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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1225

Papers concerning the 1872 resolution of condemnation against Charles Sumner

Overview

Papers concerning the censure vote against U.S. Senator Charles Sumner.

Dates

  • Creation: 1862-1873

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.

Extent

.5 linear feet (1 box)

Includes letters, primarily from Sumner and Whittier to Phillips, as well as manuscript drafts and printed copies of the censure against Sumner, among other items.

Biographical / Historical

Sumner was a U. S. Senator from Massachusetts. On 2 December 1872, Charles Sumner introduced in the U.S. Senate a bill "to regulate the Army Register and the regimental colors of the United States." This provided that Civil War victories should not be among those commemorated in regimental honors. Rabid Northerners in the Massachusetts House of representatives passed a vote of unqualified censure against Sumner for his act. Willard P. Phillips, John Greenleaf Whittier and others fought to have this resolution rescinded and annulled, which was accomplished early in 1873.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically by author.

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

50M-396. Gift of James Duncan Phillips Esq., Rowley Bridge Road, Topsfield, Massachusetts: received: 1951 May 24.

Title
Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874. Papers concerning the 1872 resolution of condemnation against Charles Sumner, 1862-1873: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01249

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.

Contact:
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