William Dunlap occupies a place of importance in American letters as a dramatist and historian. Often called the Father of the American Theater, Dunlap was the first professional playwright in the United States. His first biographer, Oral S. Coad, is right in claiming that "as a playwright and manager, he was the dominating personage in our theatrical affairs at the end of the eighteenth century." Through his frequent choice of native subjects, his frequently expressed patriotic sympathies, and his written record of the American theater, he contributed to the infant country's developing sense of a distinct cultural identity. Dunlap is also a significant figure in the history of American art, having been a practicing painter, a founder of the National Academy of Design, and the author of the first history of art in America.

Despite his historical importance, Dunlap was always on the fringes of fame in his...