Overview
Letters, records, diaires, and scrapbooks of European tours, and London residency of William J. Hoppin, first secretary of the American legation in London.
Dates
- Creation: 1833-1890
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.
Extent
4.66 linear feet (25 volumes)Consists chiefly of letters, journals, theater programs, invitations, clippings, and other printed ephemera. Includes letters written from Europe to his parents, 1836-1837; records of tours in Europe, 1836-1837, 1867, 1870-1875; and records of Hoppins residency in London, 1876-1887. There are numerous letters from James Russell Lowell.
This material is all bound into volumes, and there is no complete descriptive finding aid for these volumes. Below are incomplete indexes to some of the volumes.
Biographical / Historical
Hoppin was a lawyer, diplomat and writer, who received a LL.B. degree from Harvard University in 1835. He became first secretary of the American legation in London, serving from 1876-1886 during the ministry of James Russell Lowell. He was also one of the founders of the Century Club of New York in 1846.
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- I. MS Am 980: Flotsam and jetsam
- II. MS Am 981: Letters from Europe, 1836-1837.
- III. MS Am 982: Tour in Europe, 1836-1837
- IV. MS Am 983: Tour in Europe, 1867
- V. MS Am 984: Tours in Europe, 1870-1875
- VI. MS Am 985: Minutes
- VII. MS Am 986: Residence in London
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Mrs. John Jay Whitehead, Jr., New York, in memory of Joseph Clark Hoppin, Class of 1893; received: 1932 December 14.
Existence and Location of Copies
Negatives of images from volumes 18 and 22, created in 1965, are available on-site in a curatorial file.
- Title
- Hoppin, William J. (William Jones), 1813-1895. William Jones Hoppin papers, 1833-1890: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01487
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.
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