Theater Bill

This theater bill from the Vancouver Thespian Corps is from one of the earliest performances in the northwest. It has a margin notation highlighting one of the amateur actresses, Mrs. Elderkin, the wife of Drum-Major Elderkin. In an 1896 edition of McClure’s Magazine, Maj. Elderkin refers to fellow officer Ulysses S. Grant: “I used to see Captain Grant almost every day. He used to ride up to our house almost every morning and say ‘Good morning,’ and ride off into the woods. He took great interest in the theatre which the officers established.”