Elizabeth Stoddard letters and writings, 1851-1911, n.d. (bulk 1851-1855).
- Author:
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902
- Physical Description:
- 72 items
- Additional Creators:
- Graham, James Lorimer, 1835-1876
Lambourn, Emma
North, Ernest D.
Sweat, Margaret J. M. (Margaret Jane Mussey), 1823-1908
- Restrictions on Access:
- Unrestricted access.
- Summary:
- The bulk of the collection contains forty-five letters, 1851-1855, Stoddard wrote to Margaret Jane Muzzey Sweat, wife of diplomat Lorenzo di Medici Sweat, her most intimate female friend. Recurring themes include her ill health, caustic comments and gossip about other writers, and poor finances. Also, includes letters to Margaret Sweat from Annie F. Wilson and H. Inez Weston.
Stoddard writes about literary men and women (Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Paul Hamilton Hayne, Herman Melville, Fitz James O'Brien, Thomas Buchanan Read, William Gilmore Simms, Bayard Taylor, Alfred Tennyson); her relationship with her husband Richard Henry Stoddard; her Barstow relatives, particularly brother Wilson; and her thoughts and beliefs about womanhood.
In letters to Josephine and James Lorimer Graham, Stoddard writes of her son Willy's illness and death two months later; the Civil War; advance notice that Carleton will publish her novel, The Morgesons; comments on the success of The Morgesons; becoming acquainted with Edwin Booth, his drinking, and the death of his wife, Mary. To Mrs. Bunce for her husband, Richard Henry Stoddard, with strong opinions about literature.
To Emma Lambourn she writes of the death of Bayard Taylor; to Ernest D. North of Charles Scribners Sons she praises Henry Kingsley's novels. Emma Carleton writes to Mrs. Frederick Gotthold, 1911, about reading Stoddard's works. Also, includes two of Stoddard's poems, "Mary Booth" and the unpublished "The stone face," and an untitled short story with a photograph of Stoddard. - Subject(s):
- Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893
- Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 1806-1861
- Browning, Robert, 1812-1889
- Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882
- Hayne, Paul Hamilton, 1830-1886
- Kingsley, Henry, 1830-1876
- Melville, Herman, 1819-1891
- O'Brien, Fitz James, 1828-1862
- Read, Thomas Buchanan, 1822-1872
- Simms, William Gilmore, 1806-1870
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902—Correspondence
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902—Books and reading
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902—Portraits
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902—Reading interests
- Stoddard, Richard Henry, 1825-1903
- Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878
- Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892
- Barstow family
- Women authors, American—19th century
- Note:
- In Rare Books and Manuscripts, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. (#1972-0004R/A-S).
- Other Forms:
- Use preservation photocopies of letters to Margaret Sweat.
- Administrative History:
- After Elizabeth Drew Barstow married Richard Henry Stoddard on 6 December 1852 she published three novels, a collection of children's stories, numerous short stories, sketches, and poems in various periodicals and newspapers, and a collection of her poems. She received generally favorable reviews but modest sales for the novels.
View MARC record | catkey: 1915246