Overview
This collection was amassed by Harriet E. Freeman between about 1868 and 1920. The primary focus of the collection is Edward Everett Hale, and the collection contains photographs of Hale, his family, and his associates; newspaper clippings by and about him; his prayers and sayings; his travel journal; journal articles; and a hat that belonged to him.
Dates
- Creation: 1860-1922.
Access
There are no restrictions on access to this collection.
Extent
13 boxesThis collection was amassed by Harriet E. Freeman between about 1868 and 1920. The primary focus of the collection is Edward Everett Hale, and the collection contains photographs of Hale, his family, and his associates; newspaper clippings by and about him; his prayers and sayings; his travel journal; journal articles; and a hat that belonged to him. A number of books were removed from this collection to be cataloged for the library. Many of these books contain personal inscriptions to Freeman from E. E. Hale, and these inscriptions may indicate a considerable collaboration between them. They used a defunct shorthand for more personal communication, which can be seen in many of the inscriptions.
This collection was evidently inherited by Hale's goddaughter, Ethel Hale Freeman, and a number of the books in the collection belonged to her or her sister Carrie. She and Carrie lived together at 258 Mt. Vernon Street, West Newton, Massachusetts, and Harriet Freeman left her Union Park house to move in with them around 1925. The book plates often show this address.
Biographical / Historical
Harriet E. Freeman (1847-1930) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, in the Union Park area. In 1863, her family joined the South Congregational Church in Union Park. In 1871, Freeman became treasurer of the South Church ladies' charities, and she served in that capacity until 1891. A long-time advocate of various social causes such as the preservation of forest lands and the protection of Native American rights, she served as secretary of the women's committee of the Massachusetts Indian Society and the Boston Fatherless and Widows Society. The prominent author Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) was minister of the South Congregational Church from 1856 to 1899. Freeman's academic interests and social activism soon captured Hale's attention, and she began to work as his personal secretary. In this capacity, Freeman co-wrote a number of Hale's sermons and other works. Freeman was active in Hale's Lend-a-Hand Society, and from the 1880s to the early 1890s she wrote and edited parts of the Lend-a-Hand Society's journal, The Look-Out. Freeman died in Newton, Massachusetts, on December 30, 1930.
Acquisition Information
The collection was purchased at auction by a dealer ca. 1963, and it was acquired by the Andover-Harvard Theological Library in 1999.
Processing Information
Processed by Jose Sanchez, 2010.
- Title
- Freeman, Harriet E. Papers, ca. 1860-1922: A Finding Aid.
- Author
- Andover-Harvard Theological Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- div00273
Repository Details
Part of the Harvard Divinity School Library, Harvard University Repository
Special Collections at Harvard Divinity School Library preserves and makes accessible primary source materials documenting the history of religion and theology, with particular historical emphasis on American liberal religious traditions. Though the historical strengths of the collections have been in the field of Christianity, other religious traditions are increasingly reflected, in step with Harvard Divinity School's evolving focus on global religious studies. Known as Andover-Harvard Theological Library since 1911, it was renamed the Harvard Divinity School Library in 2021.
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