Overview
Letters and other documents relating to Charles Sumner, largely from Sumner's own archive of correspondence, but excluding original letters to and from him.
Dates
- Creation: 1828-1912
Language of Materials
Chiefly in English, with some items in French, Italian, and Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.8 linear feet (3 boxes)This collection consists of documents that Charles Sumner filed with his own correspondence, including memorabilia of his European trips, letters of introduction carried by him, letters from other Sumner family members and friends. Correspondents include: Charles Francis Adams, Louis Agassiz, Nathaniel Bowditch, Lord Brougham and Vaux, Salmon P. Chase, Gustave Paul Cluseret, Caleb Cushing, Richard Henry Dana, Edward Everett, C. C. Felton, J. C. Fremont, S. G. Howe, Reverdy Johnson, Theodore Parker, George Palmer Putnam, George Sand, and Joseph Story. Authors of compositions include George Earl of Carlisle and John Greenleaf Whittier.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a Republican senator from Massachusetts and a principal figure in the anti-slavery movement.
Arrangement
Arranged in the following series:
- I. Correspondence
- II. Other manuscript documents
- III. Printed documents.
Items dated in square brackets are datable by their chronological place in the original albums.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Gift of the family of Edward L. Pierce; received: 1897, with later additions from the same source.
Separated Materials
See MS Am 1 for the main collection of Sumner's correspondence.
A small number of compositions of Sumner (not letters) have been removed to MS Am 1.60 (Miscellaneous compositions of Charles Sumner).
Processing Information
Processed by: J. F. Coakley.
Most of these documents were part of Charles Sumner's archive of correspondence, which in his lifetime filled 170 albums. At Harvard, these albums, which originally had call numbers MS Am 1 to MS Am 1.21, were disbound and the contents rearranged to create the collection MS Am 1 ("Charles Sumner correspondence"). The present collection consists of documents excluded from MS Am 1 as being not original letters to or from Sumner, and a few similar documents received later from the E. L. Pierce family.
- Title
- Documents relating to Charles Sumner, 1828-1912: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01963
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.
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