The Independent Collection, 1680-1936 | Special Collections and University Archives

1 Hollinger Document Case

The Historical Letters collection is divided into five series:

Series I, Editorial Correspondence of The Independent, 1866-1917

Series II, Literary Authors and Papers on American Theater, 1896-1913

Series III, Historical Manuscripts and Documents, 1680-1795

Series IV, Miscellaneous Literary and Political Correspondence, 1930-1936

Series V, William and Mary Norfolk Campus library Correspondence, 1958-1960

Primarily comprised of correspondence of William Hayes Ward, editor of The Independent, a New York Congregationalist weekly, with notable literary and historical figures including General John Charles Frémont, American explorer and expedition leader; P. T. Barnum, showman; and Asa Gray, the preeminent American botanist of the 19th century. Other items in the collection include American literature and theater papers; colonial historical manuscripts and documents; and correspondence with the library of Norfolk division of the College of William and Mary (the predecessor of Old Dominion University).

Ward, W.H.

The Independent was a New York weekly newspaper founded in 1848 by Henry Chandler Bowen. The Congregationalist journal, which was published until 1921, included social topics, primarily opposition to slavery and religious articles, but after the Civil War included literary submissions. Editors included, among others, Henry Ward Beecher, Theodore Tilton, Kinsley Twining, Hamilton Holt, William Hayes Ward, and his sister, Susan Hayes Ward.

William Hayes Ward (1835-1916) was born in Abingdon, Massachusetts, on June 25, 1835. He graduated with distinction from Amherst College in 1856 and from Andover Theological seminary in 1859. He married Ellen Maria Dickinson in 1859. Dr. Ward served as a professor of Latin at Ripon College in Wisconsin and was a prominent orientalist and biblical scholar in his later years. In 1868 he left Ripon College to join the editorial staff of The Independent. In 1884, he led an expedition to Babylonia to examine archeological sites, and became president of the American Oriental Society, a position held twice, from 1890-1894 and 1909-1910. He specialized in studying designs of Babylonian and Assyrian seal cylinders, which were used in ancient record-keeping.

Showing a lifelong concern for social issues in the newspaper and in private life, William Hayes Ward upheld African-American rights and opened the first conference held by the NAACP in 1909 in New York City. He was editor-in-chief of The Independent from 1896-1913 and is known for supporting poet Sidney Lanier, whose work was frequently published in the paper, and about whom Dr. Ward wrote a biographical memoir.

Horace Howard Furness, Sr., 1833-1912, was an important American Shakespeare scholar. He was known for his editing of Shakespeare's plays, which contained numerous editions of plays as well as criticism. His son, Horace Howard Furness, Jr., 1865-1930, was a partner and successor of his father's work and edited his letters. Samuel Chew was a renowned literary critic in the early twentieth century.

Author: Elizabeth Vincelette

American newspapers
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891
Bowen, Henry Chandler, 1813-1896
Chew, Samuel
College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division
College of William and Mary. Norfolk Division--Hughes Library
Congregationalists--United States
Frémont, John Charles, 1813-1890
Furness, Horace Howard, 1833-1912
Furness, Horace Howard, 1865-1930
Gray, Asa, 1810-1888
Independent (Newspaper)
Ward, William Hayes, 1835-1916