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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 1083

Edwin Lawrence Godkin papers

Overview

Papers of E.L. Godkin, political writer, editor, and founder of the journal "The Nation". Also includes Godkin family letters, letters to Charles Eliot Norton, and letters to Wendell Phillips Garrison.

Dates

  • Creation: 1845-1927

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

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

3.6 linear feet (11 boxes)

Papers chiefly include the correspondence of Edwin Lawrence Godkin, but also include: letters to his second wife Katherine Sands Godkin, his son Lawrence Godkin, Nation editor Wendell Phillips Garrison; letters to Charles Eliot Norton concerning the founding and early years of The Nation; and a few compositions, printed material, and photographs.

Biographical / Historical

Edwin Lawrence Godkin was born and educated in Ireland and came to the United States in late 1856. He founded the politcal review The Nation in 1865, becoming its first editor. In 1881 he sold The Nation to Henry Villard, owner of the New York Evening Post. The Nation then became a weekly edition of the Post. Wendell Phillips Garrison then became the editor of The Nation. He was a powerful political writer who frequently attacked Tammany Hall and advocated civil service and currency reform.

Arrangement

Arranged into the following series:

  1. I. Letters to Edwin Lawrence Godkin
  2. II. Letters from Edwin Lawrence Godkin
  3. III. Letters to Katherine (Sands) Godkin
  4. IV. Letters to Lawrence Godkin
  5. V. Letters to Charles Eliot Norton
  6. VI. Letters to Wendell Phillips Garrison
  7. VII. Other letters
  8. VIII. Compositions
  9. IX. Printed matter

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from Mrs. Lawrence Godkin, (care of) Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, 20 Vesey Street, New York, N.Y.; received: 1936 Nov. Purchased with funds provided by The Friends of the Library: Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, Mrs. Charles Dyer Norton, and Mr. James Byrne.

Related Materials

See also HOLLIS catalog for additional materials held by the Houghton Library relating to The Nation and to Edwin Lawrence Godkin.

Separated Materials

See separately cataloged collection: Nation Papers, 1865-1877 (MS Am 1083.1) that was originally part of this accession.

Processing Information

Recataloged from: MS Am 9012

Title
Godkin, Edwin Lawrence, 1831-1902. Edwin Lawrence Godkin papers, 1845-1927: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00085

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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