Archives. Finally.

If you've been reading this blog, you will know that the Littlejohn Collection is a diverse collection containing items of many types and media. There are rare books, pamphlets, an autograph collection, obsolete musical media, broadsides, fine prints, historical newspapers, and even some ephemera. But the real core of the collection are the manuscripts and archives.

For the purpose of this post I should point out the distinction between manuscripts and archives. So, if you will, please indulge me in my (hopefully) brief discussion of archival theory and jargon. Don't worry, though, we'll get to the good stuff in a minute.

Now, before I went to graduate school, I don't think I knew the difference between archives and manuscripts. In fact, I don't think I ever really considered it. I'm sure that I treated the terms as synonymous and interchangeable, as I'm sure I still do now in casual conversations not amenable to discussion of archival theory (i.e. most conversations). But there is a big difference, and I hope to point that out briefly here.

A manuscript is, technically, a handwritten document, but the term is also used to describe documents that are typed. Regardless, for our purposes, a manuscript is ONE document unrelated (in terms of its origin) to others in a collection. For instance, a letter from, say, Sam Houston in 1860 being situated next to a letter from Robert E. Lee in 1862 does not constitute an "archive" of the two, but is rather a "collection" of manuscripts, as those items have different origins. (Archivists prefer the term provenance to "origin", and speak about tracing provenance through a chain of custody.) Archivists and librarians often refer to manuscript collections as "artificial collections," as they have been collected inorganically and co-exist due to an individual's will.

Archives are organic aggregations of documents. The letters and records of one's great-aunt, for instance, filed away neatly (or semi-neatly) in a shoe box in the attic are presumably an archive because she put them there as she received them, keeping them together, organizing them, and referring back to them when necessary throughout her life. Her letters are an archive because between each record there exists what archivists call an "archival bond" -- a relationship between a document and those that precede and succeed it. Manuscripts are archival documents whose archival bonds with other documents of similar provenance have been severed.

At the risk of oversimplifying, sometimes I put it like this: archives tell a story, manuscripts are snapshots. And that's why archival collections are more often used by historians and other researchers -- archives (usually, but not always) contain richer historical detail than manuscripts in that they allow one to examine documents as they were created over time, rather than simply give snapshot of what was happening at a very particular point in time.

Archival research and management can be incredibly informative, even enlightening -- it can be intimate, bordering on voyeuristic. I once heard Doris Kearns Goodwin (an historian, her most recent book was about Lincoln: "Team of Rivals") say in an interview that she felt like she knew Lincoln, since she had "lived with him" for the ten years she was researching her book. Archival research can do that.

Thanks for bearing with me. Now for the good stuff: some Littlejohn Collection archives.

Pictured above is an excellent archival collection: The Boggs Family Papers. This collection consists of approximately 400 records, the majority of which are correspondence between various members of the (Confederate) General William Robertson Boggs family.

William Robertson Boggs was a West Point graduate who joined the Confederate Army somewhat reluctantly after his home state of Georgia seceded from the Union. He was an engineer by training and trade and was an artillerist and ordnance officer in war. He served under P.G.T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, and Kirby Smith in various roles and theaters. Following the war, Boggs worked as an engineer and then as an educator when he taught at what is now Virginia Tech. Following his retirement to Winston-Salem, N.C. in the early 1880's, Boggs composed a memoir of his experiences in the Civil War mainly, it seems, to provide his children with such a record. The memoir was subsequently published after his death in 1911, and is considered a frank, honest, and sometimes scathing review of the inner-workings of the Confederate military and government.

Sadly, letters written by the General himself are somewhat scarce in this collection. However there is a considerable amount of correspondence (perhaps 1/3 of the collection) to him from his wife, children, in-laws, and siblings.

Yet another 1/3 of the collection is composed of the correspondence between Elizabeth ("Bessie") McCaw Boggs, the General's daughter, and her future husband William ("Willie") Barrett Taylor. Of particular volume, and perhaps interest, is the correspondence between these two during their courtship and early marriage (approximately 1878 - 1881). At certain points in this period, and especially when he was traveling, Mr. Taylor wrote Ms. Boggs once and sometimes twice daily. Below is an excerpt from a letter dated Oct. 28, 1878 (in two images) which, if legible, should require no explanation:

The rest of the collection consists of correspondence to the General's wife Mary Sophia Boggs (nee Symington), between and amongst their four other children, and some letters from and to the General's sister Rebecca (or Rebekah) Boggs. There is also some correspondence and business records concerned with William Taylor's and his brothers' businesses.

I'd be remiss in not mentioning one strange facet of this collection: within it there is a small mystery to be solved. My folder label for the materials in question might help explain the problem:

In this folder there are about 20 "letters" from "Dad" (if they are signed at all) to "My Dear Baby" ("Baby" is never named). They are all typewritten and several are on stationary bearing the name of Edith Boggs, General Boggs' youngest daughter. (During the time period in which these letters were written evidence appears to show that Edith Boggs was actually living in New York City, not Winston-Salem.) The writer of the letters, though, is clearly male judging by the aforementioned signatures. The content of the letters themselves is highly personal, often bordering on shrill complaint or gossip -- certainly not your typical, polite 19th-century letter. The most salient feature of these documents is that they appear to have never been sent. Indeed, the writer often refers to this fact and, in one, actually admits that he is writing these letters in case he felt she should ever need to know the contents -- until that day comes, however, he says he will keep them sealed and unsent. Here is an image of one of these "My Dear Baby" letters:

The final line of the letter is indicative of the writer's intent. The rest of the letter is incredibly personal and revealing, especially for the time period, not to mention the fact that -- if the the author is General Boggs -- what incredible insights into late-19th-century family life these letters give us. Indeed what incredible insight into the later life of a Confederate General, someone whose mail, for the rest of his life, by friends and family alike, was addressed to "General Wm. R. Boggs."

Changing gears, now I'll briefly note a smaller but no less significant archival collections.

Another excellent little collection is the collection of letters to General Ethan Allen Hitchcock, a Union general of the Civil War. This collection currently consists of approximately 50 letters, all addressed to Hitchcock. He was a high-level general during the war and hailed originally from Vermont. After the war, the general settled in Charleston, SC and then Sparta, GA. Most of the letters are of post-war date, the majority being from fellow Union general N.B. (Napoleon Bonaparte) Buford. It would seem that these two met in late-1862, when they were both hand-picked to sit on the FitzJohn Porter court martial. The balance of the letters not from Buford appear to be from Hitchcock's nephew, also named Ethan Allen. Below are two pictures of the Hitchcock papers in archival storage.

Thanks for reading today. Please stay tuned in the coming weeks for more posts, including one in which I hope to share yet another very interesting archival collection.

Comments

[Max]

This is a very good article. But, please, could you e-mail me or send me a link of the sample of General Boggs own handwritting, I would pretty like to see it. Thanks a lot! Filip