Thomson, Charles West, 1798-1879. Charles West Thomson papers, 1817-1877.
Title:
Charles West Thomson papers, 1817-1877.
Correspondence, diaries, manuscripts of his poems, and other miscellaneous papers, 1817-1877. His correspondence is mostly personal letters from friends, many of whom were clergymen, although there are a few letters from his printer, David Allinson, about the publication of Thomson's book The Limner. Letters from friends pertain to their many mutual interests, personal affairs, literature, various matters of general cultural interest, religion, church-related topics, parish matters, news of friends, Thomson's conversion from Quakerism to the Protestant Episcopal Church, preparation for the ministry, and publication of his poems. Included are 218 letters from the author and poet John Houston Mifflin, as well as groups of letters from Lloyd Mifflin, N.C. Brooks, George W. Childs, Robert Heysham, Jr., Alfred H. Love, Daniel Pittman, Joseph G. Rosengarten, Michael Peter Small, John W. Lawrence, Alonzo Lewis, William Wetmore Story, Samuel E. Appleton, Edward W. Appleton, Bishop Thomas Bowman, A.J. Barrow, Henry H. Bean, Samuel A. Clark, Francis J. Clerc, Benjamin T. Douglass, E.A. Dalrymple, J.C. Eccleston, Dwight E. Lyman, James May, Bishop Alonzo Potter, Joshua Peterkin, Robert J. Parvin, Lewis H. Redner, J. Rambo, Theodore S. Rumney, Barclay A. Smith, H. Tullidge, George Herbert Walsh, and others. A letter from Edward Whelen, dated 1835, describes Montevideo and Buenos Aires, while an unsigned letter dated December 18, 1817 describes a reception at the White House. The diaries, May 1818 - November 1819, June 1820 - November 1843 (entries only occasional from 1824 on), include travel diaries of a trip through the eastern part of Pennsylvania in 1820, and a trip to Saratoga Springs, the Catskills, and New York City in 1824. Most of the diaries relate to his social life in and about Philadelphia, his activities, friends, personal sentiments, and thoughts. He also includes many lengthy critiques of novels and other books he read, with frequent reference to Scott's Waverley novels, mentions the deaths (many unexpected) of his friends and acquaintances, marriages, regular attendance at Quaker services, meetings of the Franklin Association till its dissolution in 1820, the second anniversary celebration of the Belles Lettres Association, the first appearance of David Paul Brown before the bar of Philadelphia, a lecture of Joseph Lancaster, comments on an exhibit of the panoramic painting "Battle of Waterloo," a public meeting of citizens of Philadelphia on November 23, 1819 in opposition to the introduction of slavery in new states, a trip to York Springs in 1820, theatre and other entertainments, a stay at Pine Cottage in 1821, visits to Bloomsdale, and Bristol in 1822, and the opening of his school in 1825. Among the many friends he mentions often are: Richard P. Bowdle, P.K. Hubbs, J.M. Vanharlingen, John J. Newbold, Joesph Tatum, G.H. Coggeshall, and Charles Holmes. The papers also contain a holograph munuscript of "The Limner," numerous manuscripts of Thomson's poems and juvenilia, including one dated 1831 entitle "Memoranda of my early aquaintance with James Adams Knox," and a manuscript of a dramatization of Byron's "Siege of Corinth," by J.J. [or T.J.] White, with a drawing and some letters by White describing his performance in an amateur production. Thre are also papers related to the Franklin Association of Philadelphi, the Philadelphia Literary Association, and the Washington Association of Philadelphia (for Federal Republicans). There is also a copyright certificate issued to E. Littell in 1822, for the publication of Thomson's "The phantom barge."
ArchivalResource:
2.0 linear feet (5 boxes)
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