Scholar’s archive pertaining to Jared Sparks and other contemporary American and British historians.

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A useful archive concerning 19th-century American historians assembled by Steve Schuster, a future Texas printer, publisher and author. Schuster’s focus was American historian Jared Sparks and the hagiography of George Washington by Sparks.

Through primary and secondary sources, the archive encompasses the activities of or involves: Jared Sparks, George Bancroft, William H. Prescott, William Gammell, Josiah Quincy, George E. Ellis, James Grahame, Peter Force, and Lord Mahon, i.e, Philip Henry Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope.

Series 1. Letters and Newspapers, 1827–1846

•  Ohio Monitor, Vol. XI, No. 31, Columbus, June 16, 1827. [4]pp. Front page comprises Jared Sparks’ letter to Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story on Sparks’ progress in locating, compiling, and transcribing George Washington’s papers (4 columns). Also within: “Proposals for publishing (Under the Direction of the Managers of the Ohio State Colonization Society), A Periodical Work, to be entitled The African Repertory, and Colonization Register” (1¼ columns), a separate prospectus for the same, signed by Enoch Lewis (½ column), and the poem “Midnight” by abolitionist author-editor, Elizabeth Margaret Chandler, who signs here as “Emily” (½ column).

•  Manuscript copy of a 1¼ page letter from George Bancroft to W.H. Prescott, Esqr., Boston. December 26, 1839. Quarto. The letter to the noted historian pertains to a public falling out between Bancroft and Scottish historian James Grahame over a point of Rhode Island history in the latter’s book The History of the Rise and Progress of the United States of North America, till the British revolution in 1688 (1827). Historian George E. Ellis of Boston is referenced as a go-between. Eager to clear up any misunderstanding, Bancroft admits he might have expressed his criticism of Grahame in a less “offensive” manner.

•  Articles clipped from the Newark Daily Advertiser, “Grahame and Bancroft, On the early History of New Jersey” (Nos. I–VIII), ca. 1840. Mounted on 8 leaves with manuscript annotations and marginalia.

•  ALS by William Gammell to Josiah Quincy [III], then Harvard College president. Providence, April 25, 1845. Quarto. 1½ pages. Brown University professor William Gammell discusses Rhode Island’s colonial agents. The letter also references Jared Sparks and Supreme Court justice Joseph Story and discusses the historical sources for information on the state’s colonial agents. Quincy cites the present letter and quotes from it (in part) in his book, The Memory of the Late James Grahame, the Historian of the United States, Vindicated (p8), published the following year.

•  ALS by George E. Ellis to Josiah Quincy [III]. Charlestown, May 31, 1845. Quarto. 1 page. Ellis reports on his conversation with George Bancroft about a Morning Post newspaper article that Ellis believes was secretly written by Bancroft. Ellis quotes Bancroft’s denial and his admission that he did give the author “some help.” Ellis informs Quincy that he believes that Bancroft is totally responsible for the article and that Bancroft pressed a third party to pass the article off as their own.

•  News clipping, a March 4, 1846 letter to the editor by George Bancroft on James Grahame’s History of the United States, from the Boston Courier, affixed to a quarto bifolium, Statement and Remarks Relative to the Observatory founded at Cambridge by Citizens of Boston and its Vicinity, and concerning one of its essential Wants. [Np, ca.1845]. 2¼ pages. The bifolium is unrecorded in OCLC and discusses in great detail the efforts to raise funds by subscription to build a “great telescope” for the scientific community. Docketed by Josiah Quincy.

Series 2. Photocopied and typed transcriptions of Jared Sparks correspondence with scholar’s notes.

•  “Record of Correspondence” 1809–1840. Approx. 550 pages. Three volumes in five: Vol. I, Parts 1 and 2; Vol. II, Parts 1 and 2; and Vol. 3. Quartos. Photocopied from the original manuscript at the Houghton Library and bound within modern albums.

•  Typed transcriptions from the Diary and Journals of Jared Sparks held at the Houghton. Three-ring binder, 366 total pages, containing: “Biographical Memoranda” from the Journals of 1812, 1813, 1814, and 1816. (6pp.) “Summer tour to the Springs. 1819 and Summer Tour to Charleston. Ordination of Rev. Samuel Gilman.” from the Journal of 1819. (25pp.) “From the Diary, 1823–1827.” (64pp.) “Journal of a Southern Tour 1826” from the Journals 1826–1828. (271pp.)

•  Handwritten folio notebook with 30 pages of Steve Schuster’s notes pertaining Sparks correspondence held at the Houghton.

Series 3. 1852 pamphlets pertaining to the academic dispute between Jared Sparks and Lord Mahon.

All bound into modern cord-tied boards save for one title noted below.

•  [Palfrey, John Gorham]. Review of Lord Mahon’s History of the American Revolution. From the North American Review for July, 1852. Boston: Little, Brown, 1852. 86pp. Presentation inscription on preliminary leaf: “Nath. Silsbee [Jr.] from J. Sparks.”  Checkmarks and highlighted passages in pencil, likely by Silsbee who served as Salem, Mass. mayor and Harvard University treasurer.

•  Sparks, Jared. A Reply to the Strictures of Lord Mahon and Others, on the Mode of editing the Writings of Washington. Cambridge: John Bartlett, 1852. 35pp.

•  Sparks, Jared. A Reply to the Strictures of Lord Mahon and Others, on the Mode of editing the Writings of Washington. Cambridge: John Bartlett, 1852. 35pp. A second copy. With minor marginalia, commentary, in pencil.

•  Sparks, Jared. Letter to Lord Mahon, Being an Answer to His Letter Addressed to the Editor of Washington’s Writings. Boston: Little, Brown, 1852. 48pp. Original cloth, crudely repaired with red tape.

•  Sparks, Jared. A Reply to the Strictures of Lord Mahon and Others, on the Mode of editing the Writings of Washington. Also, A Review of Lord Mahon’s History on the American Revolution. From the North American Review for July 1852. London: Trubner & Co., 1852. 89, [1]pp. With minor marginalia, commentary, in pencil.

•  Mahon, Lord. Letter to Jared Sparks, Esq.; Being a Rejoinder to His “Reply to the Strictures of Lord Mahon and Others, on the Mode of editing the Writings of Washington.” L. John Murray, 1852. 32pp. Ownership inscription on preliminary leaf: “Nath. Silsbee [Jr.].” Numerous Checkmarks and highlighted passages in pencil.

Series 4. Associated Material

•  Force, Peter, Esq. The Declaration of Independence, or Notes on Lord Mahon’s History of the American Declaration of Independence. London: G. Willis, 1855. 66pp. Printed wrappers in modern cord-tied boards.

•  Mayer, Brantz. Memoir of Jared Sparks, LL.D. Baltimore: John Murphy, 1867. Engr. frontis. port., 36pp. 12 x 9½ inches. Large Paper Edition. “50 Copies Printed for the Author”, this copy unnumbered. Illustrated wrappers. Folio.

•  Schuster, Stephen William, IV. To Build a Monument: Jared Sparks and The Writings of George Washington. Ph.D. Dissertation, Texas Christian University [Fort Worth]. August, 1977. 212pp. Quarto. Buckram.

Price: $1,500.00