The German play is an adaptation of the American novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe. The file contains materials related to rehearsal and performance, including a published copy (Wien: J. B. Wallishausser, 1853; Wiener Theater-Repertoir), which has been annotated as a prompt-book; a handwritten scenario; and 19 handwritten role books, for the following parts: Cassy Morton; Georg, sechs Jahre alt; Harris, Grundbesitzer in Kentucki; Tom, ein Negersclave; Locker, Friedensrichter; Herr Scelbi, Grundbesitzer in Kentucky (in the text: Louisiana); Emilie, Scelbi's Frau; Wilm Scelbi; Scipers, Sclavenaufseher bei Scelbi; Georg; Elis, Georg's Frau; Henri, Georg's Sohn; Mary (Topsy), eine Mulattin; Legrée, Grundbesitzer in Louisiana; Mischler, Wirth in Straford; Song, Gaukler; Emmi; Missouri, ein Indianer; and Sambo, ein Neger. (The role books are complete as the play was performed. Two characters given in the text were omitted: three-year-old Emmi; and Sim, ein Negerknabe.) Pasted to the front inside cover of the published copy is a clipping (from an unidentified source) of a drawing that evidently depicts a scene from the play. The published copy and all of the role books are labeled by hand as the property of Theodor Bloch, who was active in German-language theater in Philadelphia from at least the early 1870s until the mid 1890s, first as an actor and later as a prompter, and who ran a theater lending library. The role books are all of similar appearance and seem to form a set prepared by Bloch, or at his direction. Names of actors and actresses noted on covers of role books generally reflect 2 different casts, corresponding for the most part with the casts of the performances in Philadelphia documented in a playbill of Jan. 1879 (folder 678) and a theater newspaper of Dec. 1880 (folder 692). See also an oversize poster in drawer 36 (folder/item 725), which apparently relates to the performances of Dec. 1880, bearing the English title "Uncle Tom's Cabin" and a color image meant to depict the Philadelphia actress Martha Wedemeyer in the role of Eliza (Elis).
