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Descriptive Summary

Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Note: ORIGINALS CLOSED. USE MICROFILM. REQUEST AS: M-133.
Call No.: A-24/M-133
Creator: JULIA (WARD) HOWE, 1819-1910
Title: Papers,1857-1961
Quantity: .75 linear foot, 1/2 file box, 1 folio box

Processing Information:

Acquisition Information:

TERMS OF USE:

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BIOGRAPHY

Julia (Ward) Howe, perhaps best known as the author of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," was also active in and widely respected for her leadership in a variety of fields; in her later life she was hailed as the "Grand Old Woman of America." Born in New York City, JWH was tutored at home, attended day school, and was an avid student. In 1843 the married Samuel Gridley Howe, director of the Perkins Institution for the Blind, Boston. SGH did not approve of married women's involvement in public life; JWH therefore spent the next two decades bringing up six children and studying, reading, and writing. Some of her poetry was published anonymously and a play, Leonora, or the World's Own, was produced in New York (1856).

In the autumn of 1861 JWH and SGH were in Washington, D.C., which was filled with recruits preparing for war. At the suggestion of her good friend and minister, James Freeman Clarke, JWH wrote new words to the soldiers' favorite march, "John Brown's Body." The poem was published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862and soon the "Battle Hymn of the Republic" was the most popular song in the North.

After the Civil War, JWH became active in women's causes. She helped found the New England Woman Suffrage Association (1868) and in 1869 became a leader, along with Lucy Stone, of the American Woman Suffrage Association; she served as president of the Massachusetts (1870-78, 1891-93) and the New England (1868-77, 1893-1910) associations, and was one of the founders of the Woman's Journal. JWH was also extremely active in the women's club movement; she was a founder (1868) and president of the New England Women's Club and of the Association for the Advancement of Women (founded 1873), a convenor of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (1890), and first president of its Massachusetts chapter.

An effective speaker, JWH was invited to lecture and preach all over the United States. Many of her lectures were published. She also published numerous poems and articles, was a frequent contributor to the Woman's Journal, edited Sex and Education (1874), and published two books: Memoir of Samuel Gridley Howe (1876) and Life of Margaret Fuller (1883). She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1908). She died of pneumonia in 1910.

For additional biographical information see the articles in Notable American Women, 1607-1950 (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), and Dictionary of American Biography (New York, 1932), which include lists of additional sources.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection contains correspondence, photographs,memorials, nine scrapbooks, and writings, including reminiscences, speeches, and travel letters. The scrapbooks contain mainly clippings, articles about JWH, her husband, and family; articles, poems, amd lectures by JWH; poems and stories by three daughters; many articles about the "Battle Hymn of the Republic;" and some correspondence.

The papers provide information mainly about JWH and her family, the woman suffrage struggle, the women's club movement, the Association for the Advancement of Women, and the New Orleans World Exposition (1884-1885).

The collection is arranged in the following groups: letters by JWH, letters to JWH, material concerning the New Orleans Exposition, JWH speeches and writings, memorials, miscellaneous, and scrapbooks. Within each group the arrangement is chronological. The scrapbooks were not kept in chronological order and their dates therefore overlap; many of the clippings are not identified as to source or date.

There is related material at the Schlesinger Library. See Julia Ward Howe Family Papers, 1787-1984 (MC 272) and Howe family Additional papers, 1758-1984 (MC 730).

Additional catalog entries

Other Descriptive Data

MICROFILM OF COLLECTION

• Several years before the Julia Ward Howe papers were filmed as part of a UPA/SL project, the scrapbooks were microfilmed under a grant from The George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation because they were frequently requested by researchers and because both the volumes and the material they contain were in fragile condition. Some or all of the following conditions apply to each scrapbook.
• 1. For a description of each volume see inventory.
• 2. The scrapbooks were not kept in any particular order (chronological or other), either among or within themselves.
• 3. In some scrapbooks, pages had been numbered in an upper corner, but many numbers were missing because the brittle paper had crumbled. The processor filled in missing numbers and numbered the pages of the remaining volumes. The numbers are in square brackets and were added to aid the microfilmer, the proofreader and the researcher. Blank pages were not numbered.
• 4. Many items, particularly ones at the edge of a page, are incomplete due to the brittle state of both the paper and the clippings.
• 5. Some items were not microfilmed in their entirety, but only the page(s) by or about JWH, and the title page where necessary to establish name and date of publication.
• 6. In some cases clippings overlap only slightly and were glued down and/or extremely fragile; it was thus impossible to fold back the top item and film the one underneath.
• 7. The two photographs in the scrapbooks have been microfilmed with the Library's photograph collection; the film is available at the Schlesinger Library. They were refilmed as part of this project, but, because they are on the photograph film, the film and focusing techniques used are those suitable for text rather than photographs.
• 8. Loose items found inserted between pages are marked accordingly.
• 9. In some instances extra items were glued on or between scrapbook pages. Some are continuations of the material on the numbered page; others are unrelated items. These pages were filmed, whenever possible, in the order in which they are to be read. Where necessary to avoid confusion, items underneath were masked before filming.

INVENTORY

• 1-7: Correspondence, [1869?]-1909
  • 1-4: Letters by JWH
    • 1. ALsS: James Freeman Clarke, [1869?]; Mr. Powell, 1870; Monsieur Audebez (in French, written by?, corrected and signed by JWH), 1871; Mrs. Daggett, 1871; Mrs.Thomas, 1875
    • 2. 24 ALsS, 1 fragment, to Ednah Dow Cheney, 1876-90
    • 3. 27 ALsS to Ednah Dow Cheney, 1891-1902
    • 4. 4 ALsS: Mrs. Johnson, 1899; Mrs. Wolcott, 1899; Mrs. Bigelow, 1907; Mary Howe, 1909
  • 5. 12 ALsS to JWH from E.L. (Mrs. Charles) Homans, 1895-98, n.d.
  • 6-7: Re: New Orleans World Exposition, 1883-85. See also #11.
  • 6. 6 ALsS to JWH: Edward Atkinson, 1883; Julia Holmes Smith, M.D., 1884; Mrs. John Lucsa, 1884; Henrietta L.T. Wolcott (2) [1884]; Josephine R. Nichols, 1885
  • 7. Printed JWH letter re: women journalists, 1884; includes JWH speech (ms.) 1885, JWH report (ms.), n.d.

• 8-18: Speeches and writings
  • 8-16: By JWH (ms. unless otherwise noted), 1877-1919 (scattered), n.d.
    • 8. Travel letters to Chicago Tribune, ts. copies, 1877-78
    • 9. Address (incomplete) written for National suffrage Convention, Baltimore, 1906; introduction by Florence Howe Hall.
    • 10. Two reminiscences: Harriet, Duchess of Sutherland and Madam [Dewitt] Clinton; written by Maud Howe Elliot, 1906?
    • 11. "Bits of remembrances," 1907: Alfred University; New Orleans; On women and peace
    • 12. 1909: "A Greeting to the Suffrage Meeting from JWH" (ts.), Mar. 15; "The Case for Woman Suffrage," The Outlook, Apr. 3; Re: "Mothers' Peace Day Celebration," The Peacemaker, June
    • 13. "How I wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic"; also article by Maud Howe Elliott, Ladies' Home Journal, May 1919.
    • 14. Anti-slavery speech, (pp. 6-7 missing), n.d.
    • 15. Address to Civic League, Newport, R.I.,, n.d.
    • 16. "Flesh and Spirit (Women)," n.d.
  • 17-18v: By others
  • 17. About JWH: "Julia Ward Howe," Blanche Elliott, The Hesperian, April-June 1900; "Woman and War: Julia Ward Howe's Peace Crusade," Edwin D. Mead, Oct. 1914; Excerpt from letter of Rosalind Richards to E.B. Borden, Women's Archives, ts. copy, Jan. 22, 1959; "Julia Ward Howe", Ellen M. Mitchell, n.d.
  • 18v. Julia Ward Howe, Poet, Priestess, Prophet, May 27, 1819-1899. "To Mrs. Julia Ward Howe on her Eightieth Birthday, with the faithful devotion of Lilian Whiting."

• 19. Memorials:Program, Memorial Exercises in Honor of JWH, Symphony Hall, Boston, Jan. 8, 1911, also clipping; TLS to Major H[enry] L. Higginson from Joe Mitchell Chapple (The Howe Memorial Association), re: Boston park in honor of JWH and Samuel Gridley Howe, June 16, 1916; Program, "Commemoration Ceremony Honoring JWH and the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Battle Hymn of the Republic," Washington, D.C., Nov. 18, 1961; Re: 3 drawings of JWH (clipping), n.d.

• 20. Miscellaneous: Article, "Maud Howe," The Book Buyer, July 1889;1893: New Year's card from Frances E. Willard; JWH lecture notice; By-Laws, Women's Rest Tour association; Two mechanical engravings: JWH, Maud Howe, n.d.; Three halftones; JWH (2), Henry M. Howe (1), n.d.

• 21v-30vf: Scrapbooks, 1857-1941. Mainly clippings: about JWH; poems, articles, and lectures by JWH and others (including her daughters); also about prominent people, suffrage, women's clubs, conventions, etc. Some items other than clippings are liste below.
  • 21v. 1857-98; 5 ALsS to JWH, 1888-90, n.d.; "The Royal Guest," ms. JWH poem, n.d.; Hand drawn map of Greece, Samuel Prescott Hall (grandson), n.d.; Programs: "An Evening with Authors and Composers," 1890, "Authors Day", 1892
  • 22v. 1867-92, ms. itinerary, n.d.
  • 23v. 1869, 1894, 1903-41: Facsimile of a JWH ALS to Miss Florence M. Brooks, ca. 1909; Corrected typescript of JWH biography, n.d.; Unsigned AL to "My dear Mr. Roosevelt," re: "Battle Hymn of the Republic," n.d.
  • 24. 1887-1940 (scattered); Loose material removed from 23v; Invitation to Maud Howe's wedding, 1887 JWH 70th birthday tributes, 1889 Correspondence re: JWH portrait, 1912
  • 25v. 1881-1910: TLS to JWH from International League of Press Clubs, re: JWH article for Bohemia, 1902; Corrected proof pages of JWH's preface to a book on "...the value of simplicity," 1905
  • 26. 1886-99 (pages were removed from scrapbook): Invitation to the 70th birthday celebration of Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1879 ; JWH: ms. draft of poem, n.d.
  • 27v. 1886-87, 1896-1908: Reprint of JWH biography with extensive information about the Ward and Cutler families, n.d.
  • 28f. 1890-98 (pages were removed from scrapbook): "Divorce Laws in All the States," address by Nellie V. Mark, M.D., Association for the Advancement of Women,Nov. 1895
  • 29f. 1891-99 (pages were removed from scrapbook): The Julia Ward Howe number of The Woman's Journal, May 27, 1899
  • 30vf . 1910-11: Memorial service programs, 1910 ; Ts. copy of Theodore Roosevelt letter to Maud Howe Elliott, 1911; 2 ms. notes, re: JWH, probably written by Lillian Whiting, n.d.