Abbott Memorial collection
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Scope and Content
The collection contains correspondence, much of it within the family; biographical records on family members; the literary manuscripts of Jacob, Lyman, and Edward Abbott; diaries, journals and scrapbooks kept by or concerning family members; photographs; documents; and other records. The Literary World records consist largely of letters written by prominent Americans in tribute to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and John Greenleaf Whittier. Other prominent names also appear in the autograph collection including, among the approximately 850 British and American names therein, Booker T. Washington, Louis Agassiz, Julia Ward Howe, Dolly Madison, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Brackett Reed, John Greenleaf Whittier, and U.S. presidents James A. Garfield, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Franklin Pierce. The manuscripts are complemented by an extensive collection of published works.
Dates
- Creation: 1716 - 1928
Creator
- Abbott family (Family)
Access Restrictions
No restrictions.
Biographical/Historical Note
The papers, 1716-1928, of the Abbott family of Farmington, Maine, center on two generations: Jacob (1803-79), John S.C. (1805-77) and Gorham (1807-74) Abbott, and the brothers Hannibal (1809-62) and Cyrus (1811-1900) Hamlin; and Jacob's sons Edward (1841-1908) and Lyman (1835-1922) Abbott. Other 18th-20th century members of the family are also represented, several of them women, including Sallucia Abbott (1801-86), a school teacher.
The elder Abbotts were ministers, writers of juvenile, historical, or religious works, and educators. Jacob Abbott is best known for his series of Rollo books for boys. Hannibal Hamlin, cousin to the vice-president of the same name and a merchant and later employee of the U.S. Treasury, married an Abbott and became Lyman's father-in-law; Cyrus Hamlin was the missionary president of Roberts College in Constantinople. The younger Abbotts were both clergymen and were the editors of the Literary World and the Christian Union or Outlook respectively.
Extent
26.5 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The collection contains correspondence, much of it within the Abbott family; biographical records on family members; the literary manuscripts of Jacob, Lyman, and Edward Abbott; diaries, journals and scrapbooks kept by or concerning family members; photographs; documents; and other records.
Subject
- Abbott, Edward, 1841-1908 (Person)
- Abbott, Gorham D., 1807-1874 (Person)
- Abbott, Jacob, 1803-1879 (Person)
- Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot), 1805-1877 (Person)
- Abbott, Lyman, 1835-1922 (Person)
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882 (Person)
- Hamlin, Cyrus, 1811-1900 (Person)
- Hamlin, Hannibal (Person)
- Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882 (Person)
- Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891 (Person)
- Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892 (Person)
- Abbott family -- Archives. (Family)
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Authors, American -- 19th century
- Authors, American -- Maine
- Autographs -- Collectors and collecting
- Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction
- Children's literature
- Families -- Maine -- Farmington
- Literature -- History and criticism -- Periodicals
- Sermons, American -- 19th century
Uniform Title
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine 04011 Repository