Overview
Letters and manuscripts of the Barrows family of New York.
Dates
- Creation: 1861-1931
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
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
26 linear feet (53 boxes)Collection consists chiefly of personal and professional correspondence of Samuel June Barrows, Isabel Chapin Barrows, and Mabel Barrows Mussey with a small group of correspondence of Henry Raymond Mussey. The largest groups of letters are those exchanged between family members, but there are also significant groups of letters from others, including Alice Stone Blackwell, Alice Cunningham Fletcher, and William Pryor Letchworth, who shared the Barrows' reform interests. Also includes diary, 1882-1912, and autobiography of Isabel Chapin Barrows covering the early years of her life; manuscripts of plays by Mabel Barrows Mussey; manuscripts and clippings of Samuel June Barrows and Isabel Chapin Barrows; and four boxes of photographs. Some of the material in the collection is in shorthand.
Biographical / Historical
Samuel June Barrows (1845-1909) was a Unitarian minister, editor of the Christian Register (1880-1896), congressman (1897-1899), and reformer particularly interested in prison reform. He was secretary of the Prison Association of New York (1900-1909). His wife Isabel Chapin Barrows (1845-1913) was an ophthalmologist, stenographer, and reformer, who was closely associated with her husband in his activities. Their daughter Mabel Hay Barrows Mussey (1873-1931) was a dramatic director and dancer. Her husband Henry Raymond Mussey (1875-1940) was a professor of economics at Columbia and Wellesley and served as managing editor of The Nation (1918-1920, 1929-1930).
Arrangement
Organized into the following series:
- I. MS Am 1807: Letters to Samuel June Barrows
- II. MS Am 1807: Letters by Samuel June Barrows
- III. MS Am 1807.1: Letters to Isabel Chapin Barrows
- IV. MS Am 1807.1: Letters by Isabel Chapin Barrows
- V. MS Am 1807.2: Letters to Mabel Hay (Barrows) Mussey
- VI. MS Am 1807.2: Letters by Mabel Hay (Barrows) Mussey
- VII. MS Am 1807.3: Letters to Henry Raymond Mussey
- VIII. MS Am 1807.3: Letters by Henry Raymond Mussey
- IX. MS Am 1807.4: Other letters
- X. MS Am 1807.5: Manuscripts
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
*66M-166. Gift of anonymous donor; received: 1967.
- Title
- Barrows family. Barrows family papers: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou00494
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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