Overview
Scrapbook of items collected by American Senator Charles Sumner, including materials of his brother George Sumner.
Dates
- Creation: 1608-1866
Language of Materials
Collection materials are primarily in English, but also includes materials in French, Latin, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Russian.
Physical Description
b
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
.25 linear feet (1 volume and 1 folder in 1 box)Consists of letters to Sumner and materials he collected such as printed and manuscript ephemera: tickets, broadsides, proclamations, prints, plant material, menus, engravings, portraits, paper money, theater programs, invitations, official documents (some for sale of enslaved people), a piece of untouched papyrus, a 1608 Title of tenantry, papers removed from the Tuilleries Palace in 1848, Holy relics and certificate, and many other items. Some materials are annotated by Sumner or his brother George Sumner. Entries below are taken primarily from the index listings.
Entries below are taken primarily from the index listings.
Biographical / Historical
Charles Sumner (1811-1874) was a Republican senator from Massachusetts and a principal figure in the anti-slavery movement. George Sumner (1817-1863) was Charles' brother, a business man and world traveler.
Biographical / Historical
This scrapbook includes receipts for the purchase of enslaved persons in the 18th and 19th centuries, including Duck in 1708-1709; Caroline and Lucy, sold to E.H. Stokes of Richmond, Virginia, in 1860; and Richard Harris of Annapolis, Maryland, in 1866.
Arrangement
Arranged as inserted in scrapbook. A manuscript contents list is inserted inside the front cover.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
No accession number. Bequest of Charles Sumner; received: 1874. Recataloged from MS Sum 27.
Processing Information
Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt
Processing Information
This finding aid was revised in 2024 to address outdated and harmful descriptive language. Contextual information was added to the scope and contents notes at the collection and sub-series levels to ensure discoverability of these documents and surface the names of the enslaved individuals. No terms drawn from transcription of documents were changed. For more information on reparative archival description at Harvard, see Harvard Library’s Statement on Harmful Language in Archival Description.
- Title
- Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874, collector. Charles Sumner scrapbook, 1608-1866: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou02596
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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