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Lee Freeson letters

 Collection — Box: 1
Identifier: 2533

Scope and Contents

Collection consists of four photocopied pages of two 1913 letters to English actress Ellen Terry from her son Gordon Craig about death of dancer Isadora Duncan’s two children, Deirdre and Patrick, who drowned after the car they were riding in crashed into the river Seine in Paris.

Originally part of the Ethel Barrymore Memorial Theatre Arts Collection at the University of Southern California Library 100 Series, and was labeled 100-17 .

Dates

  • Creation: 1913

Conditions Governing Access

Advance notice required for access.

Rights Statement for Archival Description

Finding aid description and metadata are licensed under an Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Cinematic Arts Library at ctlibarc@usc.edu. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Cinematic Arts Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.

Biographical / Historical

Ellen Terry (1847-1928) was an English stage and film actress whose career spanned nearly 7 decades from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.



Gordon Craig (1872-1966) was an English modernist theatre practitioner and the son of actress Ellen Terry. Craig asserted that the director was “the true artist of the theatre” and suggested that actors were no more important than marionettes.



Isadora Duncan (1877-1927) was an American-born dancer known as “The Mother of Dance” for her distinctive style of movement that ushered in the modern era of dance.



Lee Freeson (1902-1998) was a stage actor and rare books dealer based in Los Angeles. Freeson studied acting in New York City and performed in small roles on Broadway. In 1929 he moved to Los Angeles and taught and performed at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. As manager for his wife, dancer Carmelita Maracci, Freeson traveled extensively, collecting and studying books wherever he went. He operated his rare books business without a storefront, instead he sold his finds from a series of catalogs. Freeson’s contributions helped to build and improve theatre libraries for universities across the country including UCLA and Harvard. He also procured duplicate titles from universities to add to his rare books catalogs.

Extent

0.03 Linear Feet (1 folder)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Collection consists of photocopied pages of two 1913 letters to English actress Ellen Terry from her son Gordon Craig about the death of dancer Isadors Duncan’s two children.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Lee Freeson.

Processing Information

Collection is unprocessed.

Title
Finding aid for the Lee Freeson letters
Status
Unprocessed
Author
Sarah Jardini for History Associates Incorporated
Date
2022 June
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the USC Libraries Cinematic Arts Library Repository

Contact:
Doheny Memorial Library G4
3550 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles California 90089-0185 United States