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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Eng 1491

Peter Buchan collection

Overview

Letters, manuscripts, and transcripts by and about Peter Buchan, the Scottish printer, publisher, writer, and ballad text collector.

Dates

  • Creation: 1823-1900

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

1 linear feet (6 volumes)

Includes two original ballad manuscripts compiled by Peter Buchan: Secret songs of silence and The ancient unpublished national ballads of Scotland ... , as well as a transcript of his ballad manuscript in the British Museum: Ancient minstrelsy of the north of Scotland in its original purity ... Also includes: correspondence between Buchan and the poet and ballad editor, William Motherwell (1797-1835), concerning publication of Buchan's writings; a letter from folklorist William Walker (1840-1931) conveying Buchan's manuscript Secret songs ... to Harvard College librarian Justin Winsor; a typescript essay about Buchan by James Cameron; a manuscript poem on Buchan; and some annotations by Francis James Child.

Biographical / Historical

Peter Buchan (1790-1854) was a Scottish ballad collector, historian, printer, and publisher. He was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, the only son of Janet and Peter Buchan. As a young man he embarked on a number of walking tours of northeast Scotland, collecting a great number of songs and ballads. In 1816 he set-up the first printing shop in Peterhead . He is best known as one of the most important early collectors of folk-songs and folk-tales in Scotland. Two resulting publications from his ballad work were: Gleanings of Scotch, English, and Irish, scarce old ballads (1825) and Ancient ballads and songs of the north of Scotland (2v, 1828).

The transcript in this collection was produced for American philologist and Harvard professor, Francis James Child, for his research for: English and Scottish popular ballads (1882-1898). One-third of the primary 'A' texts in Child's classic Ballads were collected in Aberdeenshire, of which thirty-seven came from Buchan.

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Physical Location

f

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acquired from various sources at various times. See items for full acquisition information.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt

This material formed part of the Harvard College Library Treasure Room ballad collection. The items in this finding aid were selected based on likeness of topic and reclassified in April 2005.

Title
Buchan, Peter, 1790-1854. Peter Buchan collection, 1823-1900: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou01772

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:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440