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Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Collection, 1821-1995 (bulk 1821-1909).
5.00 linear feet.
Catalog Number: M112
Series List:
- Correspondence, 1821-1959, n.d.
0.5 linear foot
- Writings, 1823-1925, n.d.
24 folders
- Craigie House Material, 1916-1982,
n.d. 0.25 linear feet
- Journals of Harriet Coffin Sumner
Appleton, 1851-1867
1.0 linear foot
- Images, 1825-1882, n.d.
- George T. Little's "Longfellow's
Boyhood Poems," 1906-1935, n.d. 9 folders
- Ephemera and memorabilia, 1807-1995,
n.d. .40 linear feet
- Clippings, 1870-1999, n.d.
2.0 linear feet
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Agency History / Biographical Note:
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882; Bowdoin 1825) was born on
February 27, 1807 in Portland, Maine. Educated chiefly in private
schools, he was already a published poet when he entered Bowdoin
College as a sophomore in 1822. He graduated in 1825 and soon after
was offered the professorship of modern languages at his alma mater.
In 1826 he went to Europe to master the necessary languages, and
in 1829 he returned and assumed the professorship and the librarianship
of the College. In 1835, Longfellow became Harvard's Professor of
French and Spanish. Although he had been publishing steadily throughout
his teaching career, he resigned from Harvard in 1854 to concentrate
on his writing.
Longfellow is best remembered for such poems as "The Song of Hiawatha,"
"Paul Revere's Ride" and "The Courtship of Miles Standish," yet
his work was diverse. He wrote "Morituri Salutamus" in 1875 for
his fiftieth reunion at Bowdoin. He translated Dante's Divine
Comedy and Lhomond's Elements of French Grammar into
English; edited Poems of Places and The Poets and Poetry
of Europe; and wrote prose works such as Kavanagh and
Hyperion. His works have been widely translated and are still
in print throughout the world.
In 1835, his life took a tragic turn with the sudden death of his
wife, the former Mary Storer Potter of Portland. In 1843, he
was remarried to Frances Appleton of Boston. Longfellow died
on March 24, 1882.
Scope and Content:
The collection consists of correspondence, literary manuscripts
and fair copies, portraits, clippings and other ephemera. It includes
correspondence with Gorham D. Abbott, Thomas B. Aldrich, William
D. Howells, Samuel Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Alfred Lord
Tennyson, and Walt Whitman. Major correspondents (9 or more letters)
are Edward Abbott, Jacob C. Chamberlain, and George T. Little. The
manuscript material is supplemented by collections of Longfellow's
published works and of musical settings for his poems, and by the
manuscript and galleys of George T. Little's "Longfellow's Boyhood
Poems."
Provenance:
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Collection, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library.
Access Restrictions: Use of original materials is restricted,
with exceptions determined on an individual basis.
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