Series IV: Joke Books, 1883-1928, inclusive

Series IV: Joke Books, 1883-1928 includes books that record racial and ethnic stereotyples of Irish, Jewish, and Black people that were commonly used in Vaudeville performances and minstrel shows in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Irish were a popular subject of mockery in the vaudville shows of the mid 19th century in response to the arrival of the first large wave of Irish immigrants in the United States. As the decades passed and large immigrant groups from other places in the world arrived in the US, Irish Americans often performed in vaudeville acts that mocked people of other ethnicities and performed in black-face at minstrel shows.