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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Thr 470 (1)-(87)

Rogers Memorial Collection: Papers of James R. Osgood and A. V. S. Anthony

Overview

Primarily letters sent to the Boston publisher James R. Osgood and his associate A. V. S. Anthony.

Dates

  • Creation: 1853-1912

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

This series is not housed at the Houghton Library but is shelved offsite at the Harvard Depository. 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

2.5 linear feet (5 boxes)

The letters received by A. V. S. Anthony and Mary W. Anthony were written from 1853 to 1912, and include letters from Thomas Bailey Aldrich, William Dean Howells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Woodrow Wilson, Owen Wister, and others.

The letters received by James R. Osgood from 1862 to 1891 are from a variety of prominent 19th-century American and English writers, and include correspondents such as Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Lawrence Barrett, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, and Charles Dudley Warner.

This series also contains a small amount of other correspondence, including several letters to Edwin Austin Abbey concerning a dinner in honor of Osgood, and a letter from Walt Whitman to an unidentified recipient. Finally, the collection includes a few short compositions by Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Harriet Martineau, Mark Twain, and others.

Biographical / Historical

In 1864, James R. (James Ripley) Osgood (1836-1892) became a partner in the publishing firm of Ticknor & Fields, which became Fields, Osgood & Co. in 1868 and James R. Osgood and Company in 1870. In 1878 the firm merged with Hurd & Houghton to became Houghton, Osgood, and Company. The firm was renamed Houghton, Mifflin and Company after Osgood departed in 1880. Osgood then formed another partnership named James R. Osgood and Company, which was active through his retirement in 1885. Henry Munroe Rogers served as executor of his estate in 1892.

The engraver A. V. S. (Andrew Varick Stout) Anthony (1835-1906) supervised the wood engraving for book illustrations at James R. Osgood and Company, and later worked for Harper & Brothers. His wife Mary W. Anthony (ca. 1830-1913) shared his involvement in literary circles.

Arrangement

Organized into the following subseries:

  1. A. Letters received by A. V. S. Anthony and Mary W. Anthony
  2. B. Letters received by James R. Osgood
  3. C. Letters received by Edwin Austin Abbey
  4. D. Other correspondence
  5. E. Compositions

Physical Location

Harvard Depository

Provenance:

Shortly after 1933 November 2, Henry Munroe Rogers purchased this collection from Helen V. Anthony Perkins, the daughter of A. V. S. Anthony (see the Henry Munroe Rogers Papers, MS Thr 470 (88) - (667), item 228). He then added the collection to his other papers in the Rogers Memorial Collection. The papers are mentioned in a 1933 Dec. letter to Lillian Arvilla Hall (see the Henry Munroe Rogers Papers, MS Thr 470 (88) - (667), item 170). and in the 1935 guide to the Rogers Memorial Room.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Henry Munroe Rogers; received: 1933.

Separated Materials

The Rogers Memorial Collection, of which this is Series I, contains literary, musical and historical material from Boston circa 1860-1937, and memorabilia of the English composer John Barnett (1802-1890). A master list of the Rogers Memorial Collection series can be found in HOLLIS 10104119.

Bibliography

For a description of the Rogers Memorial Collection, see The Rogers Memorial Room : an account of the nature, origin, and significance of the memorabilia presented to Harvard College in 1930 by Clara Kathleen & Henry Munroe Rogers ([Boston] : Cosmos Press, 1935).

Processing Information

Processed by: Rick Stattler

Title
Rogers, Henry Munroe, 1839-1937, collector. Rogers Memorial Collection: Papers of James R. Osgood and A. V. S. Anthony, 1853-1912: Guide.
Author
Harvard Theatre Collection, Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01510

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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Harvard University
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