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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 188-188.6

Herman Melville papers

Overview

Correspondence, manuscripts, and journals of Herman Melville as well as correspondence between various members of his family.

Dates

  • Creation: 1761-1964

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to most of this material.

Most of subseries IB (MS Am 188) Literary and other manuscripts by Herman Melville [items (360-392A)] is restricted: fragile; use digital surrogate if available; if none is available, consult curatorial staff.

Items (546a) Boxes 1-3 Clippings: Restricted: fragile; consult curatorial staff.

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

7.1 linear feet (20 boxes and 20 volumes)

Contains correspondence, manuscripts, and journals of Herman Melville and correspondence between various members of his family. Includes the manuscripts of Billy Budd,John Marr and other sailors,Timoleon, and unpublished poems and prose pieces; some correspondence, mostly with relatives and other writers; his journals of various sea voyages; and a notebook of lecture engagements. Also contains publishers' agreements, accounts, records of copyright, and correspondence with Melville and with his wife Elizabeth Shaw Melville after his death; reviews of his books and lectures, including three boxes of clippings; a catalogue of his library; family portraits; a diary of his father Allan Melvill and two sermons by a great-great grandfather Thomas Melvill (d. 1767). A 1985 addendum contains correspondence, legal and financial papers, commonplace books, copybooks, essays, and genealogies of the family of Thomas Melvill (1776-1845).

Biographical / Historical

Melville was an American author.

Arrangement

Organized into the following series:

  1. I. Compositions and family papers
  2. A. Correspondence and miscellaneous manuscripts
  3. B. Literary and other manuscripts by Herman Melville
  4. C. Publishers' correspondence
  5. D. Publishers' agreements and accounts
  6. E. Records of copyright deposit
  7. F. Family portraits
  8. G. News clippings
  9. II. Sermons of Thomas Melvill
  10. III. Reviews of Herman Melville's lectures
  11. IV. Transcript of marginal comments in volumes
  12. V. Catalogue of library
  13. VI. Additional reviews of Herman Melville's lectures
  14. VII. Additional Melville family papers
  15. Name index of recipients of letters

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Items without an accession number, MS Am 188, gift of Eleanor Metcalf Melville; received: 1937-1941.

44M-290. Gift of Mrs. Henry K. Metcalf, 27 Gray Gardens East, Cambridge Mass.; received: 1945 February 23.

57M-149. Deposited by Merton M. Sealts Jr., Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin; received: 1957 December.

63-1549. Gift of Mr. Henry K. Metcalf, Hotel Continental, Cambridge, Mass.; received: 1964 June.

63M-204. Gift of Mr. Henry K. Metcalf, Hotel Continental, Cambridge, Mass.; received: 1964 June 3.

75M-33. Gift of Mr. Merton M. Sealts, Jr., 4006 Mandan Crescent, Madison, Wisconsin 53711; received: 1975.

85M-7. Gift of the descendants of Thomas Melvill, Jr. through Miss Jean F. Melvill, 690 S. Cairns Avenue Richland, Wisconsin 5358; received: 1985 July.

1993M-70. Transfer from Harvard University Archives, 1993 August.

Name index of recipients of letters.

Baldwin, William. 311.5.
Bentley, Richard, firm, publishers, London. 120.
Billson, James. 182-190.
Bradford,. 168.2.
Coryell, V. M. 155.
Demarest, William H. 119.
D'Wolf, Mary (Melvill), 1778-1859. 205.
Gansevoort, Catherine. 74.
Gansevoort, Peter. 70, 73, 75-77, 79-87, 89-113, 115, 193-196, 275.
Gordon, George A. 51.5.
Harpers, firm, publishers, New York. 121.
Hawley, Gideon, 1727-1807. 28.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864. 172-174.
Kenney, John N. 154.
Langford,. 175.
MacMechan, Archibald McKellar, 1862-191.
Marett, Ellen. 281, 283.
Melville, Allan, 1782-1832. 32-36, 257-258, 306-308.
Melville, Allan, 1823-1872. 16.
Melville, Elizabeth, 1853-1908. 50, 177, 293, 337.
Melville, Elizabeth (Shaw) 1822-1906. 14, 38-40, 55b, 61, 124, 179, 296, 328, 332, 336, 338, 351.
Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. 2-4, 11, 13, 29, 37, 41-46, 49, 53, 56-57, 163, 284-292, 315-316, 330-331, 333-335, 339-340, 353.
Melville, Malcolm, 1849-1867. 176.
Melvill, Priscilla (Scollay). 161, 167, 199-204, 206-214, 217-220, 222-238.
Melville, Stanwix, 1851-1886. 302.
Melvill, Thomas, 1751-1832. 8, 10, 15, 17, 19-27, 78, 88, 114, 116-117, 198, 215-217, 221, 249-256, 259-264, 297, 349-350, 358-359.
Melville, Thomas, 1776-1845. 18.
Melville, Thomas, 1830-1884. 180.
Metcalf, Eleanor Melville (Thomas) 1882-. 6, 52, 54-55, 276, 341-348.
Monroe, James, pres. U. S., 1758-1831. 355.
Nourse, Lucy (Melville), 1795-1877. 192.
Shaw, Hop (Savage) 1793-1879. 126-129, 131-139, 141, 143-148, 151, 166, 171, 239-243, 280, 294-295, 309-310, 312, 322, 324, 326-327.
Shaw, Lemuel, 1781-1861. 7, 63-69, 122, 125, 130, 140, 142, 162, 165, 168, 170, 172.5, 197, 265-271, 277-279, 298-299, 304, 317, 319, 323, 352, 354, 357.
Shaw, Lemuel, 1828-1884. 149-150, 245, 303, 311, 313, 325.
Shaw, Oakes. 305.
Shaw, Samuel Savage, 1833-1915. 178, 181, 300, 318, 320-321.
Stedman, Edmund Clarence, 1833-1908. 60.
Thomas, Frances (Melville) 1855-1938. 272-274.
Wiley & Putnam, firm, publishers, New York. 169.
Title
Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Herman Melville papers, 1761-1964 (MS Am 188-188.6): Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00338

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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