Elizabeth Stoddard papers
- Author:
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902
- Published:
- 1851-1911 (bulk 1851-1855)
- Physical Description:
- 0.75 linear feet
- Additional Creators:
- Graham, James Lorimer, 1835-1876, Lambourn, Emma, North, Ernest D., and Sweat, Margaret J. M. (Margaret Jane Mussey), 1823-
- Restrictions on Access:
- Unrestricted access.
- Summary:
- This is a collection of letters, most dating from 1851-1855, that Elizabeth Stoddard wrote. It also includes two of Stoddard's poems, "Mary Booth" and the unpublished "The stone face," and an untitled short story with a photograph of Stoddard. The bulk of the correspondence was addressed to her closest female friend, Margaret Jane Muzzey Sweat. Stoddard writes about literary men and women such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Herman Melville, Alfred Tennyson, and others; 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. Her letters to a "Mrs. Bunce" speak of her husband, Richard Henry Stoddard and also include 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. There are letters not written by Stoddard included in the collection. Notably, one written by Emma Carleton to Mrs. Frederick Gotthold in 1911, about reading Stoddard's works.
- 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, Richard Henry, 1825-1903
- Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878
- Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892
- Barstow family
- Women authors, American—19th century
- Écrivaines américaines—19e siècle
- Stoddard, Elizabeth, 1823-1902
- Books and reading
- Women authors, American
- 1800-1899
- Genre(s):
- Collection:
- Allison-Shelley Collection.
- Note:
- In Special Collections, University Libraries, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pa. (#10125).
- Other Forms:
- Use preservation photocopies of letters to Margaret Sweat.
- Source of Acquisition:
- Gift of Phillip Allison Shelley; 1972.
- Biographical or Historical Sketch:
- After Elizabeth Drew Barstow married Richard Henry Stoddard on December 6th, 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 her work.
View MARC record | catkey: 1915246