1883 Redpath Lyceum Bureau 1c Black Jefferson UX7 to Stephen’s Opera House NY

This original 1883 postal card from the Redpath Lyceum Bureau of Boston is addressed to Jonathan Stephens, proprietor of Stephen’s Opera House in Fulton, New York. The brief message instructs him to provide a good piano for “The Bell Ringers,” one of the Bureau’s touring musical troupes. The Redpath Lyceum Bureau was a major American lecture and entertainment agency active from the mid-19th century, known for booking speakers, musicians, and performers across the United States. Postmarked March 7, 1883, and printed with the black 1-cent Jefferson postal card design (Scott UX7, American Bank Note Co. issue of 1882), the card documents the logistics of professional touring performances in small-town America.

– Date: 1883
– Origin: Boston, Massachusetts
– Destination: Fulton, New York
– Addressee: Jonathan Stephens, Stephens Opera House
– Sender: Redpath Lyceum Bureau
– Subject: “The Bell Ringers” musical troupe
– Postal card type: 1¢ black Jefferson (Scott UX7)
– Dimensions: 3″ × 5″
– Postal history and theater ephemera interest