Vault A45, Jarvis, Unit 1
EXTENT: 5.5 linear ft. (1 container, 3 oversize folders, and 21 volumes)
ORGANIZATION: Organized into five series: I. Correspondence; II. Miscellaneous papers; III. Journals; IV. Manuscripts; V. Books from the library/estate of Edward Jarvis.
BIOGRAPHY: Physician; social statistician; author of books and articles on physiology, insanity, and social statistics; social historian of Concord, Mass. Son of baker/farmer Deacon Francis Jarvis and Milicent Hosmer Jarvis. Born in Concord, 1803; married Almira Hunt of Concord, 1834; died in Dorchester, Mass., 1884. Educated in Concord, Westford, and (1822-1826) at Harvard College, where he took a particular interest in chemistry and botany. Taught school during college winters and after graduation. In 1827, he began to study medicine, first with Dr. Josiah Bartlett of Concord, then at Massachusetts Medical College (Harvard Medical School). In 1830, having completed medical school, he established a practice in Northfield, Mass. He returned to Concord in 1832, practicing here until 1837. While in Concord, he became interested in vital statistics (under the influence of Lemuel Shattuck) and in the treatment of the insane. From 1837 until 1842, he practiced in Louisville, Ky. Following his return to Massachusetts, he settled in Dorchester, devoting himself to statistical research and to caring for the insane. Appointed by the Governor to the Lunacy Commission in 1854 to study the insane population of the state. Traveled to England and France in 1860, visiting asylums and attending the International Statistical Congress in London. Examined and criticized 1850 and 1860 census figures and prepared an extensive mortality report for the U.S. Congress. In 1863, he was appointed to inspect U.S. military hospitals. Member of professional societies and organizations and of the Social Circle in Concord. Temperance advocate. Late in life, Jarvis recorded research, lore, recollections, and analyses of life in his native town in Traditions and Reminiscences of Concord and Houses and People in Concord. Benefactor of the Concord Free Public Library.
SCOPE AND CONTENT: Correspondence, 1826-1886, includes letters from Louis Agassiz, Josiah Bartlett (letter of reference), Jacob Bigelow, James Freeman Clarke, Caleb Cushing, Edward Everett, James A. Froude, James A. Garfield, H.B. Goodwin, Richard Hildreth, Samuel Hoar, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Thomas Starr King, Levi Lincoln, Horace Mann, John Stuart Mill, John G. Palfrey, Andrew Preston Peabody, Wendell Phillips, George C. Shattuck, Lemuel Shattuck, Carroll D. Wright, and others. Also includes institutional form acknowledgements for statistical and other publications received of Jarvis, cover letters for publications sent to him, and three transcribed volumes of his letters written from abroad while travelling in 1860. Miscellaneous papers, 1841-1884, include: receipted Harvard College bills; commissions and appointments; printed ephemera (passes, invitations, menus, calling cards, mainly from 1860 European trip); embossed charts for the blind; passport; etc. Journals, 1827-1842, include: two volume diary (1827-1830 and 1830-1842); Journal of a Journey from Louisville to New Orleans (1841). Manuscripts, 1798-1882, include: Jarvis family account book, 1798-1840, including a record of Concord deaths 1778-1850 (originally recorded by E. Ripley, H. Goodwin, & B. Frost, transcribed by Capt. Francis Jarvis and daughters Louisa and Lucy); one volume of transcribed death records 1778-1878 (the earlier entries copied from the record of deaths transcribed in the Jarvis family account book) with Jarvis’s annotations and analyses ([1879]); Traditions and Reminiscences of Concord (1880); Houses and People in Concord (1882). Books from the library/estate of Jarvis include: 11 volumes, published 1796-1858, most significant among them Jarvis’s annotated copy of Jacob Bigelow’s Florula Bostoniensis (1824), marked 1834-1836 with flowering times of Concord plants, and his annotated, interleaved, extra-illustrated copy of Lemuel Shattuck’s 1835 A History of the Town of Concord.
SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: From Edward Jarvis (gift, bequest, and estate).
ASSOCIATED MATERIALS: Edward Jarvis papers, Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.
NOTES/COMMENTS: Fifty-six items transferred from Letter Files: Letter File 1, A2, A3, B1, B3, B5, B6, B8, C2, C5-C11, C16, D1, E4, G1, G2, H2-H8, H10, J3-J6, K1, L3, M1, O2, P1, P4, P9, S1, W1, W4, W7, W11, W13; Letter File 2, J2; Letter File 3, B4, H4, H5, H8, P3, S1; Letter File 6, F2, M4, S4, T3 (LPW, March, 1995).
PROCESSED BY: LPW; finding aid prepared 7/30/96; prepared for mounting on the Web by CM, 04/04.
CONTAINER LIST
SERIES I. CORRESPONDENCE, 1826-1886:
Personal correspondence, A-W (inclusive dates 1826-1886):
Box 1, Folder 1:
A-Clark.
Including letters from Louis Agassiz, Josiah Bartlett, Jacob Bigelow.
Box 1, Folder 2:
Clarke, James Freeman.
Box 1, Folder 3:
Clement-He.
Including letters from Caleb Cushing, Edward Everett, James A. Froude, James A. Garfield, H.B. Goodwin.
Box 1, Folder 4:
Hildreth, Richard.
Box 1, Folder 5:
Ho-M.
Including letters from Samuel Hoar, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Ellen Jarvis, Francis Jarvis, Thomas Starr King, Levi Lincoln, Horace Mann, John Stuart Mill.
Box 1, Folder 6:
N-W.
Including letters from John G. Palfrey, A.P. Peabody, Wendell Phillips, Geo. C. Shattuck, Lemuel Shattuck, Carroll D. Wright.
Box 1, Folder 7:
Form acknowledgements for statistical publications received and cover letters for publications sent, arranged chronologically (primarily from institutions; mainly printed forms).
OUTSIDE BOX 1 (UNBOXED LOOSE VOLUMES):
European letters, 1860 (3 volumes of transcribed letters from Jarvis).
Box 1, Folder 8:
Index to v. 1 of European letters (loose, removed from volume).
SERIES II. MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS, 1822-1863 (plus undated):
Box 1, Folder 9:
Receipted bills for Harvard College tuition, 1822-1825.
Box 1, Folder 10:
Commissions and appointments, 1834-1863.
See also oversize item in separate folder, outside box.
Box 1, Folder 11:
Printed ephemera (passes, invitations, menus, calling cards, etc.), 1833-1863 (bulk 1860).
Box 1, Folder 12:
Notes, etc.
OUTSIDE FOLDER 1 (OUTSIDE BOX):
Item from Commissions and appointments folder (Folder 10).
OUTSIDE FOLDER 2 (OUTSIDE BOX):
Passport, 1860.
OUTSIDE FOLDER 3 (OUTSIDE BOX):
Embossed charts for the blind (undated).
SERIES III. JOURNALS, 1827-1842 (SHELVED UNBOXED):
Diary ("Autobiography"), 1827-1842 (2 v.):
v. 1, 1827-1830
v. 2, 1830-1842
Journal of a Journey from Louisville to New Orleans… (1841).
SERIES IV. MANUSCRIPTS, 1798-1882 (SHELVED UNBOXED):
Jarvis family account book, 1798-1840 (with Concord deaths, 1778-1850, transcribed by Francis, Louisa, and Lucy Jarvis).
Mortality in Concord, Massachusetts, from 1778 to 1841 [i.e. 1878] (transcribed, with annotations by E. Jarvis, [1879]).
Traditions and Reminiscences of Concord, Massachusetts, or, A Contribution to the Social and Domestic History of the Town, 1779 to 1878 (1880).
Houses and People in Concord, 1810 to 1820 (1882).
SERIES V. BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY/ESTATE OF EDWARD JARVIS, 1796-1858 (SHELVED UNBOXED):
Adler, G.J. A Progressive German Reader, Adapted to the American Edition of Ollendorff’s German Grammar … (New York: Appleton, 1852).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 19116 (accessioned May 26, 1885).
Bigelow, Jacob. Florula Bostoniensis. A Collection of Plants of Boston and Its Vicinity… Second Edition Greatly Enlarged … (Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, 1824).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 18786 (accessioned Jan. 27, 1885).
Inscribed on front free endpaper: Edward Jarvis / Cambridge / 1824 / Harvard College …
Inscribed on front lining leaf: Edward Jarvis / Northfield / Massachusetts …
Annotated by Jarvis, with flowering times of plants of Concord, Mass., 1834-1836, specimens laid in.
Bryant, William Cullen. Selections from the American Poets (New York: Harper, 1840).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 19025 (accessioned Apr. 23, 1885).
Inscribed on front lining leaf: A. Jarvis / from her brother / Nathan / 1841.
Douai, A. A Practical and Complete German Grammar (Boston: Phillips, Sampson, 1858).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 19115 (accessioned May 26, 1885).
Inscribed on t.p.: Edward Jarvis / Dorchester / Mass.
Enfield, William. Institutes of Natural Philosophy, Theoretical and Practical …Second American Edition (Boston: Thomas & Andrews, 1811).
Gift of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 15146 (accessioned Mar. 19, 1880).
Several inscriptions on front free endpaper, including : Charles Jarvis / Harvard College / 1819.
Hederich, Benjamin. Graecum Lexicon Manuale Tribus Partibus … Editio Quarta … (Leipzig: Gleditsch, 1796).
Gift of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 12315 (accessioned Aug. 25, 1877).
Inscribed on front free endpaper: Charles Jarvis / Harvard College / 1817 and 1821 / Edward Jarvis / Harvard College / 1822 to 1826.
A New Pocket-Dictionary of the English and Dutch Languages … (Leipzig: Tauchnitz, [n.d.]).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 18772 (accessioned Jan. 27, 1885).
Inscribed: Edward Jarvis / gift of his friend / Dr. Robert W. Wood.
Newman, Francis William. The Soul, Its Sorrows and Its Aspirations … Third Edition (London: Chapman, 1842).
Gift of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 12258 (accessioned July 16, 1877).
Otway, Thomas. [Works. Vol. 3. Venice Preserved, etc.] ([London: Printed for T. Turner, 1813?]). Title page lacking.
Gift of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 12634 (accessioned Nov. 6, 1877).
Shattuck, Lemuel. A History of the Town of Concord … (Boston: Russell, Odiorne, 1835).
From the estate of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 18981 (accessioned Apr. 23, 1885).
Inscribed on front lining leaf : Gift of my beloved father / Francis Jarvis / in 1838.
Also inscribed, beneath the above: Edward Jarvis / Louisville / Ky.
Presentation inscription to Concord Free Public Library (1877) below other inscriptions on front lining leaf.
Heavily annotated, interleaved, and extra-illustrated by Jarvis.
Wilson, Robert A. Mexico and Its Religion; With Incidents of Travel in That Country … (New York: Harper, 1855).
Gift of Edward Jarvis.
Accession number 11994 (accessioned Mar. 25, 1877).
Inscribed on front free endpaper: Edward Jarvis / from Mrs. Sarah Amory / October 1858.
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Mounted 1st May, 2004 -- Webmaster note: use FrontPage to edit.
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