H.J. Conway's Dramatization of "Uncle Tom's Cabin": A Previously Unpublished Letter

Abstract

A recently discovered letter from playwright-adaptor H.J. Conway to Moses Kimball, manager of the Boston Museum, reveals new information on the most popular dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin in the antebellum era. This 1852 letter, one of many in an uncatalogued collection of Kimball's business correspondence at the Boston Athenaeum Library, details Conway's plans for adapting Mrs. H.B. Stowe's novel, published the same year, for production at Kimball's theatre. Conway's letter underlines the playwriting problems involved in transferring a long, episodic novel to the stage. More significantly it also provides insight into the inherently political problem facing a playwright and manager anxious to capitalize on the popularity of a run-away best seller but fearful of antagonizing conservative audiences with Mrs. Stowe's strong stand against slavery. Since Conway's dramatization of the novel is no longer extant, his letter is an important addition to the programs, newspaper articles and other available material relating to productions of his adaptation. All the more so, since the pro-South Conway version of Uncle Tom's Cabin was much more popular in the North than the extant adaptation by George L. Aiken, the latter altogether a more faithful rendering of Mrs. Stowe's intentions.'