Correspondence to William Torrey Harris, [1864]-1909.
(Mixed Material)

Organized alphabetically by name of correspondent;,letters within each name sequence arranged chronologically.

Includes letters to Harris from the following individuals: Louisa May Alcott (1 item, 1885); Edward Waldo Emerson (7 items + enclosure, 1891-1907); J. Holtzbecker/Holzbecker (2 items, 1882); Julia Ward Howe (6 items, 1871-1904); Mary Peabody Mann (1 item, 1883?); Elizabeth Palmer Peabody (18 items + enclosure + some typed transcripts, 1881-1888, plus one letter of uncertain authorship, possibly by E.P. Peabody); A.S. (A.L.?) Pratt (1 item, 1887); Anna B. Pratt (5 items, 1888-1890); Franklin Benjamin Sanborn (150 items + enclosures, [1864]-1909); Emily Talbot (1 item, 1881).

(cont.) Some of the correspondence is in reference to the Concord School of Philosophy. Some of the Sanborn letters concern the American Social Science Association, of which both Sanborn and Harris were officers. The Concord authors provide a recurring theme in the Sanborn letters. One of the Sanborn letters (Dec. 7, 1877) refers to the death of Mrs. A.M. Alcott, one (Mar. 3, 1888) to Bronson Alcott's impending death. One Sanborn letter (Jan. 12, 1890) includes an enclosed ALS (Jan. 7, 1890) from Daniel Chester French about the designing of a bust of Alcott. The later

(cont.) Sanborn letters include extensive enclosures. Some of the correspondence is accompanied by information provided by Edith Davidson Harris (W.T. Harris's daughter).

Correspondence to William Torrey Harris, Special Collections, Concord Free Public Library, Concord, Mass.

Sanborn correspondence (complete?):,available on microfilm;,for use in Library.

Edith Davidson Harris;,gift;,1952.

Philosopher and educator. Born Sept. 10, 1835, near North Killingly, Conn.; died Nov. 5, 1909, in Providence, R.I. Resident of Concord, Mass., 1880-1889. Began teaching in St. Louis public schools in 1857. Became Assistant Superintendent of Schools in St. Louis in 1866, Superintendent in 1868. Student and scholar of German philosophy, particularly of Hegel. Founded Journal of Speculative Philosophy in 1867. In 1880, resigned position in St. Louis to assist Bronson Alcott and F.B. Sanborn in establishing Concord School of Philosophy. In 1889, accepted position of

(cont.) United States Commissioner of Education; resigned in 1906. Assistant editor of Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia; editor of Appleton's International Education Series. Writings include: Introduction to the Study of Philosophy (1889); The Spiritual Sense of Dante's Divina Commedia (1889); Hegel's Logic: A Book on the Genesis of the Categories of the Mind (1890); The Psychologic Foundations of Education (1898).

Finding aid in Library.

Transfer from Letter file;,Letter File 11, S1-S134;,Letter File 13, A1, E1-E8, H1-H9, M1, P1-P17, P19-P26, S1-S4, T1;,Mar. 1995;,LPW