Old Dominion University Libraries

The Independent Correspondence and Other Materials, 1680-1936 | Special Collections and University Archives

By Elizabeth Vincelette

Collection Overview

Title: The Independent Correspondence and Other Materials, 1680-1936

Collection Identifier: MG 83

ID: 00/MG 83

Primary Creator: Ward, W.H.

Extent: 0.4 Linear Feet. More info below.

Arrangement:

The Historical Letters collection is divided into five series:

Series I, Editorial Correspondence of The Independent, 1866-1917

Series II, Literary Authors and Papers on American Theater, 1896-1913

Series III, Historical Manuscripts and Documents, 1680-1795

Series IV, Miscellaneous Literary and Political Correspondence, 1930-1936

Series V, William and Mary Norfolk Campus library Correspondence, 1958-1960

Subjects: American newspapers, Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891, Bowen, Henry Chandler, 1813-1896, Chew, Samuel, College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division, College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division--Hughes Library, Congregationalists--United States, Frémont, John Charles, 1813-1890, Furness, Horace Howard, 1833-1912, Furness, Horace Howard, 1865-1930, Gray, Asa, 1810-1888, Independent (Newspaper), Ward, William Hayes, 1835-1916

Languages: English

Abstract

Primarily comprised of correspondence of William Hayes Ward, editor of The Independent, a New York Congregationalist weekly, with notable literary and historical figures including General John Charles Frémont, American explorer and expedition leader; P. T. Barnum, showman; and Asa Gray, the preeminent American botanist of the 19th century. Other items in the collection include American literature and theater papers; colonial historical manuscripts and documents; and correspondence with the library of Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary (the predecessor of Old Dominion University).

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection does not include physical copies of the Independent newspaper. Several volumes of the newspaper have been digitized by the Hathi Trust.

The collection includes papers ranging in dates from 1680 to 1936 with the bulk of the collection falling between 1879 and 1881. Most of the collection is comprised of the correspondence of William Hayes Ward, editor of The Independent, with notable literary and historical figures including General John Charles Frémont, American explorer and expedition leader; P. T. Barnum, showman; and Asa Gray, the preeminent American botanist of the 19th century.

Other items in the collection include American literature and theater papers; colonial historical manuscripts and documents; and correspondence with the library of Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary (the predecessor of Old Dominion University). The collection contains a number of transcriptions, some of which include inaccurate identifications which are noted in the finding aid.

Assorted other papers in the collection include presidential signatures; a letter by John Ruskin, Victorian art and social critic; part of a book manuscript by American author Washington Irving; colonial deeds, including a land grant signed and sealed by Lord Dunmore; and papers and letters on American theatre, including correspondence of Horace Howard Furness, Sr., Horace Howard Furness, Jr., and Samuel Chew.

TheEditorial Correspondence of The Independent, Series I, has been digitized and can be found in the Old Dominion Univeristy Libraries Digital Collections

Collection Historical Note

The Independent was a New York weekly newspaper founded in 1848 by Henry Chandler Bowen. The Congregationalist journal, which was published until 1921, included social topics, primarily opposition to slavery and religious articles, but after the Civil War included literary submissions. Editors included, among others, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Kinsley Twining, Hamilton Holt, William Hayes Ward, and his sister, Susan Hayes Ward.

William Hayes Ward (1835-1916) was born in Abingdon, Massachusetts, on June 25, 1835. He graduated with distinction from Amherst College in 1856 and from Andover Theological seminary in 1859. He married Ellen Maria Dickinson in 1859. Dr. Ward served as a professor of Latin at Ripon College in Wisconsin and was a prominent orientalist and biblical scholar in his later years. In 1868 he left Ripon College to join the editorial staff of The Independent. In 1884, he led an expedition to Babylonia to examine archeological sites, and became president of the American Oriental Society, a position held twice, from 1890-1894 and 1909-1910. He specialized in studying designs of Babylonian and Assyrian seal cylinders, which were used in ancient record-keeping.

Showing a lifelong concern for social issues in the newspaper and in private life, William Hayes Ward upheld African-American rights and opened the first conference held by the NAACP in 1909 in New York City. He was editor-in-chief of The Independent from 1896-1913 and is known for supporting poet Sidney Lanier, whose work was frequently published in the paper, and about whom Dr. Ward wrote a biographical memoir.

Horace Howard Furness, Sr., 1833-1912, was an important American Shakespeare scholar. He was known for his editing of Shakespeare's plays, which contained numerous editions of plays as well as criticism. His son, Horace Howard Furness, Jr., 1865-1930, was a partner and successor of his father's work and edited his letters. Samuel Chew was a renowned literary critic in the early twentieth century.

Subject/Index Terms

American newspapers
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891
Bowen, Henry Chandler, 1813-1896
Chew, Samuel
College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division
College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division--Hughes Library
Congregationalists--United States
Frémont, John Charles, 1813-1890
Furness, Horace Howard, 1833-1912
Furness, Horace Howard, 1865-1930
Gray, Asa, 1810-1888
Independent (Newspaper)
Ward, William Hayes, 1835-1916

Administrative Information

Repository: Special Collections and University Archives

Alternate Extent Statement: 1 Hollinger Document Case

Access Restrictions: Open to researchers without restrictions.

Use Restrictions: Before publishing quotations or excerpts from any materials, permission must be obtained from Special Collections and University Archives, and the holder of the copyright, if not Old Dominion University Libraries.

Acquisition Source: Unknown provenance

Acquisition Method: Some of the papers were discovered in the 1980s among a collection of rare books owned by the Old Dominion University library which had been purchased from a New York City bookstore.

Related Materials:

Editorial Correspondence of the Independent

The Independent is available through Proquest (ODU only patrons).

Physical copies of the Independent may be available from the College of William and Mary Swem Library.

Preferred Citation: [Identification of item], Box [insert number], Folder [insert number and title], Collection of The Independent Correspondence and Other Materials, Special Collections and University Archives, Patricia W. and J. Douglas Perry Library, Old Dominion University Libraries, Norfolk, VA 23529.


Box and Folder Listing


Browse by Series:

[Series I: Editorial Correspondence of The Independent, 1866-1917],
[Series II: Literary Authors and Papers on American Theater., 1896-1913.],
[Series III: Historical Manuscripts and Documents., 1680-1795.],
[Series IV: Miscellaneous Literary and Political Correspondence, 1930-1936.],
[Series V: William and Mary Norfolk Campus library correspondence., 1958-1960.],
[All]

Series I: Editorial Correspondence of The Independent, 1866-1917

Editorial Correspondence of The Independent includes letters to the editors. Arrangement is the original order of letters found in a scrapbook, which the creator organized roughly by subject.

This series has been scanned and can be found in the Old Dominion University Libraries Digital Collections.

Box 1
Folder 1: Scrapbook, Page 1., 1866.
Item 1: From Bayard Taylor to My Dear Sir., July 18, 1866.
Folder 2: Scrapbook, Page 2., 1880-1881.
Item 1: Seal of North American Construction Company Puerto Cabella.
Item 2: From J. T. Trowbridge to W. H. Ward., December 15, 1880.
Item 3: From J. T. Trowbridge to W. H. Ward., January 5, 1881.
Item 4: From General Charles Frémont to Mr. Bowen (Henry Chandler Bowen)., Oct. 31, 1880.
Folder 3: Scrapbook, Page 3., 1880.
Item 1: Signature of Charles Sumner.
Item 2: Business card. United States Coast Survey Office, Capt. of Eng'rs, As't in Charge.
Item 3: Signature of U. S. President J. A. Garfield.
Item 4: Signature of Louis Kingsley, Lieutenant and Executive Officer.
Item 5: From Henry M. Hoyt to Henry C. Bowen., November 19, 1880.
Item 6: From E. C. Stedman to W. H. Ward., June 29, 1880.
Folder 4: Scrapbook, Page 4., 1880.
Item 1: To "Dear Sir" from S. Newcomb (Simon Newcomb)., Nov. 23, 1880.
Item 2: To "Gentlemen" from Lewis Swift., September 28, 1880.
Folder 5: Scrapbook, Page 5., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from James McCosh., No date.
Item 2: To William H. Ward from James H. Fairchild., November 15, 1880.
Folder 6: Scrapbook, Page 6., 1880-1881.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Leonard Bacon., Jan. 13, 1881.
Item 2: To "My Dear Sir" from J. W. Nicer., June 20, 1880.
Folder 7: Scrapbook, Page 7., 1880-1881.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Justin McCarthy., January 15, 1881.
Item 2: To Editor of The Independent from Epes Sargent., November 24, 1880.
Folder 8: Scrapbook, Page 8., 1880-1881.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Timothy Dwight., July 27, 1881.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from W. D. Whitney., November 26, 1880.
Folder 9: Scrapbook, Page 9., 1880.
Item 1: To Henry C. Bowen from Charles W. Eliot., November 17, 1880.
Item 2: To Henry C. Bowen from Horace Maynard., December 9, 1880.
Folder 10: Scrapbook, Page 10., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Joseph Cook., November 8, 1880.
Item 2: To Editor of The Independent from P. T. Barnum., July 17, 1880.
Folder 11: Scrapbook, Page 11., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Asa Gray., February 1, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from Asa Gray., August 2, 1880.
Item 3: To Editor of The Independent from Asa Gray., August 4, 1880.
Item 4: To W. H. Ward from Asa Gray., September 2, 1880.
Item 5: To Henry C. Bowen from Alexander H. Stephens., November 21, 1880.
Folder 12: Scrapbook, Page 12., 1880.
Item 1: To My Dear Friends from Stephen [last name illegible]., February 26, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from T. De Witt Talmage., No date.
Folder 13: Scrapbook, Page 13., 1879-1880.
Item 1: To William H. Ward from Harriet P. Spofford., November 5, 1880.
Item 2: To Editor of the Independent from James Freeman Clarke., November 6, 1879.
Folder 14: Scrapbook, Page 14., 1879-1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Howard Crosby., February 23, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from R. S. Storrs., Oct. 15, 1879.
Item 3: To W. H. Ward from R. S. Storrs., December 16, [no year].
Folder 15: Scrapbook, Page 15., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from Joseph Cook., August 24, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from [unreadable]., Feb. 22, 1880.
Folder 16: Scrapbook, Page 16., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from H. E. Scudder., March 22, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from H. E. Scudder., Sept. 6, 1880.
Item 3: To Sir from [unreadable]., Dec. 7, 1880.
Folder 17: Scrapbook, Page 17., 1880.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from John Sherman., June 24, 1880.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from John Sherman., June 15, 1880.
Folder 18: Scrapbook, Page 18., 1880.
Item 1: Envelope addressed to Dr. S. B. Ward from Grover Cleveland., No date.
Item 2: Scrap with signature of U. S. Grant, U. S. President., No date.
Item 3: To Dr. Ward from Mary Clemmer., Nov. 9, 1880.
Folder 19: Scrapbook, Page 19., 1880.
Item 1: To Editor Independent from Abby Morton Diaz., June 25, [no year].
Item 2: To Dr. W. H. Ward from Rose Terry Cooke., July 26, 1880.
Folder 20: Scrapbook, Page 20., 1881.
Item 1: To Dr. Ward from Grace Greenwood (Mrs. Lippincott)., Jan. 22, 1881.
Item 2: To William Hayes Ward from Harriet P. Spofford., June 17, [no year].
Item 3: Manuscript of a poem entitled "Faithful." [In pencil identified as by Rose Terry Cooke.], No date.
Folder 22: Scrapbook, Page 22., 1880.
Item 1: To Henry C. Bowen from Benjamin F. Butler., Nov. 19, 1880.
Folder 23: Loose items not in scrapbook., 1879-1917.
Item 1: To W. H. Ward from S. E. Wallace., Nov. 21, 1879.
Item 2: To W. H. Ward from Helen Hunt Jackson., No date.
Item 3: To The editor of The Independent from Rose Hawthorne Lathrop., November, 1880.
Item 4: From W. H. Ward to Miss Jeffries., January 24, 1881.
Item 5: To Sir from Sidney Lanier., July 19, 1880.
Item 6: To My Dear Solomon from Herbert B. Tree., Feb. 7, 1917.
Item 7: To Editor Independent from Wendell Phillips., No date.
Item 8: To W. H. Ward from Edward S. Hale., June 22, 1880.
Item 9: To My dear Dr. from J. W. Miller (Cincinnatus Hiner)., Feb. 3, 1881.
Item 10: From P. T. Barnum to Editor of the Independent., July 13, 1880.
Folder 24: Loose items not in scrapbook., 1879-1881.
Item 1: Index of names., No date.
Item 2: Note with name and address of Mrs. D. H. Cole. Note indicating contents are from the estate of the Misses Elmira and Mayrea Noyes., No date.
Item 3: Note with name and address of Mrs. D. H. Cole., No date.
Item 4: To William Hayes Ward from Lucy Stone., June 2, 1880.
Item 5: Manuscript entitled A Thanksgiving,a poem. By Rose Terry Cooke., No date.
Item 6: To Dr. from K. Sautorn [?]., No Date.
Item 7: Manuscript entitled Unanswered, a poem. By Louise Chandler Moulton., No date.
Item 8: To Dear Friend from A. C. Coxe [?]., Jan. 15, [no year].
Item 9: To William Hayes Ward from Josiah Quincy., August 23, 1880.
Item 10: To William Hayes Ward from Dudley Buck., October 22, 1880.
Item 11: To Dear Sir from Josiah Quincy., January 8, 1881.
Item 12: To My Dear Rev. from [unreadable]., October 19, 1880.
Item 13: From William Hayes Ward to Mrs. Jeffries., August 6, 1880.
Item 14: From William Hayes Ward to Miss Jeffries., November 10, 1880.
Item 15: From William Hayes Ward to unknown., No date.
Item 16: To William Hayes Ward from [unreadable]., June 10, 1880.
Item 17: To William Hayes Ward from Sarah Woolsey., January 4, 1881.
Item 18: To William Hayes Ward from T. D. Crosby., July 12, 1880.
Item 19: Manuscript of George Eliot, a poem. By Elizabeth Stuart Phelps., January 26, 1881.
Item 20: Manuscript of Sanford R. Gifford,”a poem. By R. H. Stoddard., No date.
Item 21: Signature of E. Simpson, Commodore, United States Navy., No date.
Item 22: Signature of Th. Wilson, Senator from Massachusetts., No date.
Item 23: To Doctor [W. H. Ward] from James Redpath., April 6, 1880.
Item 24: To Henry C. Bowen from Hon. Francis Kernum., November 18, 1880.
Item 25: To My Dear Sir from George F. Hoar., June 30, 1880.
Item 26: To William Hayes Ward from George F. Edmund., June 21, 1880.
Item 27: To William Hayes Ward from George Hepworth., No date.
Item 28: To William Hayes Ward from Ray Palmer., November 13, [no year].
Item 29: To William Hayes Ward from Mary Clemmer., August 24, 1880.
Item 30: To Henry C. Bowen from Hon. Charles W. Jones., November 18, 1880.
Item 31: To William Hayes Ward from N. Porter (Noah)., April [7], 1880.
Item 32: To William Hayes Ward from H. C. Owen., July 23, 1880.
Item 33: To Mr. Bowen from S. B. Chittenden., November 17, 1880.
Item 34: To William Hayesn Ward from T. S. Cuyler., January 22, 1881.
Item 35: To William Hayes Ward from F. S. P. Barnard., August 23, 1880.
Item 36: To Dear Sir from R. S. Storrs., December 21, [no year].
Item 37: To William Hayes Ward from Edward Kimball., May 21, 1880.
Item 38: To William Hayes Ward from James Redpath., June 16, 1880.
Item 39: To William Hayes Ward from Neal Dow., November 17, 1880.
Item 40: To William Hayes Ward from James Redpath., February 5, 1880.
Item 41: To William Hayes Ward from Sarah Woolsey., March 22, 1880.
Item 42: To William Hayes Ward from Helen Hunt Jackson., April 19, [no year].
Item 43: Manuscript for The Yellow Crocus, a poem. By Helen Hunt Jackson., April 22, 1880.
Item 44: To Henry C. Bowen from H. B. Anthony., November 23, 1880.
Item 45: To William Hayes Ward from Elizabeth Cady Stanton., May 4, [no year].
Item 46: To William Hayes Ward from Elizabeth Cady Stanton., August 23, [no year].
Item 47: To William Hayes Ward from Celia Thaxter., July 7, 1880.
Item 48: To William Hayes Ward from Elizabeth Cady Stanton., September 20, [no year].
Item 49: To William Hayes Ward from Harriet Waters Preston., December 7, 1880.
Item 50: To William Hayes Ward from David Swing., October 14, 1880.
Item 51: Manuscript. Opinion of David Swing regarding ex-presidents becoming senators for life., No date.
Item 52: To William Hayes Ward from Louise Chandler Moulton., March 3, 1880.
Item 53: To William Hayes Ward from A. [?] Coxe., August 19, 1880.
Item 54: To William Hayes Ward from S. C. Bartlett [Samuel C. Bartlett]., July 8, 1880.
Item 55: To Editor of Independent from G. G. Vest., November 27, 1880.
Item 56: To William Hayes Ward from Henry Van Dyke., January 21, 1881.
Item 57: To Henry C. Bowen from William S. Wallace., November 17, 1880.

Browse by Series:

[Series I: Editorial Correspondence of The Independent, 1866-1917],
[Series II: Literary Authors and Papers on American Theater., 1896-1913.],
[Series III: Historical Manuscripts and Documents., 1680-1795.],
[Series IV: Miscellaneous Literary and Political Correspondence, 1930-1936.],
[Series V: William and Mary Norfolk Campus library correspondence., 1958-1960.],
[All]

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