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Resources on Virginia History and the 1811 Theater Fire

Richmond Scene, Richmond Theater Fire Book

Explore more about the fire and the world in which it occurred by browsing through the following sources:

 

First-hand Accounts of the Fire

Calamity at Richmond, Philadelphia, Published and sold by John F. Watson, 1812.

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Alexander, Ann Tuke. Remarks on the Theatre, and on the Late Fire at Richmond, in Virginia. York, England: T. Wilson & Son, 1812.

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Lloyd, Rees. The Richmond Alarm: a Plain and Familiar Discourse in the Form of a Dialogue Between a Father and His Son: in Three Parts: Written at the Request of a Number of Pious Persons by an Independent Minister. Philadelphia: J.Bioren, Printer, 1814.

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A Serious Inquiry into the Nature and Effects of the Stage and a Letter

respecting Play Actors by John Witherspoon also, a Sermon on the burning of the Theatre at Richmond, &c., by Samuel Miller D.D. pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of New-York together with an introductory address, by Several Ministers in New-York, &c. Printed by D. and G. Bruce. New York: Whiting and Watson, 1812.

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Life in 19th c. Virginia

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Barrett Philip, Gilbert Hunt, The City Blacksmith. Richmond: James

Woodhouse & Co., 1859.

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Mordecai, Samuel. Richmond in By-Gone Days. Republished from the Second Edition of 1860. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, Incorporated, 1946.

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Dunn, Susan. Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison & the Decline of

Virginia. New York: Basic Books, 2007.

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Norfleet, Fillmore. Saint-Memin in Virginia: Portraits and Biographies.

Richmond: The Dietz Press, 1942.

 

Monumental Church and Virginia Episcopalianism

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Bryan, John Morrill. America’s First Architect: Robert Mills. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2001.

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Fisher, George D. History and Reminiscences of the Monumental Church,

Richmond, Virginia, from 1814 to 1878. Richmond: Whittet & Shepperson, 1880.

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Holmes, David. A Brief History of the Episcopal Church. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1993.

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Winner, Lauren F. A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith: Anglican Religious Practice in the Elite Households of Eighteenth-Century Virginia. Yale University Press, 2010.

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19th century American Theater

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Click, Patricia C. The Spirit of the Times: Amusements in Nineteenth-Century Baltimore, Norfolk, and Richmond.Charlottesville, VA: The University Press of Virginia, 1989.

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Fuller-Seeley, Kathryn. Celebrate Richmond Theater. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 2002.

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Johnson, Claudia Durst. Church and Stage: The Theatre as Target of Religious Condemnation in Nineteenth Century America. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2008.

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Gerhard, William Paul. Theatre Fires and Panics: Their Causes and Prevention. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1896.

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Dunlap, William, A History of the American Theater. Volume I and II.

London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street, 1833.

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Sherman, Susanne K. Comedies Useful: Southern Theatre History 1775-1812. Lucy B. Pilkinton, ed. Williamsburg, Virginia: Celest Press, 1998.

Richmond Theater Fire sampler
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