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COLLECTION Identifier: A/A262c

Letters of Elizabeth Cabot Cady Agassiz, undated

Overview

Letters of writer, educator, and Radcliffe College president Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz.

Dates

  • Creation: Undated

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Papers created by Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz are in the public domain.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

1 folder

The collection consists of three handwritten letters from Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, one regarding the publication of manuscripts by Louis Agassiz; one enclosing a photograph of herself (not included in the collection) and apologizing for the delay in sending it; and the third explaining Louis Agassiz's unwillingness to sign a petition. A handwritten copy of the last letter is also included.

BIOGRAPHY

Elizabeth Cabot Cary was born in 1822 in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Mary Ann Cushing Perkins Cary and Thomas Graves Cary. She had six siblings. Her health was delicate and she was educated at home, receiving history lessons from Elizabeth Peabody. In 1846, she met scientist and Harvard professor Louis Agassiz, who was then married to his first wife, Cecilie Braun Agassiz. Cecilie died in 1848 and Elizabeth and Louis married in 1850. Elizabeth thereby became stepmother to Louis's three children, with whom she developed close relationships. In 1856, Agassiz founded the Agassiz School for Girls in their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Louis Agassiz taught in the school and also arranged for other Harvard professors to teach classes. The school closed in 1863. In 1879, she became one of seven female managing directors of the Society for the Private Collegiate Instruction for Women (known informally as the Harvard Annex), which enabled women to have private classes from Harvard College professors. The Harvard Annex was incorporated in 1882, with Agassiz as president. She continued as president until 1903 and played a critical role in transforming the Annex into Radcliffe College in 1894.

In 1869, Agassiz became one of the first female members of the American Philosophical Society. She also helped to organize her husband's expeditions to Brazil (1865-1866) and the Strait of Magellan (1871-1872) and acted as the main writer and record keeper for these expeditions. She wrote the books A First Lesson in Natural History (1859, first published under the pseudonym Actaea); Seaside Studies in Natural History (1865, with her stepson Alexander Agassiz); and A Journey in Brazil (1868, with Louis Agassiz). She also edited Louis Agassiz: His Life and Correspondence (1885). Louis Agassiz died in 1873 and Agassiz died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1907. They are both buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 81-M193

The letters of Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz were acquired by the Schlesinger Library from Doris Harris in July 1981.

Related Material:

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library; see Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Papers, 1884-1959 (SC 4); Records of Radcliffe College President Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, 1879-1978 (SC 99); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Papers, 1838-1920 (A-3); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Papers, 1859-1879 (A/A262); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Letter, 1898 March 30 (A/A262a); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Letters, 1891, 1907 (A/A262b); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Letter, 1868 October 21 (A/A262d); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Postcards, 1905-1908 (A/A262e); Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz Letter, undated (A/A262f).

Processing Information

Processed: January 1983

By: Susan Noz

Updated and additional description added: March 2021

By: Susan Earle

The Schlesinger Library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.  Finding aids may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.

Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
Sponsor
Processing of this collection was made possible by the Carl & Lily Pforzheimer Fund, Pforzheimer Fund for the Schlesinger Library, Sybil Shainwald Fund at the Schlesinger Library, and Class of 1955 Manuscript Processing Fund.
EAD ID
sch01956

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

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