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A-21

Evans, Elizabeth Glendower, 1856-1937. Papers, 1859-1944 (inclusive), 1882-1944 (bulk): A Finding Aid

Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America

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Radcliffe College
July 1999

© 1999 Radcliffe College

REQUEST AS:

Call No.: A-21
Note: CLOSED. USE MICROFILM. REQUEST AS: M-84, M-59
Repository: Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute
Creator: ELIZABETH GLENDOWER (GARDINER) EVANS, 1856-1937
Title: Papers, 1859 (1882-1944)
Quantity: 3 cartons, 1 file box* 11 reels of microfilm (M-84), and (M-59), reel 970, no. M103 *Quantity before microfilming; some materials discarded after microfilming.

Processing Information:

Reprocessed: July 1982
By: Bert Hartry

Acquisition Information:

Accession numbers: 54-2, 55-76
The papers of Elizabeth Glendower Evans, a prominent social reformer, were given to the Schlesinger Library by her friend, Marion Frankfurter, in 1954 and 1955. The papers were reprocessed and microfilmed under a grant from the George F. and Sybil H. Fuller Foundation, Worcester, Massachusetts.

TERMS OF USE :

Access. Unrestricted.

Use Restrictions:

Copyright. Copyright is held by Radcliffe College for the Schlesinger Library.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

BIOGRAPHY

Elizabeth Glendower Evans (February 28, 1856 - December 12, 1937), was born Elizabeth Gardiner in New Rochelle, New York, the fourth of five children of Edward and Sophia Harrison (Mifflin) Gardiner. EGE's father died when she was three years old and, as she writes in her "Memoir," "We were imported to Boston by my father's father, William Howard Gardiner, where we grew up as poor relations of a very aristocratic family." After two years in Brookline Mrs. Gardiner moved her family into Boston. EGE attended private schools; in her teens, "Going to church became my one interest." She attended Trinity Church, where she was inspired by the teachings of Phillips Brooks. EGE taught Sunday school and planned to become a missionary until, in 1877, she met Glendower Evans, then a student at Harvard College and a close friend of William James. They were married in 1882, after GE had finished Harvard Law School and entered a Boston law firm.
Their marriage was brief because GE died suddenly in 1886. During these four years, according to EGE's "Memoir," the "doors were always open to the friends he made. In those days I don't think I ever talked at all. I used to sit by the fire and listen and listen...." The friends she listened to included Louis Brandeis and William James, but it was her husband who had the greatest influence on EGE. From their first meeting he encouraged her to read more widely; literature, politics, social issues, and public service were the major topics of his letters and their discussions. After GE's death EGE added his name to hers and, as the following chronology shows, dedicated her life to studying social conditions and helping others.

Chronology

EGE was extremely generous with the money she inherited, often sacrificing her own needs to help both individuals and the causes she supported. She died in 1937 at the age of 81 in Brookline, Massachusetts.
More biographical material is available in this collection (see Series I for EGE's "Memoir," diaries, articles, and tributes by others). See also the article in Notable American Women (Cambridge, Mass., 1971), which includes a list of additional sources. In the Jessie Donaldson Hodder papers (A-23) at the Schlesinger Library there are ten folders of EGE material, including correspondence and a diary. There is EGE correspondence in the La Follette Family collection in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection contains EGE's "Memoirs," diaries, correspondence, writings, speeches, notes, photographs of her and others, and clippings by and about her and by and about other people and subjects. The correspondence series contains more than 2,000 letters to EGE, the largest number from the families of Alice and Louis D. Brandeis, Alice and William James, Jessie D. Hodder, Katherine Bruce Glasier, and from Dickinson Sergeant Miller and the children of Belle and Robert La Follette. Most letters by EGE are carbon copies she retained. The previous arrangement of A-21 included a folder called "Precious Letters." The letters had been marked "precious" by EGE. Because there were many other letters marked "precious" throughout the collection, in the present arrangement they have been placed in the most appropriate folders.
The papers provide information about the Gardiner family and EGE's childhood; Glendower Evans; her travels; her many friends and colleagues; her interest in philosophy, current events and socialism; her friendships with Sacco and Vanzetti; and most of the social work and reform activities listed in the above chronology. EGE corresponded with both Sacco and Vanzetti during the seven years they spent in prison, but none of these letters are found in this collection. Some were published in The Letters of Sacco and Vanzetti, edited by Marion D. Frankfurter and Gardener Jackson (New York, 1928).
The collection is arranged in four series:
Series I, Personal and biographical (#1-25), includes the "Memoirs," diaries, photographs, miscellaneous personal papers, files on special occasions, and articles about EGE. The correspondence in the special occasions section is arranged alphabetically, with EGE's, reply, if any, immediately following the individual's letter.
Series II, Correspondence (#26-140), is arranged alphabetically; each correspondent (person or organization) is listed in the Inventory. Multiple letters from one source are in chronological order. Includes letters to and/or from, and in a few cases about the correspondent named. Only the number of letters, postcards and telegrams from named person/organization is indicated in parentheses. EGE letters are scattered throughout. Researchers should see the Inventory for further explanation and refer to the Index of Correspondents, as there is correspondence in all four series.
The Writings (#141-192) in Series III by EGE are arranged in five categories: general, letters to the editor, speeches, book reviews, and biographical articles. The biographical articles are in alphabetical order; the others are chronological within each category. Many printed articles in this and other series that were in poor condition or were already available on microfilm were discarded after microfilming.
Series IV, Subject file (#193-199), is arranged chronologically.

MICROFILM OF COLLECTION

REEL GUIDE:
For a list of the contents of A-21, see the inventory that follows. First set of numbers are folder numbers, followed by the reel number. When requesting microfilm material, please use the microfilm number and the reel number.

INVENTORY

Additional catalog entries:

The following catalog entries represent persons, organizations, and topics dootherlevelented in this collection. An entry for each appears in the Harvard On Line Library Information System (HOLLIS) and other automated bibliographic databases. THIS IS NOT AN INDEX. See Index of Selected Correspondents which follows.
Authors
Addams, Jane, 1860-1935
Alice Stone Blackwell Fund
American Civil Liberties Union
Atlantic Monthly
Baker, Ray Stannard, 1870-1946
Balch, Emily Greene, 1867-1961
Baldwin, Roger Nash, 1884-1981
Bates, Sanford, 1884-1972
Beard, Mary (Ritter), 1876-1958
Blackwell, Alice Stone, 1857-1950
Boeckel, Florence (Brewer), 1885-
Bondfield, Margaret Grace, 1873-
Brandeis, Alice (Goldmark), -1945
Brandeis, Louis Dembitz, 1856-1941
Brin, Alexander, 1895-
Brooks, Helen Lawrence (Appleton), 1846-1938
Brooks, John Graham, 1846-1938
Brooks, Susan M.
Brookwood Labor College
Brown, Dorothy (Kirchwey), 1888-1981
Brown, Herman LaRue, 1883-1969
Burleigh, Edith N.
Burlingham, Charles Culp, 1858-1959
Cabot, Ella (Lyman), 1866-1934
Cabot, Lucy
Cabot, Philip, 1872-1941
Cabot, Richard Clarke, 1868-1939
Cannon, Ida Maud, 1877-1960
Carey, Arthur Astor, 1857-1923
Chafee, Zechariah, Jr., 1885-1957
Civil Liberties Committee of Massachusetts
Codman, Katharine Putnam (Bowditch)
Cohn, Fannia M, 1888-1962
Consumers' League of Massachusetts
Curtis, Frances Greeley, 1867-1957
Davis, Anna N.
Deland, Lorin Fuller
Deland, Margaret Wade (Campbell), 1857-1945
Dewson, Mary William, 1874-1962
Dreyfus, Carl, 1876-1953
Dudley, Helena Stuart, 1858-1932
Ehrmann, Sara (Rosenfeld), 1895-
Elliot, Mary
Elmore, Jane
Ely, Joseph Buell, 1881-1956
Felicani, Aldino, -1967
Filene, Edward A., 1860-1937
Forbes, Rose Dabney, 1865-1947
Ford Hall Forum
Fosdick, Frederick W.
Frankfurter, Felix, 1882-1965
Franfurter, Marion (Denman), -1975
Gardiner family
Gardiner, J. Pennington
Gardiner, Robert Hallowell
Gilbert, Susan (Brandeis), 1893-1975
Glasier, Katherine Bruce
Goldmark, Josephine, 1977-1950
Goldmark, Susan, -1941
Grady, Alice, 1873-1934
Greene, Rosalind (Huidekoper), 1885-1975
Hale, Richard Walden, 1871-1943
Hamilton, Alice, 1869-1970
Hill, Arthur Dehon, 1869-1947
Hodder, Jessie (Donaldson), 1870-1931
Holcombe, Arthur Norman, 1884-
Holmes, John Haynes, 1879-1964
Holmes, Oliver Wendall, 1841-1935
Holt, Florence (Taber)
Huntington, Catherine Sargent, 1889-
Industrial Aid Society
James, Alice Howe (Gibbens)
James, Henry, 1879-1947
James, William, 1842-1910
Kelley, Nicholas, 1885-1965
Kellog, Paul Underwood, 1879-1950
Kittredge, Mabel Hyde 1867-1955
La Follette, Belle, 1859-1931
La Follette, Fola, 1882-1970
La Follette, Philip, 1897-1965
La Follette, Robert M., Jr., 1895-1953
Lee, Jennie, 1904-
Lee, Joseph, 1862-1937
Lee, Margaret (Cabot), 1866-1920
Livingstone, Alice
Lowell, Josephine Shaw, 1843-1905
Lurie, Reuben L.
Luscomb, Florence Hope, 1887-
Lyman, Arthur T., 1894-
Lyman, Susan Channing (Cabot)
MacDonald, James Ramsay, 1866-1937
McNulty, William J.
Massachusetts Cotton Mills
Massachusetts Department of Correction
Massachusetts Department of Mental Diseases
Mead, Lucia Ames, 1856-1936
Miller, Dickinson Sergeant, 1868-1963
Moors, Ethel
Morse, Francis Rollins, 1850-1928
Murray, Lady Mary, -1956
Mussey, Henry Raymond, 1875-1940
Muste, Abraham John, 1885-1967
Niles, David K., 1892-1952
O'Sullivan, Mary (Kenney), 1864-1945
Peabody, Francis Greenwood, 1847-1936
Porter, Margaret ("Peggy")
Putnam, Elizabeth (Cabot), 1836-1922
Putnam Family
Raushenbush, Elizabeth (Brandeis), 1896-
Riply, William Zebina, 1867-1941
Roehrer, Joseph
Roosevelt, Franklin Delano, 1882-1945
Saval, Anna (Bloom)
Sayre, Francis Bowes, 1885-1972
Sayre, Jessie (Wilson), -1933
Schlesinger, Arthur Meier, 1888-1965
Schlesinger, Elizabeth (Bancroft), 1886-1977
Scudder, Vida Dutton, 1861-1954
Simpson, Rose
Springfield Republican
Stantial, Edna (Lamprey)
Storrow, Helen (Osborne), 1864-1944
Thomas, Norman, 1884-1968
Thomson, William Goodrich, 1864-1935
Toynbee, Rosalind
Unwin Family
Van Waters, Miriam, 1887-1974
Villard, Oswald Garrison, 1872-1949
Voluntary Defenders Committeee
Wald, Lillian D., 1867-1940
Walsh, David Ignatius, 1872-1947
Webb, Beatrice Potter, 1858-1943
Wehle, Louis Brandeis,1880-1959
Whitman, Sarah Wyman, -1904
Wilson, Woodrow, 1856-1924
Winslow, Gertrude
Winter, Ella, 1898-
World Center For Women's Archive, Inc.
Subjects
Almy, Helen Jackson (Cabot), 1856-1938
Almalgamated Textile Workers of America
Capital punishment
Cero, Gangi
Child labor--Law and legislation
Community Church, Boston
Europe--Description and travel
European War, 1914-18
Family--19th century
Friendship
Germany--Politics and govenment--20th century
Jackson, James, 1777-1867
Jackson, Patrick Tracy, 1780-1847
Kelley, Florence, 1859-1932
Liberty of speech
Long, Cedric
Massachusetts State Reform Schools
Old age pensions
Peace
Perkins, Frances, 1880-1965
Physician and patient
Philosophy
Putnam, Charles P -1914
Racism
Rogers Annete P., ca.1845-ca.1920
Rotzel, Harold L.
Sacco, Nicola, 1891-1927
Skinner, Clarence Russell, 1881-1949
Slade, Madeleine ("Mirabai"), 1892-
Social reformers
Socialism
Socialism in Great Britain
Spiritualism
Suffrage
Trade unions
U.S.--Politics and government--19th century
U.S.--Politics and government--20th century
Vanzetti, Bartolomeo, 1888-1927
Washburn, Charles G.
Wilkenson, Perle Rous

INDEX OF SELECTED CORRESPONDENTS

SEPARATION RECORD

Donors: Marion Frankfurter
Accession numbers: 54-2, 55-76
Processed by: Bert Hartry
The following items have been removed from the collection:
Item(s) Disposition
Associated Charities of Boston. Laws Applying to Tenements in the City of Boston, 1889; Boston. Report on Public Institutions, 1875. (City doc. no. 106) ; Boston. Commission on the Treatment of the Poor, Report, 1878. (Doc. 36) ; Boston. Special Commission ... to Inspect the Public Institutions of Boston. Final Report, 1982. (Doc. 122) ; Boston. Board of Visitors to the Public Institutions, Report, 1894. (Doc. 94) ; Evans, E.G. "The Parable of Panama," The Socialist Review v.12, no. 70, pp. 224-234.; Evans, Elizabeth. Social Aspects of the Public Regulation of Wages. (Reprint from the Proceedings of the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Economic Assoc., pp. 270-277; Fairchild, Charles S. Reasons Why the State Charities Aid Association Favors the Bill Introduced into the Assembly...; Gilman, Daniel C. A Panorama of Charitable Work in Many Lands; Being a Review of the Papers Submitted to the Int'l Congress in Chicago, June, 1893. Charitable Organization Society of Baltimore City, no. 31 Feb. 1894; Haynes, George H. the Life of Charles G. Washburn. Boston, 1931, 2v ; James, William. Letters, ed. by his Son Henry James. Boston, 1920, 2v; Lee, Joseph, et. al. Remarks on a Misleading Dootherlevelent Published by the State Board of Charities and Lunacy. n.d.; Leonard, Clara T. The Best Way to Deal With Children Taken From Homes of Vice and Neglect. (Substance of an address made to the Associated Charities of Boston, Feb. 14, 1881); Lowell, Mrs. C.R. Charities of New York City. (An Appended paper from 13th Annual Report of the Board of Charities of the State of New York, Feb. 15, 1880); Lowell, Josephine S. A Paper by Mrs. C.R. Lowell Read Before the New York State Association of Teachers, 1880; Massachusetts. Suggestions ... Removal of the State Reform School in Westboro. (Signed by E.C. Putnam and A.B. Richardson) Boston, 1882. Massachusetts. Trustees of state primary and reform schools. Annual Reports, 1879-84, 1892, 1895; Massachusetts. Trustees of the Lyman School. Trustees' Report, 1897. Instructors' Report, 1903, 1904, 1906; Massachusetts. Trustees of Massachusetts Training Schools. Report, 1913; New York. State Board of Charities. Report on the Public Charities of New York City, 1886. (Signed by Josephine Shaw Lowell); New York. State Board of Charities. Report on the Standing Committee on Outdoor Relief. Transmitted to the Legislature with the 17th Annual Report, Jan. 24th, 1884. (State Charities Aid Association, no. 3); Putnam, Elizabeth G. Auxiliary Visitors: Volunteer Visiting of State Wards in Connection With Official Work, 1884 (Reprinted from Proceedings of the 11th Annual Meeting of the National Conference of Charities);All transferred to the SL Book Division, 1955
Marston Green Cottage Homes, fourteenth annual report, 1893-94. (1 copy)City of Birmingham Public Libraries Department, Reference Library, June 1985

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