Overview
Autograph manuscript letters to his friends, from Cambridge, Massachusetts resident John Holmes.
Dates
- Creation: 1871-1897
Creator
- Holmes, John, 1812-1899 (Person)
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)All letters are autograph manuscript and signed by John Holmes; most, but not all, are written from Cambridge, Massachusetts; some letters include envelopes. Letters are chatty and recount news of family and friends. Recipients of letters include: Ann Storrow Higginson, Waldo Higginson, James Bradley Thayer, Charles Eliot Ware, and Mary Lee Ware. This collection also includes a humorous series of letters from Holmes to Miss Mary Lee Ware that are labeled the "Fish series".
Biographical / Historical
John Holmes (1812-1899) was born in 1812 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the son of Reverend Abiel Holmes (pastor of the First Congregational Church of Cambridge) and Sarah Wendell Holmes. He received an AB from Harvard College in 1832 and, for a time, studied at Harvard Law School. He never married and lived with his mother in Cambridge. His brother was Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) who was an American physician, poet, and Harvard professor.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by name of recipient.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number; Gift of Miss Mary Lee Ware; received: 1933 May 10 and 1934 February 3.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
Creator
- Holmes, John, 1812-1899 (Person)
- Title
- Holmes, John, 1812-1899. John Holmes letters, 1871-1897: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02456
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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