
Bacon family papers, 1805-1888
Using These Materials
- Restrictions:
- The collection is open for research.
Summary
- Creator:
- Bacon family
- Abstract:
- The Bacon family papers contain correspondence, financial documents, and other material related to Delia Bacon, her siblings, her niece Katharine Bacon, and to other members of her family.
- Extent:
- 0.75 linear feet
- Language:
- English
- Authors:
- Collection processed and finding aid created by Cheney J. Schopieray, October 2006, and Meg Hixon, November 2011
Background
- Scope and Content:
-
The Bacon family papers contain correspondence, financial documents, and other material related to Delia Bacon and to other members of her family. The Correspondence series, which comprises the bulk of the collection, contains several distinct groups of items; the first of these is a series of letters to Catharine Terry of Hartford, Connecticut, from her husband Nathaniel, composed between 1805 and 1818. A member of the United States House of Representatives, Nathaniel frequently wrote to her about his life in Washington, D. C., and though he occasionally discussed political affairs, the majority of his correspondence concentrated on news of his life and of his business affairs. The second group of letters consists of Delia Bacon's correspondence (1841-1853), much of which relates directly to the quarrel between Delia, her brother Leonard, and Alexander MacWhorter. During this period, Catharine Beecher composed 26 letters, most of which were letters of support to Delia, as the very public scandal took a toll on the latter's reputation. Many of the other correspondents offered similar sentiments, including Elizabeth P. Peabody, who wrote 10 letters. Among the undated Delia Bacon material is a letter in which she wrote a detailed self-defense. The third group of letters (1870-1888) relates primarily to Leonard's daughter Katharine, including a significant amount of material written just prior to her February 1872 wedding. Later items addressed to Katharine pertain to family news and updates from friends, and the collection also includes several letters from Katharine to her children, written in the 1880s. In addition to these three main groups of letters, the series also holds correspondence related to other members of the extended Bacon family.
The Bills and receipts series is comprised primarily of material directly related to Delia Bacon; among these are several receipts for printing circulars and for purchasing advertising in different publications. The collection's Miscellaneous material belonged to Delia Bacon, and includes several advertisements related to Bacon's historical lectures, manuscript essay drafts and notes about the MacWhorter scandal and her later interest in Shakespeare, poetry, a program from Vassar College's 1882 Class Day, and a notebook regarding her lectures.
- Biographical / Historical:
-
Delia Bacon, the daughter of missionary David Bacon, was born in Tallmadge, Ohio, on February 2, 1811, but she did not grow up there; her family moved to Hartford, Connecticut, when she was a year old. She received a year of formal education at Catherine Beecher's academy, and started teaching at age 15. She had six siblings, the eldest of which was Leonard Bacon, Yale graduate, noted Congregational minister in New Haven, Connecticut, and leader of the colonization movement.
Delia became an esteemed lecturer, and frequently delivered educational talks to women on a variety of subjects. In 1847, her brother Leonard accused fellow preacher Alexander MacWhorter of breaking an engagement to Delia and defaming her; the resulting controversy divided religious opinion in New Haven, Connecticut, and eventually caused her to move to England, where she spent several years researching the authorship of William Shakespeare's plays. Believing his work to be incorrectly attributed, she published The Philosophy of Shakespeare's Plays Unfolded in 1857 but suffered from a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter. During her life, she made the acquaintance of several prominent American authors, and may have served as a model for Nathaniel Hawthorne's Hester Prynne. She died on September 2, 1859.
Katharine Bacon, a daughter of Delia's brother Leonard, married Eugene Smith in February 1872; they had at least four children, Leonard, Winthrop, Helen, and Alice.
- Acquisition Information:
- 1997. M-3366 .
- Processing information:
-
Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.
- Arrangement:
-
The collection is arranged in the following series:
- Series I: Correspondence
- Series II: Bills and Receipts
- Series III: Miscellaneous
Each series is arranged chronologically, with undated items placed at the end; the undated correspondence is arranged by recipient.
- Rules or Conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)
Related
- Additional Descriptive Data:
-
Related Materials
The Clements Library holds the following books:- Bacon, Delia Salter. The Bride of Fort Edward: Founded on an Incident of the Revolution. New York: S. Colman, 1839.
- Bacon, Delia Salter. Tales of the Puritans: The Regicides: The Fair Pilgrim: Castine. New York: A.H. Maltby, 1831.
- Bacon, Theodore. Delia Bacon: A Biographical Sketch. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1888.
The Connecticut Historical Society holds a collection of Terry and Bacon family papers, 1789-1919.
Bibliography
Bacon, Theodore. Delia Bacon: A Biographical Sketch. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Company, 1888.
Baym, Nina. "Delia Bacon: Hawthorne's Last Heroine." Nathaniel Hawthorne Review 20.2 (Fall 1994): 1-10.
Baym, Nina. "Delia Bacon, History's Odd Woman Out." NEQ 69 (1996): 223-49.
An inventory of the correspondence is available in the Manuscripts Division.
Subjects
Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.
- Subjects:
-
Scandals.
Women--United States--History.
Women writers. - Formats:
-
Advertisements.
Drafts (documents)
Essays.
Lecture notes.
Letters (correspondence)
Noteboks.
Poems.
Receipts (financial records)
Souvenir programs. - Names:
-
Bacon, Delia Salter, 1811-1859.
Bacon, Leonard, 1802-1881.
Beecher, Catharine Esther, 1800-1878.
MacWhorter, Alexander, 1822-1880.
Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer, 1804-1894.
Sigourney, L. H. (Lydia Howard), 1791-1865.
Smith, Katharine W. Bacon.
Terry, Nathaniel. - Places:
-
Connecticut--History--1775-1865.
New Haven (Conn.)
United States--Politics and government--1817-1825.
United States--Social life and customs--1783-1865.
Washington (D.C.)
Contents
Using These Materials
- RESTRICTIONS:
-
The collection is open for research.
- USE & PERMISSIONS:
-
Copyright status is unknown
- PREFERRED CITATION:
-
Bacon Family Papers, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan