The Coppin Collection at the State Library Victoria covers the theatre activities of the Coppin family from the 1830s, and the career of Bland Holt, who took over the business later in the 19th century. Much has been written about George Coppin (1819–1906) and Bland Holt (1951–1942), so in the interest of avoiding repetition, I will confine discussion in this article to the contents of the Library’s collection in the hope of introducing the reader to this vast and wonderous archive. In the course of writing this piece, new and surprising information was revealed about the provenance of the Coppin Collection, which will also be discussed in the concluding section.
The Collection contains personal papers pertaining to the life of the Coppin family (including personal correspondence, family photographs, scrapbooks of press clippings of personal interest and family history, connections with clubs, societies and charities, illuminated addresses, and memorabilia), as well as corporate records of the theatre management activities of George Coppin (including legal documents, business correspondence, promotional material and playbills). There is also material on political elections, freemasonry, the Old Colonists’ Association, and on Sorrento.
The Bland Holt component of the archive does not have as much personal material like correspondence and memoirs, but is very rich in programs, playbills and posters, reports, photographs, playscripts, music scores, and costume and scenery designs. There are also documents relating to the research done by Alec Bagot while writing Coppin’s biography, Coppin the Great.1 The papers include drafts of the book, correspondence, notes, articles, lists of sources and receipts.
A new Finding Aid2 was completed in 2023, incorporating legacy data from handwritten contents lists, as well as new description for previously unseen material, some with digitised images attached. What follows is some discussion and description of the countless treasures in this extraordinary collection.
Playbills
Theatre Royal, Geelong. Rainer's Original Ethiopian Serenaders, concluding with Mesmerism, 1853
MS8827/11/859
Theatre Royal, Geelong. Discarded Daughter; Maniac Mother, or Mabel's Curse, 1853
MS8827/11/882
One of the most significant components of this Collection is the playbills. There are 1280 individual playbills in the collection,3 and numerous others pasted into scrapbooks and elsewhere. Playbills relating to productions by the Coppin family and company date from 1811 to 1901. They include many from England which were collected and sent to Coppin in Australia by his father. The playbills relating to productions by the Bland Holt company date from 1879 to 1907. Just under half are for performances in England (dating from 1811 to 1854) and the other half for Australia (dating from 1843 to 1907). There are a few American playbills too, from 1864-1865, when George Coppin travelled there. They are aesthetically beautiful, designed to be eye-catching using varying text fonts and sizes, with relatively little illustration in the early ones. Later playbills include engravings amongst the text, and by the later decades of the 19th century, with the use of colour lithography and even photolithography, they begin to more resemble a poster rather than a notice. There are also a number of playbills printed on silk. These were usually produced for special guests, mementos for valued clients or special occasions, such as Coppin’s farewell performances.
Theatre Royal, Sydney. One of the Best, silk playbill, with tartan design, for Bland Holt's Military Command Night performance of One of the Best, at Theatre Royal, Sydney, 24 April 1896
Accession number MS8827/11/1106
Exhibition Hall, Geelong. Rivals; The Artful Dodge, letterpress on silk, program for the last performance George Coppin was to make on stage in Geelong on Saturday 22 July 1882. As well as the two plays, the event included a farewell address by George Coppin.
Accession number MS8827/11/1032
As the playbills became more decorative and elaborate, they also became larger, incorporating vast amounts of information. This larger format meant there was space to include information that was often left off the smaller bills. We can see who the star attractions were, what songs and other entertainment was offered, scenery descriptions, and previews of forthcoming productions, and most importantly the names of those in the cast, including the women (who are often not written into history).
Playbills for performance of Lyster’s Royal Italian and English Opera at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide, on Vice-Regal Command Nights, Tuesday 13 October 1879 and Saturday 25 October 1879. Left: Theatre Royal, Adelaide. Un Ballo in Maschera, letterpress on silk, gold fringe, MS8827/11/1026, and Right: Theatre Royal, Adelaide. Fra Diavolo, letterpress on silk, gold fringe, MS8827/11/102
The playbills were arranged in chronological order (within country of origin) by Library staff when they were originally organised after the Collection donation was completed in 1969–1972. This order reveals the movements of the itinerant theatre troupes in England; we see their journeys dotting around the country, playing in various towns, not staying longer than about a month at a time before moving to the next town. The Australian playbills point to a more stable existence brought about by the wealth created through theatre ownership and management, rather than just acting.
Silk playbills for performances at the Argo Theatre, (on board the ship Argo) from a scrapbook containing miscellaneous text and images, including hand-drawn and silk playbills
MS 8827 BOX 122.4
What becomes apparent is that the order of the playbills is in itself a source of information on which evidence-based narratives of past events and lifestyles could be based; the playbills are primary documents which enable historians to place particular people in particular places, and at a particular time, and as such, they are invaluable research sources. We see the broad repertoire of the troupes, revealing clues about the evolving tastes of audiences over more than a century. Productions of Shakespeare plays practically disappear after the mid-1850s and we see the rise of melodrama and the high-action stage spectacular. And given the era, we also see derogatory racial and gender characterisation.
Programs
Theatre programs for Bland Holt productions, 1901, MS 8827 BOX 93
This series contains approximately 109 theatre programs dating from 1887 to 1936, relating to productions by Bland Holt, and other theatre companies, including some international companies. There are also some theatre programs pasted into the numerous scrapbooks in the Collection.
Posters and billboards
Drury Lane Pantomime “Sindbad”, lithograph on paper, 76.2 x 50.9 cm, MS8827/11/1254
There are eight posters in the Collection, most come from the Bland Holt component of the archive and are monochrome chalk lithographs. Two exceptions are for productions of the pantomime Sindbad. They are beautiful colour lithographs by John Hassell, advertising the London Drury Lane production of Sindbad, a pantomime by J. Hickory Wood and Arthur Collins.
Of the eight multi-sheet billboards in the collection, dating from 1873–1908, I will highlight and discuss two: ‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls, and Little Jim. All the billboards have been digitised and will be made available online via the catalogue in due course.
‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls, lithograph, 1887, MS8827/12/7
‘Pleasure’ with Harry Nicholls, a multi-sheet advertising billboard, is made up of 15 lithographed sheets printed by the Strand Publishing Company and measures almost 2 x 8 metres. It is not dated in the image, nor titled; the title in the Library’s catalogue was derived from information on the original wrapping paper in which the loose sheets that make up the whole were stored. Harry Nicholls is depicted on the extreme left and again behind the carriage. The artist/lithographer was I. J. Linzell, and other examples, dated 1885, of theatre posters by them are held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
The play Pleasure was written by Paul Merritt and Augustus Harris, and performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, starring Harry Nicholls.5
Little Jim, c.1908
MS8827/12/1
Bland Holt in Flint and Steel, c.1873-c.1876
MS8827/12/3.6
The billboard Little Jim is one of two for this play. Made up of three colour lithographed sheets adhered together, it measures 211.5 x 97.6 cm. The play is a stage adaptation by Arthur Shirley (1853–1925) and Ben Landeck (1864–1928) of Le Petit Muet [The little mute] by Henri Kerouel. Shirley and Landeck are known to have collaborated from 1908–1928, though this play was performed in London as early as 1902. The printing firm, James Walker & Co., Dublin, later produced many WWI posters.7
There are also 4 billboards for the play Flint and Steel, which date from 1873 to 1876, two are three sheeters, and the other two are 6-sheet billboards. At the time of writing, I was unable to find any information about this play, so dating the billboards was a challenge. The billboards were printed by the National Print and Engraving Co. Chicago (USA), which is known to have operated from at least 1870 to 1920 and given the stylistic elements of the chalk lithography, they can be placed in the 1870s. While two of them are titled simply Flint and Steel, the other two are titled Bland Holt in Flint and Steel, suggesting they date from 1873–1876 when Holt was in America.
Illuminated addresses
[Illuminated address] To George Selth Coppin, Esq. J.P., 1877, 7 watercolours, 1 albumen silver photograph hand-coloured, gouache, gold and coloured inks laid down on buff board
Pictures Collection, H314788
There are nine illuminated addresses presented to George Coppin, five in the Pictures Collection and four in the Manuscripts Collection; all are gifts of Lucy Coppin in 1953 and 1958. A fine example was presented to George Selth Coppin in recognition of his services as a Member of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly from a group of gentlemen including Henry McGuigan, Chairman, Louis L. Smith, Vice-Chairman, and John Anderson, Treasurer. Illuminated by Hamel & Ferguson, it consists of photographs, lithography, a number of watercolours, and gold and coloured inks.
Photographs
A rare double daguerreotype of Blanche and Amy Coppin; and portrait of Lucy Coppin with Constance, MS8827/13/PHO9
The collection of photography in the Coppin Collection is fully digitised (though at the time of writing, not all digitised images have yet been linked to their catalogue records). It consists of close to one thousand photographs (many contained in albums) and includes early format photographs, family photographs, portraits of actors, and views of stage productions and scenery design.
Among the early format photographs, there are ten fine examples of daguerreotypes and ambrotypes depicting members of the Coppin family dating from circa 1850 to 1860, and a number of glass plate negatives from around 1900 to 1905, some showing Coppin at home.
Bland Holt and Florence Holt at home, hand coloured, unknown photographer, c.1930
MS8827/13/PHO286
Bland Holt with chickens, by Pegg Clarke, c.1930
MS8827/13/PHO128
The large collection of photographs, in albums or loose, of the Coppin family and the Bland Holt family date from the 1870s to the 1930s. Most are studio portraits, but some are less formal, showing the families in their Melbourne (Richmond and Kew) and seaside (Sorrento) homes.
Portrait of Harry Nash, in Album of portraits, 1886
MS8827/13/PHO54
Hand coloured studio portrait of Emily Duncan, c.1875
MS8827/13/PHO371
A substantial collection of studio portraits of actors and other theatre personalities—both Australian and international—appear in numerous albums and in loose form. There are also several albums dating from the late 19th century, produced in England, that depict stage and scenery designs. These were used as guides for designing productions in Australia. Theatre productions included: A Run of Luck, The Best of Friends, The Great Millionaire, The White Heather, A Life of Pleasure, The Prodigal Son, The White Cat, The Great Rescue, Sporting Life, Going the Pace, Never Despair, The Ruling Passion, Mankind, and scenes from the 1920 film The Breaking of the Drought.9
Two examples from a series of hand-coloured photographs in oval mounts, of George Coppin in the roles of Jem Bags the Wandering Minstrel (MS8827/13/PHO86), and Putzi the maire of Nevers (MS8827/13/PHO79)
The Coppin Portfolio, containing 6 albumen sliver photographs of George Coppin in his signature roles, by Edmund Cosworth Waddington & Co, and one playbill, Manuscripts Collection, MS8827/13/PHO6410
Playscripts
A collection of over 900 published playscripts used by the theatre companies of George Coppin and Bland Holt dating from c.1849 to c.1917. The handwritten annotations make these fascinating examples of the playscript as a working tool of theatre companies. Most of these playscripts bare the imprint of either Lacy’s Acting Edition of Plays, published in London by the playwright and publisher Thomas Hailes Lacy (or T.H. Lacy, 1809–1873), or French’s American Drama, published in New York by Samuel French (1821–1898). The plays were published over many years and were the central resource for 19th century theatrical productions. There are also a number of what appear to be unpublished handwritten and typescript playscripts dating from 1879 to 1927.
Music
Music folios for instrumental parts for the production of A Path of Thorns, MS 8827 BOX 28 and BOX 6911
The music component is extensive and impressive in its scope. There are instrumental parts and songs for over 30 theatrical productions, dating from 1873–1910, most containing between 10 and 13 folios of music for the various instruments. The folios are personalised with handwritten notes. The music component also contains examples of lyrics, songbooks, loose sheet music and voice training exercises.
An outstanding example is the music for A Path of Thorns. Consisting of 10 folios, each cover has been decorated with ornate instrument-themed designs, some with gold highlights and others signed by the artist.
Costume and scenery designs
Album of costume drawings of Kings and Queens of England, circa 1880-circa 1900. Contains watercolour drawings annotated with grey lead pencil, includes some fabric swatches. MS 8827 BOX 64.12
There are 13 scrapbooks which contain inspiration and source material for costume and scenery design. These volumes include pen and ink drawings, watercolours, original photographs, press clippings, fabric swatches, often thematically arranged and collaged onto pages. They date from 1880 to 1909 and were used by costume and set designers working in Bland Holt’s company.
Subject matter includes various national dress and racial ‘types’, royalty, military, aristocratic fashions, comic dress and sporting dress. Some volumes also contain portraits of actors and stage personalities. Source material for scenery includes depictions of countries and cities, streetscape, country views, carriages, animals and weaponry.
Design for theatre curtains and drop curtains, by Philip W. Goatcher, c.1890-1900, Pictures Collection, H31477
The Collection also includes extraordinary examples of the original artwork for set designs. An exquisite example, gifted to the Library by Lucy Coppin in 1958, is the watercolour and gouache piece Design for theatre curtains and drop curtains, by Philip W. Goatcher.
In recent years more examples of set designs were found (wrapped in brown paper parcels), when the Coppin Collection as a whole was being catalogued and rehoused. An almost forgotten resource, they include a substantial number of set designs for various acts of the play The Breaking of the Drought, and a few for The Cotton King. They have now been cleaned and treated by the Library’s Conservation team, who have documented their research and processes in a fascinating Library blog.13
Provenance
The Coppin Collection extends across the Library’s Pictures and Manuscripts Collections. The acquisition of it as a named collection was formally recorded in the Manuscripts Accession Register in 1969 (with further material added in 1970) and was given the accession number MS 8827, which identifies it to this day. A donation by the Estate of the late E.D.A. Bagot (1893–1968), George Coppin’s biographer, it came via the National Library of Australia14 where Bagot had deposited it after finishing his book, and consisted of numerous bundles, folders and boxes of Bagot’s research notes, book manuscript and transcripts, as well as primary source material given to him by Lucy Coppin (Coppin’s last surviving daughter) which included Coppin’s diaries for 1864, 1865 and 1886, volumes of correspondence dating from 1845 to 1880, scrapbooks, playbills and newspaper clippings, biographical information, and the research notes of John McEwan, an historian who had done extensive research on Coppin and was supported by Daisie Young (nee Coppin) the youngest Coppin daughter.
Further research into the provenance of the Coppin Collection at the State Library though, reveals that the Library had a long standing relationship with the Coppin family which predates the donation that came from Bagot. As early as 1932 the Library acquired from Daisie Coppin, a collection of 84 theatrical playbills issued 1846–1847 in South Australia and Port Phillip District,15 and in 1953 we see a donation of nearly 300 items from Lucy Coppin.16
The Coppin material was identified as historically significant in 1950 by art historian Agnes Paton Bell17 who arranged for notable academics and librarians from the University of Melbourne and the State Library Victoria to visit and assess the material with a view to acquiring it for preservation. Members of the Coppin family were conscious of the importance of finding a suitable institution to house the collection for the benefit of researchers and to contribute to the wider story of the growth and development of Victoria. Interest in Australian history was growing in the 1950s, and with the fervour that accompanied the knowledge of the planned building of the La Trobe Library to house and grow the Australiana material of the SLV, donations of primary source historical material increased greatly.
It was during this waive of enthusiasm to build the State Collection that we see in 1953 the incredible donation of Coppin material by his daughter Lucy Coppin mentioned above. The donation included a collection of masks painted by Sam Wills, used by Bland Holt in recitals,18 numerous illustrated addresses, invitations, photographic portraits of actors including many of Bland Holt and Coppin in his signature rolls, albums of photographs of set designs for plays from Drury Lane, collections of playbills, books of costume design, words and music of songs, legal documents and financial documents, volumes of newspaper cuttings, and correspondence. This material was accessioned into the Historical Register (with the accession prefix ‘H’ preceding a running number) which, as well as being the register for most non-book material, was the formal Pictures Accession Register. Much of this material was eventually transferred to the portion of the Coppin Collection that is now in the care of the Library’s Manuscripts Collection. A few years later Lucy Coppin donated further significant items: in 1958 the grand Coppin clock which stood in the Queen’s Hall until 2002;19 in 1959 the White marble clock belonging to George Coppin, dated 1880;20 and in 1960 she bequeathed the Shakespeare window.21
The foundation stone of the La Trobe Library was laid in 1951 and it was not until 14 years later that it was officially opened in 1965.22 Without a building to house these new acquisitions, collection items were wrapped in paper and stored in the basements of the various Library buildings, awaiting the completion of the new building on La Trobe Street. It was these packages that are referred to in accounts of the development of the Library’s Pictures and Manuscript collections. Former Pictures Librarian Christine Downer writes:
Patricia Reynolds, the first La Trobe Librarian recounted in a recent interview that shortly after joining the Library staff in 1952, she discovered numbers of brown paper parcels, tied up with string and filled with photographs, in cupboards in the Palmer Hall. The excitement of this discovery was such that she forgot to go to lunch that day.23
Regarding the Manuscripts Collection, historian John Thompson writes:
In 1956 the Library appointed its first Manuscripts Librarian (though not yet a full-time position) and at last a start could be made in bringing the scattered holdings together to form a separate collection. Recalling her first experiences working with the manuscripts collections, Clarice Kemp has told me that material was held in no more than 121 or so boxes and that manuscripts were held in as many as thirteen separate locations around the main Library building.24
Registration of manuscript material began in earnest in 1958, and as the Coppin Collection emerged from the various storage places around the Library, and the final portions of it returned from the NLA by 1974, we start to see a formal, logical arrangement into 15 Series (which have remained relevant and proven to be very useful in the listing and digitising efforts of recent years).25 We also see some back and forth transferring of material from the Pictures Collection to the Manuscripts Collection and vice versa. The Accession Registers of the time are dotted with annotations about these various moves which is in itself an extraordinary documentation of the management of archives and artifacts by a large collecting institution.
As concluding remarks, it is worth recording the names of staff and volunteers who have worked to organise, shape and log the vast Coppin Collection since the 1950s. Library staff include Joan Maslen (former Librarian and theatre specialist), Shona Dewer (Librarian, Manuscripts), Frances Thiele (former Field Historian and music expert, Manuscripts), Elizabeth Payne (Senior Librarian, Description Original Materials) and the volunteers who have lent their expertise and labour over the years: Ruth Bryce, Mimi Colligan, Elisabeth Kumm and Anne Glover. It is a great source of pride for me that I was involved in the cataloguing and digitising of the photographs and playbills in the Collection, and in the final concentrated push over the last few years to bring together the efforts of my colleagues to create a complete Finding Aid which will serve researchers for many years to come.
Endnotes
1. Alec Bagot, Coppin the Great: Father of the Australian theatre, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, 1965
2. The Finding aid is available via this link, or via the catalogue record: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/resources/256
3. The entire collection of playbills in the Coppin Collection have been digitised and are available to view online.
4. Finding aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/166550
5. Harry Nicholls was known to have performed in A Life of Pleasure at the Theatre Royal, Dury Lane in 1893. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Nicholls_(comedian). A citation in the catalogue of the National Library of New Zealand states: Bland Holt in ‘A life of pleasure’, by Sir Augustus Harris. With Mrs Bland Holt and Miss Elizabeth Watson from London. Opera House Wellington. 25 November 1895. https://natlib.govt.nz/records/22415638, (Viewed 20 November 2023); There are two small playbills in the SLV’s collection for the production of Pleasure by Paul Merritt and Augustus Harris at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. Details of cast vary on each bill. Bland Holt is not in the production. As with the billboard, these are printed by the Strand Publishing Company too. (Accession number: MS8827/11/1249)
6. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/161900
7. www.arthurlloyd.co.uk (Viewed 2 May 2021)
8. Catalogue link: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/253094
9. The photographs relating to the film The Breaking of the Drought are discussed in the SLV blog, The Breaking of the Drought: Silent movies and photography. https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/such-was-life/the-breaking-of-the-drought-silent-movies-and-photography/
10. The whole Portfolio can be viewed online: http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/382866
11. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/165347
12. Finding Aid link: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/archival_objects/161891
13. Melodrama in Miniature—the conservation treatment of model set pieces from the 1902 play ‘The Breaking of the Drought’: https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/collection-care/melodrama-in-miniature/
14. The National Library of Australia passed the collection on to the State Library of Victoria according to the wishes of Mrs Bagot after the death of her husband. The National Library made copies for its collection.
15. These were accessioned in the Pictures (Historical) Register at H3063–H3146.
16. These are listed in the Pictures (Historical) Register at H16579–H16688.
17. Agnes Paton Bell, How the George Coppin and Bland Holt material was discovered, 1967, Australian Manuscripts Collection, SLV, MS 8240.
18. These are in the Pictures Collection, H15973/1–16 and H15974/1–43, and are fully catalogued and digitised so can be viewed online via the SLV catalogue. They are in copyright, so reproduction here was not possible in time for publication.
19. Now conserved and on display in the Foundation Members Lounge, off the Dome (La Trobe Reading Room).
20. Pictures Collection, H18183. In storage LTRE 551.
21. The Shakespear window is installed for exhibition on Level 6 of the Dome (La Trobe Reading Room) at the Library. For discussion and history of this donation, see Mimi Colligan, “‘That window has a history’: The Shakespeare Window at the State Library,” La Trobe Journal, No.78, Spring 2006, pp. 94-103.
22. See the State Library Victoria, Research Guide: https://guides.slv.vic.gov.au/slvhistory
23. Christine Downer, “Pictures In Victoria - Images As Records In The La Trobe Library Picture Collection”, La Trobe Journal, No. 50, Spring 1992, p.13; available online: https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-50/t1-g-t2.html
24. John Thompson, “The Australian Manuscripts Collection in the State Library of Victoria: Its Growth, Development and Future Prospects”, La Trobe Journal, No. 21, April 1978, p.12; available online: https://latrobejournal.slv.vic.gov.au/latrobejournal/issue/latrobe-21/t1-g-t2.html
25. The new Finding Aid is available via the catalogue record for the Coppin Collection, or directly: https://findingaids.slv.vic.gov.au/repositories/3/resources/256
