Collection on Adelina Patti

This collection documents Adelina Patti's career through biographical information found in scrapbooks, correspondence, photographs, articles, newspaper clippings, other promotional material, and objects. Many of these items are included in a large scrapbook with an extensive collection of handwritten (and then typed) correspondence to Selma Gruenberg (1886 Aug 17 – 1917 Dec 16), portrait photographs of Patti and her husbands, Baron Cederstrom (1900) and Ernesto Nicolini, photographs of paintings and sketched portraits of Patti, a marriage announcement for Patti and Nicolini, concert programs, an extensive collection of newspaper clippings, and typed descriptions of the items within. Also included in the collection is a self-published biography of Patti, Adelina Patti: Her Loves and Letters, by her goddaughter, Gladys Adelina Lewis. This book includes a typed biography as well as several photographs. Photograph inserts of Patti’s letters to Mrs. Gruenberg (originals in scrapbook) have been removed from the biography and put into separate folders. The letters from Patti to Gruenberg primarily concern normal cordial matters, with the occasional mention of Patti's travels and performances, such as Carmen (1887). The collection also includes an autograph book presented to Selma Gruenberg, which includes an Adelina Patti autograph and inscription (1882), and correspondences from Patti to Giulia Valde and various other people. Objects include one slipper autographed by Patti, a pair of opera glasses, a pair of formal evening gloves, and an ornate collapsible fan.