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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1118.8

Samuel Bowles letters to Austin and Susan Dickinson

Overview

Letters from Springfield, Massachusetts newspaper editor Samuel Bowles to Emily Dickinson's brother and sister-in-law, Austin and Susan Dickinson. Also includes a few additional materials concerning the Dickinsons.

Dates

  • Creation: 1859-1877 and undated

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

.5 linear feet (1 box)

Primarily letters from Bowles to Austin and Susan. Susan and Austin became acquainted with Bowles soon after their marriage (ca. 1858), and Bowle's letters show a long friendship with both parties. The materials also include other letters (1856-1878) to Austin and Susan Dickinson and compositions of "Reminiscences" concerning Emily Dickinson (1932).

Biographical / Historical

Samuel Bowles (1826-1878) was the editor of the Springfield Republican , the local newspaper in Springfield, Massachusetts that was founded by his father, Samuel Bowles (1797-1851) in 1824, and later run by his son, Samuel Bowles (1851-1915). Upon the death of his father in 1851, Bowles took control of the paper at age 25 and he soon made it one of the most influential newspapers in the United States.

William Austin Dickinson, known as Austin (1829-1895), was the older brother of American poet Emily Dickinson. He was a prominent attorney in Amherst, Massachusetts, town meeting moderator, and treasurer of Amherst College.

Susan Huntington Gilbert Dickinson (1830-1913) was Austin's wife, and was a childhood friend and close confidante of Emily Dickinson.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Letters from Bowles to the Dickinsons
  2. II. Letters to the Dickinsons from others
  3. III. Miscellanea
  4. List of letters by item number in chronological order

Arranged in the order of the originally assigned item numbers (from the1956 finding aid), then thought to be in chronological order, but later redated. The current arrangement of items is not in chronological order. For a chronological list, see the internal file for a copy of the Habegger article, or the list at the end of this finding aid.

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Gilbert H. Montague (A.B. 1901), 1950.

49-2169 Letter removed from volume EDR 2.6.9; purchased from G. H. Montague; received: May 1950. Formerly unnumbered in this list, now item (139).

Bibliography

For additional information concerning this material see: Alfred Habegger with Nellie Habegger. "An annotated calendar of Samuel Bowles's Letters to Austin and Susan Dickinson," in The Emily Dickinson Journal , 11.2 (2002).
  • Alfred Habegger with Nellie Habegger. "An annotated calendar of Samuel Bowles's Letters to Austin and Susan Dickinson," in The Emily Dickinson Journal , 11.2 (2002).

List of letters by item number in chronological order

  1. 1859: 2, 2.1, 5.1, 3, 1, 1.1
  2. 1860: 4, 5, 127.1
  3. 1861: 80, 6, 81, 7.1, 8, 7, 93, 9, 10, 92, 106, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 15.1
  4. 1862: 15.2, 15.3, 19, 86, 109, 19.1, 21.1, 21, 22, 20, 94, 23, 41
  5. 1863: 16, 16.1, 33, 24, 23.2, 25, 18, 111, 17, 78, 16.2, 26, 42, 90, 28, 87, 107, 27, 29, 30, 32, 32.1, 34, 37, 35, 38, 36, 40, 36.1
  6. 1864: 43, 79, 91, 105, 45, 59, 44, 46, 103, 114, 96, 112, 47, 48, 82, 50, 50.1, 51, 23.1, 53, 54, 52, 49, 100
  7. 1865: 55, 49.1, 57, 75, 110, 56, 104, 59.1, 59.3, 58
  8. 1866: 43, 63, 61, 61.1, 89, 62, 60, 61.3 (no. 1)
  9. 1867: 61.2, 85, 126, 83, 61.3 (no. 2), 31, 39, 64, 39.1, 66.1
  10. 1868: 43, 65, 66, 95
  11. 1869: 59.2, 98, 125, 67.1
  12. 1870: 67.2, 67.3
  13. 1871: no letters
  14. 1872: 120, 97.1, 116, 77
  15. 1873: 99, 123, 84, 101, 117, 113, 68
  16. 1874: 98.1, 69
  17. 1875: 74, 72, 67, 73, 124, 71.1, 71, 70
  18. 1876: 80.2, 71.2, 118, 121, 122.1, 80.1, 76
  19. 1877: 119

Processing Information

The original finding aid for this collection was prepared in the spring of 1956 by Mrs. Theodora V. W. Ward of 32 Healey Street, Cambridge 38, Mass. Item numbers were assigned at this time and letters received in the repository after this date were folded into the original numbering scheme with item point numbers (i.e.: 1.1).

Later scholarship found that this finding aid had many incorrect dates. The finding aid was reworked by Bonnie B. Salt in July, 2003 and the dates applied at this time were taken from: Alfred Habegger with Nellie Habegger. "An annotated calendar of Samuel Bowles's Letters to Austin and Susan Dickinson," in The Emily Dickinson Journal , 11 : 2 (2002).

Title
Bowles, Samuel, 1826-1878. Samuel Bowles letters to Austin and Susan Dickinson, 1859-1877: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00202

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

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