of animal spirits, she was able to deal in surprises, and she liked to do it. She would slip up behind a person who was deep in dreams and musings and fetch a war whoop that would jump that person out of his clothes. And she had other moods. Sometimes we would hear gentle music in the drawing-room and would find her there at the piano singing ancient and melancholy songs with infinitely touching effect. Modern researchers now speculate that at

2484-560: Was an American author and abolitionist . She came from the religious Beecher family and wrote the popular novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), which depicts the harsh conditions experienced by enslaved African Americans . The book reached an audience of millions as a novel and play, and became influential in the United States and in Great Britain , energizing anti-slavery forces in the American North , while provoking widespread anger in

2538-697: Was an american actor and dramatist in the mid-19th century. He is best known today for writing one of the first stage adaptations of Uncle Tom's Cabin . Taylor was born in Walsall , England, about 1800 and first appeared on stage in Norfolk, Virginia , in 1819. He soon after debuted in New York in the Forest Rose . He long acted in parts at the National Theatre on Chatham Street in New York. He also acted for many years in Albany, New York , and also served as musical director of

2592-577: Was booming, drawing numerous migrants from different parts of the country, including many escaped slaves , bounty hunters seeking them, and Irish immigrants who worked on the state's canals and railroads. In 1829, the ethnic Irish attacked blacks , wrecking areas of the city, trying to push out these competitors for jobs. Beecher met a number of African Americans who had suffered in those attacks, and their experience contributed to her later writing about slavery. Riots took place again in 1836 and 1841 , driven also by native-born anti-abolitionists. Harriet

2646-550: Was brand new, and she frequently exhausted herself with labor that she regarded as freshly created. Mark Twain , a neighbor of Stowe's in Hartford, recalled her last years in the following passage of his autobiography: Her mind had decayed, and she was a pathetic figure. She wandered about all the day long in the care of a muscular Irish woman. Among the colonists of our neighborhood the doors always stood open in pleasant weather. Mrs. Stowe entered them at her own free will, and as she

2700-590: Was constructed in 1883 which contained the Stowe Memorial stained glass window , created by Louis Comfort Tiffany . The Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Brunswick, Maine , is where Stowe lived when she wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin. Her husband was teaching theology at nearby Bowdoin College , and she regularly invited students from the college and friends to read and discuss the chapters before publication. Future Civil War general, and later Governor, Joshua Chamberlain

2754-526: Was his first wife, Roxana (Foote), a deeply religious woman who died when Stowe was only five years old. Roxana's maternal grandfather was General Andrew Ward of the Revolutionary War . Harriet's siblings included a sister, Catharine Beecher , who became an educator and author, as well as brothers who became ministers, including Henry Ward Beecher , who became a famous preacher and abolitionist, Charles Beecher , and Edward Beecher . Harriet enrolled in

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2808-428: Was honored by the governor of Florida as one of several northerners who had helped Florida's growth after the war. In addition to her writings inspiring tourists and settlers to the area, she helped establish a church and a school, and she helped promote oranges as a major state crop through her own orchards. The school she helped establish in 1870 was an integrated school in Mandarin for children and adults. This predated

2862-552: Was published in serial form in the newspaper The National Era . She originally used the subtitle "The Man That Was a Thing", but it was soon changed to "Life Among the Lowly". Installments were published weekly from June 5, 1851, to April 1, 1852. For the newspaper serialization of her novel, Stowe was paid $ 400. Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in book form on March 20, 1852, by John P. Jewett with an initial print run of 5,000 copies. Each of its two volumes included three illustrations and

2916-412: Was then a student at the college and later described the setting. "On these occasions," Chamberlain noted, "a chosen circle of friends, mostly young, were favored with the freedom of her house, the rallying point being, however, the reading before publication, of the successive chapters of her Uncle Tom's Cabin , and the frank discussion of them." In 2001, Bowdoin College purchased the house, together with

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