A Guide to the Papers of Harriet Beecher Stowe 1826-1898 Stowe, Harriet Beecher, Papers 6318, etc.

A Guide to the Papers of Harriet Beecher Stowe 1826-1898

A Collection in
the Clifton Waller Barrett Library of American Literature
Special Collections
The University of Virginia Library
Accession Number 6318, etc.

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library
University of Virginia
Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4110
USA
Phone: (434) 243-1776
Fax: (434) 924-4968
Reference Request Form: https://small.lib.virginia.edu/reference-request/
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Processed by: Special Collections Staff

Repository

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library

Accession number

6318, etc.

Title

Papers of Harriet Beecher Stowe 1826-1898

Physical Characteristics

This collection consists of 115 items.

Language

English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Papers of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Accession #6318, etc., Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

6318-a: Purchase February 25, 1963 6318-b: Purchase April 1, 1964 6318-c: Deposit July 7, 1964; Gift July 1, 1991 6318-d: Deposit April 20, 1965; Gift July 1, 1991 6318-e: Purchase May 15, 1965 6318-f: Transfer from Rare Books, July 23, 1965 6318-g: Purchase December 3, 1965 6318-h: Purchase December 30, 1966 6318-i: Purchase October 2, 1968 6318-j: Deposit April 2, 1970; Gift July 1, 1991 6318-k: Purchase September 3, 2003

Biographical/Historical Information

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born on June 14, 1811 at Litchfield, Connecticut, the daughter of abolitionist Congregational minister Lyman Ward Beecher and Roxana Foote Beecher. The first twelve years of her life were spent in the intellectual atmosphere of Litchfield, which was a famous resort of ministers, judges, lawyers and professional men of superior attainments.

At about the age of twelve, Stowe went to Hartford, where her sister Catherine had opened the Hartford Female Academy. While there she was known as an absent-minded and moody young lady, odd in her manner and habits, but a fine scholar, excelling especially in the writing of compositions. In 1832, the Beecher family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio where Lyman Ward Beecher assumed the presidency of Lane Theological Seminary. Stowe taught at the Western Female Institute.

While living in Cincinnati, Stowe met numerous fugitive slaves and traveled to Kentucky where she witnessed the brutality of slavery first-hand. It was also in Cincinnati that Harriet Beecher met her husband, Calvin Ellis Stowe, a teacher at the Western Female Institute. In 1850, Calvin Stowe accepted a teaching position at Bowdoin College and the couple moved to Brunswick, Maine. Stowe started writing Uncle Tom's Cabin upon her arrival in Brunswick. Many of the characters in her book mirrored real-life individuals such as Josiah Henson, a fugitive slave who escaped from Kentucky to Canada along the Underground Railroad with his wife and two children.

Stowe was catapulted to international fame with the publication of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1851. Published as a serial in the abolitionist newspaper, The National Era, in 1851 and in book form the following year, Uncle Tom's Cabin is the most famous example of antislavery literature. The book became an overnight sensation in the United States and Europe selling more than 300,000 copies in the first year of publication. Stowe became a celebrity, speaking against slavery both in America and Europe.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was dismissed by some as abolitionist propaganda; yet Tolstoy deemed it a great work of literature "flowing from love of God and man." She wrote A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853) extensively documenting the realities on which the book was based, to refute Southern critics who tried to argue that it was inauthentic. Stowe published a second anti-slavery novel, Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp (1856), which told the story of a dramatic attempt at slave rebellion. When Stowe met Abraham Lincoln in 1862 during the Civil War, he reportedly greeted her, "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war!"

Stowe's later works did not gain the same popularity as Uncle Tom's Cabin. She published novels, studies of social life, essays, and a small volume of religious poems. The Stowes lived in Hartford in summer and spent their winters in Florida, where they had a luxurious home. The Pearl of Orr's Island (1862), Old-Town Folks (1869), and Poganuc People (1878) were partly based on her husband's childhood reminiscenes and are among the first examples of local color writing in New England. Poganuc People was Stowe's last novel. Her mental faculties failed in 1888, two years after the death of her husband. She died on July 1, 1896 in Hartford, Connecticut.

Scope and Content

The Papers of Harriet Beecher Stowe consist of literary manuscripts, correspondence, prints, photographs and engravings, and other miscellaneous items. Correspondence is primarily between family and friends, but also includes are letters to publishers.

The manuscripts include her poetry, quotations, and two pages from the original manuscript of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Also included are numerous engravings and photographs of Harriet Beecher Stowe at various stages of her life.

Correspondents include: Richard Bentley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Clarke Beeton & Co., the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Duchess of Sutherland, Emily Hale, Houghton Mifflin & Co., Lord Denman, Lord Morpeth, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Mary Swift.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in four series: Series I: Literary manuscripts, are arranged alphabetically by title or first line Series II: Correspondence, is arranged alphabetically by correspondent Series III: Miscellaneous documents, are arranged chronologically Series IV: Prints, photographs and engravings, are arranged by physical format.

Contents List

Series I: Literary Manuscripts

Box-folder 1:1
"Only a Year " [ca. 1849]

AMsS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:2
"they are to be a fancy article... " [1851?]

AMs, 2 pp. on 1 l.

Part of the first draft of the first chapter of Uncle Tom's Cabin. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:3
"He shall not fail... " 1853 April 13

AMsS, 1 p. on 1 l.

With note regarding Dingle Bank. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:4
"Whose voice then shook the earth... " [1857]

AMsS, 7 pp. on 6 l.

With typed transcript (4 pp.) and note (1 p.). #6318-c
Box-folder 1:5
"The Little Spring / In Three Pictures " 1863 October 12

AMsS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

With related correspondence to [James T.] Fields. Harriet Beecher Stowe portrait on verso. Mounted. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:6
"No! no! no! my soul aint yours Mass'r... " 1891 February 8

AMsS, 1 p. on 1 l.

From Uncle Tom's Cabin, page 179. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:7
"Country Neighbors Again " n.d.

AMs fragment, 10 pp. on 9 l.

With autograph corrections. #6318-j
Box-folder 1:8
"Extract from the Diary of Dr. Lyman Beecher in 1799 " n.d.

AMs, 1 p. on 1 l.

Regarding July 4th. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:9
"Our Country Neighbors " n.d.

AMsS, 15 pp. on 6 l.

With autograph corrections. #6318-j
Box-folder 1:10
"Raphael's Hours of the Night " n.d.

AMsS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:11
"Second Hour " n.d.

AMs, 2 pp. on 1 l.

See folder 18: C. E. Stowe to Mr. Darwin C. Pavey, 1888 November 30. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:12
"What Dr. Hurshack said to Miss Emily " n.d.

AMsS, 11 pp. on 7 l.

#6318-e

Series II: Correspondence

Box-folder 1:13
James Lane Allen to Richard Watson Gilder 1886 October 1

ALS, 7 pp. on 4 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:14
Catherine E. Beecher to Rufus Choate 1846 August 29

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-i
Box-folder 1:15
Catherine E. Beecher to Bishop Burgess 1861 January 21

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-i
Box-folder 1:16
James Parton to James R. Osgood 1869 June 12

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

Regarding Harriet Beecher Stowe and the Byron controversy. #6318-b
Box-folder 1:17
C. E. Stowe to Mrs. Phillips [1856] July 15

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-a
Box-folder 1:18
Charles Edward Stowe to Mr. Darwin C. Pavey 1888 November 30

TL, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:19
Harriet Beecher [Stowe] to Mary Swift [1828 December 27?]

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:20
Harriet Beecher [Stowe] to Mary Swift [ca. 1828]

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:21
Harriet Beecher [Stowe] to Mary Swift [ca. 1828]

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:22
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Howard Ticknor 1835 October

ALS fragment, 1 p. on 1 l.

With address leaf. Possibly a manuscript fragment. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:23
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duchess of Sutherland] [1852?] May 9

ALS, 5 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:24
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duke and Duchess of Argyll] [1852?] September 4

ALS, 10 pp. on 3 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:25
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Sumner [1852?] September 27

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

Regarding Stowe's request for legal counsel in regard to a case of libel concerning Mr. Parker. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:26
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [Richard] Bentley 1852 November 13

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:27
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Richard Bentley 1852 December 1

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:28
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Lord [Morpeth] 1853 January 7

ALS, 8 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:29
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Lord [Denman] 1853 January 20

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

Copy, possibly in the hand of Stowe's daughter, Hattie.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:30
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Sirs" 1853 January 24

ALS, 1 p. on 1.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:31
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Sir" [Henry Wadsworth Longfellow] 1853 January 27

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:32
Harriet Beecher Stowe to the Duchess of Sutherland 1853 March 24

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:33
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duchess of Sutherland] 1853 June 2

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:34
Harriet Beecher Stowe to the Duchess of Sutherland 1854 March 26

ALS, 8 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:35
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Messrs. Clarke Beeton & Co. 1854 September 4

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:36
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. Allen 1854 October 22

ALS, 6 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:37
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Lady Hatherton 1856 May 24

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:38
Harriet Beecher Stowe to the Duchess of Argyll [1856?] June 17

ALS, 12 pp. 3 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:39
Harriet Beecher Stowe to the Duchess [of Argyll?] [1856?] September 15

ALS, 6 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:40
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. [Charles] Kingsley [1856?] October 19

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:41
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Sir" 1856 November 1

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:42
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Hale [1856?]

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:43
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Underwood [1858] March 30

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:44
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Friend" [Duchess of Sutherland?] [1858] April 2

ALS, 14 pp. on 4 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:45
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Messrs. Clarke Beeton & Co. 1859 February 19

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:46
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Kinnard [1859] July 31

AL, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:47
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Dear Sister" [1860?]

ALS, 6 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:48
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Field 1862 January 18

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:49
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Dear Friend" [Duchess of Argyll] 1862 July 31

ALS, 10 pp. on 4 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:50
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "The Duchess Dowager of Sutherland," [1863?] May 6

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:51
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duchess of Argyll] 1863 June 1

ALS, 8 pp. on 4 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:52
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My dear Friend" 1865 February 20

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:53
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My very dear Friend" [the Duchess of Sutherland] 1865 September

ALS, 15 pp. on 5 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:54
Beecher Stowe to "My dear Friend" [the Duchess of Argyll] 1866 February 19

ALS, 11 pp. on 3 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:55
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. Joseph Sturges 1866 June 14

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:56
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Henry [Allen] [1867 February?]

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-e
Box-folder 1:57
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Walter Howard 1869 June 24

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:58
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Friend" [1869 July?]

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:59
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Osgood 1870 December

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:60
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Dear Friend" [the Duchess of Argyll] [ca. 1871]

ALS, 7 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:61
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Sir" 1874 February 13

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:62
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Friend" 1874 December 7

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:63
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Dear Friend" [the Duchess of Argyll] 1877 May 28

ALS, 6 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:64
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Jack" 1877 October 27

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:65
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [Sarah Pratt] McLean 1882 January 2

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:66
Harriet Beecher Stowe to the "Editor of the Brooklyn Magazine" 1885 April 2

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:67
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [unidentified recipient] 1885 October 6

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:68
Beecher Stowe to "Dear Madam," 1889 January 13

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:69
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duke of Argyll] 1889 January 21

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:70
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duke of Argyll] 1889 February 26

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:71
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duke of Argyll] 1889 March 26

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:72
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duke of Argyll] 1889 April 2

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:73
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Fields 1890 March 28

ALS, 3 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:74
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My dear young Friend" 1890 May 6

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:75
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Houghton Mifflen & Co. 1891 December 18

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:76
Beecher Stowe to "Dear Sarah" [sister-in law] 1892

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

Related correspondence regarding "Sister H." on verso dated 1892, July 23. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:77
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Messrs. Houghton Mifflen & Co. 1893 June 20

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:78
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mr. Miller 1895 August 12

ALS, 3 pp. Photocopy.

Original tipped in "A New England Sketch, " PS2954.N3 1841. #6318-f
Box-folder 1:79
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. [B?] n.y. January 2

ALS, 3 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:80
Harriet Beecher Stowe to James R. Nichols n.y. January 26

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l., with envelope

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:81
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Messrs. Ticknor & Field n.y. March 11

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:82
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [unidentified recipient] n.y. April

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:83
Aunt Haty [Harriet Beecher Stowe] to Emily [Hale] n.y. May 23

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:84
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Good Friend" [a publisher] n.y. September

ALS, 3 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:85
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Major" n.y. October 2

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:86
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. [D. H.] Allen n.y. December 2

ALS, 7 pp. on 2 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:87
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. Underwood n.y. December 31

ALS, 8 pp. on 2 l.

With transcript. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:88
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Elizabeth Barrett Browning n.d.

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:89
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [Edward Everett Hale] n.d.

AL fragment, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:90
Harriet Beecher Stowe to Mrs. Lipencott n.d.

ALS, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-e
Box-folder 1:91
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "Dear Friend" n.d.

ALS, 4 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-h
Box-folder 1:92
Harriet Beecher Stowe to "My Dear Sister" n.d.

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:93
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [the Duchess of Sutherland] n.d.

ALS, 2 pp. on 1 l.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:94
Harriet Beecher Stowe to [unidentified recipient] n.d.

AL fragment, 1 p. on 1 l.

#6318-c

Series III: Miscellaneous Documents

Box-folder 1:95
Slave bill of sale signed by Jeremiah Liggett 1826 September 8

DS. Photocopy.

Original tipped in volume I of The Writings of Harriet Beecher Stowe PS2950.1896. #6318-d
Box-folder 1:96
Josiah Henson 1858 May 10

Autograph, 1 item

Model for Uncle Tom. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:97
Check endorsed by Harriet Beecher Stowe from Ticknor and Fields Publishers 1867 May 18

DS.

#6318-c

Series IV: Prints, Photographs, Engravings

Box-folder 1:98
Engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe as a young woman n.d.

By J. C. Buttre; from the portrait by George Richmond. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:99
Engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe as a young woman n.d.

By H. W. Smith; from the portrait by George Richmond. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:100
Engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe ca. 1853

By R. Young; from an original portrait. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:101
Engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe as an elderly woman n.d.

By T. Johnson; from a photograph by Sarony. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:102
Engraving of Harriet Beecher Stowe n.d.

From the original painting by Chappel. #6318-a
Box-folder 1:103
Engraving of Calvin E. Stowe n.d.

By J. C. Buttre. #6318-a
Box-folder 1:104
Stereopticon photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe, C. E. Stowe, Hattie Stowe, Eliza Stowe, and an unidentified girl ca. 1875

One half of a stereopticon photograph. With an 8x10 black and white reproduction. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:105
Cabinet photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe [ca. late 1870's]

#6318-k
Box-folder 1:106
Photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe seated in a chair in the garden in front of her house 1886 August 18

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:107
Photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe seated in chair 1886 August 18

Same image as folder 108 but with background garden painted out. Image signed and dated: "Harriet Beecher Stowe January 4 1887." #6318-c
Box-folder 1:108
Photograph of Harriet Beecher Stowe as an old woman n.d.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:109
Polaroid photograph of S. W. Rowse's portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe n.d.

#6318-c
Box-folder 1:110
Portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe as a young woman entitled "Abolitionist "n.d.

From an unidentified newspaper. Brief description of the impact of Uncle Tom's Cabin. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:111
Portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe n.d.

From a photograph taken about 1858; from an unidentified magazine. #6318-c
Box-folder 1:112
Portrait of Harriet Beecher Stowe entitled, "Prophetess with Pen "n.d.

From an unidentified magazine
Box-folder 1:113
Three portraits of Harriet Beecher Stowe n.d.

3 items

From unidentified magazines
Etching of Harriet Beecher Stowe n.d.
Physical Location: Oversize

By Jacques Reich. #7267