Overview
Autograph manuscript drafts of correspondence and compositions by American abolitionist Arnold Buffum.
Dates
- 1839-1859 and undated
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 box)Consists of autograph manuscript drafts of essays and lectures on temperance, slavery, and the Bible. Includes autograph manuscript drafts of letters and notes.
Biographical / Historical
Arnold Buffum (1782-1859) was a Rhode Island abolitionist. He began his career as a entrepreneur manufacturing and selling hats in Providence, Rhode Island and also patented some inventions concerning this trade. He married Rebecca Gould Buffum and they had seven children. Buffum was a Quaker, which greatly influenced his views on slavery. He joined with William Lloyd Garrison and others to establish the New England Anti-Slavery Society in 1832. He was the new organization's president and the first roving lecturer. By the late 1830s he broke with Garrison, and with James G. Birney founded the Liberty Party in 1840. Buffum was also an advocate of temperance, and his daughter, Elizabeth Buffum Chace, also went on to become a prominent abolitionist and a leader in the movements of women's rights and prison reform. [Source: Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame website]
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Location
b [Shelved with MS Am 1000]
Provenance:
Gift to the Harvard Business School Library from Charles H. Taylor, 1931. Transferred to the Harvard College Treasure Room, 1931 April 9.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Recataloged from MS Am 5008.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
Call-numbers were consolidated and simplified in February 2013 from fMS Am 1069-1069.3.
- Title
- Buffum, Arnold, 1782-1859. Arnold Buffum papers, 1839-1859: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02407
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.
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu