Eliot, Samuel, 1821-1898. Personal and family papers, 1810-1910 - View Resource (original) (raw)

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Eliot, Samuel, 1821-1898. Personal and family papers, 1810-1910

Title

Personal and family papers, 1810-1910.

Abstract

The papers of Samuel Eliot (1821-1898) comprise an unique, multi-faceted family archive spanning the years 1810-1910. Accumulated by various members of the Otis and Eliot families of Boston, the collection consists of diaries, scrapbooks, letters, miscellaneous documents and associated printed matter. The collection clearly illustrates the background, education and activities of Samuel Eliot, Harvard class of 1839, historian and social reformer, who served as president of Trinity College, Hartford, and superintendent of Boston Public Schools. The Eliot papers are anchored by his lucid and fascinating 12 v. diary, 1839-1898, in which he records daily activities (with excursions to the South, Cuba and Europe) as well as religious and philosophical reflections. Of note are Eliot's perceptions of the slavery issue, Whig politics and the reform of education. Covered in greatest detail are the years prior to 1870. Allied to the diary are letters received, 1829-1898, which demonstrate the full range of his familial and professional ties. Many of the correspondents, including Phillips Brooks, Charles W. Eliot, Julia Ward Howe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Jared Sparks and George Ticknor were important figures of the day. The sum of the papers paints a vivid portrait of an enlightened and articulate civil servant of the Gilded Age.