Call Number:

MC.975.02.025

Repository:

Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections

Extent:

0.08 linear ft. (1 volume)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

John Greenleaf Whittier letterbook (HC.MC.975.02.025), Quaker & Special Collections, Haverford College, Haverford, PA.

Date:

1842-1873 (inclusive)

Creator:

Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892

Form:

Correspondence

Abstract:

John Greenleaf Whittier was an American Quaker poet and editor, as well as an involved abolitionist. He was a delegate to the Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, a member of the State Legislature in 1835, founded the antislavery Liberty party in 1840, and ran for Congress in 1842. Topics covered in Whittier's letterbook include news of health and family, as well as discussions of contributions to "The Non-Slaveholder" and discussions of English Friends.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) was born on December 17, 1807, in Haverhill, Massachusetts, the son of Quakers John Whittier and Abigail Hussey Whittier. He was an American poet and editor, and his first published poem, "The Exile's Departure," was printed in William Lloyd Garrison's Newburyport Free Press in 1826. He attended Haverhill Academy from 1827 to 1828. In addition to being a poet, Whittier was an involved abolitionist. He was a delegate to the Anti-Slavery Society in 1833, and a member of the State Legislature in 1835. Whittier founded the antislavery Liberty party in 1840 and ran for Congress in 1842. In the mid-1850s, he began to work for the formation of the Republican party; he supported presidential candidacy of John C. Frémont in 1856.

Whittier published his first collection of poems in 1837, his first authorized collection in 1838, the collection "Snow Bound" in 1866, and edited an edition of John Woolman's Journal.

John Greenleaf Whittier died on September 7, 1892, in Hampton Falls, New Hampshire.

This collection is comprised of the single volume letterbook of John Greenleaf Whittier, which includes his personal correspondence with William J. Allinson. Topics covered in the letters include news of Whittier and Allinson's health, news of their families, as well as discussions of contributions to "The Non-Slaveholder" and discussions of English Friends.