Overview
Manuscript letters and drafts of letters from Bostonian Andrew Eliot during Revolutionary war period.
Dates
- Creation: 1767-1776 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
.1 linear feet (1 volume)Collection includes autograph manuscript letters, most signed, and some letter drafts.
Recipients include: Eliot's son John Eliot, Thomas Hollis, Thomas Brand Hollis, John Hancock, Reverend Samuel Chandler, Archdeacon Francis Blackburne, and William Harris. Topics include: British siege of Boston, British rule, Church of England, Harvard College, general religion, reading material, and other personal matters.
Biographical / Historical
Andrew Eliot (1718-1778) was born on December 21, 1718 to Andrew and Ruth Eliot. He received his Harvard AB in 1737 and Harvard AM in 1740. Eliot married Elizabeth Langdon in October 1742 and they had several children. Eliot was ordained at the New North Church in Boston in April 1742. He served Harvard as a member of the Board of Overseers in 1758 and the Corporation in 1765. Eliot remained in Boston during the British siege, April 19, 1775- March 17, 1776, and upheld the Congregational Church in opposition to the Church of England. He was a strong supporter of American independence. Eliot's son John Eliot (1754-1813; Harvard AB 1772) became pastor at the New North Church following his father's death.
Arrangement
Arranged as bound in volume into the following series:
- I. Letters from Andrew Eliot to his son, John Eliot, 1775-1776
- II. Letters from Andrew Eliot to Thomas Hollis, 1768-1770
- III. Letters from Andrew Eliot to Thomas Brand Hollis, 1774-1775
- IV. Other letters from Andrew Eliot, 1767-1776
Physical Location
f
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Gift of Mary Lincoln Eliot; received: 1922 March 5.
Processing Information
Processed by: Ashley M. Nary
- Title
- Eliot, Andrew, 1718-1778. Andrew Eliot letters, 1767-1776: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02563
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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