Research Catalog

Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers

Title
Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers, 1849-1961.
Author
Brown, Chamberlain.
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StatusContainerFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
MFL+ n.c. 1867-1870, v. 4Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 18 MFL+ n.c. 1867-1870, v. 4Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1863-1866, v. 3Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 17 MFL+ n.c. 1863-1866, v. 3Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1989-1990, v. 2Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 33 MFL+ n.c. 1989-1990, v. 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1981-1988, v. 2Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 32 MFL+ n.c. 1981-1988, v. 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1777-1862, v. 2Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 16 MFL+ n.c. 1777-1862, v. 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1767-1775, v. 2Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 15 MFL+ n.c. 1767-1775, v. 2Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1719, v. 2-1723Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 6 MFL+ n.c. 1719, v. 2-1723Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1974-1980, v. 1Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 31 MFL+ n.c. 1974-1980, v. 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1953, no. 1-1958Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 28 MFL+ n.c. 1953, no. 1-1958Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1759-1766, v. 1Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 14 MFL+ n.c. 1759-1766, v. 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1724-1729, v. 1Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 7 MFL+ n.c. 1724-1729, v. 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1715-1718, v. 1Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 5 MFL+ n.c. 1715-1718, v. 1Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2064-2142Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 40 MFL+ n.c. 2064-2142Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2042-2048Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 39 MFL+ n.c. 2042-2048Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2034-2041Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 38 MFL+ n.c. 2034-2041Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2027-2033Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 37 MFL+ n.c. 2027-2033Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2013-2026Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 36 MFL+ n.c. 2013-2026Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 2005-2010Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 35 MFL+ n.c. 2005-2010Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1991-2004Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 34 MFL+ n.c. 1991-2004Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
MFL+ n.c. 1966-1973Mixed materialUse in library *ZAN-*T213 r. 30 MFL+ n.c. 1966-1973Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

Details

Additional Authors
  • Brown, Lyman.
  • Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959.
  • Carter, Leslie, Mrs., 1862-1937.
  • Chamberlain, Samuel E. (Samuel Emery), 1829-1908.
  • Cohan, George M. (George Michael), 1878-1942.
  • Cukor, George, 1899-1983.
  • Gable, Clark, 1901-1960.
  • Horton, Edward Everett.
  • Luce, Clare Boothe, 1903-1987.
  • Russell, Rosalind.
  • St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968.
  • Scheff, Fritzi, 1879-1954.
  • Shubert, Lee, 1873?-1953.
  • Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.
  • Stanwyck, Barbara, 1907-1990.
  • Actors' Equity Association.
  • Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theatrical Agency.
Description
  • 351.25 lin. ft. (851 boxes and additional items)
  • 104 reels of microfilm
Summary
The Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers consist of approximately 351 linear feet and contain business and personal correspondence, legal and financial papers, over 600 scrapbooks, production materials, clipping files, scripts, and photographs which cover the history of the entertainment industry from the end of the nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century.
Subjects
Genre/Form
  • Autographs (manuscripts)
  • Clippings.
  • Printed ephemera.
  • Financial records.
  • Legal records.
  • Correspondence.
  • Photographs.
  • Scrapbooks.
  • Scripts (documents)
Access (note)
  • Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.
Location of Other Archival Materials (note)
  • Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Biography (note)
  • Theatrical casting agents, producers, and writers, brothers Chamberlain and Lyman Brown were born in Hartford, Connecticut in the 1890s of a prominent New England family. Chamberlain, the elder of the two brothers, was educated at Harvard and while there he began a career as an actor. He formed his own stock company and became an owner and manager of a theater in Lowell, Massachusetts while still in his teens. Chamberlain also had begun collecting posters as a young child and this collecting habit escalated to include autographs, photographs, and programs. He also subscribed to many theatrical periodicals, thus forming the basis of what became an extensive collection. By 1913, Chamberlain had come to New York and performed in The Yellow Jacket at the Fulton Theatre, as well as in vaudeville. He also had begun working as a press representative and soon opened his own company, which his brother Lyman also joined. Chamberlain, who died in 1955, discovered and represented many stars of theater, radio, and film during his career. Among those performers he claimed to have discovered were: Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, and Rudolph Valentino. Brown agency clients included Ruth Chatterton, Miriam Hopkins, Fritzi Scheff, and Spencer Tracy. Lyman Brown became a co-owner of the Chamberlain Brown Agency and worked primarily casting summer stock productions throughout the United States and Canada. He died in 1961.
  • In addition to their agency activity, the Brown brothers made numerous and financially disastrous attempts at producing.
Call Number
*T-Mss 1961-002
OCLC
166295003
Author
Brown, Chamberlain.
Title
Chamberlain and Lyman Brown papers, 1849-1961.
Restricted Access
Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.
Biography
Theatrical casting agents, producers, and writers, brothers Chamberlain and Lyman Brown were born in Hartford, Connecticut in the 1890s of a prominent New England family. Chamberlain, the elder of the two brothers, was educated at Harvard and while there he began a career as an actor. He formed his own stock company and became an owner and manager of a theater in Lowell, Massachusetts while still in his teens. Chamberlain also had begun collecting posters as a young child and this collecting habit escalated to include autographs, photographs, and programs. He also subscribed to many theatrical periodicals, thus forming the basis of what became an extensive collection. By 1913, Chamberlain had come to New York and performed in The Yellow Jacket at the Fulton Theatre, as well as in vaudeville. He also had begun working as a press representative and soon opened his own company, which his brother Lyman also joined. Chamberlain, who died in 1955, discovered and represented many stars of theater, radio, and film during his career. Among those performers he claimed to have discovered were: Clark Gable, Helen Hayes, Alfred Lunt, and Rudolph Valentino. Brown agency clients included Ruth Chatterton, Miriam Hopkins, Fritzi Scheff, and Spencer Tracy. Lyman Brown became a co-owner of the Chamberlain Brown Agency and worked primarily casting summer stock productions throughout the United States and Canada. He died in 1961.
In addition to their agency activity, the Brown brothers made numerous and financially disastrous attempts at producing. Kept (1926), at the Comedy Theatre, was Chamberlain Brown's initial Broadway production. The Brown brothers' first stock company in the metropolitan area was at the Greenwich Theatre in Connecticut. Under the auspices of the Chamberlain Brown Players (also known as the L. Chamberlain Brown Players), between 1929 and 1930 they presented over thirty plays. The company would hold subsequent summer seasons at other locations with varying degrees of success through the mid-1930s. Beginning in 1926, Chamberlain also hosted radio programs discussing the theater or presenting talent on various New York stations. He also embarked upon a number of professional activities that dovetailed with the agency business, including founding membership clubs, as well as initiating several unsuccessful publications. Perhaps because of an inability to evolve professionally with the changing times, or owing to Chamberlain Brown's lifestyle, the Brown agency floundered, despite family financial support for the brothers. Chamberlain declared bankruptcy in 1934 and was the defendant in numerous lawsuits for collection of funds spanning several decades.
Location of Other Archival Materials
See also Chamberlain and Lyman Brown theater diaries (*T-Mss 2002-010) in the Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
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Finding Aid
Occupation
Press agents.
Theatrical producers and directors.
Theatrical agents.
Added Author
Brown, Lyman.
Barrymore, Ethel, 1879-1959.
Carter, Leslie, Mrs., 1862-1937.
Chamberlain, Samuel E. (Samuel Emery), 1829-1908.
Cohan, George M. (George Michael), 1878-1942.
Cukor, George, 1899-1983.
Gable, Clark, 1901-1960.
Horton, Edward Everett.
Luce, Clare Boothe, 1903-1987.
Russell, Rosalind.
St. Denis, Ruth, 1880-1968.
Scheff, Fritzi, 1879-1954.
Shubert, Lee, 1873?-1953.
Shawn, Ted, 1891-1972.
Stanwyck, Barbara, 1907-1990.
Actors' Equity Association.
Chamberlain and Lyman Brown Theatrical Agency.
Research Call Number
*T-Mss 1961-002
*ZAN-*T213 [microfilm]
MWEZ+ n.c. 23238
MWEZ+ n.c. 23667-23668
*ZC-293 [microfilm]
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