Littlejohn Collection

Talk20 presentation at Hub-Bub's Showroom

This past Saturday, November 10, I had the privilege of participating in the Talk20 event over at The Showroom. This event, in case you don't know, is a great time and is structured thus: 10 presenters choose 20 slides and they have 20 seconds to comment on each slide. The topics and images are totally up to the presenter. Some of the topics on Saturday included a white rhino named Tank, honeymooning in Virginia, trying 20 new things, someone's crazy parents, recent events in Jena, Louisiana, and the use of coal in producing electricity. I did my presentation on materials from the Littlejohn Collection and will share with you some of the images and comments from my presentation.

I opened with some introductory comments about the origins of the Collection. Here, I'll skip those bits and refer you to my first post on this blog, which contains much more detail.

My presentation was subtitled "Two Hundred and Eleven Years of History in Under Seven Minutes." (Twenty slides at twenty seconds each is about six minutes and forty seconds.) It was pretty difficult, considering that it'd be hard to exhaust the discussion of any one of the subsequent items in seven minutes. Anyway, here we go, starting with third slide, when I started talking about items in the collection.

"This is a fold-out map depicting Southeastern North America as it was known in 1775. This item is from a book entitled "The History of the American Indians" (etc.) by James Adair. This work is commonly known as "Adair's Indians" and was published in 1775. Adair's main thesis in this work is that Native Americans were descended from the lost tribes of Israel."

[For a more detailed description and discussion of this work, see my recent post here.]

"Here are two images from the 1850's. First is a letter from Daniel Webster dated February 27, 1850. It was written just prior to the delivery of one of his most famous speeches, the one which both supported the Compromise of 1850 and effectively ended his legislative career."

[For a more detailed discussion of this letter, please see this post.]

"The second image is the cover of a Senate document from 1855 advocating the use of camels as beasts of burden in the Southwest. A major proponent of this policy was Jefferson Davis."

[For a more detailed discussion of this pamphlet, please see this post.]

"This is a letter of introduction from Sam Houston (as Governor of Texas) to a newspaper editor in New York City. He writes, in part, 'You will find [Mr. Logan, the man being introduced] ...anxious to promote harmony and good feeling with our Northern brethren.' The letter is dated April 16, 1860."

"This is a letter from Horace Greeley, the Rupert Murdoch of his time, dated July 2, 1860, just prior to the election of 1860. He writes 'I have never yet had any influence with any Federal Administration, and may fare no better with the next than with the last.' "

"This item is dated June 5, 1861 -- the Civil War had begun. The Southern writer, whose identity is unclear, writes in the numbered bullet points:
'1. We will all have to fight.
2. We will all have to spend our substance in support of the war.
3. We can die but once.' "

"This is a war-date requisition form for 20 bushels of corn, created by the Confederate States Army on January 16, 1862. You will note that this used to be a United States form, as in the upper left corner the word 'United' has been crossed out and replaced with 'Confederate.' "

"This is a letter from a spy in Charleston, South Carolina, written to President Lincoln in 1863. It was delivered via the underground railroad. The writer claims that a strong majority of Charleston was pro-Union at the time."

"This is a letter from W.E. Johnson, a Confederate officer, to his wife, written from a prisoner-of-war camp. He writes, in part, ' I am afraid you have suffered much anxiety about me not knowing whether I was killed or captured...and hope this letter will relieve your anxiety about me."

"This is a battlefield note from Wade Hampton which reads, in part, 'Send all information to General Lee.' By the date (May 8, 1864) and location (Stony Creek, Va.) noted, this item can be dated to near the beginning of the Wilderness campaign."

"These two items are from the end of the war. The first letter is from C.S.A. General Joseph E. Johnston to 'Winnie.' Several days after this letter was written, Johnston would surrender to General Sherman.

The second item is a discharge form. It discharges Myron Kennedy of New York who, at 19 years old, had already served three years in the Union army."

[For a more detailed discussion of the letter from Joseph Johnston, I refer you to this post.]

"These four pictures are from a photo album created in 1901 and 1902. They show, clockwise from top left: Clifton Cotton Mill, Spartan Cotton Mill, Winter Scene Main Square, and Main Street (all in Spartanburg.)"

[For more detail on this photo album, please go here.]

"This is an image of a scrapbook created by Associated Press correspondent Phil Powers from 1914 through 1916. He covered the German and Austrian armies prior to U.S. involvement in the war."

[For more information on this scrapbook, see this post.]

"This is a panoramic photo of downtown Spartanburg taking during a Liberty Loan Parade, 1918. The regiment seen marching was camped in CampWadsworth and eventually fought in France. The annotation [not pictured here] explains that the photo was taken from the Cleveland Hotel."

[For more detail on this image, please see this post.]

"This [above] is a letter from Mohandas Gandhi to Harry Deutch of Bronx, New York. It is dated January 12, 1933 -- Gandhi writes from prison: 'When the conviction goes deeper than the intellect, you will brave all dangers and risks and live the true life, and you will at once find it is its own reward.' "

"Here is a letter [German original on left, English translation on right] from Albert Einstein to Lionel Ettlinger, dated March 31, 1940 (prior to the Battle of Britain.)
Regarding the refugee crisis, Einstein writes: 'Meanwhile terrible things happen and one cannot do anything about it, except for troublesome help in individual cases.'

"These images [above] are from a book entitled, in English, at least, 'Our Destruction in Pictures.' It was published by liberated Jews in the British-occupied zone in 1946. It was published in Hebrew, German and English - ironically this testament is in fragile condition due to the scarcity of quality book-making materials of the time."

Moving from the tragic to the truly absurd....

"This item [above] is a letter from Mark David Chapman -- the man who killed John Lennon -- dated April 10, 1986. He queries a manuscripts and collectibles dealer concerning a personal matter. He also asks: 'Any J.D. Salinger letters available? I would like any holograph letters.'

"This picture illustrates some miscellaneous multimedia items and objects in the Littlejohn Collection. On the left is a Stella music box, circa 1900, which plays the steel discs seen here. In the middle is a number of cellulose music cylinders, circa 1910-1930. On the right is a stereopticon, and behind it all on the wall are two prints by John Gould."

That's it. All that in under seven minutes.

I'd like to publicly thank Cate and Aaron Ryba for curating the show, and Alix Refshauge and Cate for letting me in on the fun. I can't fail to also thank everyone else over at Hub-Bub for all of the good things they do -- these folks include Stephen Long, Sara Hamilton-Steinecke, Brad Hamilton, Darryl Harmon, the Artists-in-Residence Derya Hanife Altan, Nicholas Dowgwillo, Arielle Angel, and Rachel Harkai, and, of course, Betsy Teter.

If you want to check out another presentation from Saturday night, check out Rachel's blog (post is dated November 10) -- she has posted her images and comments, too.

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.