Poster for Mattie Wilkes performance at Holliday Street Theater: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A color poster featuring an illustration of the late 19th-early 20th century performer Mattie Wilkes. Wilkes is pictured in the center against a yellow background. She has a faint smile and is gazing off to one side. She is wearing an off-the-shoulder white, ruffled dress and small, white, round stud earrings and she has a pink flower in her hair. In blue, black and orange text across the top is [HURTIG & SEAMON PRESENT / WILLIAMS & WALKER / AND THEIR OWN BIG CO.]. Along the bottom of the depiction of Wilkes is written in black, grey, and yellow text [THE BEAUTIFUL / MATTIE WILKES / PHENOMENAL SOPRANO]. An addition on brown paper across the bottom of the poster is [HOLLIDAY ST. / THEATRE / WEEK COMMENCING / MON. MAT. NOV. 6 / MATINEES AS USUAL]. There is a small mark reading [The / H.C. Miner / Litho. Co. / N.Y.].

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1899-1905
• Produced by: H. C. Miner Lithographing Company, American, 1896 - 1935
• Subject of: Mattie Wilkes, American, 1875 - 1927
• Subject of: George "Nash" Walker, American, 1873 - 1911
• Subject of: Bert Williams, American, 1874 - 1922
• Subject of: Williams and Walker Company, American, 1899 - 1909
• Subject of: Hurtig & Seamon, American
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper, glass, wood, metal
• Dimensions: Framed: 37 5/8 × 22 5/8 × 1 1/16 in. (95.6 × 57.5 × 2.7 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Poster (sight)): 27 3/4 × 20 1/2 in. (70.5 × 52.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (Brown paper (sight)): 9 1/4 × 20 1/2 in. (23.5 × 52.1 cm)
• Place used: Baltimore, Maryland, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Actors
• Topic: Musical Theatre
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: 2013.137
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Stephen and Catherine Markardt
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The displayed image also has an explicit CC0 designation. The underlying object's rights statement is: Public domain Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.