Research Catalog

Bertha Kalich papers

Title: Bertha Kalich papers, 1866-1955.
Author: Kalich, Bertha, 1874-1939.
Supplementary Content: Finding Aid

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24 Items

Item details
Status	Container	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Scrapbook of clippings (1918-1922)	Mixed material	Use in library	*ZC-342 Scrapbook of clippings (1918-1922)	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 1	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 1	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 2	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 2	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 3	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 3	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 4	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 4	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 5	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 5	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 6	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 6	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 7	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 7	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 8	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 8	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 9	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 9	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 10	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 10	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 11	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 11	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 12	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 12	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 13	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 13	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 14	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 14	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 15	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 15	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 16	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 16	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 17	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 17	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 18	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 18	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre
Request Appointment Available - Can be used on site. Please visit New York Public Library - Performing Arts Research Collections to submit a request in person.	Box 19	Mixed material	Supervised use	*T-Mss 1991-005 Box 19	Performing Arts Research Collections - Theatre

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Details

Additional Authors

Description

8 linear feet (23 boxes)

Summary

The papers consist of correspondence, programs, financial records, clippings, scripts, sides, scores, publicity pieces, photographs, and scrapbooks connected with Bertha Kalich. The majority of the materials are in English, though a great many clippings and some scripts are in Yiddish, and some early official documents are in German and Hebrew.

Subjects

Genre/Form

Clippings.
Contracts.
Correspondence.
Printed ephemera.
Financial records.
Photographs.
Promotional materials.
Scrapbooks.
Scripts.
Scores.

Access (note)

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Language (note)

This collection contains materials in English, though a great many clippings and some scripts are in Yiddish, and some early official documents are in German and Hebrew.

Indexes/Finding Aids (note)

Collection guide available in repository and on internet.

Call Number

*T-Mss 1991-005

OCLC

232546303

Author

Kalich, Bertha, 1874-1939.

Title

Bertha Kalich papers, 1866-1955.

Restricted Access

Collection is open to the public. Library policy on photography and photocopying will apply. Advance notice may be required.

Biography

Bertha Rachel Kalich, daughter of Solomon Kalich and Babette Haber, was born on September 8, 1874 in Lemberg, Galicia (Poland), where she trained in declamation and voice culture from an early age despite the disapproval of her conservative Jewish family. While a student at Lemberg's Conservatory of Music, she met Leopold Spachner, a fellow student, whom she married in 1892. Starting as a chorus singer in Lemberg, Kalich soon achieved wide acclaim on the Polish and Romanian stages, despite deep anti-Semitic sentiment that made such success an unlikely prospect. In 1895, Kalich and Spachner immigrated to the United States where Kalich enjoyed great success in the Yiddish theatre until 1905. In that year, Harrison Grey Fiske persuaded Kalich to attempt a transition to the American stage. After only a few months she mastered English pronunciation sufficiently to manage the transition and became an immediate success. She appeared in plays by Sudermann, Maeterlinck, Tolstoy, and Shaw with occasional returns to the Yiddish stage, and was successful, as well, in the cinema. Her most famous, and often repeated, roles were as Magda in Sudermann's play of that name and Lilla Olrick in Jacobi's Riddle Woman. Kalich toured tirelessly in both the United States and Canada, her "emotional" brand of acting winning her great acclaim. In 1928, Kalich took ill during a run of The Soul of a Woman. From that time on, she was unable to work more than sporadically. Threatened with blindness, she underwent a series of operations. Between 1931 and 1936, friends in the theatrical world arranged a number of benefit performances to aid her in an unsuccessful battle to regain her health that decimated her fortune and embittered her. Correspondence among members of the family from 1928 on indicates that Kalich became despondent and felt abandoned by her husband and daughter, although the accuracy of her perception is not borne out by the documentation in the collection. On the other hand, there is evidence in these letters that she alienated many long-time associates outside the family. Kalich died on April 19, 1939, in New York City.

Language

This collection contains materials in English, though a great many clippings and some scripts are in Yiddish, and some early official documents are in German and Hebrew.

Location of Other Archival Materials