RALPH WALDO EMERSON JOURNALS AND NOTEBOOKS, 1819-1875 (TYPED TRANSCRIPTS, 1929-1938)
Vault A35, R.W. Emerson, Unit 1
EXTENT: 3.25 linear feet (three record cartons)
ORGANIZATION: Organized in a single sequence; arranged roughly chronologically.
BIOGRAPHY: American Transcendental philosopher, essayist, poet, and lecturer; resident of Concord, Mass. Born in Boston, May 25, 1803; died in Concord, Apr. 27, 1882. His father was William Emerson, pastor of the First Church in Boston (d. 1811). Ralph Waldo Emerson’s early education was influenced by his aunt, Mary Moody Emerson. He entered Harvard in 1817; his teachers there included George Ticknor, Edward Everett, and Edward Tyrrel Channing; he graduated in 1821. At Harvard, he began to keep journals that later served as source of material for lectures, which served in turn as source material for published essays. Emerson taught school before entering Harvard Divinity School. He was approved as a candidate for the Unitarian ministry in 1826. In 1829, he married Ellen Louisa Tucker, who died in 1831. He became the colleague of the Rev. Henry Ware at the Second Church in Boston, 1829, resigning in 1832. Emerson toured Europe in 1832 and 1833, meeting Carlyle, Wordsworth, and Coleridge. On his return to Boston, he turned to lecturing as a source of income. His Transcendentalism, expressed in his first book, Nature (1836) and in subsequent writings, was shaped by reading German authors, Wordsworth, Plato, the Neoplantonists, Eastern writings, Montaigne, and Swedenborg. In 1834, he settled in Concord, home of his ancestors Peter Bulkeley (founder and first minister of town) and William Emerson (Revolutionary minister and R.W.E.’s grandfather). He married Lydia Jackson of Plymouth in 1835. He was a friend of Henry David Thoreau, Bronson Alcott, Margaret Fuller, Elizabeth Peabody, and others in the Transcendental circle. His "American Scholar" speech was published in 1837, the "Divinity School Address" in 1838. The Dial was started in 1840 with Emerson as a major contributor, later editor. The first series of his Essays was published in 1842, the second in 1844, Poems in 1847. Emerson journeyed again to England and France in 1847 and 1848. He spoke out against slavery during the 1850s, and was one of the founders of the Saturday Club in 1855. He traveled to California, where he met John Muir, in 1871. After the burning of the Emerson home in 1872. Emerson went abroad for the third and final time, returning to Concord to find his house rebuilt through the largesse of friends. His final decade was marked by progressive mental decline. His son Edward Waldo Emerson edited a posthumous edition of R.W.E.’s complete works (published 1903-1904), also his journals (1909-1914). James Elliot Cabot was Emerson’s literary executor.
SCOPE AND CONTENT: Carbon copies of typescripts of Emerson’s manuscript journal and notebook volumes (1819-1875) now deposited by the Ralph Waldo Emerson Memorial Association in the Houghton Library, Harvard University; formerly deposited in the Concord Free Public Library. Typescripts, prepared 1929-1938, include transcripts of Edward Waldo Emerson’s notes and footnotes on the original manuscripts. Some of the individual journals are identified by the alphabetical designations of James Elliot Cabot.
NOTES/COMMENTS: Originals in the Houghton Library. Folder headings, copied from old folders, may not correspond precisely to date spans of materials within.
PROCESSED BY: LPW; finding aid prepared 03/15/1996. Prepared for the Internet by Peter K. Steinberg, 05/17/2006.
CONTAINER LIST
Box 1, Folder 1:
Cabot’s M, 1819 Mar.-1829. 1st copy, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 2:
Pythologian Journal, 1819-1821. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 3:
The Wide World, nos. 1-4, 1820 Jan.-1822 (Cabot’s D, E, F, G). 1st copy, complete, 1929-1931.
Box 1, Folder 4:
No. XVII (Cabot’s A), 1820 Jan. 12; no. XVIII (Cabot’s B), 1820 Sept.-1821 Jan. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 5:
The Universe, nos. 1-8 (a quotation book), 1820-1821 (Cabot’s C). 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 6:
The Wide World, nos. 6-8 (Cabot’s I, J, K; no. 5 missing), 1822. 1st copy, complete, 1929-1932; partly revised to agree with later copies.
Box 1, Folder 7:
The Wide World, nos. 9-12 (Cabot’s L), 1822-1824. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 8:
No. XVII (Cabot’s M), 1823 Jan.-1829. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 9:
Journal, Walk to the Connecticut, 1823 Aug. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 10:
Letter from M.M.E. to R.W.E., 1824 Apr. 13. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 1, Folder 11:
Early journals, no. XVI (Cabot’s S), 1824-1826. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 12:
he Wide World, no. XIII (Cabot’s N), 1824 Feb.-Aug. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 13:
Encyclopedia, 1824 Aug.-1834 (?) 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 14:
Early journals, no. XV (Cabot’s O?), 1824 Oct.-1826. 1st copy, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 15:
Cabot’s PII, 1825 Mar. 1. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 16:
Cabot’s T, U, and V (T: Blotting book I, 1826 or earlier & 1827; U: Charleston, S.C., St. Augustine, Fla., 1827; V: Blotting book II, 1826 Dec. 19); Sermons & journals, 1828-1829. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 17:
Cabot’s Q, 1826-1828. ("N.B. Another Q, so marked by Emerson further on, 1832"). 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 18:
abot’s R, 1826-1828; "Little Journal at St. Augustine," 1827 Jan.-Mar. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 19:
Preaching record, 1826-1838; Paper read at a meeting of former scholars; Extracts from "S" salvage; Juvenile verses; "Trees"; Excerpts from "Books"; Excerpts from RT "Rhetoric"; Excerpts from TO "Intellect." 3rd carbon copy, 1938.
Box 1, Folder 20:
Blue book, undated [1826]. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 21:
Blotting book Y, 1829-1830. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 22:
Blotting book Ψ, 1830-1832. 1st copy, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 23:
Blotting book IV, 1830 Oct. 27. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 24:
Blotting book III, Ω, 1831-1832. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 25:
Journal Q, 1832-1833. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 26:
Journals of travel (Pocket note-books), 1833: Sicily (Cabot’s 1), Jan. 2-Mar.; Italy (Cabot’s 2), Mar.7-Apr. 17; Italy & France (Cabot’s 3), Rome, Apr. 20-London, July 20; Scotland & England (Cabot’s 4), Glasgow, Aug. 23- Kendal, Aug. 20. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 27:
Pocket note-book (Cabot’s 5), 1833; Original notes on Thaddeus Blood’s reminiscences of Concord Fight, Apr. 19, 1775; Misc. accts, &c.; Collectanea (RO, Pocket note-book), 1835. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 28:
Journal A, 1833-1834. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 29:
Visits to France, England, 1833-1834; Fragment of a journal in Maine, 1834. 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 30:
Journal B, 1835-1836 (Pt. I). 1st copy, complete, 1929.
Box 1, Folder 31:
Journal B, 1835-1836 (Pt. II). 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 1, Folder 32:
Journal L, "Concord," 1835. 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 1, Folder 33:
Journal RO, 1835 and 1855-1856. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 1, Folder 34:
Journal F (1), 1836-1837. 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 1, Folder 35:
Journal C, 1837 (Pt. I). 1930 copy, complete.
Box 1, Folder 36:
Journal C, 1837 (Pt. II). 1930 copy, complete.
Box 1, Folder 37:
Journal Z, Pt. 1, 1832; Pt. 2, 1842 Nov.-1843 Mar. 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 2, Folder 1:
Journal D, 1838-1839 (Pt. I). 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 2, Folder 2:
Journal D, 1838-1839 (Pt. II). 1st copy, complete, 1930.
Box 2, Folder 3:
Journal E, 1839-1842. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932; p. 1-127.
Box 2, Folder 4:
Journal E, 1839-1842. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932; p. 128-286.
Box 2, Folder 5:
Notebook ABA, A.B. Alcott, [184-]-[186-]. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 2, Folder 6:
Journal F (2), 1840. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 7:
Journal G, 1841. 3rd carbon copy, 1942.
Box 2, Folder 8:
Journal Δ, 1841-1857. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 9:
Journal H, 1841. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 10:
Journal J, 1841-1842. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 11:
Journal K, 1842. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 12:
ournal N, 1842. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 13:
Journal R, 1843. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 14:
Journal U, 1843. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 15:
Journal V, 1844. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 16:
Journal W, 1845. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 17:
Journal X, 1845. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932; typed p. 1-108 incl.
Box 2, Folder 18:
Journal X, 1845. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932; typed p. 109-217 incl.
Box 2, Folder 19:
Journal Y, 1845. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 20:
Journal O, 1846. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 21:
Journal AB, 1847. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 22:
Journal CD, 1847. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 23:
Journal ED, 1847-1848. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 24:
Journal GH, 1847. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 25:
London Journal, 1847-1848. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 26:
ournal LM, 1848. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 27:
Journal OP, Gulistan, 1848. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 28:
ournal RS, 1848. 3rd carbon copy, 1932-1936.
Box 2, Folder 29:
Journal TU, 1849. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 30:
Journal AZ, 1850. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 31:
Journal BO, 1850-1851. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 32:
Journal Co, 1851. 3rd carbon copy, complete, 1932.
Box 2, Folder 33:
Journal DO, 1852. 3rd carbon copy, 1936.
Box 2, Folder 34:
Journal GO, 1852. 3rd carbon copy, 1936.
Box 2, Folder 35:
Journal HO, 1853-1854. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 2, Folder 36:
Journal VS, 1853-1854. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 2, Folder 37:
Journal IO, 1854. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 1:
Journal NO, 1855. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 2:
Journal EA, 1856. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 3:
Journal SO, 1856. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 4:
Journal ZO, 1856. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 5:
Journal VO, 1857. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 6:
Journal AC, 1859. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 7:
Journal BL, 1859-1860; Book of Lectures, 1859. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 8:
Journal CL, 1859-1860. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 9:
Orientalist, 1859. 3rd carbon copy, 1938.
Box 3, Folder 10:
Journal DL, 1860-1866. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 11:
Journal GL, 1861-1863. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 12:
Journal, War, 1862. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 13:
Journal VA, 1862-1863. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 14:
Journal FOR, 1863. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 15:
Journal HT, 1864. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 16:
Journal KL, 1864. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 17:
Journal ML, 1865-1869. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 18:
Journal LN, 1866. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 19:
Journal WA, 1866-1867. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 20:
Journal NY, 1868-1870. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 21:
Journal ST, 1870-1875. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Box 3, Folder 22:
Journal L, Camadeva, [18— - 1875]. 3rd carbon copy, 1937.
Copyright 2006, Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass. Not to be reproduced without permission from the library.