COLLECTION
Identifier: MS Am 2932
Ralph Waldo Emerson correspondence with Franklin Benjamin Sanborn and other letters
Overview
Autograph manuscript letters between Ralph Waldo Emerson and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn and other letters concerning the "Sanborn-Edith Emerson affair."
Dates
- 1862-1917
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)
This collection contains letters concerning the Emerson family and the Franklin Benjamin Sanborn "affair." Includes letters between Sanborn and Lidian Emerson, Sanborn and Ralph Waldo Emerson, and a letter from Sanborn to Edith Emerson, as well as other letters concerning the Sanborn-Emerson relationship, including a letter from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Benjamin B. Wiley, a copy of a later letter from Edward Waldo Emerson to James Ford Rhodes, and another letter from Rhodes.
The curatorial file includes letters concerning this collection as well as typescript transcripts of some of the letters in the collection (so noted with each cataloged item). Readers should see public services staff for access to this curatorial file.
The curatorial file includes letters concerning this collection as well as typescript transcripts of some of the letters in the collection (so noted with each cataloged item). Readers should see public services staff for access to this curatorial file.
Biographical / Historical
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th-century and lived in Concord, Massachusetts. His wife was Lidian Jackson Emerson, and one of their daughters was Edith Emerson [Forbes].
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831-1917) was an American journalist, author, and reformer, who lived in Concord, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Secret Six, or "Committee of Six," that funded the militant abolitionist John Brown.
The subject of the correspondence in these papers concerns Sanborn's courting of nineteen-year-old Edith Emerson. Sanborn proposed to Miss Emerson in 1861, and was rejected. Sanborn apparently took offense, and launched into a series of letters to Miss Emerson's mother, Lidian Emerson. Those letters angered the Emerson family, with the result that Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to Sanborn, informing Sanborn of Emerson's wife's displeasure at having been accused. The matter did not end happily, with Mrs. Emerson writing her own letter of reproach to Sanborn. Ultimately, Sanborn begrudgingly apologized.
Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (1831-1917) was an American journalist, author, and reformer, who lived in Concord, Massachusetts. He was a member of the Secret Six, or "Committee of Six," that funded the militant abolitionist John Brown.
The subject of the correspondence in these papers concerns Sanborn's courting of nineteen-year-old Edith Emerson. Sanborn proposed to Miss Emerson in 1861, and was rejected. Sanborn apparently took offense, and launched into a series of letters to Miss Emerson's mother, Lidian Emerson. Those letters angered the Emerson family, with the result that Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote to Sanborn, informing Sanborn of Emerson's wife's displeasure at having been accused. The matter did not end happily, with Mrs. Emerson writing her own letter of reproach to Sanborn. Ultimately, Sanborn begrudgingly apologized.
Arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
94M-25. Purchase with the Amy Lowell fund from Goodspeed's Book Shop; received: 1994 August 8.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
Microfilm on file (filmed prior to cataloging): No. 95-2920.
Microfilm on file (filmed prior to cataloging): No. 95-2920.
- Title
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. Ralph Waldo Emerson correspondence with Franklin Benjamin Sanborn and other letters, 1862-1917: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- EAD ID
- hou02455
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, literary and performing arts archives, and more. The library's holdings of primary source material are managed by an expert staff and shared with scholars, students and the public in the reading room.
Contact:
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu
Harvard Yard
Harvard University
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
(617) 495-2440
Houghton_Library@harvard.edu