Papers of John Langdon Sibley

The Papers of John Langdon Sibley contain personal and professional materials, including correspondence, diaries and journals, manuscripts, lectures, research notes, publications, and clippings, mostly related to his biographical research on Harvard graduates. The collection includes Sibley's Collectanea Biographica Harvardiana, Volumes 1-31, which contain Harvard alumni biographies. In addition to the printed version, there are also handwritten manuscript copies with additions by Sibley. Additionally, his papers include manuscripts of biographical sketches, 1873 to 1885, and other research material about Harvard graduates.

The collection also includes Sibley's lectures about Montgomery and Arnold's Revolutionary War expeditions to Quebec, and publications, many of which are written about Sibley, such as an address given at his funeral. Sibley's accounts of his work at the American Magazine of Useful and Entertaining Knowledge are also included.

Sibley's papers contain his private diary, which spans nearly 37 years, from 1846 to 1882. In it, he recorded the details of daily life, often commenting on local and national current events, as well as Harvard affairs.

The correspondence, mostly professional in scope, consists of incoming and outgoing letters, with three letters from Ralph Waldo Emerson, a scrapbook of correspondence, and twenty volumes of Sibley’s received letters. The collection also includes additional personal and family materials, including his will and the will of his wife, Charlotte Augusta Cook Sibley, Sibley’s ordination document, Harvard diploma, and Massachusetts Historical Society certificate.