Smith (Elizabeth Lee Allen and Henry Boynton) Family Correspondence, 1846-1923 (bulk 1846-1877)

Printable guide [HTML]
Request items

Summary

Title:
Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith and Henry Boynton Smith family correspondence
Dates:
1846-1923 (bulk 1846-1877)
Abstract:
Correspondence related to religious poet and writer Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith (1817-1893); her husband, theologian and educator Henry Boynton Smith (1815-1877); and their family.
Extent:
0.4 Linear Feet (1 box)
Language:
Materials are in English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith and Henry Boynton Smith family correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith's correspondence includes incoming letters from her friends and family, including her father, Reverend William Allen (1784-1868); her brother-in-law Erastus Hopkins (1810-1872), a Presbyterian minister who operated an Underground Railroad station in Massachusetts; and Hannah Lyman (1816-1871), a social reformer and educator and the first principal of Vassar College. Henry Boynton Smith's correspondence includes letters from European and American scholars Philip Schaff, Francis A. March (1825-1911), Alexander Jacob Schem (1826-1881), Roswell Dwight Hitchcock (1817-1887), George Lewis Prentiss (1816-1903), and others. Letters offer insight into the history of Northampton, Massachusetts, home of the Northampton Association of Education and Industry, one of the largest transcendentalist utopian colonies in New England. William Allen's letters describe the effort spearheaded by Samuel Williston (1795-1874), founder of the Williston Seminary, to arrange for education of a young man of African descent. The letters of Hannah Lyman illuminate the early period of her career as a social reformer and educator. A few photographs, contracts, and other family documents are also included with the collection.

Biographical / historical:

Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith (1817-1893), was a religious poet and writer and a member of a prominent New England abolitionist family. Her father was Reverend William Allen (1784-1868), an antislavery theologian and educator, and president of Dartmouth and Bowdoin colleges. in 1843 Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith married Henry Boynton Smith (1815-1877), a theologian, preacher, and educator known for promoting German theological and historical scholarship. The couple had four children: Arixene Southgate Smith Woolsey (1843-1931); Maria Malleville Wheelock Smith McClellan (1845-1924); William Allen Smith (1848-1899); and the theologian Henry Goodwin Smith (1860-1940).

Acquisition information:
Purchased from Carmen Valentino, February 2023.
Processing information:

Processed at the time of accessioning by Kelly Kress in June 2023.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by correspondent.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:
Kelly Kress
Date Encoded:
This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-06-20 12:46:26 -0700 .

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

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]. Elizabeth Lee Allen Smith and Henry Boynton Smith family correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2191
reference@huntington.org
Website