Courtney Yenni papers
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Creator
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Abstract
The Courtney Yenni papers contain one scrapbook, theater programs and broadsides, one clipping and one magazine. The programs include the final performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Montague Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, as well as the first performance at its new building in the Fort Greene neighborhood.
Biographical note
Courtney Yenni was born in February 1890. His father, Frederick A. Yenni, was born in 1830 to a Swiss father on Canal Street in Manhattan, grew up in Brooklyn Heights, and lived at 17 7th Avenue for many years. He was in the kerosene business with Charles Gregory, and had a plant in Williamsburg. He died in 1901. Courtney Yenni's mother was Anna Deming and he had one sister, Frederica A. Yenni.
Courtney Yenni's half sister was Gertrude "Gertie" Livingston Yenni, born to F.A. Yenni and his first wife, Leonora C. Livingston. Gertie Yenni died on August 27, 1878 at age 19.
The family of Courtney Yenni's wife Mrs. Adele Yenni (nee Kornder) lived at 239 Garfield Place.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged by type.
Scope and Contents
The Courtney Yenni papers contain one scrapbook, several theater programs and broadsides, one clipping and one magazine. The scrapbook seems to have been compiled at least in part by Yenni's half sister Gertrude "Gertie" Livingston Yenni, who died in 1878. It contains printed ephemera (some of which is quite colorful, and some of which has three dimensional elements), clippings (including several death and marriage notices for the Livingston and Yenni families), photographs and dried leaves.
The programs include the final performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music on Montague Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, as well as the first performance at its new building in the Fort Greene neighborhood. The final performance at the Academy featured the singer Adelina Patti, who is also the subject of the 1974 clipping in the collection. There is also a program from the inaugural performance at Radio City Music Hall, which opened in 1932.
Subjects
Organizations
Families
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Places
Conditions Governing Access
Open to users without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use
The majority of the materials in this collection are in the public domain. While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Courtney Yenni papers, 1985.008, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Courtney and Adele Yenni via Nancy Pearsall, 1983.
About this Guide
Processing Information
This collection was rehoused and the finding aid revised by Dee Bowers in 2024.
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Broadside theater playbills, 1855-1856, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Purdy's National Theatre, 1855; Wallack's Theatre, 1856; Burton's, Chamber Street, 1856.
Scrapbook, 1875-1885, inclusive
Scope and Contents
This scrapbook has an elaborately decorated and gilded cloth cover. It contains printed ephemera, including trade cards, greeting cards (some with three-dimensional elements), calling cards, and poems; clippings, including many death and marriage notices for members of the Livingston and Yenni families and other prominent New York families; and some correspondence. It also contains several pages with dried plant matter attached.
Some items were loosely tucked into the pages of this scrapbook and those items have been foldered separately.
Theater programs, 1878-1932, inclusive
Scope and Contents
Includes programs from the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn, 1878; Columbia Theatre, 1900; closing night at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Montague Street location, featuring Adelina Patti, 1903; opening night at the new Brooklyn Academy of Music in Fort Greene, 1908; Casino Theatre (Manhattan), 1912; and the inaugural performance at Radio City Music Hall, circa 1932.
Periodicals and clippings, 1906, 1974, inclusive
Scope and Contents
One 1906 issue of Brooklyn Life magazine; one 1974 clipping about Adelina Patti.
Processing Information
The collection originally included one 1941 facsimile of the first issue of the Brooklyn Eagle (October 26, 1841) printed for its centennial. As the item was in poor condition and is easily findable elsewhere, the archivist discarded it.
