Box 18

Scope and Contents From the Collection: The John H. Percival Magic Collection contains books, periodicals, ephemera, manuscript materials, newspaper clippings, autographs, magicians’ promotional materials, typescripts, and photographs spanning the years 1888-2009, with the bulk of materials from 1940-1970. The largest portion of the collection consists of Percival’s book collection, which features over 1,200 volumes on magic tricks, ventriloquism, spiritualism, stage entertainment, and gambling, among other topics....

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: This subseries contains information about specific magicians, including Rhode Island acts such as C. Foster Fenner, national acts such as Dell O’Dell, and international acts such as Sorcar. Promotional materials are organized by magician’s last name or, if none is available, first name. Among the promotional materials are news releases, business cards, flyers, pamphlets, and other documents promoting specific magicians and their magic acts. Souvenir programs with extensive information about...

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: This subseries contains information about specific magicians, including Rhode Island acts such as C. Foster Fenner, national acts such as Dell O’Dell, and international acts such as Sorcar. Promotional materials are organized by magician’s last name or, if none is available, first name. Among the promotional materials are news releases, business cards, flyers, pamphlets, and other documents promoting specific magicians and their magic acts. Souvenir programs with extensive information about...

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: This subseries primarily consists of programs from local and national magicians’ conventions. There are a small number of invitations to smaller magic conferences, as well as some typescript and handwritten materials produced by Percival and others on conference planning committees. A folder of tickets and name tags, included here, consists primarily of said items from conventions, alongside a few tickets from other performances. Finally, a folder of photographs shows groups of people at...

Scope and Contents From the Sub-Series: In addition to collecting loose ephemera, John Percival sorted and secured some ephemera in large scrapbooks. These scrapbooks include magicians’ promotional materials, business cards, holiday greetings, membership cards, invitations, event flyers, and programs. Much of the material is related to magicians and magic organizations, although Scrapbook 2 also includes a significant number of materials from dances, civic organizations, religious organizations, clubs, and the Telephone Society of...

Scope and Contents From the Series: These personal papers contain handwritten and typed correspondence, typescripts, drafts of articles and lectures, photographs, and personal letterhead, business cards, etc. Several folders of newspaper and magazine clippings document Percival’s life and performances; these give a good idea of the frequency and scale of Percival’s magic performances, as well as the other organizations with which he was involved. Percival’s notebooks chiefly contain notes on magic tricks and stage patter, both...