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Prudence Ward and Anne J. Ward Correspondence: Finding Aid
mssHM 68710-68772  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Overview of the Collection
  • Access
  • Administrative Information
  • Related materials in the Huntington Library
  • Biographical Note
  • Ward Family Tree
  • Scope and Content
  • Arrangement
  • Indexing Terms
  • Indexing: Subjects

  • Overview of the Collection

    Title: Prudence Ward and Anne J. Ward Correspondence
    Dates (inclusive): 1839-1906
    Collection Number: mssHM 68710-68772
    Creator: Ward, Prudence, 1795-1874.
    Extent: 63 pieces + ephemera in 2 boxes.
    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: The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, drawings, and photographs of the Ward and Thoreau families, relatives of Henry David Thoreau, of Massachusetts. The collection also contains two pages of proofs of F. B. Sanborn's "First and last journeys of Thoreau (1905)", his lecture to the Emerson Society, and a typescript of his essay "The Women of Concord."
    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]. Prudence Ward and Anne J. Ward Correspondence, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

    Provenance

    Purchased from Bromer Booksellers, Feb. 24, 1995.

    Removed or Separated Material

    The collection also contains a daguerreotype of Jane Thoreau, Henry David Thoreau’s aunt, within its original case, which was transferred to Photo Archives on February 10, 2006; call number photDAG 155.

    Related materials in the Huntington Library

    Biographical Note

    Prudence Ward was born on October 6, 1795, in Newton, Massachusetts, to Joseph Ward and Prudence (Bird) Ward. Both Joseph and Prudence Bird were descendents of William Ward, one of the original founding fathers of Massachusetts. Joseph Ward was a schoolteacher before the Revolutionary War. During the war, he was secretary and aide-de-camp to both General Heath and a distant cousin, General Artemis Ward. He eventually became Colonel of the General-Commissary of the Musters. On November 26, 1778, he was taken prisoner by the British. After his release and retirement from the military he became a realtor and stockbroker. In 1792, he retired from business and in 1796 become the representative for Newton in the General Court. In 1807, he was appointed justice of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk County. He died on February 14, 1812.
    Joseph and Prudence Bird had eight children: Elizabeth, Joseph, Myra, Joseph, Prudence, Caroline, Dennis, and George Washington. Prudence never married but was a much loved aunt to her nieces and nephews, especially Caroline’s children Ellen, Edmund and George.
    After Col. Joseph Ward’s death, Prudence Bird Ward and her daughters, Caroline and Prudence, became close friends with the Thoreau family, especially Mrs. Cynthia Thoreau (Henry David Thoreau’s mother), and Misses Elizabeth, Jane, and Maria Thoreau (Henry David Thoreau’s aunts). It was Maria Thoreau who, in 1817, introduced Caroline Ward to her future husband, Edmund Quincy Sewall. In 1833, Mrs. Ward and Prudence moved to Concord and lived in a house owned by John Thoreau, Sr. (Henry David Thoreau’s father). They lived there until Mrs. Ward’s death in 1844. After her mother’s death, Prudence left Concord but remained a close confidante of Maria and Sophia Thoreau. Caroline’s children were also very close to the Thoreaus, for her daughter, Ellen received marriage proposals from both John and Henry Thoreau. Even though she rejected both offers, Ellen remained close to Sophia. Ellen’s brother Edmund in 1840 became a student at the Thoreau school and was the inspiration for Henry David Thoreau’s poem “Gentle Boy.” Prudence Ward died on June 2, 1874. Upon Prudence’s death, her niece Anne J. Ward took control of her papers. Anne J. Ward was the daughter of Dennis Ward, Prudence’s brother. Anne J. Ward died on July 19, 1913.

    Ward Family Tree

    Scope and Content

    The collection contains correspondence, manuscripts, drawings, and photographs of the Ward and Thoreau families of Massachusetts. The correspondence consists of letters to Prudence Ward from Sophia, Maria, and Helen Thoreau and Franklin Benjamin Sanborn's letters to Anne J. Ward (1905, some with enclosed manuscripts). Also included are individual letters by Harrison Gray Otis Blake, Edmund Quincy Sewall, and George Washington Ward. The letters discuss the Alcott family, Mary Merrick Brooks, Lidian Jackson Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and the Thoreau family; American Antislavery Society, Cherokee Nation, Southworth & Hawes daguerreotypes, family affairs, social news, etc. Also included are drawings by Sophia E. Thoreau and Prudence Ward and photographs of places and people connected with the Thoreau family and Prudence Ward. The collection contains two pages of proofs of F. B. Sanborn's First and last journeys of Thoreau (1905), his lecture to the Emerson Society, and a typescript of his essay "The Women of Concord." The photographs within the collection all deal with places or people influential to both the Thoreaus and Prudence Ward. The collection also contains 4 folders of ephemera.
    The drawings, photographs and letters to Prudence Ward were originally pasted into a scrapbook. The scrapbook has been disbound and the items interfiled with the rest of the collection. Before it was disbound, digital images were taken of each page in order to preserve the way the scrapbook was originally created. The original scrapbook binding is housed in the last box of this collection. Along with it is the binder that held the correspondence and manuscripts by F. B. Sanborn.

    Arrangement

    The correspondence, manuscripts and drawings are arranged alphabetically according to the author. The photographs follow and are arranged in alphabetical order according to the description of the photograph.

    Indexing Terms

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

    Subjects

    Alcott family.
    Alcott, Abba May, 1800-1877.
    Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888.
    Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.
    Alcott, May, 1840-1879.
    Brooks, Mary Merrick, 1801-1868.
    Emerson, Lidian Jackson, 1802-1892.
    Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
    Sanborn, F. B. (Franklin Benjamin), 1831-1917 -- Archives.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862 -- Family -- Archives.
    Thoreau, Jane, 1784-1864.
    Thoreau, John, 1815-1842.
    Thoreau, Maria, 1794-1881 -- Correspondence.
    Thoreau, Sophia E. -- Archives.
    American Anti-Slavery Society.
    Emerson Society.
    Southworth & Hawes.
    Biographers -- Correspondence.
    Women -- New England -- Correspondence.
    Cherokee Indians.
    New England -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Sources.

    Forms/Genres

    Drawings -- United States -- 19th century.
    Family papers New England -- 19th century.
    Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century.
    Manuscripts -- United States -- 19th century.
    Photographs -- United States -- 19th century.
    Ephemera -- United States -- 19th century.

    Additional Contributors

    Blake, H. G. O. (Harrison Gray Otis), 1816?-1898.
    Sanborn, F. B. (Franklin Benjamin), 1831-1917.
    Sewall, E. Q. (Edmund Quincy), 1828-1908.
    Thoreau, Helen L. (Helen Louisa), 1812-1849.
    Thoreau, Maria, 1794-1881.
    Thoreau, Sophia E.
    Ward, Anne J., 1840-1913, correspondent.
    Ward, George Washington, 1802-1855.

    Indexing: Subjects

    Alcott, Abigail (May). In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1870, Feb. 28. HM 68722.
    Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888. In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1870, Feb. 28. HM 68722.
    Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888. In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1870, Feb. 28. HM 68722.
    Alcott, May, 1840-1879. In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1870, Feb. 28. HM 68722.
    American Anti-Slavery Society. In Helen L. Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1845, Apr. 27. HM 68720.
    Brooks, Mary Merrick, 1801-1868. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Cherokee Nation. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Emerson, Lidian Jackson, 1802-1892. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. In Helen L. Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1845, Apr. 27. HM 68720.
    Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882. In George Washington Ward, letter to Prudence Bird Ward, 1843, Nov. 15. HM 68730.
    Emerson Society. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1905, Apr. 19. HM 68715.
    The First and Last Journeys of Thoreau. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1905, June 23. HM 68716.
    Sewall, Caroline Ward, 1797-1867. In Sophia Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, [1867], Dec. 16. HM 68728.
    Southworth and Hawes. In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1864, Feb. 23. HM 68721.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In [F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn], [Untitled beginning]: “The demand for specimens of Thoreau’s…” HM 68712.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1905, Apr. 19. HM 68715.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1905, June 23. HM 68716.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1906, Apr. 1. HM 68717.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In E.Q. (Edmund Quincy) Sewall, letter to Mary (Ward) Counce, 1839, Apr. 5. HM 68719.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In Helen L. Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1845, Apr. 27. HM 68720.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In Sophia Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1862, May 12. HM 68727.
    Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. In George Washington Ward, letter to Prudence Bird Ward, 1843, Nov. 15. HM 68730.
    Thoreau, Jane, 1784-1864. In Maria Thoreau, letter to Prudence Ward, 1864, Feb. 23. HM 68721.
    Thoreau, John, 1815-1842. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Thoreau, John, 1815-1842. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, letter to Anne J. Ward, 1905, June 23. HM 68716.
    Thoreau, Maria, 1794-1881. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Thoreau, Sophia E. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Osgood, Ellen Sewall. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Ward, Prudence, 1795-1874. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, [Untitled beginning]: “The Emerson Society…,” [1905], Apr. 19. HM 68713.
    Ward, Prudence, 1795-1874. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.
    Ward, Prudence Bird, 1765-1844. In F.B. (Franklin Benjamin) Sanborn, “The Women of Concord:” [essay]. HM 68714.