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Joanna Southcott Collection
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Joanna Southcott (1750-1814) was born in East Devon, England, the daughter of a poor farmer. She had little education except for a constant study of the Bible, and earned her living as a domestic servant. However, in 1792, during a time of political upheaval in France and social and industrial change in England, Joanna began hearing a voice which prophesied a solution to the world's troubles with the imminent arrival of the "Second Coming of Christ." Her voices or "communications" appeared as visions to the "prophet" while asleep or awake, or as messages written automatically and unconsciously. These communications were usually dictated to and copied by her secretaries, Ann Underwood and Jane Townly. They primarily warned that man must turn to God because the end of the world was near, but they also offered explanations of scriptures and comments on historical and local events.
Southcott was generally ignored by the established church; so to spread her prophecies she published her first book, The Strange Effects of Faith (1801?) and went on to publish 65 books and circulated many manuscripts and letters containing copies of her communications. Very few writings have survived in her own hand. She often met with ridicule during her lifetime, and afterwards has often been relegated to the lunatic fringe of cult leaders, but Southcott managed to attract over one hundred thousand followers from all walks of life. Even after her death in 1814, in a failed attempt to give birth to "Shiloh" (the Second Christ), the Southcottian movement continued. Today, a descendant group of followers, the Panacea Society of Bedford, England, has in its possession a large (circa 156 lbs.) "Box of Sealed Writings" of Southcott, to be opened only in the presence of 24 Bishops of the Church of England.
Consists of a collection of manuscripts of Southcott and material related to her. Included are 12 notebooks and 63 pamphlets or loose writings containing copies (1793-1814) in various hands of Southcott's divine communications, letters, poems, and prayers. Many of the notebooks or pamphlets are conglomerations of manuscript material gathered at random and bound or sewn together. One such manuscript is Divine and Spiritual Letters of Prophecies..., published by E. Spragg (1802?).
Also present are a few later writings and prophecies by others, copies of letters relating to Lavinia Jones's attempt to acquire Southcott's sealed writings after her death, and a manuscript list of Southcott's 65 published works and an index to them as prepared by Daniel Jones for his Catalog of Books Published by Joanna Southcott (1852). In addition, there is a pledge of commitment (1837) to "Satan's Destruction, and Christ's Kingdom to Come on Earth" signed by over sixty believers, as well as an embroidered sampler reading "Joanna Southcott 1807." Later accessions include letters (1820, 1828) by Thomas Philip, rector of Old Swinford, to Charles Taylor of Exeter about Southcott and her "believers," as well as a small archive (1803-1860), including 2 "proclamations of faith" (dated 1803) bearing Southcott's seal.
None of these manuscripts appear to be in Joanna Southcott's own hand. All items have here been numbered consecutively for ease in identification and description. In the following pages, preceding the detailed listing of contents (titles) of each item is a brief physical description of the manuscript volume, pamphlet, or loose leaves which may include any volume number or other writings on the covers, color, page numbers, type of binding, range of dates, and whether or not the volume contains an index. Some volumes contain duplicate writings. The titles, or first lines of the various writings within each item are then listed. If an item did not contain an index, the titles were taken directly from the text, and all titles are listed verbatim.
Purchased at a Sotheby's auction in 1993. Seal of Southcott purchased from Young's Antiquarian Books in 2000. Letters addressed to Charles Taylor and George Mitchell were purchased from Christopher Edwards in 2007. Small archive was purchased from Bonhams auction in 2008.
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Barbara Volz and Stephanie Henning in 1993. Finding aid written by Barbara Volz and Stephanie Henning in 1993.
No appraisal information is available.
People
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Barbara Volz; Stephanie Henning
- Finding Aid Date
- 2002
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Consists of communications and letters from when Joanna began hearing a voice which prophesied a solution to the world's troubles with the imminent arrival of the "Second Coming of Christ." Her voices or "communications" appeared as visions to the "prophet" while asleep or awake, or as messages written automatically and unconsciously. These communications were usually dictated to and copied by her secretaries, Ann Underwood and Jane Townly. They primarily warned that man must turn to God because the end of the world was near, but they also offered explanations of scriptures and comments on historical and local events.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
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Consists of pamphlets, letters, seals, and notes.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description2 boxes
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Consists of an embroidered sampler - "Joanna/1807/Southcott."
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
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Consists of additional correspondence and manuscripts added later to the collection.
Arranged by accession number.
Physical Description2 boxes
3 ALsS (1820, 1828) by Thomas Philip to Charles Taylor about Southcott; 12 other pieces of correspondence (1804-1831), 7 addressed to George Mitchell.
Physical Description2 folders
Small archive (1803-1860), including 2 "proclamations of faith" (dated 1803) bearing Southcott's seal, together with 30 contemporary manuscript transcriptions and copies of Southcott's letters, communications, and teachings, some apparently signed by her associates Ann Underwood and Jane Townley as true transcriptions, also relating to Southcott's followers Elias Carpenter and Rev. Richard Foley.
Physical Description2 folders