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Spence and Lowell Families Papers
mssSL
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Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Spence and Lowell families papers
Identifier/Call Number: mssSL
Physical Description:
9 Linear Feet
(6 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1740-1958
Date (bulk): 1797-1861
Abstract: Papers belonging to the Spence and Lowell families of New England.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more
information.
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.
[Identification of item]. Spence and Lowell families papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Mary B. Bigelow, 1960.
The Spence family of New Hampshire was related to the Lowells of Massachusetts by the marriage of Keith Spence and Mary Traill.
Keith Spence (died approximately 1810), merchant of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, served as purser onboard the Ganges, Constellation,
and Philadelphia, during the Quasi-War with France and Tripolitan War, taking part in naval operations in the West Indies
and the Mediterranean. In 1798, he was captured by a French privateer and released in 1799. With the Constellation, he took
part in the 1802 voyage and the blockade of Tripoli. Spence was captured on October 31, 1803, when the Philadelphia ran aground
off Tripoli and was released in June 1805. In 1806, he went to Havana, and from 1807 to 1810 served as Navy agent in New Orleans.
Spence's wife Mary Traill Spence (died 1824) was related to the Brackett, Whipple, and Lowell families. Among her relatives
were William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence, his brother Joseph Whipple, Joshua Brackett, a leading Portsmouth
physician and patriot, the Rev. John Lowell of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Judge John Lowell (1743-1802). Harriet Brackett
Spence, daughter of Keith Spence and Mary Traill Spence, married Charles Lowell (1782-1861), pastor of the West Unitarian
Church in Boston, son of Judge John Lowell. Among their six children were James Russell Lowell, the poet, abolitionist, and
diplomat, and Mary Traill Spence Lowell, a scholar, traveler, and a popular anonymous novelist. Her son William Lowell Putnam
was killed at Ball's Bluff in 1861.
Correspondence and miscellaneous papers of the Spence and Lowell families, especially those relating to Keith Spence, Charles
Lowell, and Mary Spence Lowell Putnam. The largest portion of the collection consists of letters from Keith Spence to his
wife. The letters, written over the period from April 1797 to September 1809, describe Spence's business exploits and naval
career, including service in the West Indies, cruises onboard the Ganges, Philadelphia and the Constellation, his imprisonment
in Tripoli, and his service as Navy agent in New Orleans. Some letters discuss their son Robert Traill Spence, also a naval
officer. Correspondence of Charles Lowell, is chiefly letters addressed to him discussing theology, political and literary
news, slavery and abolitionism, family news, etc. The correspondence covers the period between 1818 and 1861. Correspondence
of Mary Spence Lowell Putnam, is chiefly letters addressed to her, many from her European friends. Correspondents include
Lajos Kossuth, Terézia Walder Pulszky, Charles Sumner, James Russell Lowell, and others. Also included are a few letters,
evidently collected by her for their autograph value. Scattered correspondence and papers of the Whipple, Lowell, Traill,
and Putnam families, including pieces by John Lowell (1704-1767); Joshua Brackett, (1735-1802), John Lowell, "the Old Judge"
(1743-1803), William Whipple, and Joseph Whipple; a few letters dealing with the death of William Lowell Putnam at Ball's
Bluff (1861), poems by Robert Traill Spence Lowell and Annie Fields, and miscellaneous family documents and genealogical data.
Also included is an address of the U.S. Postmaster General on the occasion of the Kossuth stamp ceremony in 1958. Collection
includes John Quincy Adams autograph letter signed to Charles Lowell, 1843 May 22 (SL 224).
Processed by Huntington Library staff. In 2022, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid. In 2022, Melissa Haley enhanced description
of the presidential material present in the collection as part of the American Presidential Papers Project.
Individual call numbers included in the collection: mssSL 1-317.
Arranged chronologically.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Abolitionists -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Correspondence
Autographs -- Collectors and collecting -- United States
Ball's Bluff, Battle of, Va., 1861
Unitarians -- Massachusetts -- Boston -- Correspondence
Women authors, American -- 19th century -- Archives
Massachusetts -- History -- Sources
New England -- History -- Sources
New England -- Intellectual life -- 19th century -- Sources
United States -- History -- 1797-1801 -- Personal narratives
United States -- History -- 1797-1801 -- Naval operations -- Sources
United States -- History -- Tripolitan War, 1801-1805 -- Personal narratives
United States -- Intellectual life -- 19th century -- Sources
Family papers -- New England
Letters (correspondence) -- United States
Poems -- United States
Adams, John Quincy, 1767-1848
Brackett, Joshua, 1733-1802
Fields, Annie, 1834-1915
Kossuth, Lajos, 1802-1894
Lowell, Charles, 1782-1861
Lowell, James Russell, 1819-1891
Lowell, John, 1704-1767
Pulszky, Theresa
Putnam, Mary Lowell, 1810-1898
Putnam, William Lowell, 1840-1861
Spence, Keith, -approximately 1810
Whipple, Joseph, 1738-1816
Whipple, William, 1730-1785
Constellation (Frigate)
Ganges (Ship : 1794-1801)
Philadelphia (Frigate)
United States. Navy -- History -- Tripolitan War, 1801-1805 -- Sources
United States. Navy -- Officers -- Correspondence