Rufus W. Griswold Papers, 1834-1857 | Boston Public Library Archival and Manuscript Finding Aid Database

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Collection Overview

Title: Rufus W. Griswold Papers, 1834-1857

Collection Identifier: MS Gris.

Primary Creator: Griswold, Rufus, W., 1815-1857

Extent: 1285.0 Items

Arrangement: Arranged alphabetically.

Date Acquired: 00/00/1900

Subjects: American Literature — 19th Century — History and Criticism, Authors, American — 19th Century — Correspondence, Authors and publishers -- Correspondence, Carey, Alice, 1820-1871, Fields, James Thomas, 1817-1881, Graham's Magazine, Griswold, Rufus, 1815-1897, Hoffman, Charles Fenno, 1806-1884, Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849., Poets, American — 19th Century — Correspondence, Poets and Poetry of America, Tucker, Beverley, 1784-1851, Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

Languages: English

Abstract

This collection contains the letters of Rufus Griswold (1815-1857), editor of Graham’s Magazine and publisher of American literature and poetry in the mid 19^th century. The letters document his relationships – both professional and personal – with his contemporaries. Most notable is the correspondence between Griswold and Edgar Allan Poe.

Scope and Contents of the Materials

This collection contains the near entirety of Rufus Griswold’s correspondence between the years 1834 and 1857. In particular, it reflects his business dealings as editor of Graham’s Magazine, and publisher of The Poets and Poetry of America. Correspondence is primarily letters to Griswold from poets, authors, and other editors regarding publications and reviews.

The majority of the letters are related to either Graham’s Magazine or The Poets of America and include requests for publication or critical review. While the correspondence is business in nature, the letters also discuss the personal lives of such people as Rufus Griswold, Edgar Allen Poe, Elizabeth Ellet, and Frances Sargent Osgood.

Griswold’s publication, The Poets and Poetry of America, was the first anthology of American poetry and was published in 1842. From this publication stemmed others that are mentioned in the letters, among them The Female Poets of America, Prose Writers of America, Poets and Poetry of England.

Many of the letters in the collection have been printed in Passages from the Correspondence and Other Papers of Rufus W. Griswold, published by W. M. Griswold at Cambridge in 1898, and The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe, New York, 1902.

Subject/Index Terms

American Literature — 19th Century — History and Criticism
Authors, American — 19th Century — Correspondence
Authors and publishers -- Correspondence
Carey, Alice, 1820-1871
Fields, James Thomas, 1817-1881
Graham's Magazine
Griswold, Rufus, 1815-1897
Hoffman, Charles Fenno, 1806-1884
Poe, Edgar Allan, 1809-1849.
Poets, American — 19th Century — Correspondence
Poets and Poetry of America
Tucker, Beverley, 1784-1851
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

Administrative Information

Repository: Boston Public Library Archival and Manuscript Finding Aid Database

Access Restrictions: Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions:

Items in this collection may be subject to copyright restrictions. The Boston Public Library does not hold copyright on the material in this collection. Researchers are responsible for identifying and contacting the persons or organizations that hold copyright.

When reproducing material from this collection please include the credit line "Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library/ Rare Books."

Acquisition Method: Donated to the Boston Public Library by Mrs. Rufus Griswold in 1900.

Preferred Citation: Rufus W. Griswold Collection, MS Gris. Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library. Courtesy of the Trustees of the Boston Public Library/Rare Books.

Processing Information: Finding aid prepared by Honor McCusker, c. 1963.

Finding Aid Revision History: Updated by Bethany Hirsch, November 2011.

Box and Folder Listing

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Box 7

Folder 435: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 21 November 1846: New York. Sends some notes on Emerson and suggests that Griswold consult [Henry David] Thoreau for further information.
Folder 436: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 16 December 1846: New York. Asks why [George Rex] Graham has failed to publish Thoreau's article on Carlyle and a notice of [Dionysius?] Lardner by Griswold. Inquires about a lost manuscript lecture of his.
Folder 437: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 12 January 1847: New York. Asks for the manuscript of his lecture, in Griswold's possession. Recommends Emerson's Poems [Boston 1847].
Folder 438: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 1 March 1847: New York. Suggests that Griswold write a literary column for the New York Advertiser. Asks for a brief collection of epigrams.
Folder 439: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 13 March 1847: New York. Has already written his notice of Griswold's book [The Prose Writers of America].
Folder 440: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 7 December 1848: Washington, D.C. Recommends the work of H. E. G. Avery, known to Greeley as Harriet E. Groussis, for The Female Poets of America.
Folder 441: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 7 January 1849: Washington, D.C. Sends a paragraph about "Bayard's book" [Bayard Taylor's Rhymes of Travel, New York 1848?].
Folder 442: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 21 January 1849: Washington, D.C. Criticizes The Female Poets of America - "a good collection, although your style is stiff"; especially admires the format. Disapproves of [Sarah Helen] Whitman's marriage to [Edgar Allan] Poe. Describes his struggle over the mileage question [in the House of Representatives].
Folder 443: Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 30 October 1851: Tribune Office. Cancels an engagement.
Folder 444: Greeley & McElrath. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 25 May 1843: Tribune Office. Ask for complete copy for Curiosities of American Literature [in Isaac D'Israeli's Curiosities of Literature, New York 1843].
Folder 445: Greeley & McElrath. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 11 August 1843: Office of the Tribune. Suggestions for the title and format of Curiosities of American Literature.
Folder 446: Green, H. A.L.S. to Horatio Greenough, 7 April 1852: N.p. [Boston?] Disapproves of the size of a colossal statue to be made by Greenough [the James Fenimore Cooper memorial?].
Folder 447: Greene, Albert Gorton, 1802-1808. Ms. poem, 6 August 1845: "While strains, to every heart that speak."
Folder 448: Greenough, Horatio, 1806-1852. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 19 November 1851: Washington, D.C. Offers $50 to help pay any debts left by [James Fenimore] Cooper. Approves of bronze for Cooper's statue, but objects to placing it in Washington, where "there is neither respect for such objects as public property nor interest in them as works of art."
Folder 449: Griswold, Rufus L. S. to R. W. Griswold, 9 January [1843?]: New York. Entitled "An Incident of Mortality." Describes the funeral of the Duke of Orleans, 1842.
Folder 450: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. Ms. draft, October 1841: New York. Biographical sketch of Arthur Cleveland Coxe [for The Poets of America?].
Folder 451: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Edgar Allan Poe, 14 January 1845: New York. Wishes to include Poe in The Prose Writers of America in spite of their personal quarrel.
Folder 452: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S.to Edwin P. Whipple, [25 November 1848?]: N.p. Saturday. Encloses a note from [Elizabeth (Lummis)] Ellet. Protests against [Francis] Bowen's permitting her to review The Female Poets of America, because of her ignorance and contentious disposition. Asks Whipple to dissuade him.
Folder 453: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Elizabeth (Lummis) Ellet, 25 November [1848]: No. 7, N.Y. University. Declines to furnish Mrs. Ellet with proofs of The Female Poets of America, and questions the propriety of her reviewing the book on several grounds.
Folder 454: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Elizabeth (Lummis) Ellet, 30 December [1848?]: University. Demands immediate disavowel of an enclosed article from Neal's Gazett, allegedly written by Mrs. Ellet [attacking The Female Poets of America].
Folder 455: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Elizabeth (Lummis) Ellet, 21 January 1849: New York. Denies Mrs. Ellet's charges that he was angry at her omitting any acknowledgment to him in her book The Women of the American Revolution; that he "attacked" Miss [Caroline] May in The Female Poets of America; and that he plagiarized from Mrs. Ellet's work and misrepresented her.
Folder 456: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to "Gentlemen", [1849?]: N.p. Defends the Harper's use of Webster's orthography in their edition of [Thomas Babington] Macaulay's History [of England?], criticized in the [New York] Courier and Inquirer.
Folder 457: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Moss & Brothers, 20 May 1850: Philadelphia, P.A. Receipt on behalf of the Carys for $100, for the sale of the copyright of Poems by Alice and Phoebe Cary.
Folder 458: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. Autograph ms to ----, [After 1853]: N.p. A detailed chronological account of Griswold's quarrel with [Elizabeth (Lummis)] Ellet, with references to the correspondence between them. The correspondence appears to be complete in the Griswold Collection except for no. 10 a letter presumed to be by Mrs. Ellet.
Folder 459: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L. to D. Appleton & Co., 7 March 1855: New York. Agrees to the terms of their offer for The Republican Court, though he thinks it was originally designed by them as a series of biographies by different hands.
Folder 460: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L to [Nathaniel Parker Willis?], 27 March 1856: Philadelphia, P.A. Explains his inability to do justice to [Elkanah?] Watson's Memoirs, [New York 1855] because of his recent prominence in the public eye [the reopening of his divorce suit of 1852].
Folder 461: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.L.S. to Virtue, Emmins, & Co., 22 May 1856: New York. Engages to write a life of Washington in three volumes, to be published in parts, for $80 a part. Copied on the verso of J. Emmins's letter to Griswold, 23 May 1856.
Folder 462: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. A.D.S. to ----, n.d.: N.p. Memorandum regarding the proposed publication of the works of C[harles] B[rockden] Brown by Baker & Scribner, in which Griswold acted as intermediary between the firm and W. L. Brown.
Folder 463: Griswold, Rufus Wilmot, 1815-1857. Ms., n.d.: N.p. Refutes [Elizabeth (Lummis)] Ellet's accusations as to his moral conduct.
Folder 464: Grund, Francis Joseph, 1805-1863. a.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 30 October 1841: Philadelphia, P.A. Promises to pay his debt to Griswold.
Folder 465: Type specimens
Folder 466: Omitted in numbering
Folder 467: Omitted in numbering
Folder 468: Ms. poem, n.d.: "To Jenny."
Folder 469: Hall, Abraham Oakey, 1826-1898. ALS. to [R. W. Griswold?], [October - November 1850?]: St. Johns Park. Submits a Christmas story for S[tringer] and T[ownsend]. Sends some clippings [complimentary to Griswold?] from the N[ew] O[rleans] Commerical Bulletin.
Folder 470: Hall, James to R. W. Griswold, 27 October 1849: Cincinnati, O.H. Note and biographical data on Benjamin Drake.
Folder 471: Hall, Louisa Jane (Park), 1802-1892. Ms. poem, 1838: Worcester. "Child's Evening Hymn."
Folder 472: Hall, Louisa Jane (Park). 1802-1892. Ms. poem, 1847: Providence. "Justice and Mercy." The poem is printed in Griswold's The Female Poets of America.
Folder 473: Hamilton, Elizabeth (Schuyler)1747-1854. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 27 May [1846-7?]: N.p. Asks for a statement [quoted by Griswold?] about an examination of General Alexander Hamilton's papers.
Folder 474: Harper, Joseph Wesley Jr., 1801-1870. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 4 May 1849: Cliff St. Asks Griswold to write four or five "small notices" of [Charles] Beecher's Incarnation [New York 1849].
Folder 475: Harper and Brothers. A.L.S. to Edgar Allan Poe, [19] June 1836: New York. Declined to publish his manuscripts because many had already been printed; also because they were separate tales, and "too learned and mystical." Will be glad to send him their publication for review. Commend the [Southern Literary] Messenger. Printed in Arthur Hobson Quinn, Edgar Allan Poe, New York 1941, p. 250.
Folder 476: Harper and Brothers. A.L.S. to Edgar Allan Poe, 20 February 1839: New York. The Narrative of A. Gordon Pym has not succeeded so well in America as in England.
Folder 477: Harper and Brothers. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 11 June 1841: New York. Send a woodcut and an extract from [John Lloyd] Stephen's Incidents of Travel in Central America [New York 1841].
Folder 478: Harper and Brothers. D.S. Contract with R. W. Griswold, 18 February 1847: New York. Agreement for publication of A New Encyclopedia of Biography in six volumes. Witnessed by B. Saunders.
Folder 479: Harrington, Henry F., 1814-1887. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 29 August 1851?: Lawrence, M.A. Sends a subscription to the International [Monthly Magazine]. Suggests submitting poems and articles by his wife, Elizabeth Davis (Locke) Harrington [sister of Frances Osgood].
Folder 480: Harrington, Henry F. , 1814-1887. A.L.S. to ----, 16 December 1851?: Lawrence, M.A. Asks advice on the possible publication of some lectures on Druids, by Gen. H. R. Oliver of Salem and Lawrence. Remarks upon the melancholy mood of Mr. [Samuel Stillman?] Osgood.
Folder 481: Hart, Abraham, 1810-1885. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 13 October 1847: Philadelphia, P.A. State improved terms for Griswold's work on Washington and the Generals of the Revolution [Philadelphia 1847].
Folder 482: Hart, Abraham, 1810-1885. A.L.S. to [R. W. Griswold], 10 November 1847: Philadelphia, P.A. Asks for corrections for the second edition of Washington and the Generals of the Revolution. Comments on [Joel Tyler] Headley's attacks on the book. Makes suggestions for advertising it in the New World.
Folder 483: Hart, Abraham, 1810-1885. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 9 November 1849: Philadelphia, P.A. Informs him of distribution of stereotype plates for The Poets of America, The Prose Writers of America, Mrs. Osgood's New Poems, The Poets of England, and The Female Poets of America between the writer and [Henry Carey] Baird.
Folder 484: Hart, Abraham, 1810-1885. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 31 January 1850: Philadelphia, P.A. Has sent out review copies of The Poets of America and [Frances Sargent (Locke)] Osgood's Poems [Philadelphia 1850]. Mrs. Osgood's poems have not sold so well as [Lydia (Huntley)] Sigourney's.
Folder 485: Hart, Abraham to R. W. Griswold, 23 November 1853: Philadelphia, P.A. Encloses early sheets from Alfred Bunn's Old England and New England [Philadelphia 1853] for review.
Folder 486: Hazewell, Charles C. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 14 December 1854: Boston, M.A. The review of "the 'R. C.'" [The Republican Court] has been published in the [Boston] Times.
Folder 487: Headley, Joel Tyler, 1813-1897. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 1 August 1846: Burlington. Biographical data for The Prose Writers of America.
Folder 488: Headley, Joel Tyler, 1813-1897. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1847?]: N.p. Asks Griswold to help him get a position for the writer in Philadelphia.
Folder 489: Heath, James Ewell, 1792-1862. A.L.S. to Edgar Allan Poe, 12 September 1839: Richmond, V.A. Praises "The Fall of the House of Usher." Has talked with [Thomas William?] White, who denies feeling any unfriendliness towards Poe. Both fear, however, that "tales of the wild, improbable and terrible class" will never be popular in America.
Folder 490: Hemera, pseud.; Ms. poem, May 1850: "The Balance of Life."
Folder 491: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to George R. Graham, 19 April 1842: Carlton House. Has sent the second part of "The Sisters," and returns for correction Graham's draft for the tale, which he feels sure is worth a full $100.
Folder 492: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1842-43?]: N.p. Encloses a contribution and asks for the return of "Margaret." Promises to send him Marie Duponceau, a Legend of the Water Gap, in four chapters.
Folder 493: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 31 January 1843: Washington House. Sends "Jane McRea," in place of "Margaret." Suggests the entire series be called "American Ballads."
Folder 494: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 28 May 1843: N.p. Sends a sonnet, "The Mother."
Folder 495: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 21 January 1843: Washington Hotel. Asks if Griswold has spoken to [George Rex] Graham about his proposition. [Henry?] Colburn [the London publisher?] has agreed to all his terms.
Folder 496: Herbert, Henry William. A.D.S. Contract, 3 July 1843: Philadelphia, P.A. Contracts to perform "any literary labors on behalf of Mr. George R. Graham which may be agreed upon on my account by Mr. Rufus Griswold."
Folder 497: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, 4 October 1843: Schooley's Mountain, N.J. Asks Griswold to see that he is paid for two "classical" articles written for [Charles Jacob?] Peterson and rejected.
Folder 498: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843]: N.p. Asks for the loan of ten dollars, to take his wife to a ball.
Folder 499: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Asks payment for a ballad. Has finished a ballad on Arnold ["Arnold's Treason"?].
Folder 500: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Asks for [George Rex] Graham's immediate decision on a story previously submitted. Is also anxious about "the ballads" ["American Ballads"?].
Folder 501: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Asks for a decision on a ballad submitted to Graham.
Folder 502: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Sends an article.
Folder 503: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Will promise four more ballads, in exchange for a draft: "Champé's [?] Desertion," "The Battle of Trenton," "The Blowing-up of the Intrepid," and "Tecumseh."
Folder 504: Herbert, Henry William, 1807-1856. A.L.S. to R. W. Griswold, [1843?]: N.p. Thanks Griswold for help in settling his financial difficulties. Sends him "The Surprise of Trenton."