The Online Books Page

Minstrel shows

Here are entered works on the 19th and early 20th century entertainments in which comedians portrayed racial stereotypes.

See also what's at Wikipedia, your library, or elsewhere.

• Vaudeville -- United States
• Revues

• Minstrel shows -- History
• Minstrel shows -- Michigan
• Minstrel shows -- Periodicals
• Minstrel shows -- Production and direction
• Minstrel shows -- Songs and music
• African Americans -- Minstrel shows

• American minstrelsy
• Minstrelsy, American
• Minstrelsy

• Bones: His Anecdotes and Goaks (London: C. H. Clarke, ca. 1870), by G. W. Moore (page images at HathiTrust)
• The Minstrel Encyclopedia (Boston: W. H. Baker Co., 1921), by Walter Ben Hare (page images at HathiTrust)
• Negro Minstrels: A Complete Guide to Negro Minstrelsy, Containing Recitations, Jokes, Crossfires, Conundrums, Riddles, Stump Speeches, Ragtime and Sentimental Songs, Etc., Including Hints on Organizing and Successfully Presenting a Performance (Chicago: F. J. Drake and Co., c1902), by Jack Haverly (multiple formats at Google; US access only)
• New Minstrel and Black Face Joke Book, by Leading Footlight Favorites: The Best Monologues, Endmen's Gags, Jokes, Etc. As Delivered by the Best Known Fun Makers on the Minstrel and Vaudeville Stage (cover title "Funny Stories"; inner running title "New Minstrel Joke Book"; Baltimore: I. and M. Ottenheimer, c1907) (page images at Harvard)
• The Witmark Amateur Minstrel Guide and Burnt Cork Encyclopedia (revised edition, c1905), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• Minstrelsy (San Francisco Theatre Research v15, monograph 25; 1939), ed. by Lawrence Estavan
  • multiple formats at archive.org
  • page images at HathiTrust
• The Minstrel Guide and Joke Book (Baltimore: I. and M. Ottenhiemer, c1912), ed. by Paul E. Lowe (page images at HathiTrust)
• Up-to-Date Minstrel Jokes: A Collection of the Latest and Most Popular Jokes, Talks, Stump-Speeches, Conundrums and Monologues for Amateur Minstrels, Many of Which Have Never Before Appeared in Print; Also, a Special Department of Female Minstrel Jokes (with 4 appended farces; Boston: Up-to-Date Pub. Co., c1902), ed. by Herman Henry Wheeler, contrib. by George H. Coes (page images at HathiTrust)
• Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date (Kenny publishing company, 1911), by Edw. Le Roy Rice (page images at HathiTrust)
• "Gentlemen, be seated!" A parade of the old-time minstrels (Doubleday, Doran, 1928), by Dailey Paskman and Sigmund Spaeth (page images at HathiTrust)
• How to put on a minstrel show (Max Stein Publishing House, 1921), by Harold Rossiter and Henry Ticker (page images at HathiTrust)
• Christy's new songster and black joker : containing all the most popular and original songs, choruses, stump speeches, witticisms, jokes, conundrums, etc., etc., as sung and delivered by the world-renowned Christy's Minstrels at their opera houses (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1868), by William E. Christy, E. Byron Christy, and Christy Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• George Christy's essence of old Kentucky : containing a choice collection of new and popular songs, interludes, dialogues, funny speeches, darkey jokes and plantation wit (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1862), by George Christy (page images at HathiTrust)
• Christy's Panorama songster : containing the songs as sung by the Christy, Campbell, Pierce's minstrels, and Sable brothers. (W. H. Murphy, 1850), by Edwin Pearce Christy (page images at HathiTrust)
• The mischievous nigger : a negro farce, in one act and one scene. (F. A. Brandy, 1856), by Charles White (page images at HathiTrust)
• The St. James Christy Minstrels' Christmas annual (Printed by J. E. Adlard, 1868), by Alfred Crowquill, England) St. James Hall (London, and Christy Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• Vagabond adventures. (Fields, Osgood, 1870), by Ralph Keeler (page images at HathiTrust)
• New minstrel and black face joke book : the best monologues, endmen's gags, jokes, etc. as delivered by the best known fun makers on the minstrel and vaudeville stage (I. & M. Ottenheimer, 1907) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Othello: a burlesque (Happy Hours Co., 1879), by William Shakespeare (page images at HathiTrust)
• The coming man: an Ethiopian sketch in two scenes (Dramatic Pub. Co., 1877), by Charles White and A. J. Leavitt (page images at HathiTrust)
• Darktown Literary Society meets (Eldridge Entertainment House, 1922), by Edward B. Warren (page images at HathiTrust)
• Coon jokes and felicitations (Arthur Westbrook, 1910) (page images at HathiTrust)
• The midnight intruder : an Ethiopian farce (Dramatic Pub. Co., 1876), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• Burnt cork no. 2 : a collection of minstrel gags, stories, monologs, etc. (M. Witmark & Sons, 1911), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• The minstrel guide and joke book : a comprehensive guide to the organization and conducting of a minstrel show, and how to make up, containing a diversified collection of the latest mirth-creating jokes, gags, cross-fire and monologues passed over the footlights by the most celebrated artists in burnt cork on the American stage (I. & M. Ottenheimer, 1910), by Paul E. Lowe (page images at HathiTrust)
• Old cabin home minstrels : a minstrel entertainment in three acts made up of old plantation songs, for the use of church, lodge, club, school, or community choruses (Lorenz Pub. Co., 1921), by Carrie B. Adams (page images at HathiTrust)
• Mohawk minstrels book of dramas, dialogues & drolleries (Francis Bros. & Day, 1878), by Charles Townley and Mohawk Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• A bundle of burnt cork comedy : original cross-fire conversations, gags, retorts, minstrel monologues and stump speeches (T.S. Denison & Co., 1905), by Harry L. Newton (page images at HathiTrust)
• Little giant "burnt cork jokes" (Arthur Westbrook Co., 1910) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Minstrel jokes (Arthur Westbrook Co., 1909) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Wehman's minstrel sketches, conundrums and jokes (Wehman Bros., 1879), by Bobby Newcomb (page images at HathiTrust)
• Waxworks at play (T.S. Denison, 1894), by Henry Llewellyn Williams (page images at HathiTrust)
• Fighting for the union : an Ethiopian farce : performed by Griffin & Christy's minstrels (Happy Hours Company, No. 1 Chambers Street, 1870), by G. W. H. Griffin, Happy Hours Company, and Griffin & Christy's Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• Negro wit and humor : also containing folk lore, folk songs, race peculiarities, race history (Harmon Publishing Company, 1914), by Marion F. Harmon (page images at HathiTrust)
• Odd people I have met (s.n., in the 1910s), by Lew Parker (page images at HathiTrust)
• The kink in Kizzie's wedding : a mock Negro wedding (Paine Pub. Co., 1921), by Mary Bonham (page images at HathiTrust)
• Frills and frolics : a musicale melange for ladies minstrels ; comedy de luxe ; minstrels a la mode (Walter H. Baker, 1921), by Walter Ben Hare (page images at HathiTrust)
• The sham doctor : a negro farce; in one act and three scenes (F.A. Brady, 1856), by Charles White (page images at HathiTrust)
• Souvenir programme, Thanksgiving, '94 the Victoria Amateur Minstrels : Victoria Theatre, Wednesday and Thursday evenings and Thursday matinée, November 21th and 22nd., 1894. (s.n., 1894), by Victoria Amateur Minstrels (B.C.) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Mechanics' Institute, Burnham & Phillips' San Francisco minstrels this evening programme .. (s.n., 1800) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Mechanics' Institute Whiting's minstrels from New York : first tour through the British pro[vinces] Wednesday evening, August 5, 1863. (s.n., 1863) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Crowning of music, Grand Opera House, London, Ont., season '95-96 (s.n., 1896), by Ont.) Grand Opera House (London (page images at HathiTrust)
• Crowning of music, Grand Opera House, London, Ont., season '95-96 (s.n., 1896), by Ont.) Grand Opera House (London (page images at HathiTrust)
• Mechanics' Institute Hall, Tuesday evening, May 21 fifth night of this unrivalled troupe of artistes pronounced by the press and public ... Rumsey and Newcomb's Minstrels .. (s.n., 1800), by Mechanics' Institute of Saint John (N.B.) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Barlow Bros. & Frost's Minstrels, under the management of Abe. Spitz ... (s.n., 1800) (page images at HathiTrust)
• The Minstrel festival the Victoria Amateur Minstrels, J.M. Finn, director, Victoria Theatre, Friday and Saturday evenings, May 8th and 9th, 1896. (s.n., 1896), by Victoria Amateur Minstrels (B.C.) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Fowl deeds : a negro comedy (Eldridge Entertainment House, 1920), by Jenny Wren (page images at HathiTrust)
• Up-to-date minstrel jokes : a collection of popular jokes, talks, stump-speeches, conundrums, and monologues for amateur minstrels and a special department of female minstrel jokes, stump-speeches and monologues arranged especially for "Lady Minstrels" (W.H. Baker, 1902), by Herman H. Wheeler (page images at HathiTrust)
• Ebony flats and black sharps : a nonsensical black-face melange in one act and various situations (W.H. Baker, 1897), by George W. Goode (page images at HathiTrust)
• Baker's Darkey plays : a collection of short, humorous plays in black face suitable for negro minstrel entertainments. (W. H. Baker & Co., 1915), by George H. Coes, E. Bowers, F. E. Hiland, and Walter H. Baker & Co (page images at HathiTrust)
• Go and get tight! : an Ethiopian farce in one scene (De Witt, 1880), by Henry Llewellyn Williams (page images at HathiTrust)
• The minstrel encyclopedia (Walter H. Baker company, 1921), by Walter Ben Hare (page images at HathiTrust)
• In for it, or, Uncle Tony's mistake: an Ethiopian farce in one act (Ames, 1893), by Dave E. Allyn (page images at HathiTrust)
• A rustic minstrel show : an entertainment in one act (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1912), by Willis Newton Bugbee (page images at HathiTrust)
• "Othello;" : a burlesque, (Happy Hours Company, No. 1 Chambers Street, 1880), by G. W. H. Griffin, Happy Hours Co, N. Orr & Co, and Griffin & Christy's Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• 16,000 years ago: an Ethiopian act as performed by Buckley's Serenaders. (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1870), by Henry Llewellyn Williams (page images at HathiTrust)
• The Irishman and the coon : a vaudeville act (The Penn Pub. Co., 1922), by Harry L. Newton (page images at HathiTrust)
• Wehman's minstrel sketches, conundrums, and jokes. (H. J. Wehman, 1890) (page images at HathiTrust)
• The darkey drama : a collection of approved Ethiopian acts, scenes, interludes, etc., etc. ... Part first (Samuel French ;, 1867), by Henry Llewellyn Williams (page images at HathiTrust)
• Black versus white (Clyde, Ohio : A.D. Ames, [1880], 1880), by George S. Vautrot and William H. Crawford (page images at HathiTrust)
• Don't get weary (Chicago : Dramatic Pub. Co., [1885], 1885), by James V. Hatch and Camille Billops (page images at HathiTrust)
• The complete minstrel guide, containing gags, jokes, parodies, speeches, farces, and full directions for a complete minstrel show (The Dramatic Pub. Co., 1901), by William Courtright (page images at HathiTrust)
• De Vere's negro sketches : end-men's gags and conundrums, adapted to the use of amateurs or professionals (The Charles T. Powner Company, 1946), by William De Vere (page images at HathiTrust)
• The minstrel encyclopedia (W.H. Baker, 1926), by Walter Ben Hare (page images at HathiTrust)
• The world's best book of minstrelsy (The Penn Pub. Co., 1926), by Preston Powell (page images at HathiTrust)
• Pickles and tickles; a Negro farce in one act, for six male characters ... (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1901), by Thomas Barnes (page images at HathiTrust)
• The water-melon cure : knock-about farce in one act (Dramatic Pub. Co., 1912), by C. Walcott Russell (page images at HathiTrust)
• A lucky job; a Negro farce (Dramatic Pub. Co., 1874), by Charles White (page images at HathiTrust)
• The black brigands : a musical burlesque, in one scene (De Witt, Publisher, 1884), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• Obeying orders : Ethiopian military sketch in one scene (Dramatic Pub. Co., 1874), by Charles White and John Arnold (page images at HathiTrust)
• Hamlet the dainty : an Ethiopian burlesque on Shakespeare's Hamlet : performed by Griffin & Christy's minstrels (New York : Happy Hours Co., [1875?], 1875), by G. W. H. Griffin, James V. Hatch, Camille Billops, and Happy Hours Company (page images at HathiTrust)
• Colored senators : an Ethiopian burlesque, in one scene (A.D. Ames, 1887), by Bert Richards (page images at HathiTrust)
• Christy's panorama songster : containing the songs as sung (William H. Murphy, 1800) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Darkey plays, : a collection of Ethiopian dramas, farces, interludes, burlesque operas, ecentricities, extravaganzas, comicalities, whimsicalities, etc., etc. : as played by the principal "burnt cork" performers all over the union. (Happy Hours Company, 1874), by G. W. H. Griffin and Charles White (page images at HathiTrust)
• How Sister Paxey got her child baptized : an Ethiopian farce in one scene (A.D. Ames, 1880), by J. S. R. Shaw (page images at HathiTrust)
• Hard times : a negro extravaganza - one scene (De Witt Pub. House, 1874), by Daniel Decatur Emmett and Charles White (page images at HathiTrust)
• Badly sold : a Negro act in two scenes (W. H. Baker, 1893), by George H Coes (page images at HathiTrust)
• Gallus Jake : an Ethiopian comicality in one scene. (Dick & Fitzgerald, 1874) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Squire for a day : a Negro sketch (Robert M. DeWitt, 1875), by A. J. Leavitt (page images at HathiTrust)
• Chops, an Ethiopian farce, in one act (A.D. Ames, 1886), by G. Shackell (page images at HathiTrust)
• Making of a minstrel show; a help-u book for amateurs. (Eldridge entertainment house, 1920), by Seymour S. Tibbals (page images at HathiTrust)
• Absent minded : a genteel farce, ... in one act, to which are added a description of the costumes - cast of the characters - entrances and exits - relative positions of the performers on the stage, and the whole of the stage business (Dramatic Publishing Company, 1881), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• De black magician or The wonderful beaver, an ethiopian comicality in one scene ... (Robert M. De Witt, 1876), by Henry Llewellyn Williams (page images at HathiTrust)
• Christy's panorama songster : (W.H. Murphy, 1840) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Stump speeches. (Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation, 1889), by William B. Dick (page images at HathiTrust)
• Opera house songster (New York : Dick & Fitzgerald, [1864?], 1864), by Dance and Music Fredric Woodbridge Wilson Collection of Theater and Hooley's Minstrels (page images at HathiTrust)
• Baker's minstrel budget for amateur and professional entertainers, clubs, lodges, schools, churches (Walter H. Baker company, 1928), by Arthur LeRoy Kaser (page images at HathiTrust)
• Negro sketches, end-men's gags and conundrums. (Regan Pub. Corp., 1924), by William De Vere (page images at HathiTrust)
• Francis and Day's book of dialogues no. 11-12 (Francis, Day & Hunter., 1878) (page images at HathiTrust)
• Burnt cork comicalities (New York : F. M. Lupton, [1893], 1893), by Ed. Marble (page images at HathiTrust)
• Negro minstrels, a complete guide to negro minstrelsy ... (F.J. Drake & Co., 1903), by Jack Haverly (page images at HathiTrust)
• The Ethiopian flute instructor; containing full and complete instructions, with all the popular Negro melodies of the day, including those of the Christy Minstrels, by Gumbo Chaff. (O. Ditson, 1850), by Elias Howe (page images at HathiTrust)
• Circus: its origin and growth prior to 1835. [Index] (J.M. Barriskill, 1955), by James M. Barriskill (page images at HathiTrust)
• Favorite darkey songs. Compiled and sung by Harvey Hindermeyer & Earle Tuckerman ("The Gold Dust Twins") (O. Ditson, 1927), by Earle Tuckerman and Harvey Hindermyer (page images at HathiTrust)
• Amateur minstrel guide and burnt cork encyclopedia (M. Witmark & Sons, 1927), by Frank Dumont (page images at HathiTrust)
• Monarchs of minstrelsy, from "Daddy" Rice to date, by Edw. Le Roy Rice (Gutenberg ebook)
• Vagabond Adventures, by Ralph Keeler (Gutenberg ebook)

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