Rosamond Thaxter’s Papers For Sandpiper – MS129
Provenance: The contents of this collection were donated by Jonathan Hubbard, the great-grandson of Celia Thaxter, in 2016.
Citation: Rosamond Thaxter Papers for Sandpiper, MS129, Manuscript Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum
Size: 1.25 linear feet (3 Hollinger boxes)
Access: No restrictions
Processed by: Roland Goodbody in 2018
Summary: The materials in this collection were used to write Sandpiper, the biography of Celia Thaxter (see the Acknowledgements section of Norma H. Mandel’s Beyond the Garden Gate: The Life of Celia Thaxter. UPNE, 2004). They are almost exclusively copies of original materials held at other institutions, including the Houghton Library at Harvard University, the Beinecke Library at Yale University, the Huntington Library in San Marino, CA, the Boston Public Library, the Boston Antiquarian Society, Colby College, the Portsmouth (N.H.) Public Library, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the Essex Institute, Salem MA . Rosamond is responsible for most of the transcriptions.
Scope and Content
Forty-one file folders of letters to and from Celia Thaxter and others (in typescript, photocopied, photostat and mss transcript form); two folders of typed manuscript prose by Celia Thaxter – a fragment of an autobiographical novel and a ghost story; five folders of copies of Celia’s poetry; one folder of offprints of a story and poems by Celia Thaxter. There are seven folders of notes and drafts for Rosamond Thaxter’s Sandpiper; three folders of letters to Rosamond; three folders of her speeches, talks, and drafts; one typescript transcription of Thomas Laighton’s journal, and the original diary for 1881 belonging to Levi Lincoln Thaxter, Celia’s husband.
Historical Note
Celia Laighton Thaxter (June 29, 1835 – August 25, 1894) was an American writer of poetry and stories. For most of her life, she resided with her father on the Isles of Shoals at Appledore Hotel. How she grew up to become a writer is detailed in her early autobiography (published in St. Nicholas Magazine), and her book entitled Among the Isles of Shoals. Thaxter became one of America’s favorite authors in the late 19th century. Among her best-known poems are “The Burgomaster Gull”, “Landlocked”, “Milking”, “The Great White Owl”, “The Kingfisher”, and “The Sandpiper.”
Series Listing:
I. Celia Thaxter Correspondence
II. Celia Thaxter Poetry and Prose
III. Rosamond Thaxter
IV. Thomas Laighton and Levi LIncoln Thaxter
I. Celia Thaxter Correspondence
BOX 1
Folder 1
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Clara Anthony, 1892.
Folder 2
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Robert Browning, 1880-1881.
Folder 3
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, Dec 1862-Nov 1874.
Folder 4
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, 1875-1877.
Folder 5
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, 1880-1882.
Folder 6
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, 1883-1888.
Folder 7
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, 1888-1892.
Folder 8
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Annie Fields, undated.
Folder 9
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to James T. Fields, 1862-1868.
Folder 10
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to James T. Fields, 1874-1878. One letter from Fields to Celia, June 8, 1874.
Folder 11
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Anson Hoxie, Lizzie Hoxie, Nannie Hoxie, 1857-1871.
Folder 12
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Orne Jewett, 1888-1893. One letter from Sarah Orne Jewett to Celia Thaxter, Nov. 27, 1895/1896.
Folder 13
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Albert Laighton, her cousin, and one to his wife Florence, 1877-1887.
Folder 14
Correspondence: Cedric Laighton, brother, to Celia Thaxter, 1859-1860.
Folder 15
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Mary Lawson, 1865-1871.
Folder 16
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to John Thaxter (son), 1876-1885.
Folder 17
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Mabel (Loomis Todd?), 1870-1874.
Folder 18
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Bradford Torrey, 1888-1894.
Folder 19
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Ross Turner, 1883-1884.
Folder 20
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Ross Turner, 1884-1888.
Folder 21
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Mrs. Ward, editor of “The Independent” newspaper, 1872-1889.
Folder 22
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Mrs. Ward, editor of “The Independent” newspaper, 1890-1892.
BOX 2
Folder 1
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Reverend J. Weiss (“Grandfather”), signed “Grandmother,” 1874-1875.
Folder 2
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, 1852-1854.
Folder 3
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, 1857-1860.
Folder 4
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, 1861-1869
Folder 5
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, 1870-1872.
Folder 6
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, undated.
Folder 7
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Sarah Weiss, undated.
Folder 8
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to John Greenleaf Whittier, 1868-1889.
Folder 9
Correspondence: John Greenleaf Whittier to Celia Thaxter, 1866-1872.
Folder 10
Correspondence: John Greenleaf Whittier to Celia Thaxter, 1873-1890.
Folder 11
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Various A-C: John Albee, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Mrs. Alexander, Miss Alger, Willis Boyd Allen, Alville of Grantis, Mrs. Nathan Anthony, Audubon Society, Rev. George Bainton,, Louise Adams beal, Joshua Blake, Louise Blaney, Mr. Bok, Nellie Bowen, John Appleton Brown, Sadie Cabot, Mr. Chandler, The Critic Company, and Margie Curzon, 1860-1890.
Folder 12
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Various C-H: Mr. Dearborn, Mary M. Dodge, Theodore J. Eastman, Kate Field, Mrs. Goodwin (includes an original mss, letter), Mrs. Hastings, Mrs. Haven, Mr. Hayes, Caroline Covenrty Haynes, Mrs. Hobson, W.D. Howells, and Mrs. Hudson, 1857-1894.
Folder 13
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Various J-L: Mr. Jenks, Mrs. Jenks, Mary Jewett, Oscar Laighton, Lucy Larcom, Mary Lawson, Mr. Linton, Mrs. Locke, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1856-1894.
Folder 14
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to Various M-S: Mrs. Mann, Mr. Myers, Mr. Osgood, Elizabeth Perkins, Elizabeth Whittier Pickard, Mr. Preston, Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Rice, Mrs. Ritchie, Mr. Scaudder, Mr. Scuffe, and Edwaed Steadman, 1867-1891,
Folder 15
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to various T-W: Eliza Thaxter (Celia’s mother), John Thaxter (Celia’s son), Jennie M. Usher, Mrs. E.F. Waters, Mr. Weeks, Mrs. Whiman, Mr. Whipple, Sophia Whittier, and Rosamund Dana Wild, 1851-1894.
Folder 16
Correspondence: Celia Thaxter to unidentified correspondents, 1857-1894.
Folder 17
Unidentified and undated letter fragments.
Folder 18
Copies of letters to Celia Thaxter from Lizzie Whittier/Mary E. Caldwell, 1864, The Critic Company, 1887, and Mary Mopes Dodge, 1889.
Folder 19
Copies of letters from others to others: two letters from John Greenleaf Whittier to Lucy Larcom, 1861, 1864; Karl or John Thaxter to Willie, 1867 or 1868; L.G. Clark to Lucy Titcomb (original and transcription), 1884; William Mason to Ruth Laighton, 1890; Carolyn C. Haynes to David Hunt Lindley, Harvard Library; Childe Hassam to Mrs. Mary G. Thaxter, 1917.
II. Celia Thaxter Poetry and Prose
Folder 20
Fragment of autobiographical novel by Celia Thaxter, 1874.
Folder 21
Offprints of Celia Thaxter story, “Peggy’s Garden and What Grew Therein,” and poems, “Litte Assunta,” “Spring Planting Time,” “Slumber Song,” and “Questions.”
Folder 22
Typed copies of draft of ghost story related by Celia Thaxter, “The Haunted Hurrypuddemsey.”
III. Rosamond Thaxter
BOX 3
Folder 1
Rosamond Thaxter’s notes for book / 1.
Folder 2
Rosamond Thaxter’s notes for book / 2.
Folder 3
Rosamond Thaxter’s background notes / 3.
Folder 4
Rosamond Thaxter’s background notes / 4.
Folder 5
Rosamond Thaxter’s draft materials for “Sandpiper” re Robert Browning / 1.
Folder 6
Rosamond Thaxter’s draft materials for “Sandpiper” re Robert Browning / 2.
Folder 7
Celia Thaxter poetry for inclusion in Rosamond Thaxter’s “Sandpiper.”
Folder 8
Typed copies of Celia Thaxter poems /1.
Folder 9
Typed copies of Celia Thaxter poems /2.
Folder 10
Typed copies of Celia Thaxter poems /3.
Folder 11
Photocopies and photostats of poems.
Folder 12
Miscellaneous typed extracts.
Folder 13
Correspondence: Lyman Rutledge to Rosamond Thaxter.
Folder 14
Correspondence: Annie R. Talbot to Rosamond Thaxter, 1938-1939.
Folder 15
Correspondence: various to Rosamond Thaxter,1954-1965.
Folder 16
Rosamond Thaxter’s Speeches and Notes.
Folder 17
Talk given by Rosamond Thaxter: “Whittier’s Friendship with Celia Thaxter.”
Folder 18
Various typed drafts of chapter entitled “Friendship With Whittier” from Rosamond Thaxter’s “Sandpiper.”
IV. Thomas Laighton and Levi Lincoln Thaxter
Folder 19
Typed transcription of Thomas Laighton’s journal, 1832-1849.
Folder 20
Levi Thaxter’s diary, 1881. Original notebook.