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Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Collection, 1817-2006 (bulk 1855-1914).
8.75
linear feet.
Catalog Number:
M27
Series List:
- Correspondence, 1817-1926, n.d., 2.0
linear feet
- Biographical and autobiographical essays
and records, 1853-2006, 16 folders
- Personal material, 1838-1920, .5 linear
feet
- Articles and addresses, .25 linear feet
- Lecture notes, .25 linear feet
- Civil War, .25 linear feet
- Family material, 1838-1920, .5 linear
feet
- Family material : Thomas D. Chamberlain,
1838-1920, .5 linear feet
- Associations and Societies, .25 linear
feet
- Manuscripts, printed and typescript materials,
1840-1995, .25 linear feet
- Commemorative materials, 1963-2006, .75
linear feet
- Clippings, 1866-, .25 linear feet
- Images, 2.25 linear feet
- Realia, .25 linear feet
- Research materials, .25 linear feet
- In the Hands of Providence manuscript, .25 linear feet
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Agency History / Biographical Note:
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Bowdoin 1852) was born in Brewer, Maine in 1828. In
1861, Chamberlain left a Bowdoin professorship to become Lt. Colonel of the
20th Maine, serving to the rank of Bvt. Maj. General of Volunteers in command
of the 5th Corps of the Union Army. He fought at Fredericksburg,
Chancellorsville, Gettysburg (receiving the Congressional Medal of Honor for
the defense of Little Round Top), Petersburg and Appomattox (where he
accepted the surrender of the Confederate troops). After the war,
Chamberlain served as the Republican governor of Maine, 1867-1871; commander of
the state militia during the Legislature's 1880 "count-out" rebellion; and
president of Bowdoin, 1871-1883. In 1884-1892 he was involved in railroad and
real estate ventures in Florida and from 1900 was surveyor of the Port of
Portland. Chamberlain, Bowdoin's sixth president, also served the College as professor,
trustee and overseer. For related materials, see the
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Administrative Records.
Chamberlain married Frances Caroline Adams in Brunswick. The couple
had four children, two survived. Chamberlain died in 1914.
Scope and Content:
The collection contains letters, articles, addresses, documents, Civil War
related manuscripts, family manuscripts, biographical essays, etc. Notables
represented in the correspondence files include: James Ware Bradbury,
Ulysses S. Grant, Edward Everett Hale, Hannibal Hamlin, John Singleton Mosby,
Robert Edwin Peary, Francis O.J. Smith, Calvin Ellis Stowe, William Widgery
Thomas and Israel Washburne, Jr. The largest portion of the correspondence
is with family members. Other major correspondents, each with five or more
letters, include George Thomas Little, Librarian of Bowdoin; Ira Hobart Evans,
banker and attorney; Georgie O. Hutchins, teacher in Madison, Wisconsin; and
William E. Webster, a resident of Newton Center, Massachusetts.
Published works by Chamberlain are also available in Special Collections.
Reproduction note:
For a selection of items drawn principally from this collection, see the Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Bowdoin College Digital Archive.
Cite as: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain Collection, George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives, Bowdoin College Library.
Access Restrictions: None.
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