1881 Broadside St Joseph deals MO

These 34 antique broadsides are 3 feet long and deals 6 inches wide. They are from the year 1881, advertising an evening of performances and recitations by a very talented elocutionist and professional stage reader and public speaker, Professor George Lyon JR. These speaking engagements took place at the Tootle Opera House, in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
The early 1880s were a time of rapid change and development in America. The telephone had just been invented 5 years before, the electric light just two years before, and the Brooklyn Bridge would open two years later. Yet even with such tremendous change, entertainment was still very low tech, and an evening of fun was usually a local play, or music, or listening to professional readers like George Lyon.
George was born in upstate New York on the Canadian border to a large family, and rose quickly in academics. He attended the prestigious Phillips Academy in Exeter, NH then went to Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass.
He somehow secured admission to the Naval Academy in Annapolis and served on board the USS Constitution. He headed West, and spent several years in St Joseph, Missouri, using his considerable speaking skills to earn a living. He had a tremendous memory, and gave readings and performances from authors such as Shakespeare, Poe, Longfellow, Whittier, and many others. He would give a dozen performances in an evening, and his style was so popular that the second evening admissions were higher than the first.
George Lyon eventually settled in the small town of Nelson, Nebraska, and raised his family. He became an aide de camp to several prominent military generals, as well as the Governor of Nebraska, earning the honorary title of Colonel. He passed away in 1929, but he was every bit a 19th century American, heeding the immortal words of Horace Greeley, “…Go West young man, and grow up with the country…”.
These broadsides are in very good condition, with very slight and small tears on the sides, and a small stain in the right side about halfway down.
These broadsides were typically posted on buildings, fences and windows in advance of a performance. They were made to last a few weeks, and yet they have survived for more than 140 years.
These are excellent examples of entertainment advertising from the Victorian Era in America, and would make a wonderful addition to any antique broadside or poster collection.
They are also outstanding examples of American ephemera.