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Thomas Nast Papers: Finding Aid

Finding aid re-keyed by Brooke M. Black, March 22, 2013.
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
© 2013
The Huntington Library. All rights reserved.

Overview of the Collection

Title: Thomas Nast Papers .
Dates (inclusive): 1851-1916 .
Bulk dates: 1860-1902.
Collection Number: mssHM 27714-27783
Creator: Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902.
Extent: 69 pieces in 1 box
Repository: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Manuscripts Department
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Phone: (626) 405-2129
Email: reference@huntington.org
URL: http://www.huntington.org
Abstract: This collection contains 69 letters of American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) and his family, including letters from Nast written while covering the Heenan-Sayers prizefight and Giuseppe Garabaldi's military campaign in Sicily (1860); a tour of Pennsylvania Civil War battlefields in the summer of 1863; an 1872 trip to Washington, D.C.; his 1873 lecture tour; and from Guayaquil, Ecuador (1902).
Language: English.

Access

Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department. For more information, contact Reader Services.

Administrative Information

Publication Rights

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item]. Thomas Nast Papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Provenance

Purchased from P. P. Appel, 1960, and William F. Kelleher, 1962.

Biographical Note

Thomas Nast (1840-1902) was a German-born American cartoonist. In 1861 he married Sarah Edwards of New York; the family lived first and New York and later in Morristown, New Jersey. Nast contributed drawings to Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, the New York Illustrated News (for which he covered the Heenan-Sayers fight of 1860 and Garibaldi's campaign), and Harper's Weekly (in which appeared Nast's Civil War drawings, and later political cartoons). In 1902 Nast was appointed consul at Guayaquil, Ecuador, where he died of yellow fever on December 7, 1902.

Related Materials in the Huntington Library

Scope and Content

Collection of letters of American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840-1902) and his family -- his wife, Sarah Edwards Nast, and his son Thomas Nast, Jr. There are twenty five letters by Thomas Nast, chiefly addressed to his wife, written during his trips to England and Italy to cover the Heenan-Sayers prizefight and Giuseppe Garabaldi's military campaign in Sicily (1860), (this group also includes six letters addressed to William Luson Thomas, 1830-1900), the tour of Pennsylvania battlefields in the summer of 1863, the trip to Washington in the beginning of 1872, his 1873 lecture tour, and from Guayaquil, Ecuador (1902). Also included are three letters from Sarah Edwards Nast to her husband (1859 and 1869). There is also a copy (in the hand of Mrs. Nast) of a satire of Andrew Johnson ("So sayeth King Andy Johnson"), perhaps a caption to a political cartoon.
The rest of the collection are letters of condolence and official correspondence dealing with Thomas Nast's death and settling of his accounts. Correspondents include Herbert Henry Henry Davis Peirce and Theodore Roosevelt.
Selected Nast's letters were published by Albert Bigelow Paine in his Th. Nast : his period and his pictures (New York : Macmillan; London : Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1904).

Arrangement

Arranged chronologically.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Huntington Library's Online Catalog.  

Subjects

Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875 -- Humor.
Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902 -- Archives.
Garibaldi, Giuseppe, 1807-1882.
United States. Consulat (Guyaquil, Ecuador)
Artists -- United States -- Correspondence.
Cartoonists -- United States -- Correspondence.
Consuls -- United States --Correspondence.
German Americans -- Correspondence.
Journalists -- United States -- Correspondence.
Ecuador -- Description and travel.
Italy -- History -- 1815-1870 -- Sources.
London (England) -- Description and travel.
Pennsylvania -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives.
Washington (D.C.) -- Description and travel.

Forms/Genres

Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century.

Additional Contributors

Nast, Sarah Edwards.
Peirce, Herbert H. D. (Herbert Henry Davis), 1849-1916.
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919.
Thomas, William Luson, 1830-1900, correspondent.

Box 1

Correspondence .

 

1851-1859.

 

1851, Mar. 6. Hurd, John R.. Circular letter to Chairman of Sections, N.Y. Public Schools. Printed circular, with extract from minutes of Executive Committee re: distribution of medals in schools and 10 replies with the circular. HM 27717-HM 27729

 

1853, Dec. 27. Wood, Fernando. To H. I Redfield. Letter of recommendation on behalf of John A. Kyle. HM 27783

 

Approximately 1859. Haney, J. C.. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Copy in the hand of Mrs. Nast. HM 27716

 

Approximately 1859. Nast, Sarah Edwards. To Thomas Nast. New York. HM 27769

 

Approximately 1859. Nast, Sarah Edwards and Edwards, Eliza. To Thomas Nast. New York. HM 27771

 

London / Garibaldi’s Campaign.

 

1860, Mar. 9 – Apr. 20. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. 3 A.L.S. Re: London. HM 27734-27736

 

1860, June 2. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Re: Genoa, Italy. HM 27737

 

1860, June 13. Nast, Thomas. To William Luson Thomas. Cagliari, Sardinia. HM 27738

 

1860, June 22 – July 20. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Palermo, Sicily. HM 27739-27740

 

1860, July 1. Nast, Thomas. To William Luson Thomas. Palermo, Sicily. HM 27741

 

1860, Aug. 28. Nast, Thomas. To William Luson Thomas. Mouteleone, Italy. HM 27742

 

1860, Sept. 8 - 11. Nast, Thomas. To William Luson Thomas. Naples, Italy. HM 27743-27744

 

1860, Sept. 28 – Nov. 12. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Naples, Italy. HM 27745-27747

 

1860, Oct. 22 – Nov. 3. Nast, Thomas. To William Luson Thomas. Naples, Italy 2 A.L.S. HM 27748-27749

 

The Civil War (1863).

 

1863, July 1. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Philadelphia, Pa. and onboard train. HM 27750

 

1863, July 4 – July 5. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Harrisburg, Pa. 2 A.L.S. HM 27751-27752

 

1863, July 7. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Shippensburg, Pa. HM 27753

 

Approximately 1863. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. En route N.Y.C. to Washington, D.C. HM 27754

 

Approximately 1863. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Washington, D.C. HM 27755

 

Approximately 1863. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. The Front. HM 27756

 

Reconstruction.

 

Approximately 1867. Nast, Thomas. Satire of Andrew Johnson. “So saith King Andy Johnson” (A parody of the Ten Commandments ). HM 27757

 

1869, Mar. 2. Nast, Sarah Edwards. To Thomas Nast. New York. HM 27770

 

1872, Jan. 29 – Feb. 13. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Washington, D.C. 7 A.L.S. published, in large part, in Albert Bigelow Paine, Op. cit. pp. 222-226. HM 27758-27765

 

1873, Oct. 8. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Dover, N.H. HM 27766

 

Ecuador.

 

1902, Aug. 12. Nast, Thomas. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Guayaquil, Ecuador. HM 27767

 

Death of Thomas Nast.

 

1902, Dec. 7. Beard, I. A. R.. To Thomas Nast, Jr.. Telegram re: the death of Thomas Nast. HM 27715

 

1902, Dec. 10. Ashton, Georgia. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Published, in part in Albert Bigelow Paine, Thomas Nast: His Period and his Pictures (p. 574). HM 27714

 

1902, Dec. 10. Peirce, Herbert Henry Davis. To Robert B. Jones. Typescript. HM 27772

 

1902, Dec. 11. Jones, Robert B.. To Sarah Edwards Nast. HM 27730

 

1902, Dec. 15. Peirce, Herbert Henry Davis. To Thomas Nast, Jr.. Washington, D.C. Also: translated copy of the letter from Minister of Ecuador to U.S. Secretary of State re: death of Thomas Nast. HM 27773-27774

 

1903, Jan. 27. Jones, Robert B.. Affidavit of U. S. Consular Service. Re: death of Thomas Nast. HM 27731

 

1903, Jan. 3. Peirce, Herbert Henry Davis. To Sarah Edwards Nast. L.S. (typescript) Also, letter from Robert B. Jones to David J. Hill re: death of Thomas Nast (copy). The final sentence of this letter appears in Albert Bigelow Paine, p. 574. HM 27775-27776

 

1903, Jan. 31 – Apr. 29. United States. Treasury Dept.. To Sarah Edwards Nast. 4 L.S. HM 27779-27782

 

1903, Feb. 5 – Apr. 8. Jones, Robert B.. To Sarah Edwards Nast. Also: two affidavits re: accounts of Thomas Nast with R.B. Jones, and 2 inventories of Nast’s personal effects. 2 L.S. HM 27732-27733

 

1903, Feb. 3. Sawter, George. To Sarah Edwards Nast. New York. HM 27778

 

1903, Apr. 22. Nast, Thomas, Jr.. To U. S. Treasury Department. Typescript. Re: settlement of the account of Thomas Nast. HM 27768

 

1916, July 6. Roosevelt, Theodore. To Cyril (or Thomas) Nast. A.L.S. Oyster Bay, N.Y. HM 27777

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