1650-1865
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The original autographs in this collection have been removed to Special Collections. Photocopies of these items are available for use by researchers.
Abstract
This collection consists of autographs and other items collected by Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee, including autograph letters sent and received by politicians, lawyers, writers, and artists; print images; drawings; cutslip autographs; and fabric samples.
Collection Description
This autograph collection, kept by Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee, the wife of George Gardner Lee, includes autograph letters sent and received by politicians, lawyers, writers, and artists; print images; drawings; autographs; and fabric samples. Among the individuals represented in the collection are Abigail Adams, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, William Cullen Bryant, Lord Byron, Thomas Carlyle, William Ellery Channing, James Fenimore Cooper, Erasmus Darwin, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, Washington Irving, Thomas Jefferson, the Marquis de Lafayette, King Louis Philippe of France, John Marshall, Harriet Martineau, Napoleon I, Philip John Schuyler, Sir Walter Scott, Alexis de Tocqueville, George Washington, Martha Washington, Daniel Webster, William Wordsworth, and many others. Also included are typescript transcriptions of some letters. The collection was originally compiled as a scrapbook, but the scrapbook has been disbound and arranged in alphabetical order, as indicated in the Detailed Description of the Collection below.
Arrangement
This autograph collection was originally compiled by Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee as a scrapbook. Because the items in the scrapbook did not appear to be arranged in any particular order and because many of the items had already been removed for conservation treatment, the scrapbook was disbound and the papers arranged in alphabetical order for use by researchers. To see the items listed in original page number order, see the appendix.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Georgina P. Howland, Mary A. Winsor, Virginia L. Paine, and Louise F. Paine, Oct. 1957. Removed from the Robert Treat Paine papers (Ms. N-641).
Restrictions on Access
The original autographs in this collection have been removed to Special Collections. Photocopies of these items are available for use by researchers.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Cutslip autograph, undated
Letter to John Thaxter, 19 Aug. 1778 (with typed transcript)
Signed envelope, undated
Letter to "Rev. Sir," 24 Mar. 1806 (with typed transcript)
Letter to Hannah Adams, 10 Mar. 1791 (with typed transcript)
Letter to Dr. [Benjamin] Waterhouse, 2 Feb. 1813 (with typed transcript)
Printed article: "Criticism upon Mrs. Caudle's Lectures," signed by John Quincy Adams, undated
Letter to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, 1 Dec. 1830 (with typed transcript)
Letter to Daniel Webster, 22 Apr. 1832 (with typed transcript)
Poem, 3 Nov. 1840 (with typed transcript)
Letter to Mrs. George Lee, 6 Sep. 1838
Engraving of Fisher Ames, undated
Letter to George Richards Minot, 14 May 1789
Letter to Mrs. Worsley, undated
Letter to [Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee], 16 Nov. [1844]
Sketch of two children, undated
Letter to Mrs. H. F. Lee, 19 Jan. 1842
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 26 Sep. 1846
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 5 Aug. 1829
Letter about Alexander Hamilton, 23 Nov. 1794
Letter to Rev. Carpenter, 22 May 1826
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 27 Aug. [1861]
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 7 Nov. [1865]
Poem, undated
Envelope addressed to Mrs. H. T. Lee, undated
Letter to Mrs. H. T. Lee, 14 Mar. 1855
Letter to Mrs. H. T. Lee, [2] Oct.1855
Letter to Professor De Morgan, undated
Drawing, undated
Cutslip autograph, undated
Envelope addressed to Mrs. George Lee, 15 Apr. [1861]
Poem: "The Stream of Life," 15 Apr. 1861
Letter to Mrs. Carpenter, 12 June [no year]
Strands of hair, undated
NOTE: This item has been removed to the MHS Artifacts Collection.
Fragment of handwriting, with note on verso by Sir John Bowring, undated
Letter to "Madam," 13 Nov. 1844
Engraving of Lant Carpenter, 1841
Fragment of handwriting, Aug. 1844
Letter to Mrs. G. G. Lee, 3 Feb. [no year]
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 17 June 1846
Engraving of Bishop John Cheverus and printed notice about statue, undated
Letter to Thomas Walley, 22 Dec. 1815
Letter to Mrs. Cruger, 8 May 1829
Letter to Mrs. Cruger, undated
Letter to Josiah Wedgwood, 3 Mar. 1792
Letter to Mrs. Lee, with copies of letters from Lafayette and Washington to Dr. John Cochran, 9 Dec. 1833
Letter to "My dear Sir," 2 Sep. 1831
Engraving of James Fenimore Cooper, 1833
Letter to Miss Adams, 25 Oct. 1816
Letter to "Dear Sir," 26 Nov. 1791
Letter to [Josiah Wedgwood], Nov. 1808
Cutslip autograph, undated
Letter to Lewis Gaylord Clark, 2 Mar. 1842
Engraving of Maria Edgeworth, undated
Autograph, Mar. 1840
Engraving of Desiderius Erasmus, undated
Piece of Mrs. Faneuil's dress, undated
Photograph of Ralph Farnham, 1860
Printed booklet: "A Biographical Sketch of the Life of Ralph Farnham," 1860
Autograph, 1860
Letter on behalf of two workers, 2 June 1755
Note, 1841
Letter to Robert Balmanno, 22 May 1820
Letter to Messrs. Clark & Edson, 24 Oct. 1837
Poem: "An Imitation of Byron," undated
Cutslip autograph, Mar. 1791
Letter to Willis Gaylord Clarke, 28 Dec. 1831
Translation of Victor Hugo, undated
Letter to Angelica Church, 6 Dec. 1787
Letter to Angelica Church, 25 June [1796]
Engraving of Alexander Hamilton, 1835
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 2 Apr. 1841
Engraving of John Hancock, undated
Letter from the Marine Committee of the Continental Congress to John Bradford, signed by John Hancock, Robert Morris, Francis Hopkinson, George Read, Richard Henry Lee, Josiah Bartlett, William Ellery, and George Walton, 18 Oct. 1776 (with typed transcript)
Poem: "The Breeze from Land," with note on verso from Andrews Norton to Mrs. George Lee, 24 Aug. 1843
Letter to Mrs. George Lee, 2 Dec. 1846
Autograph, 25 Sep. 1846
Letter to Henry Cary, undated
Engraving of Washington Irving, 1833
Letter to Mrs. Lee, [1839]
Letter to "My dear Madam," [1844]
Engraving of Thomas Jefferson, undated
Letter to Mrs. Church, 27 July 1788 (with typed transcript)
Letter to Mrs. Church, 21 Jan. 1800 (with typed transcript)
Cutslip autograph, 29 Sep. 1844
Cutslip autograph, undated
Letter to [Miss] Church, 8 Oct. 1797
Letter to Mrs. Cruger, 15 Dec. 1825
Fragment of handwriting, undated
Letter to "Madame," [1844]
Letter to Lewis Gaylord Clark, undated
Letter to Mrs. George G. Lee, undated
Cutslip autograph, undated
Autograph, undated
Letter to Mrs. Carpenter, undated
Piece of the dress worn by Lady Lyttelton at the coronation of George III, 1760, with copy on verso of the poem: "Monady on Lady Lyttelton," by her husband George Lyttelton, 1st Baron Lyttelton
Engraving of Edward Bulwer Lytton, "the author of Pelham," undated
Letter to James K. Marshall, 26 July 1832
Letter to Mrs. Lee, undated
Autograph, undated
Cutslip autograph, undated
Letter to Hannah Adams, 15 June 1818
Cutslip autograph, undated
Piece of drapery taken from Napoleon's bed at St. Helena, 1837
Envelope addressed to J. F. Ledsam, Sep. 1849
Note to Mrs. Lee, on envelope, undated
Letter to Mr. Wedgwood, 5 Dec. 1787
Engraving of Samuel Rogers, "the author of The Pleasures of Memory," undated
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 19 Aug. [no year]
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 8 Sep. 1844
Piece of Mrs. Schuyler's dress and the covering of General Moreau's chairs, undated
Engraving of Philip John Schuyler, undated
Letter to Mrs. Schuyler, 30 July 1795
Engraving of Sir Walter Scott, undated
Letter to Joanna Baillie, 10 Dec. 1813
Cutslip autograph, undated
Letter to Monsieur Chenevière, 1 May 1834
Printed quotation about Plymouth Rock, undated
Letter to [Mr. Mercier], 3 June [1843]
Engraving of George Washington, undated
Engraving of a medal presented to George Washington, undated
Letter to Philip Schuyler, 16 Mar. 1782
Printed article: "Ancient Relic from Virginia," 24 Sep. 1864
Engraving of Martha Washington, undated
Piece of the first curtains of George Washington and the petticoat of Martha Washington, undated
Letter to Mrs. Hamilton, 7 July 1790
Letter to Mrs. H. Lee, 23 Apr. 1832
Letter to Mrs. Lee, 31 Oct. 1842
Letter to Mrs. Carey, 18 Aug. [no year]
Fragment of handwriting, 1802
Copy of the epitaph of Michael Wigglesworth, with inscription on verso by Wigglesworth, 1650
Copy of a letter to Sibyll Avery, with fragment of the original, 23 Mar. 1691
Letter to "Sir," undated
Letter to Mr. Cary, [29] Apr. [1834]
Envelope addressed to Miss Martineau, 24 July 1846
Included are two copies of an unidentified portrait, a piece of muslin made from the leaves of a Manila pineapple tree, two unidentified autographs, facsimiles of the handwriting of the royal family of France, and the original scrapbook pages with annotations related to some of the items in the collection.
Appendix: Original Order of Scrapbook Pages
Preferred Citation
Hannah Farnham Sawyer Lee autograph collection, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.