Stephen Railton collection of Uncle Tom's Cabin ephemera

Access and use

Location of collection:
University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.
Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400110
160 McCormick Rd
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Brenda Gunn
Phone: (434) 924-1037
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Restrictions:

The collection is open for research use.

Preferred citation:

MSS 16759, Steven Railton collection of Uncle Tom's Cabin ephemera, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Summary

Extent:
2 Cubic Feet One legal-sized document box, one letter document box, three medium oversized folders, one large oversized folder; Vinyl records, wax cylinders, grooved analog discs, and open reels., 2 grooved analog discs, 3 open reel videotapes, and 15 vinyl recordings
Creator:
Railton, Stephen, 1948-
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

MSS 16759, Steven Railton collection of Uncle Tom's Cabin ephemera, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia Library.

Background

Scope and content:

This material contains racist imagery of Black people. This note aims to give users the opportunity to decide whether they need or want to view these materials, or at least, to mentally or emotionally prepare themselves to view the materials.

This collection contains materials related to Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin" predominately created between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth century and collected and curated by Stephen Railton. Railton is a University of Virginia English professor whose work predominantly focuses on American literature. As part of his scholarship, Railton created a digital humanities project titled "Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture," a multi-media archive exploring the cultural phenomena of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published in 1852. The project website explores the precursors of the book, the book itself, its responses, and its popularity within the post-Civil War United States following the institution of Jim Crow Laws, particularly in the American South.

The materials collected by Railton include sheet music, newspaper clippings, adaptions and abridgments of the book, playbills, postcards, glass slides, stereograph photographs of scenes and characters from the book, tickets, a photograph of actors in blackface, paper doll cutouts, advertisements for performances of Uncle Tom's Cabin, advertisements using characters from the book, a makeup up guide for actors with extensive instructions for blackface and minstrel makeup, a children's play set composed of various fold-out paper buildings recreating the setting of Uncle Tom's Cabin, needlecraft patterns, vinyl records, wax cylinders, open reels, grooved discs, and films based on Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Racist caricatures and stereotypical depictions of Black people are commonplace throughout this collection of ephemera. The reach of Uncle Tom's Cabin extended into the arenas of advertising, children's toys, literature, play productions, and household objects.

In addition to these materials is a folder of correspondence between Railton and other institutions to secure rights and permissions for the use of other institutions' materials for the website.

Boston Globe contains cut-out paper dolls

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Stephen Railton is Professor of English at the University of Virginia. He came to Virginia from Columbia University, where he earned his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. Professor Railton has published numerous articles on American literature and has written two books, including Fenimore Cooper: A Study of His Imagination. He has also appeared on PBS's Newshour with Jim Lehrer as an expert on Mark Twain. Dr. Railton has also created two award-winning Web-based electronic archives, intended to explore the uses of electronic technology for teaching and studying American literature: Mark Twain in His Times (http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton) and Uncle Tom's Cabin & American Culture (http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/utc), which won Gettysburg College's prestigious Lincoln Prize, awarded for the finest scholarship on Lincoln and the Civil War era.

Source: The Great Course website. Accessed 4/10/2023 https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/stephen-railton

Acquisition information:
This collection was a gift from Steven Railton to the Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia Library on 1 July, 2019.
Physical facet:

2 wax cylinders

3 open reel tapes

15 vinyl records

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard