Guide to the Charles Henry Howard Collection, 1808-1957 (Bulk: 1852-1910)
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Charles Henry Howard Collection, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library, Brunswick, Maine
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Charles Henry Howard (1838-1908, Bowdoin 1859) was a bvt. brig. general who saw action at Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg and Chattanooga, and in command of the U.S.C.T. training camp at Beaufort, South Carolina. After the war, Howard served in the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, as inspector of schools for South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and assistant commissioner for the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia.
For five years he was western secretary of the American Missionary Association. He served as editor-in-chief of The Advance, a Congregational journal (1871-1881) and controlling editor of Farm, Field and Stockman, later Farm, Field and Fireside (1885-1905). Howard, the brother of Oliver Otis Howard, held several special appointments including government inspector of Indian agencies under Presidents Garfield and Arthur and western editor and business manager of the National Tribune (1885).
Howard (1838-1908) married Mary Katherine "Katie" Foster (1845-1927) of Bangor in 1867, and they had seven children: Otis McGaw Howard (1868-1940); Burt Foster Howard (b. 1871); Nina Foster Howard (1873-1942); Arthur Day Howard (b. 1874); Lawrence Riggs Howard (1875-1942); Donald Charles Howard (b. 1879); and Katharine Howard Parker (1889-1981).
Letters, articles, addresses, diaries, etc., consisting of more than 325 items. The collection includes material on the Civil War, on Charles Henry Howard's experiences at Kents Hill School and Bowdoin College, and on Howard and his family. The majority of the correspondence dates between 1852 and the 1870s and is from Howard to family members; there are several letters to Charles from his brother Oliver Otis Howard. There is a smaller amount of non-family correspondence, most from the 1880s on.
This collection complements the papers of Howards's brothers, Oliver Otis Howard and Rowland Bailey Howard.
Full transcriptions of the correspondence, as well as alphabetical and chronological correspondence indexes, have been compiled by Russell and Rosalie Howard; electronic versions of the transcriptions and indexes are available, courtesy of the Howards:
Alphabetical index of correspondents (PDF file).
Chronological index of correspondents (PDF file).
Transcriptions of Letters, chronological (PDF file).
Approximately 290 items from 1852-1910, the correspondence consists largely of letters between Howard and members of the his family through the 1870s, and with non-family members from the 1880s on, including letters from William Jennings Bryan, Horace Bushnell, Henry Morton Flagler, James Longstreet and Elihu Root. A listing of the material is available by contacting Special Collections. More than 95% of the earlier letters are written by Howard, many of which complement those in the Oliver Otis Howard and Rowland Bailey Howard collections.
Full transcriptions of the letters, as well as alphabetical and chronological indexes, have been compiled by Russell and Rosalie Howard; electronic versions of the transcriptions and indexes are available courtesy of the Howards (Adobe Acrobat Reader required):
Alphabetical index of correspondents (PDF file).
Chronological index of correspondents (PDF file).
Transcriptions of Letters, chronological (PDF file).
Arranged chronologically.
1852 March - 1852 September
1853 August - 1853 November
1854 March - 1854 December.
1855 April - 1856 September.
1857 January - 1857 December.
1858 - 1859 December.
1860 March - 1860 December.
1861 February - 1861 December.
1862 January - 1862 February.
1862 March.
1862 April - May.
1862 June - October.
1862 December.
1863 January - April.
1863 May - June.
1863 July - September.
1863 October - 6 December.
1863 December.
1864 January.
1864 February.
1864 March.
1864 April - June.
1864 July - September.
1864 November - December.
1865 January - March.
1865 April - May.
1865 June - September.
1865 October - November.
1866 May - November.
1867 April - December.
1868 April - July.
1872 March - 1873 November.
1874 February - June.
1876 July - 1880 December.
1886 March - December.
1887 March - 1890 April.
1891 March - 1893 February.
1893 May - August.
1894 June - 1895 April.
1895 - 1896 December.
1897 April - 1898 May.
1898 November - 1899 May.
1900 August - 1903 February.
1905 March - 1906 February.
1906 February.
1906 March - November.
1907 February.
1907 May - 1910 January.
Undated.
Typed manuscript copies of letters 1852 - 1861 [incomplete].
Manuscript, typescript and printed material, much of it involving Howard's Civil War experiences or his military career. Dated between 1808 and 1957, it includes articles and addresses, diaries and other ephemeral pieces.
Arranged alphabetically.
Articles and Addresses: "American Farmer in Relation to Economic Conditions, The."
Articles and Addresses: "Army of the Tennessee under Major-General O.O. Howard, The" [by] William Duncan, 1894.
Articles and Addresses: "Battle of Fair Oaks" ... [by] G. Grant.
Articles and Addresses: "Call on General Grant, A."
Articles and Addresses: First day at Gettysburg.
Articles and Addresses: Inaugural Prayer Meeting [for President Grant], March 1869.
Articles and Addresses: "Men I Have Met."
Articles and Addresses: "Our First View of Atlanta," July 9, 1864.
Articles and Addresses: "Reminiscences of the Civil War Period."
Articles and Addresses: "Veteran's View of Civic Duty, A."
Diaries: 1854 March 15 - July 1.
Diaries: 1863 January 7 - 1865 January 2.
Autographs of famous men.
Biographical records re C.H. Howard and O.O. Howard.
Clippings.
Columbian Exposition programs and passes.
Inspection report ... South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida [1865].
Invitations and programs.
Lincoln Memorial University pamphlets, 1955-1957
Manuscript notes, receipts, etc.
Military societies: Army of the Tennessee - 13th reunion, 1879.
Military societies: programs, certificates, etc.
Pen and pocket Bible.
Printed ephemera.
Volunteer Retired List: Congressional bills, etc., 1905-1906.