A collection of online resources connected to the Rosa Troupe.
Books
Internet Archive: Collection of historic books with a good representation covering the Rosa Troupe period. Each book is searchable by keyword and you can browse copies. Holdings relevant to the Rosa Troupe include:
- Gilbert, W.S, ‘My Pantomime‘ in The Era Almanac and Annual 1884, Open Court Publishing Company, 1884
- Hollingshead, J., My Lifetime (vol I), Sampson Low, Marston & Company, London, 1885
- Kirwan, Daniel Joseph, Palace and Hovel, Phases of London Life, Belknap and Bliss, Hartford, 1878
- Ritchie, James Ewing, The Night Side of London, Tinsley Brothers, London, 1861
- Sims, George Roberts, My life; sixty years’ recollections of Bohemian London, Eveleigh Nash company, London, 1917
- Soldene, Emily, My theatrical and musical recollections, Downey, London, 1898
- Yardley, W. ‘The Amateur Pantomime of 1878 and The Amateur Burlesque of 1881’ in Elliott, W. G., Amateur Clubs and Actors, E. Arnold, London, 1898
NEH/Mellon Open Book Program: Holdings relevant to the Rosa Troupe include:
- Allen, Shirley S. Samuel Phelps and Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, Conn., 1971.
Archives, blogs and databases
Adelphi Theatre Project: Includes a calendar of performances recording some individual performances by Kitty/Kate Abrahams.
British Library Newspapers: What can be said about perhaps the most useful website on the internet. If you don’t have a subscription get one now.
Ellen Terry and Edith Craig Database: The papers of these actresses, but also links to support searching for theatrical ancestors.
The Gazette: Official journal of record for bankruptcy and other legal matters.
GBNames: Searchable database of UK surnames. Find out how common surnames were in previous years and today, with data presented in maps and tabular data.
The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive: Detailed information on the life and works.
John Johnson Collection: The most comprehensive collection of theatre programmes from the Rosa Troupe period available online, from the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Lewis Carroll Resources: Includes a very detailed study of the very first stage performances of Alice in Wonderland which heavily featured the Rosa Troupe (possibly in their last performances together).
Music Hall Alice: Blog on all things Music Hall, from Alison Young Secretary of the British Music Hall Society.
National Library of Scotland: Excellent collection of maps from across the UK (not just Scotland), including the ability to overlay modern and historic maps.
The Ringling Online Collection: Includes two programmes from the Royal Aquarium featuring the Rosa Troupe
Ryland Collection, The University of Manchester Library: Collection of rare books, manuscripts and archives, including the Faust (prompt book 1885 production)
United Synagogues Graves: Searchable database of Jewish cemetries, with members of the Abrahams family buried in the East and West Ham Cemetries.
Societies
British Music Hall Society: Celebrating all things Music Hall, with an extensive archive of materials and their own journal “The Call Boy.”
London Topographical Society: Founded in 1880 the society provides in-depth research into the history of London.
The W.S. Gilbert Society The 2021 journal (Volume 8 no.46) includes a detailed biography of Rosa Abrahams, written by the author of this website.
London
Romantic London: A research project looking into the history of London, including a very user-friendly version of Horwoods Plan (1792-99) which shows every house at the time.
Charles Booth’s London: The world renowned poverty maps and notebooks produced for Inquiry into Life and Labour in London. The Rosa Troupe generally lived in the lower class areas in their early life, before moving into slightly more middle-class settings.
Edward Weller’s Map Of London 1868: Detailed map.
Brighton
The James Gray Collection – The Photographic Archive of the Regency Society. Over 7,500 photographs of old Brighton carefully labelled in detail.