Overview
Letters to American journalist and author, William Warland Clapp Jr., from his friends, colleagues, and family. Also includes some other papers.
Dates
- Creation: 1790-1891
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1840-1891
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English, with some French.
Conditions Governing Use
Images linked to the finding aid describing this collection 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
4.5 linear feet (11 boxes)Primarily letters to William Warland Clapp Jr., but also some letters by him to others, to and from others, and a few letters from others to his father, William Warland Clapp Sr. Also includes compositions, clippings and other printed items, mixed within this one alphabetical series.
Content of letters includes all aspects of Clapp's life, personal, family, professional, and political. Especially concerns Massachusetts state politics and the Civil War. Extensive list of correspondents includes: James Gillespie Blaine, Samuel Bowles, James Freeman Clarke, Henry Laurens Dawes, Edward Everett, James Thomas Fields, John Murray Forbes, Edward Everett Hale, George Frisbie Hoar, Henry Cabot Lodge, Alexander Hamilton Rice, Benjamin Penhallow Shillaber, and many others.
Biographical / Historical
William Warland Clapp Jr. (1826-1891) was a journalist, publisher, and author. He was editor of the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette (1847-1865) and the Boston Journal (1865-1891). Clapp had a special interest in the theatre and in 1853 he published his articles that had formerly appeared in the Gazette as, A Record of the Boston Stage. In 1857 he wrote several plays: La fiaminna, John Gilbert and his daughter, A dramatic trifle, and My husband's mirror, a domestic comedietta. He was an officer in the militia, a Massachusetts state senator, and was married to Caroline Dennie Clapp.
His father, William Warland Clapp Sr. (1783-1866), was also a journalist and publisher (Clapp & Son's Press), involved with the Boston Saturday Evening Gazette, Hampshire Gazette, Boston Daily Advertiser, and many others. Clapp Jr.'s mother was Hannah Williams Lane Clapp.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of correspondent.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
42M-2090. Bequest of Mrs. Mabel Delano Lord; received: 1942.
- Title
- Clapp, William Warland, 1826-1891. William Warland Clapp correspondence, 1790-1891: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01878
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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