Accession No. TRI.2025.0043: Purchased, 2018 August
[identification of item], John Grieves Correspondence, SPEC.TRI.0118, Lawrence and Lee Theatre Research Institute, Ohio State University
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Processed by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2025 October; Finding aid written by: Audrey Wimbiscus, 2025 October
John Grieves (1850-1933) was a theatrical manager and producer who represented acts in New York, New York and Baltimore, Maryland. He also wrote burlesques, vaudeville acts, and songs. Grieves represented burlesque performers, chorus girls, ballet dancers, singers, comedians, and traveling shows. He was married to Clara (Snooks) Grieves in 1890 with whom he had two children, Mary and John.
The John Grieves Correspondence dates from circa 1901, and consists of six handwritten letters sent by Grieves to his colleague Joseph F. Smith. The letters discuss business topics such as booking of theaters and performances. They also discuss personal topics such as divorce, a dispute over a luggage trunk, and how Grieves did not want to be involved in his son's life but wanted to be acknowledged as his father, and would entrust his care to Smith and the unidentified child's mother, Lizzie. Grieves also appears to have managed Lizzie's theatrical career.