Kingsley memorial collection

The Kingsley Memorial Collection is composed of family correspondence, diaries, and legal, financial, and professional papers which document the lives of several members of the Kingsley family or of the related Coit, Gilman, Upham, and Farnam families. One third of the collection concerns James Luce Kingsley, his tenure on the Yale faculty, and his classical and historical scholarship. Another third of the collection relates to the life and work of William Lathrop Kingsley, especially his editorship of the New Englander and his service to Yale College and the class of 1843. The remaining third of the collection recounts the lives of family members in Norwich, Connecticut; Cleveland, Ohio; Detroit, Michigan; Canadaigua, New York; and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, during the first half of the nineteenth century. The European and world travels of several family members and the life of the Upham family during the War of 1812 are highlighted in the collection.

The collection, which the Yale Library received as gifts from Daniel Coit Gilman in 1903 and from Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam in 1941 and 1942 and in the years following, is arranged in three series of approximately equal size: I. JAMES LUCE KINGSLEY PAPERS, 1803-1852; II. WILLIAM L. KINGSLEY PAPERS, 1830-1898; and III. FAMILY PAPERS, 1696/7-1934.

The bulk of the collection dates from the nineteenth century. Related family materials are found in the Gilman Family Papers (MS 240) and the Farnam Family Papers (MS 203).

Series I is composed of the papers of James Luce Kingsley. The series includes account books, lecture notes, and writings of James Luce Kingsley, but letters addressed to Kingsley comprise the majority of the material. The letters are arranged by the name of the author, and correspondents include former students, parents of Yale students, classical scholars, fellow academicians, publishers, and family members. In general the correspondence concerns Latin scholarship, Yale and New England history, genealogy, and inquiries addressed to Kingsley as Yale professor and librarian. Kingsley's historical interests are reflected in correspondence with Jared Sparks, John Farmer, and James Savage, while Yale concerns are discussed in letters from Benjamin Silliman, Denison Olmstead, and Theodore Dwight Woolsey. Student term bills are the subject of letters from several parents including John C. Calhoun and Thomas Smith Grimké. Kingsley's fellow tutor, George Hoadly, writes lengthy descriptive letters concerning his travels and service as the Washington correspondent for the United States Gazette of Philadelphia, and former student Joseph Emerson Worcester writes of his geographical and lexicographical publishing, activities in Boston, and dispute with Noah Webster over publication of the dictionary.

Kingsley's family correspondents include his Coit in-laws in Norwich, Connecticut and his sons George Theodore and Henry Coit Kingsley, who both settled in Cleveland, Ohio in the late 1830s to practice law. (Kingsley's correspondence with his son William Lathrop is in Series II.) The series includes many letters of condolence following George's accidental drowning death in 1842. There are also many long letters written by Kingsley during his 1845 trip to Europe, during which he purchased books for the Yale College Library.

Personal papers of James Luce Kingsley (boxes 4-5) include items relating to Yale students and Kingsley's scholarship. Folders 144-146 contain accounts for money received by Kingsley for the personal expenses of many Yale students. The series also includes a gradebook, report on the course of study, lecture notes, essays on Latin, and Kingsley's notes for the Triennial Catalogue.

Series II includes the correspondence and personal papers of James Luce Kingsley's son, William Lathrop Kingsley. Correspondence comprises the bulk of the series, and incoming letters form the majority of the correspondence. The most frequent correspondents are fellow classmates of the Yale class of 1843, contributors and subscribers to the New Englander, and family members. Frequent topics in the correspondence include class meeting activities and Kingsley's writings on Puritanism and early New Haven history. Three of Kingsley's steadfast correspondents are classmates William Wallace Atterbury, William Henry Goodrich, and Edward Whiting Gilman who write of their further studies, and ministerial duties, and personal lives. Gilman, also Kingsley's cousin, relates news of family members in Norwich and elsewhere.

Additional major family correspondents include H. Louise Upham Kingsley, Henry Coit Kingsley, Elizabeth Kingsley Blake, Daniel Coit Gilman, and James and Lydia Coit Kingsley. The series includes both incoming letters from these correspondents to William L. Kingsley and letters to them (folders 366-379) from him. Kingsley's letters to family members describe his trips to Europe in 1848, 1852-1853, and 1855, as well as time spent in Ohio and in Ridgebury, Connecticut. Most of the letters from H. Louise (Lou) Upham Kingsley date from the year prior to her marriage to William L. Kingsley and are written from Charlestown, Massachusetts, to Kingsley in New Haven. Lou, who wrote at least four to five times a week, expresses her unwillingness to marry until Kingsley is settled in an occupation. After Kingsley joined the New Englander, the letters are full of wedding plans and details of domestic arrangements. Henry Coit Kingsley writes of his life as a lawyer in Ohio, while James Luce Kingsley's letters consist of descriptions of his 1845 trip to Europe.

Folders 518-519 contain condolence letters addressed to Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam on the death of her father. Folder 519 includes the handwritten eulogy or memorial tribute delivered by Timothy Dwight on this occasion.

The series concludes with a box of William L. Kingsley's personal papers, which includes account books and diaries. The account books document Kingsley's personal and travel expenses and also record some expenses for the Division Street Church and the New Englander. Diaries in folders 531-532 describe Kingsley's 1855 trip abroad.

Series III, FAMILY PAPERS, is composed of correspondence, diaries, legal and financial papers, genealogical notes, and memorabilia of many Kingsley and Upham family members and their relations. Material in the series is arranged in alphabetical order by the names of the records' creators, many of whom are family members. Letters not by family members are often addressed to them. Writers and recipients include H. Louise Upham Kingsley, her parents, sisters, brothers, and friends; Lathrop, Coit, Gilman, and Kingsley family members; and related Bateses, Clarkes, Elys, Perits, Blakes, and Farnams.

Letters of George Theodore Kingsley from Ohio, an 1830 travel diary, and student memorabilia are included in folders 626-633. Henry Coit Kingsley's papers (folders 634-641) include letters to his mother and sister from Ohio in the 1830s and travel letters from his 1852-1853 European trip. Folders 649-651 contain additional papers relating to James Luce Kingsley. These include estate papers and other financial records, memorabilia, notes, and printed copies of funeral addresses by Theodore Dwight Woolsey and Thomas A. Thacher. Notes made by Noah Porter of deathbed conversations with James Luce Kingsley are in folder 694. Folder 633 contains a diary of Lydia Coit Kingsley, in which she made brief entries concerning her activities and feelings between 1818 and 1840.

Folder 675 contains a diary kept by Daniel Coit Lathrop on a trip to Holland and England in 1783. His entries are detailed and describe conversations and local news. Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam's journal of her 1890-1891 honeymoon trip around the world is in folders 622-623. Other Farnam family papers including the estate papers of Henry Farnam are in folders 589-590. Notes and correspondence of Elizabeth Kingsley Farnam and others concerning Kingsley family genealogy as well as unidentified Kingsley family material is included in folders 668-672.

The series includes many papers of Timothy Upham and his family. Upham, who was an officer in the United States Army, commanded the defenses of the Portsmouth, New Hampshire harbor and also served in Plattsburgh, New York during the War of 1812. Correspondence of Upham, his wife Eliza Adams Upham, and other family members at this time (folders 699-700, 708-709, 722, 738, and 760-762) relates to his service, local sentiment concerning the war, and family preparations for a threatened British invasion. Folder 724 also contains Eliza Adams Upham's recipe book. Later family materials document the lives of several Upham children. Among H. Louise Upham Kingsley's papers are numerous letters to family members and notebooks of favorite family recipes (folder 646). Anna Maria Upham, who married John Bates in 1847, writes of her domestic arrangements, social life, and family in Canandaigua, New York, while Martha Ann Upham, who married Hosey Clarke in 1852, writes similar letters from Marshall and then Detroit, Michigan. Additional details of Upham family members in Michigan can be found in the letters of Charlotte Mary Upham. Genealogical papers on the Upham family are included in folder 743.

The series also includes a few papers unrelated to family matters. Folders 539, 566, 568, and 580 contain letters addressed to Benjamin Silliman and folder 565 includes proposals for a Yale exhibit at the United States Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876. Folders 610 and 611 contain writings that may have been intended for publication in the New Englander. The last folders in the series contain miscellaneous calling cards, printed material, and photographs.