S. Austin Allibone papers mssAL

Brooke M. Black
The Huntington Library
October 2020
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, California 91108
Business Number: (626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org

Note

Finding aid last updated on October 18, 2022 by Melissa Haley.


Contributing Institution: The Huntington Library
Title: S. Austin Allibone papers
Creator: Allibone, S. Austin (Samuel Austin), 1816-1889
Identifier/Call Number: mssAL
Physical Description: 6 Linear Feet (6 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1848-1887
Abstract: The correspondence and manuscript notebooks belonging to American librarian, lexicographer, and compiler Samuel Austin Allibone.
Language of Material: Materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

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

Conditions Governing Use

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]. S. Austin Allibone papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Provenance unknown. In library as of 1932.

Biographical / Historical

Samuel Austin Allibone (1816-1889) was an American lexicographer, librarian and compiler. He produced a critical dictionary documenting the lives of approximately 46,000 writers, composed religious tracts, and compiled indexes of quotations. Allibone worked as a librarian at the Lenox Library in New York from its endowment until 1888.

Scope and Contents

The collection contains correspondence and five manuscript notebooks. The vast majority of the correspondence was not penned by Allibone, and a good portion of it was neither authored by him nor addressed to him. Three of the five manuscript notebooks are by Edward Everett, one was written by Baron Thomas Babington Macauley and one was composed by Allibone and his wife, Mary. Everett's manuscripts include a biography of Baron George Gordon Byron (AL 394) and of Sir Walter Scott (AL 395) as well as a copy of his speech "In Defense of the Webster Statue" (AL 398). Macauley's manuscript is a version of his unpublished History of England, and Allibone's manuscript contains, among other items, A visit to Washington Irving, as well as an autograph copy of his letter to Queen Victoria of Great Britain. Significant correspondents include George Bancroft, Henry Ward Beecher, Sir David Brewster, Elihu Burritt, Thomas Carlyle, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Edward Everett, Millard Fillmore, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Hartwell Horne, Washington Irving, Abraham Lincoln, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Thomas Babington Macauley, R. Shelton (Robert Shelton) Mackenzie, William Hickling Prescott, L. H. (Lydia Howard) Sigourney, Baron Alfred Tennyson, William Makepeace Thackeray, George Ticknor and Robert C. (Robert Charles) Winthrop.

Processing Information

Processed by Huntington Library staff. In 2020, 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.

General

Former call number: mssAL 1-401.

Arrangement

Arranged in the following order: I. Correspondence; II. Manuscript notebooks.

Subjects and Indexing Terms

Authors, American -- 19th century
Authors, English -- 19th century
Webster Statue (Concord, N.H.)
Great Britain -- History -- 19th century -- Sources
Letters (correspondence) -- 19th century
Manuscripts -- 19th century
Allibone, Mary
Bancroft, George, 1800-1891
Brewster, David, 1781-1868
Burritt, Elihu, 1810-1879
Byron, George Gordon Byron, Baron, 1788-1824
Carlyle, Thomas, 1795-1881
Dickens, Charles, 1812-1870
Disraeli, Benjamin, 1804-1881
Everett, Edward, 1794-1865
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894
Horne, Thomas Hartwell, 1780-1862
Irving, Washington, 1783-1859
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882
Lytton, Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron, 1803-1873
Macauley, Thomas Babington Macauley, Baron
Mackenzie, R. Shelton (Robert Shelton), 1809-1880
Prescott, William Hickling, 1796-1859
Scott, Walter, 1771-1832
Sigourney, L. H. (Lydia Howard), 1791-1865
Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892
Thackeray, William Makepeace, 1811-1863
Ticknor, George, 1791-1871
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901 -- Correspondent
Winthrop, Robert C. (Robert Charles), 1809-1894

 

Correspondence 1848-1887

Box 1

Agassiz-Dunglison

Box 2

Everett-Francis

Scope and Contents

Includes Millard Fillmore letters signed to S. Austin Allibone 1852 July 23, 1852 August 2, 1852 November 12, 1853 February 18; autograph letter signed, 1856 October 11 (AL 152-156).
Box 3

Gilpin-Lincoln

Box 4

Longfellow-Smith

Box 5

Sparks-Woolsey

Box 6

Manuscript volumes 1857-1872

 

"Recollections of Lord Byron, 1815" by Edward Everett AL 393-394 1858

Scope and Contents

With letter by Edward Everett to S. Austin Allibone.
 

"Recollections of Sir Walter Scott, 1818" by Edward Everett AL 395 1857

Scope and Contents

With Edward Everett letter to S. Austin Allibone.
 

"Defense of the Webster Statue" by Edward Everett AL 396-398 1859

Scope and Contents

With Edward Everett letter to S. Austin Allibone, letter by Joseph Ames to Edward Everett, letter by Fletcher Webster to Edward Everett, a printed text, and pamphlet.
 

"Memoranda of his unpublished 'History of England'" by Lord Macaulay AL 399-400 1860

Scope and Contents

With letter signed by C. Macaulay, brother of Lord Macaulay.
 

Commonplace book by S. Austin Allibone and Mary Allibone AL 401 1855-1872

Scope and Contents

Begins with "A Visit to Washington Irving, June 12th, 1855."