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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1447-1447.3

Henry L. Abbot papers

Overview

Papers of American military engineer Henry L. Abbot, together with papers of other family members.

Dates

  • Creation: 1792-1931

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

A portion of this collection is shelved offsite. Retrieval requires advance notice. Readers should check with Houghton Public Services staff to determine what material is offsite and retrieval policies and times.

Conditions Governing Use

Images linked to this finding aid are intended for public access and educational use. This material is owned and/or held by the Houghton Library, and is provided solely for the purpose of teaching or individual research. Any other use, including commercial reuse, mounting on other systems, or other forms of redistribution requires the permission of the curator.

Extent

10.25 linear feet (23 boxes)

Papers of Henry Larcom Abbot, together with papers of other family members. Abbot's papers include diaries, 1856-1919 (1896 lacking), correspondence, reports, essays, maps, and photographs relating to survey work in Oregon in the 1850's, flood control work on the Mississippi River, Civil War service as an engineer and head of the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery, torpedo experiments, and work on coastal defenses. Additional family papers consist of two boxes of sermons, 1797-1827, of Abiel Abbot, minister of the First Church in Beverly, Mass., and grandfather of Henry Larcom Abbot's wife; six boxes of sermons, 1819-1830, of Stevens Everett, minister in Hallowell, Me., and father of Henry Larcom Abbot's wife; and one box of letters, 1792-1900, chiefly to William Ebenezer Abbot, a son of Abiel Abbot and also a Unitarian minister.

Collection also includes reproductions of documents and information from libraries, databases, and clippings created later.

Biographical / Historical

Henry Larcom Abbot (1831-1927) was a military engineer who graduated from West Point in 1854 and served in the United States Army until 1895.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. MS Am 1447: Henry Larcom Abbot personal papers
  2. II. MS Am 1447.1-1447.2: Miscellaneous sermons
  3. III. MS Am 1447.3: Letters to the Abbot family
  4. IV. Additions to collection

Immediate Source of Acquisition

55M-261-264. Deposited by Marion B. Abbot, Elinor R. Abbot, and Henry Dehon Abbot; received: 1955.

2021M-15. Gift of Quincy S. Abbot, 2020 November.

Title
Abbot, Henry L. Henry L. Abbot papers, 1792-1931 (MS Am 1447-1447.3): Guide.
Status
completed
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01230

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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