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A Masque of "Ours": The Rise of Pageantry in America

"A Masque of 'Ours': The Gods and the Golden Bowl" was performed on June 22, 1905 at the estate of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cornish Colony. It marked the beginning of pageantry in America; a movement that reached its apex a decade later with the production of tremendous civic pageants featuring thousands of actors and attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators. Drawing on the MacKaye Family Papers and the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Papers, this exhibition examines pageantry's growth and its evolution as a social and political force.

The exhibition was curated by Jay Satterfield and was on display in the Class of 1965 Galleries from June 10, 2005-July 29, 2005.

Most of the materials in this exhibition come from the MacKaye Family Papers (ML-5). The full finding aid is available online. You may also download a handlist of the items in this exhibition: Pageantry.

Materials Included in the Exhibition

Case 1.

“A Masque of ‘Ours’: The Gods and the Golden Bowl” was performed on June 22, 1905 at the estate of Augustus Saint-Gaudens to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Cornish Colony. It marked the beginning of pageantry in America; a movement that reached its apex a decade later with the production of tremendous civic pageants featuring thousands of actors and attracting hundreds of thousands of spectators. The movement also took a political turn as Progressive Era activists saw pageantry as a way to communicate concepts of civic pride, social justice, workers’ rights, and even as a method for “Americanizing” immigrants.

While the “Masque of ‘Ours’” was the first full-blown pageant in America, the concept had been under development for half a century. Tableaux vivants, staged enactments of a famous scene or painting, were all the rage with the middle and upper classes in the United States and England throughout the Victorian era, and enacting elaborate charades complete with pantomime and costumes was a popular activity at court in England. Guides to successful tableaux vivants were produced and popular magazines described various techniques for effective staging.    

  1. William Chauncey Langdon, “America, Like England, Has Become Pageant Mad,” New York Times, June 15, 1913. MacKaye Family Papers, box 128, folder 1
  2. American Pageant League organizational chart, 1913. MacKaye Family Papers, box 128, folder 1
  3. American Pageant Association, “Who’s Who in Pageantry,” May 1914. MacKaye Family Papers, box 120, folder 13
  4. Constance Cary Harrison, “American Rural Festivals,” Century Magazine 50 (July 1895): 323-333. MacKaye Family Papers, “Pageants, 1895-1915” scrapbook
  5. Percy MacKaye, “Pageants, 1895-1915” scrapbook. MacKaye Family Papers
  6. Steele MacKaye, “Paul Kauvar” scrapbook. MacKaye Family Papers
  7. Charles Harrison, Theatricals and Tableaux Vivants for Amateurs. London: L. Upcott Gill, 1882. Library General Collections
  8. Sidney Gifford and Seymour Stone, "The Pilgrims at Plymouth; 1620-21 Represented in Tableaux.” Syracuse: Onondaga Historical Association, 1897. Library General Collections

Case 2.

“A Masque of ‘Ours’” was the brainchild of Augustus Saint-Gaudens. His love of classical mythology, public art, and elaborate ceremony suggested a pageant in Greek style to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Cornish Colony. The “Masque” was written by Cornish resident Louis Shipman with a prologue by poet Percy MacKaye. It featured dozens of Cornish Colony residents in full costume with sets designed by Saint-Gaudens and other residents. A contingent of woodwinds and a harpist from the Boston Symphony Orchestra performed as the scenes were played out on the grounds “between two great pine trees.”

Percy MacKaye would go on to become a leader of the pageantry movement with his daughter Hazel MacKaye. He was a key member of the American Pageantry Association, staged pageants across the country, and wrote extensively for popular magazines on the topic. His greatest feat of pageantry was “The Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis” staged in 1914 on the riverfront in Saint Louis, Missouri. Over 7,500 residents of Saint Louis participated in the production and each night it drew crowds of well over 100,000.

  1. Photograph of “The Golden Bowl.” Augustus Saint-Gaudens Papers (ML-4), box 61, folder 39
  2. Maxfield Parrish to Augustus Saint-Gaudens, n.d. Augustus Saint-Gaudens Papers (ML-4) box 13, folder 19
  3. Robin MacKaye to Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 20 September 1906. Augustus Saint-Gaudens Papers (ML-4), box 13, folder 19
  4. Invitation addressed to Witter Bynner, n.d. Augustus Saint-Gaudens Papers (ML-4), box 4 folder 10
  5. List of participants in “Masque of ‘Ours.’” Fairchild-Fuller Papers, box 7, folder 45 (For Reference, see Rauner Ref Z6616.F84 D37)
  6. Louise Cox, pages from photo album depicting “Masque of ‘Ours,’” (facsimile). Louise Cox Photo Album, MS 678
  7. “A Masque of ‘Ours’: The Gods and the Golden Bowl,” playbill, 20 June 1905. Cornish: Cornish Colony, 1905. Rauner Broadside Collection
  8. Henry Brown Fuller, sketches for “A Masque of ‘Ours.’” Fairchild-Fuller Papers, box 7, folder 110 (For Reference, see Rauner Ref Z6616.F84 D37)
  9. “The Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis,” Bulletin number 2, March 1914. MacKaye Family Papers, box 89, folder 11
  10. Marion MacKaye, diary entry, 25 June 1905. MacKaye Family Papers, UP 118, box 10
  11. Percy MacKaye, “The Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis,” first movement. MacKaye Family papers, “St. Louis Pageant” scrapbook
  12. “The Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis,” poster, May 1914. MacKaye Family Papers, “St. Louis Pageant” scrapbook
  13. Photographs showing set and enactment of “The Pageant and Masque of Saint Louis.” MacKaye Family Papers, box 97, folder 4

Case 3.

While most pageants featured staunchly patriotic themes or told a history dedicated to commemorating an important civic event, pageantry also took a fiercely political stance in the hands of political radicals and progressives. In 1913, when silk workers in Paterson, New Jersey, went on strike, John Reed, Mabel Dodge, and other left-leaning denizens of Greenwich Village helped to stage a massive pageant in Madison Square Garden to create solidarity and characterize the plight of the worker. Hazel MacKaye took her father’s love of pageantry and turned it into a vehicle for suffrage. In 1913, she organized the pageant “Suffrage” that featured a procession through the streets of Washington ending on the steps of the Treasury building. She staged an allegorical history of civilization culminating in women being granted the right to vote. She also wrote and produced a pageant on the life of Susan B. Anthony that toured major cities across the country and another dedicated to world peace.

  1. Hazel MacKaye, “The Pageant-Procession and Allegory Presented in Washington, March 3, 1913.” MacKaye Family Papers, box 128, folder 20
  2. Hazel Mackaye, “10 Great Tableaux,” broadside, May 1915. MacKaye Family Papers, box 128, folder 20
  3. Hazel MacKaye, “Susan B. Anthony” notebooks, volumes 1 and 2, 1915. MacKaye Family Papers, box 132, folder 13
  4. Hazel MacKaye, “Susan B. Anthony” memoranda book, 1915. MacKaye Family Papers, box 132, folder 13
  5. Hazel MacKaye, “Americanization via Pageantry,” typescript, [1919]. MacKaye Family Papers, box 128, folder 2
  6. “Woman Suffrage Procession,” Official Program, Washington D.C., 3 March 1913. MacKaye Family Papers, box 120, folder 13
  7. “The New Vision,” program, 29 June 1916. MacKaye Family Papers, box 120, folder 13
  8. “Anthony Pageant to Go on the Road,” Washington Sunday Star, December 12, 1915. MacKaye Family Papers, box 132, folder 11
  9. “Pageant of the Paterson Strike,” Survey 30 (June 28, 1913): 428. Library General Collections