John J. McAleer Collection, 1810-1931
Vault A35, McAleer, Unit 1
EXTENT: fifteen items (in one container).
BIOGRAPHY: Academic and author John J. McAleer was born in 1923 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served in World War II and received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Boston College in 1945 and 1947, respectively, and a doctorate from Harvard in 1955. He spent his academic career (1955-2003) in the Boston College English Department. His subject specialties were wide-ranging. He wrote or edited books on mystery writer Rex Stout, Theodore Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis, Henry David Thoreau (Artist and Citizen Thoreau, 1971) and Ralph Waldo Emerson (Ralph Waldo Emerson: Days of Encounter, 1984). His novel Unit Pride was first published in 1981. He served as president of the Thoreau Society from 1981 to 1982. Professor McAleer died at his Lexington home in 2003. Boston College holds his papers.
SCOPE AND CONTENT: A small, miscellaneous collection of materials relating to John McAleer’s interest in nineteenth-century New England authors (Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller in particular) and history.
SOURCE OF ACQUISITION: Gift of John J. McAleer, May 19, 1993.
NOTES AND COMMENTS: Accessioned March 7, 1995 (AMC 001).
PROCESSED BY: LPW; finding aid completed July 14, 2014.
ITEM LIST
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Fortune of the Republic . . . (Boston: Houghton, Osgood and Company, 1878). Myerson A36.1.a.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Philosograms of Emerson: Over Two Hundred Pungent Sayings of “The Sage of Concord.” Edited by H. H. Emmons . . . (Cleveland: The Rex Publishing Company, 1930).
Emmons, H. H. Audiocassette, H. H. Emmons speaking before Emerson Club of Cleveland, May 22, 1931. Inscribed: “To John McAleer from Dick Emmons, Feb. 12, 1990.”
Emmons, H. H. Photocopied portrait photograph of H. H. Emmons.
Emmons, H. H. Photographic portrait of Ralph Waldo Emerson, reproduced for publication or distribution, captioned “Light of Emerson” (referring to a publication of that name by Emmons). Five copies.
Emmons, H. H. Photographic portrait of Emerson on copper printing plate mounted on wooden block, inscribed on underside of block, “Prop / H H Emmons.”
Harvard University. Catalogus Senatus Academici, Eorum Qui Munera et Officia Gesserunt, Quique Alicujus Gradus Laurea Donati Sunt in Universitate Harvardiana, Cantabrigiae, in Republica Massachusettensi (Cambridge: Hilliard and Metcalf, 1821). Catalog published the year of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s graduation from Harvard (his name appears on page 71).
James, Henry. Lectures and Miscellanies . . . (Clinton Hall, New York: Redfield, 1852). Inscribed in pencil on verso of half title: “See Mass. Quart. Rev. V. 3, p. 52, / for Art. by James on ‘The Divine / Man.’”
Nouveau Dictionnaire Portatif des Langues Françoise et Angloise. En Deux Parties . . . (Philadelphia: B.B. Hopkins and Company, 1810). Inscribed in ink on front pastedown endpaper: “Timothy Fuller / 20. April 1830~ / Boston / Cambridge.” Another Fuller name (in pencil; first name illegible) inscribed above this. Faint pencil notes on back free endpaper.
Ossoli, Margaret Fuller. Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli. Vol. I . . . (Boston: Phillips, Sampson and Company, 1852). Vol. 1 only (of two volumes). Inscribed on front free endpaper: “M. N. Dunbar / Apr. 17, 1852.”
Otis, Eliza Henderson Bordman. The Barclays of Boston. By Mrs. Harrison Gray Otis . . . Fourth Thousand (Boston: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, 1854).
Rosen, Georg. Elementa Persica. Edidit Georgius Rosen . . . (Berlin: Veitius, 1843). Inscribed on front free endpaper: “Miss Elizabeth Hoar. / Oct. 1856.”
Russell, Amelia E. Home Life of the Brook Farm Association . . . (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1900).
Whitefield, Edwin. The Homes of Our Forefathers. Being a Selection of the Oldest and Most Interesting Historical Houses, and Noted Places in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont . . . (Reading, Mass.: E. Whitefield, 1886). Passages from Pope and Dryden inscribed on back lining leaf.
Whitefield, Edwin. The Homes of Our Forefathers. Being a Selection of the Oldest and Most Interesting Buildings, Historical Houses, and Noted Places in Massachusetts . . . Third Edition (Boston: A. Williams and Company, 1880). Inscribed on front free endpaper: “To my excellent Friend G. W. N. / I send kind greeting with hand and pen, / Accept this book with Christmas glee, / From your true friend Daniel B. / Dec. 25, 1881.”
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Mounted 16 July 2014. rcwh.