Ida Husted Harper collection of letters and autographs

Collection

Identifier: D.550

Staff Only

Biographical / Historical note

Ida Husted Harper (1851 - 1931) was an American author, journalist, columnist, and women’s rights activist. In 1897 she moved into Susan B. Anthony’s home in Rochester to work on a three-volume biography of Anthony. She also co-edited (with Anthony) volume four of the six-volume History of Woman Suffrage and completed volumes five and six after Anthony's death. She served as secretary of the Indiana chapter of the National Woman Suffrage Association, headed the National American Woman Suffrage Association's national press bureau in New York City, and wrote and lectured across the entire country.

Scope and Contents

This two-volume extra-illustrated version of The Life and Work of Susan B. Anthony contains 38 tipped-in letters and autographs inserted into the book by its author, Ida Husted Harper. She placed them into the book at the appropriate point in the narrative. The material covers the bulk of Anthony’s working life. 19 of the letters are addressed to Anthony, and another 3 to Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The letters were evidently in the possession of Harper, who had access to Anthony’s correspondence while writing the biography.

The book is inscribed "Mr. and Mrs. Frank P. Sargent, with the highest regards of the author, Ida Husted Harper, May 23, 1906." Frank Sargent was the head of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and was appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt as Commissioner General of Immigration. He was an advocate of women’s suffrage. Harper’s husband, Thomas Harper, was the chief legal counsel for the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and may have known Sargent through that organization.

Creator

Harper, Ida Husted, 1851-1931 (Person)
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894 (Person)
Stone, Lucy, 1818-1893 (Person)
Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874 (Person)
Bloomer, Amelia Jenks, 1818-1894 (Person)
Garrison, William Lloyd, Jr., 1838-1909 (Person)
Mott, Lucretia, 1793-1880 (Person)
Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884 (Person)
Ellet, E. F. (Elizabeth Fries), 1818-1877 (Person)
Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895 (Person)
Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932 (Person)
Purvis, Robert, 1810-1898 (Person)
Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887 (Person)
Train, George Francis, 1829-1904 (Person)
Keene, Laura, 1826-1873 (Person)
Ingersoll, Robert Green, 1833-1899 (Person)
Richardson, Abby Sage, 1837-1900 (Person)
Woodhull, Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin), 1838-1927 (Person)
Mott, Lydia (Person)
Mott, Lydia P. (Lydia Philadelphia), 1775-1862 (Person)
Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893 (Person)
Hampton, Wade, 1818-1902 (Person)
Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896 (Person)
Terry, Ellen, Dame, 1847-1928 (Person)
Frothingham, Octavius Brooks, 1822-1895 (Person)
Childs, George William, 1829-1894 (Person)
Mitchell, Maria, 1818-1889 (Person)
Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892 (Person)
Whiting, Lilian, 1847-1942 (Person)
Curtis, George William, 1824-1892 (Person)
Palmer, Bertha Honoré, 1849-1918 (Person)
Somerset, Henry, Lady, 1851-1921 (Person)
Willard, Frances E. (Frances Elizabeth), 1839-1898 (Person)
Stanford, Jane Lathrop, 1828-1905 (Person)
Davis, Varina, 1826-1906 (Person)
Besant, Annie, 1847-1933 (Person)
Shephard, Helen Miller Gould, 1868-1938 (Person)
Battersea, Constance Flower, Baroness, 1843-1931 (Person)
White, Sallie Joy (Person)

Dates

Creation: 1854-1906, undated

Language of Materials

English

Extent

.5 linear feet

Access

The Ida Husted Harper Collection of Letters and Autographs is open for research use. Researchers are advised to contact the Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester prior to visiting. Upon arrival, researchers will also be asked to fill out a registration form and provide photo identification.

Use

Reproductions are made upon request but can be subject to restrictions. Permission to publish materials from the collection must currently be requested. Please note that some materials may be copyrighted or restricted. It is the researcher's obligation to determine and satisfy copyright or other case restrictions when publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the collections. For more information contact rarebks@library.rochester.edu

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Acquired through the generosity of multiple endowments, 2017.

Preferred Citation

[Item title, date], Ida Husted Harper Collection of Letters and Autographs, D.550, Rare Books, Special Collections, and Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester

Arrangement

The records have been arranged in one series, Letters and Autographs. The series is arranged in the order the letters and autographs have been placed in the book.