|
creator:
|
Adams Family
|
|
title:
|
Papers
|
|
dates:
|
1836-1976, n.d.
|
|
extent:
|
2.52
linear feet (6 document cases)
|
|
collection number:
|
MS 10
|
|
repository:
|
Special Collections Department, Iowa State
University.
|
Administrative information
|
access:
|
Open for research
|
|
publication rights:
|
Consult Head, Special Collections Department
|
|
preferred citation:
|
Adams
Family Papers, MS 10, Special Collections Department, Iowa State
University Library.
|
|
Biographical
note
|
Reverend Samuel Newbury (1802-1868), a
Middlebury College graduate and Presbyterian from Vermont, came west
to start churches and establish schools.
In 1853, he and the family came to Dubuque, Iowa.
Mary Newbury Adams (1837-1901), third child of
Reverend and Mrs. Samuel Newbury, was born in Peru, Indiana. Her father was a firm believer in education for both sexes.
When Mary was nineteen years of age, she was sent to Mrs. Willard’s
Female Seminary in Troy, New York, where she graduated in 1857.
She married Austin Adams, a young lawyer and teacher, a few
months later. Their
home in Dubuque became an avant-garde salon for intellectuals of the
period (1860's through 1880's).
In 1866, Mrs. Adams became interested in women’s
suffrage and did much to promote it through writing and speaking.
She was a member of the Association for Advancement of Women,
the American Historical Association, vice chairperson of Women’s
Branch of the World’s
Congress Auxiliary of the Colombian Exposition, and numerous
literary societies.
Mary Newbury Adams’ husband, Austin Adams
(1826-1890), came from Andover, Vermont, to Dubuque in 1854. He graduated from Dartmouth College and studied law at
Harvard. He practiced
law in Dubuque and was a member of the Supreme Court of Iowa
(1876-1888) during which he served two terms as chief justice.
He was a regent of the University of Iowa, lecturer at the
Law School for twenty-nine years, president of the Board of
Education of Dubuque, and also started the public library in
Dubuque.
Aside from the correspondence of prominent
persons such as A. Bronson Alcott, many of the family letters offer
insight into the interests and concerns of three generations during
the second half of the 19th century in America.
Reverend Samuel Newbury (1802-1868) m. (1832)
Mary Ann Sergeant (1808-1863)
Children:
Frances Elizabeth Newbury (1833-1898) m.
(1855) John Judson Bagley (1832-1881)
Samuel Sergeant Newbury (1835-1864) killed
in battled on Welden Railroad, south of Petersburg, Virginia
Mary Ann Keeler Newbury (1837-1901) m.
(1857) Austin Adams (1826-1890)
Elizabeth Margaret Newbury (1839-1841)
Catherine Sedgewick Newbury (1841-1873) m.
(1861) Patrick Robb (d. 1867)
Egbert Starr Newbury (1843-1880) m. Francis
Maria Kellogg
Jeanette Bishop Newbury (1846-1895)
Children of Mary Newbury Adams and Austin
Adams
Annabel Adams (b. 1858)
Jerry Eugene Adams (b. 1860)
Herbert Francis Adams (b. 1863)
Cecilia Keller Adams (b. 1865)
|
|
Collection
description
|
The Austin Adams Family Papers is primarily correspondence
that has been organized chronologically.
The collection also contains biographical
materials including newspaper clippings, journals, and diaries
of the family members.
The first section features the correspondence
of Reverend Samuel Newbury, Mary Sergeant Newbury, Thomas J.
Newbury, Mary Newbury Adams, and Austin Adams. The letters of Mary
Newbury Adams feature her experiences at Troy Female Seminary,
correspondence with her sister Frances, and numerous family social
events.
The second section contains correspondence of
the following major characters: Mary Newbury Adams and her husband,
Austin Adams; Bronson and Abby May Alcott; Mary’s
brothers Samuel S. Newbury and Egbert S. Newbury; Alvin Adams
(cousin to Austin); Mary’s
sisters Frances Newbury Bagley, Catherine Sedgewick, Newbury Robb,
and Jeanette Bishop Newbury; and Mary’s
Aunt Jeanette Newbury Rice.
The third section includes the correspondence
of Mary and Austin Adams’
children: Annabel Adams Goan, J. Eugene Adams, Herbert F. Adams, and
Cecilia Keeler Adams. Additional
family letters between cousins, nieces, and nephews are also found
in this section. This
section contains Mary Newbury Adam’s genealogical and biographical
papers, original manuscripts, writings, diaries, and bible.
|
|
Organization
|
The correspondence
has been organized chronologically and the biographical
materials have been arranged alphabetically.
|
|
|
Container list
|
Box
|
Folder
|
Title
|
Dates
|
|
1
|
1
|
Letters -- Reverend
Samuel Newbury and Mary Sergeants
|
1842-1867
|
|
1
|
2
|
Letters -- About Thomas J. Newbury
|
1840-1849
|
|
1
|
3
|
Letters
-- Mary Newbury Adams, includes letters sent from Troy Female
Seminary
|
1856-1858
|
|
1
|
4
|
Letters
-- Mary Newbury Adams family members
|
1860-1869
|
|
1
|
5
|
Letters --
Mary Newbury Adams family members Describes
social events-Bronson Alcott, General Grant
|
1870-1879
|
|
1
|
6
|
Letters --
Mary Newbury Adams family members Destruction
of Louisa Alcott’s letters
|
1880-1889
|
|
2
|
1
|
Letters
-- Mary Newbury Adams
|
1890-1901
|
|
2
|
2
|
Letters
|
n.d.
|
|
2
|
3
|
Letters
-- Alcott letters to M. Adams
|
1873-1886
|
|
2
|
4
|
Letters
-- Alvin Adams to M. Adams
|
1872-1876
|
|
2
|
5
|
Letters
-- To M. Adams; listing of correspondents
|
1851-1899
|
|
2
|
6
|
Letters
-- Courtship-M. Adams and Austin Adams
|
1855-1885
|
|
2
|
7
|
Letters --
Frances Newbury Bagley and John Judson
Bagley
|
1854-1895
|
|
2
|
8
|
Letters
-- Samuel S. Newbury
|
1855-1864
|
|
2
|
9
|
Letters
-- Catherine Sedgewick Newbury Robb
|
1854-1871
|
|
2
|
10
|
Letters
-- Egbert Starr Newbury
|
1864
|
|
2
|
11
|
Letters --
Jeanette Bishop Newbury and Jeanette Newbury
Rice-family members
|
1857-1888
|
|
3
|
1
|
Letters
-- Eugene Adams (son of Mary and Austin)
|
1871-1894
|
|
3
|
2
|
Letters
-- To Eugene Adams
|
n.d.
|
|
3
|
3
|
Family
letters
|
n.d.
|
|
3
|
4
|
Genealogical and Biographical (Mary N.
Adams)
Leaves from
John Cotton Bible (?)
|
n.d.
|
|
3
|
5
|
Mary N. Adams manuscripts and copied
extracts
|
n.d.
|
|
3
|
6
|
A-F
Writings
|
|
|
3
|
7
|
Diaries;
Bible
|
1872-1900
|
|
3
|
8
|
Biographical
information-Austin Adams
|
|
|
3
|
9
|
Writings
of Austin Adams
|
|
|
4
|
3
|
Mary
N. Adams: Reports; Journals; Programs; Articles
|
|
|
4
|
4
|
Newspaper
clippings
|
|
|
5
|
1
|
Journals
and diaries
|
1871-1884
|
|
5
|
2
|
Sermons
(Samuel Newbury)
|
|
|
5
|
3
|
Sermons
(Samuel Newbury)
|
|
|
|
|
FAMILY
CORRESPONDENCE
|
|
|
6
|
1
|
Letters
-- M. Adams to Frances Newbury Bagley
|
1865-1879
|
|
6
|
2
|
Letters –M. Adams to Jeanette Bishop
Newbury
|
1864-1865
|
|
6
|
3
|
Letters
-- M. Adams to Mary Sargeant Newbury (mother)
|
1862
|
|
6
|
4
|
Letters
-- Frances Newbury Bagley to M. Adams
|
1860
|
|
|
|
CORRESPONDENCE
– ALCOTT FAMILY
|
|
|
6
|
5
|
Letters
-- Abby May Alcott to M. Adams
|
1871-1877
|
|
6
|
6
|
Letters
-- Amos Bronson Alcott to M. Adams
|
1871-1896
|
|
6
|
7
|
Letters
-- Louisa May Alcott to M. Adams
|
1886
|
|
6
|
8
|
Letters
-- Louisa May Alcott to A. Bronson Alcott
|
1884
|
|
6
|
9
|
Letters
-- Anna Alcott Pratt to M. Adams
|
1898
|
|
|
|
CORRESPONDENCE
– PROMINENT INDIVIDUALS
|
|
|
6
|
10
|
Letters --
Correspondents include William Cullen Bryant, Ednah Dow
Cheney, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace
Greeley and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
|
|
|
6
|
11
|
Letters
-- Amelia Bloomer
|
1886
|
|
6
|
12
|
Letters
-- Margaret Fuller to Thesta Dane
|
1836
|
|
6
|
13
|
Letters
-- Julia Ward Howe
|
1875, 1879
|
|
6
|
14
|
Letters
-- Horace Mann
|
1857
|
|
6
|
15
|
Letters
-- Emerson White
|
1901
|
|
6
|
16
|
Letters
-- John Greenleaf Whittier
|
1881, 1887
|
|
6
|
17
|
Listing
of Adams letters owned by Patricia Adams Rogers
|
n.d.
|
|
|
|
FAMILY
INFORMATION
|
|
|
6
|
18
|
Description
of Mary Ann Sergeant Newwbury
|
n.d.
|
|
6
|
19
|
Genealogical
materials
|
1966, n.d.
|
|
6
|
20
|
Photographs (photocopies)
|
n.d.
|
|
6
|
21
|
An
Adams in Iowa Palimpest, pp. 39-48
|
1948
|
|
6
|
22
|
Mary
Newbury Adams: Feminist Forerunner from Iowa
by Louise Moede Lex (copied from Annals
of Iowa
| |
|
