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Digital Collections

bMS 539

Peabody, Ephraim. Autograph Book, 1717-1849.

Summary Information:

Call Number: bMS 539
Title: Peabody, Ephraim. Autograph Book, 1717-1849.
Repository: Andover-Harvard Theological Library, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-1911
Quantity: 1 box

Administrative Information:

Acquisition Information: Gift of the Unitarian Universalist Association, 1980.
Access: There are no restrictions on access to this collection.

Biographical Information:

Ephraim Peabody (1807-1856) was born in Wilton, New Hampshire, graduated from Bowdoin College in 1827 and from Harvard Divinity School in 1830. He served parishes in Meadville, Pennsylvania, Cincinnati, Ohio, and New Bedford and Cambridge, Massachusetts. From 1846 until 1855 he was the pastor of King's Chapel, Boston. He helped plan the Boston Public School system and was a founder of the Prudent Institution for Savings, a forerunner of modern savings banks. He also served as an editor of the Western Messenger.

Scope and Content:

A volume of autograph letters and signatures kept by Ephraim Peabody and arranged "with pious care by his wife as a token of her affection." The material covers the period from 1717 to 1849, and includes letters from many leading Unitarian ministers of this period. The volume was given to the library of the American Unitarian Association, 24 October 1928, by Francis G. Peabody. The volume was taken apart and the letters arranged alphabetically in separate acid free folders. All the letters are addressed to Peabody unless otherwise noted. The collection is organized into the following series:

Series I. Collection Information
Series II. The Letters
Series III. Miscellaneous Autographs
Series IV. Miscellaneous

Note: See related collection bMS 381

Container List:

Series I. Collection Information

bMS 539/1 (1) Letter, Francis G. Peabody to the librarian of the American Unitarian Association regarding the gift of this volume to the AUA, October 24, 1928.

Series II. The Letters

bMS 539/1 (2) Abbot, Abiel. Letter, October 1, 1832, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (3) Abbot, Abiel. Letter, January 21, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (4) Abbot, John E. Letter, 1818, to Mrs. Denby.
bMS 539/1 (5) Arnold, George B. Letter, February 3, 1832, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (6) Babbridge, Charles. Letter, July 3, 1837, to Brother Cutler.
bMS 539/1 (7) Barton, Warren. Letter, July 20, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (8) Bates, Reuben. Letter, May 31, 1840, to Curtis Cutler.
bMS 539/1 (9) Beede, Thomas. Letter, January 31, 1822, to Mr. Smith.
bMS 539/1 (10) Bellows, Henry Whitney. Letter, November 31, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (11) Bentley, William. Letter, October 11, 1811, to "Sir."
bMS 539/1 (12) Bigelow, Andrew. Letter, August 30, 1829, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (13) Brazer, John. Letter, June 5, 1840, to Parker.
bMS 539/1 (14) Briggs, Charles. Letter, September 21, 1836, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (15) Briggs, George Ware. Letter, August 1, 1840, to Mrs. Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (16) Bulfinch, S. Greenleaf. Letter, July 5, 1837, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (17) Bulfinch, S. Greenleaf. Letter, December 12, 1832, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (18) Chan, P. Letter, February 26, 1830, to Aunt Cranch.
bMS 539/1 (19) Channing, William Ellery. Letter, n.d., to "dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (20) Channing, William Henry. A Poem, to Mrs. Arnold Wells.
bMS 539/1 (21) Cheverus, John. Letter, December 1, 1820, "to Reverend & dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (23) Codman, John. Letter, April 14, 1841, to "Dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (24) Colman, Henry. Letter, August 25, 1839, to Congregational Society in New Bedford.
bMS 539/1 (25) Cutler, Curtis. Letter, December 21, 1839, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (26) Dabney, J.P. Letter, September 5, 1828, to John Gordon. Dewey, Orville. Letter, December 17, 1838, to "Dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (27) Dunbar(?) September 6, 1778. Fragment, perhaps in Hebrew(?).
bMS 539/1 (28) Edes, Henry. Letter, April 20, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (29) Emmory, T.C. Letter, January 8, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (30) Farley, Frederick A. Letter, September 11, 1833, 11, to "Dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (31) Farley, Frederick A. Letter, September 3, 1839, to "dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (32) Fox, Thomas B. Letter, October 31, 1830, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (33) Foxcroft, Samuel. Letter, September 15, 1798, to Eli Forbes. Includes a note to Williams Cushing, printer.
bMS 539/1 (34) Francis, Convers. Letter, May 18, 1838, to Theodore Parker.
bMS 539/1 (35) Freeman(?) Meditations on Hebrew XII:11.
bMS 539/1 (36) French, (?) Letter, July 28, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (37) Frothingham, Nathaniel L. Letter, June 21, 1841, to "my dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (38) Gannett, Ezra Stiles. Letter, March 5, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (39) Gardner, J. Letter, June 19, 1844, to (?).
bMS 539/1 (40) Garrett, S. Letter, February 19, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (41) Goodwin, Ezra Shaw. Letter, October 7, 1819, to "Brother."
bMS 539/1 (42) Greene, Samuel. Letter, October 19, 1839, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (43) Hall, Edward Brooks. Letter, March 14, 1831, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (44) Harrington, I. Letter, October 1, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (45) Holmes, L. Letter, May 13, n.y., to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (46) Lambet, T.S. Letter, November 14, 1842, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (47) Landson, A. Letter, July 15, n.y., to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (48) Lathrop, Joseph. Letter, May 22, 1812, to "Rev. Sir."
bMS 539/1 (49) Leonard, Levi W. Letter, July 27, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (50) Livermore, Abiel Abbott. Letter, August 14, 1838, to Cousin Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (51) May, Samuel. Letter, July 30, 1835, to Shreve & Co.
bMS 539/1 (52) Morison, John H. Letter, January 8, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (53) N (?) Letter, September 28, 1849, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (54) N, G. R. Letter, May 6, 1834, to Cutler.
bMS 539/1 (55) Newell, William. Letter, n.d., to "dear Sir."
bMS 539/1 (56) Nichols, I. Letter, August 21, 1845, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (57) Nightingale, C. Letter, October 26, 1838, to the Church in New Bedford under the Pastoral Charge of the Rev. E. Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (58) Norton, Andrews. Letter, November 16, 1831, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (59) Osgood, Samuel. Letter, March 21, 1837, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (60) Osgood, Samuel. Letter, December 6, 1841, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (61) Palfrey, G. Letter, March 5, 1839, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (62) Palfrey, John G. Letter, March 21, n.y., to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (63) Parker, Theodore. Poem. Includes an undated letter to Parker from George Ripley.
bMS 539/1 (64) Parkman, Francis. Letter, December 8, 1835, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (65) Patterson, A. C. Letter, March 3, 1825, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (66) Perkins, J. H. Letter, December 26, 1837, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (67) Pierpont, John. Letter, July 24, 1834, to William Greene.
bMS 539/1 (68) Puffer, Reuben. Letter, January 23, 1808, to Charles Willington.
bMS 539/1 (69) Putnam, George. Letter, June 10, 1836, to Peabody.
bMS 539/1 (70) Ripley, George. Letter, n.d., to Theodore Parker.
bMS 539/1 (71) Robbins, Chandler. Letter, March 6, 1840, to "dear Sir."
bMS 539/2 (1) Rogers, John. Letter, n.d.
bMS 539/2 (2) Silsbee, William. Letter, August 13, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (3) Simmons, George L. Letter, November 8, 1841, to Theodore Parker.
bMS 539/2 (4) Smith, W.G. Letter, February 14, 1841, to "Rev. & Dear."
bMS 539/2 (5) Sprague, W.B. Letter, September 1, 1843.
bMS 539/2 (6) Stuart, Moses. Letter, April 23, 1837, to "dear Sir."
bMS 539/2 (7) Sutton, Hall. 1730. Meditation, sermon (?)
bMS 539/2 (8) Thomas, G. N. Letter, June 5, 1836, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (9) Thompson, W. Letter, September 12, 1839 , to ?
bMS 539/2 (10) Thurston, Jones. Letter, May 29, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (11) Walker, James. Letter, August 11, 1832, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (12) Waterston, R.C. Letter, February 15, 1840, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (13) Ware, Henry. Letter, June 6, 1831, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (14) Ware, Henry (Jr). Letter, December 29, 1838, to Putnam.
bMS 539/2 (15) Ware Henry (Jr). Letter, March 27, 1839, to ?
bMS 539/2 (16) Wellington, Charles. Letter, January 29, 1840, to C. Culter.
bMS 539/2 (17) White, John. Letter, February 24, 1839, to Rev. Mr. Parker.
bMS 539/2 (18) White, William W. Letter, November 23, 1832, to C. Culter.
bMS 539/2 (19) Whitman, Bernard. Letter, June 14, 1831, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (20) Whitman, Nathaniel. Letter, April 16, 1838, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (21) Whitney, ? Letter, 1840 August 27, to Peabody.
bMS 539/2 (22) William, John. Fragment, November 13 (?), 1717.
bMS 539/2 (23) Williams, Stephen. Fragment, March 25, 1721.

Series III. Miscellaneous Autographs

bMS 539/2 (24) Autographs. See folder for listing.
bMS 539/2 (25) Autograph. John Adams. 1804.
bMS 539/2 (26) Autographs. Abbots.

Series IV. Miscellaneous

bMS 539/2 (27) Sermon. Author unknown.
bMS 539/2 (28) Unidentified sermon page. Author unknown.
bMS 539/2 (29) Poems. Two unidentified poems.
bMS 539/2 (30) Eliot, Benjamin. Baptismal record.
bMS 539/2 (31) Miscellaneous pieces. Unidentified.