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COLLECTION Identifier: A-133

Richard James Hooker collection of letters from American women, 1788-1890

Overview

Correspondence, mostly by19th century American women, compiled by Richard James Hooker of Chicago, Illinois.

Dates

  • Creation: 1788-1890

Creator

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Access Restrictions:

Access. Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Materials in Richard James Hooker collection of letters from American women are in the public domain.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.63 linear feet (2 file boxes)

Approximately 300 miscellaneous letters, mostly by American women in the nineteenth century, covering a wide range of subjects - religion, education, politics, marriage, local and family news. The large majority are written by "unknown" women, and give a glimpse into the life of the housewife and the schoolteacher in the 19th century. Of particular interest are: the correspondence of Lucy Gray and her husband, a New England sea captain; the letters to Weltha Brown, a Hartford, Connecticut schoolteacher, from her friends and relatives, many dealing with religious subjects; letters by Hannah Buchanan of Maryland to her absent husband re the problems of running a plantation; and the letters by Sarah Edgarton and Luella J. B. Case, two minor authors. There is also an undated letter by Dolly Madison.

BIOGRAPHY

Historian and collector of historical documents Richard James Hooker was born September 6, 1912. He received a PhD in history from the University of Chicago. He joined the faculty of Roosevelt University in 1945 as an associate professor and was promoted to full professor in 1949. In 1965, he was appointed trustee of Roosevelt University in 1965. Hooker was the author of several books, including The American Revolution: The Search for Meaning (1970), The Book Of Chowder (1978), and Food and Drink in America: A History (1981), and edited A Colonial Plantation Cookbook: The Receipt Book of Harriott Pinckney Horry, 1770 (1984). He was married to Nancy Harvison Hooker. Hooker died September 15, 1986, in St Johnsbury, Vermont.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 659

Purchased of Mr. Richard J. Hooker, Chicago, Illinois, October 1963.

Digitization Funding

Collections and items have been digitized with the generous support of The Polonsky Foundation.

INDEX

  1. Aged--Dwellings--19th century 126
  2. Albany, N.Y.--Social life and customs 13
  3. Authors--Correspondence, reminiscences, etc. 62, 63, 64, 65
  4. Baltimore, MD--Social life and customs 80
  5. Baptists--19th century 51
  6. Cambridge, MA--Social life and customs 35
  7. Case, Luella J.B. 62, 63, 64, 65
  8. Childbirth 10, 112, 113
  9. Clergy--Families 31, 58, 63
  10. Connecticut--Social life and customs 14
  11. Courtship--19th century 8, 14, 23, 27, 63, 68, 70, 72, 84, 95, 99, 118, 136, 138
  12. Death--Manners and customs--19th century 6, 8, 25, 31, 37, 39, 41, 45, 55, 56, 106
  13. Diaries--19th century 44
  14. Domestics--19th century 49
  15. Edgarton, Sarah C. 62, 63, 64, 65
  16. Education of women--19th century 5, 10, 12, 28, 40, 125
  17. Europe--History--1789-1815 5
  18. Family--18th century 1, 2
  19. Family--19th century 5, 17, 23, 24, 25, 31, 34, 42, 46, 52, 57, 58, 59, 66, 93, 10
  20. Farm life 5, 88, 129
  21. Fashion--19th century 92
  22. Finney, Charles Grandison, 1792-1875 90
  23. Friendship 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, 28, 33, 34, 57
  24. Frontier and pioneer life 86, 88, 112
  25. Genealogy 108, 109
  26. Goldminer's--19th century 53
  27. Health and hygiene--18th century 2
  28. Health and hygiene--19th century 5, 10, 16, 18, 22, 24, 37, 42, 78, 113, 118, 133
  29. Illinois--Social life and customs 96
  30. Immigrants--19th century 59
  31. Indentured servants 4
  32. Labor and laboring classes--19th century 42, 49, 67
  33. Madison, Dolly (Payne) Todd, 1768-1849 142
  34. Maine--Social life and customs 63, 64
  35. Marriage contracts 4
  36. Marriage--19th century 4, 5, 8, 15, 21, 24, 30, 34, 36, 45, 46
  37. Maryland--Social life and customs 5
  38. Massachusetts--Social life and customs 24, 25
  39. Methodists and Methodism 58, 85, 103
  40. Michigan--Social life and customs 131
  41. Midwestern states--Social life and customs 96, 113, 131, 141
  42. Missionary societies 91
  43. Mormons and Mormonism 86
  44. Mothers 10, 32, 46, 48, 71, 82, 108, 112, 113
  45. Mothers and daughters--19th century 46, 48, 71, 82, 108, 135
  46. New England--Social life and customs 14, 24, 25, 35, 63, 64, 90, 11
  47. New York--Social life and customs 48
  48. Ohio--Social life and customs 141
  49. Pennsylvania Dutch 85
  50. Pioneers 86, 88
  51. Religion--19th century 6, 7, 8, 15, 22, 50, 58, 61, 85, 90, 91, 113, 137, 146
  52. Revivals--19th century 8, 15, 22, 50, 61, 90
  53. Rhode Island--Social life and customs 90
  54. School Children--19th century 13, 40, 103, 104, 106, 112
  55. Seafaring life--19th century 24, 25
  56. Second Great Awakening 6, 7, 8, 15, 50, 58, 61, 62, 107, 146
  57. Single women--19th century 25
  58. Slavery 48, 81
  59. Slavery--Anti-slavery 58
  60. Southern states--Social life and customs 3
  61. Teachers--correspondence, reminiscences, etc. 30, 45, 48, 49, 96
  62. Temperance 49, 83
  63. Travel--19th century 42
  64. United States History--to 1810 1
  65. United States History--Civil War 108, 121
  66. United States Navy--Sea-life 3
  67. Vermont--Social life and customs 116
  68. Widows--19th century 4, 60
  69. Wisconsin--Social life and customs 113

Geographic

Topical

Title
Hooker, Richard J. (Richard James), 1913- . Richard James Hooker collection of letters from American women, 1788-1890: A Finding Aid.
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00097

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Contact:
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