5 October 1863

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to [Arnold] B. Johnson

"The 'water-closet' is one of the gifts of modern civilization, & must always be taken into account when you select a house." Written to Johnson in Washington, D.C.

GLC02095.13

8 March 1871

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John T. Hoffman

Writes to the Governor of New York and encloses a letter (enclosure not included). States he does not know anything of the writer nor of the case, but transmits the letter because it concerns a human life.

GLC02095.15

10 April 1872

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to [Edward W.] Kinsley

Marked private. Written from the Senate Chamber. Complains about the Boston press being hard on him, criticizes President Ulysses S. Grant's attempt to annex Santo Domingo, and rails against Grant's leadership in general: "I did not write to promote any personal interest. I have none. I am a candidate for nothing. I desire no office. But I am not insensible to misrepresentat[ion] & injustice. Never was the Boston press so hardened & her[2]metically sealed against even Fair Play where I am concerned. Even [Slack] cannot do justice to me.This madness for Grant upsets every thing. All…

GLC02095.16

December 31, 1872

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph note signed

Title: to Elliot C. Cowdin

Wishes Cowdin a happy New Year. Addressed to Cowdin in New York.

GLC02095.17

10 March 1874

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to [Edward W.] Kinsley

Criticizes Buenaventura Baez, President of the Dominican Republic. Kinsley apparently informed Sumner of a dinner for Baez. He states in full, "A Dinner to Baez! Why not invite the murderer of the Virginius crew? At least please read an authentic account of him. Doubtless he is one of the worst men of our time." Marked Senate Chamber.

GLC02095.18

1860

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Pamphlet

Title: The barbarism of slavery. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, on the Bill for the admission of Kansas as a free state.

Given in the Senate, 4 June 1860. Condemns slavery as barbaric and criticizes various pro-slavery arguments, including that slavery was not upheld by the United States Constitution. Published by Thaddeus Hyatt, Washington, D.C. Printed as the clergy edition. With advertisements on the wrappers.

GLC02095.21

18 June 1862

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Printed document

Title: [Senate resolution submitted by Charles Sumner]

Appeals to the people to manifest their loyalty by ceasing to fight or work for the rebels, and putting their resources into supporting the Union. States that the government will reciprocate. Writes, "...it is the further duty of the government of the United States to maintain all such loyal people, without distinction of color or class, in their rights as men, according to the principles of the Declaration of Independence." Marked 37th Congress, 2d Session, Mis. Doc. No. 104.

GLC02095.22

1865

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Pamphlet

Title: Protection of Freedmen: Actual Condition of the Rebel States. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts ...

Title continues, "... on the bill to maintain the freedom of the inhabitants in the states declared in insurrection and rebellion by the proclamation of the President of July 1, 1862; delivered in the Senate of the United States, December 20, 1865." Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, Washington, D.C.

GLC02095.23

1866

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Pamphlet

Title: The equal rights of all; the great guarantee and present necessity, for the sake of security, and to maintain a Republican government, ...

Title continues, " ... Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts, in the United States Senate, February 6 and 7, 1866." Printed at the Congressional Globe Office, Washington, D.C. Untrimmed and unopened.

GLC02095.24

March 3, 1773

Lothrop, Ellen, fl. 1773-1775

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mercy Otis Warren

Letter written by Lothrop, a friend to the writer Warren. In 1773, Warren and her husband James were already well known in Revolutionary circles. She thanks Warren for her previous letter and says she is going to try very hard to make the trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts to visit her. Says she was sorry to hear that her husband was absent from the legislature because it stands in need of his abilities and integrity. Praises him for "his master peice of Policy." Signed at the end "E.L."

GLC01189.02

December 17, 1770

Dickinson, John, 1732-1808

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Catharine Macaulay

Sends a piece of American silk as an expression of his admiration and gratitude for her.

GLC01790.03

31 May 1849

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Regrets having to decline attending a meeting: "Consider me always as deeply interested in the cause, but as reluctantly compelled to forego participation in your meeting."

GLC02095.02

28 September 1851

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Thomas L. Sprague

Thanks Sprague, a schoolboy, for his compliments: "Through my mother, who recently visited your friends in Hingham, I have learned your kind interest in me, & the manner in which you have spoken of me in one of your exercises at school. The words of a soul, so young & ingenious as yours, are precious to me. I receive them as an encouragement for myself & as an [illegible] of your own consecration to a great cause."

GLC02095.04

27 October 1861

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to unknown

Thanks an unknown "sir" for his words of sympathy: "Accept my thanks for the words of cheer & sympathy which you kindly write. I have tried to do my duty & shall continue unto the end."

GLC02095.08

6 January 1862-1865

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph note signed

Title: [Note declining Charles Sumner's attendance at Mr. Lincoln's circle]

Signed in text. Dated 6 January, no year specified. States that Sumner regrets not being able to attend "Mr. Lincoln's circle," to be held that evening, due to the state of his health.

GLC02095.09

15 September 1863

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Epes Sargent

Sumner thanks Sargent for his sympathetic praise. Writes, "The verses on Shaw I had enjoyed before, & had sent to England," likely a reference to Sargent's poem, "Colonel Shaw: On Hearing that the Rebels Had Buried His Body Under a Pile of Twenty Five Negroes," Boston Evening Transcript, 4 August 1863. Contains a 12 September 1878 autograph note signed by Sargent on page 2, giving a brief biography of Sumner: "Charles Sumner, United States Senator from Massachusetts... -a very conspicuous man in his day. He was a classmate of my brother, John O. Sargent, and we were intimate from…

GLC02095.12

9 October 1864

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Theseus Apoleon Cheney

Writes that he is glad Cheney is regaining his health. Comments on the upcoming presidential election and the Civil War: "The good news must stimulate you. Of the result, political or military I cannot doubt. Mr. Lincoln will be re-elected, & Rebellion will be crushed -& with it Slavery which is nothing but another name for the Rebellion."

GLC02095.14

1847

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Pamphlet

Title: Mr. Sumner's Lecture on White Slavery in the Barbary States.

Sumner's lecture given before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, 17 February 1847. Published by William D. Ticknor and Company. Printed in Cambridge by Metcalf and Company, printers to the University. Inscribed on the original orange cover to the editor of the Daily Bee from the publisher.

GLC02095.19

1856

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Pamphlet

Title: The Crime Against Kansas. Speech of Hon. Charles Sumner, of Massachusetts. In the Senate of the United States, May 19, 1856.

Sumner delivered this speech after the May 1856 debates on slavery in Kansas. Condemns Southern advocacy of the expansion of slavery. Published by Greeley and McElrath, New York. Advertised on cover page as being "for sale at the office of the New York Tribune." With advertisements for other publications on the back cover.

GLC02095.20

circa 1860

Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874

Autograph note signed

Title: [Quotation of Charles Sumner on liberty]

Complete quotation reads: "For myself in a case of doubt I feel that I cannot go wrong when I lean to the side of Liberty."

GLC02095.25

15 July 1892

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Kennard

Saint-Gaudens, a noted Gilded Age sculptor, discusses an inscription with Kennard (possibly Martin P. Kennard, a Boston abolitionist and political reformer). States that the inscription, designated for a Boston monument honoring Robert Gould Shaw, is too complicated. Expresses hope that he can persuade John Murray Forbes, a Boston philanthropist and chairman of the Shaw monument committee, to endorse a simpler inscription. Very fragile with several torn creases.

GLC02928.01

July 1892

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907

Autograph letter signed

Title: to Mr. Kennard

Saint-Gaudens discusses his upcoming visit to Boston, Massachusetts with Kennard (possibly Martin P. Kennard, a Boston abolitionist and political reformer). States that any message Kennard leaves for him at the office of McKim, Mead, and White will be received immediately upon his arrival.

GLC02928.02

8 August 1894

Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 1848-1907

Typed letter signed

Title: to Mr. Kennard

Saint-Gaudens discusses the inscription on a monument honoring Robert Gould Shaw with Kennard (possibly Martin P. Kennard, a Boston abolitionist and political reformer). Encloses a letter (not included) from Edward Atkinson, treasurer of the Shaw monument committee, authorizing Gaudens to proceed with the monument's inscription. Relates that Charles William Eliot, President of Harvard University, and Colonel Lee (possibly Henry Lee) previously asked him not to proceed with the inscription, which was originally written by Eliot. Requests that Kennard, possibly on the monument committee,…

GLC02928.03

4 June 1897

Atkinson, Edward, 1827-1905

Typed letter signed

Title: to the committee on the Shaw monument

Atkinson, treasurer of the Robert Gould Shaw monument committee, informs other members of the committee that he intends to depart for London, England, and St. Petersburg, Russia. States that he hopes to finish matters concerning the monument before his departure. Reports that he paid sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens a total of $22,000 for completion of the monument, and that $550 remains in the committee trust for general expenses. Requests the committee's opinion regarding the style and number of copies of the monument's final report, and whether or not the report should contain a photo of…

GLC02928.04

circa 1897

Typed document

Title: [Draft of inscription intended for the Robert Gould Shaw monument]

Includes hand written corrections. Describes the Shaw monument as a tribute to the famous 54th Massachusetts Colored Infantry, organized in Boston and reviewed by Massachusetts Governor John Albion Andrew 18 May 1863. Includes extracts from Andrew's speech on presenting the regiment standards, in which he declares "These men, sir, have now, in the Providence of God, given to them an opportunity, which, while it is personal to themselves, is still an opportunity for the whole race of men." Honors Shaw and the 54th by stating "The conduct of these troops at Fort Wagner and elsewhere proved…

GLC02928.05