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Horace Day papers

 Collection
Call Number: GEN MSS 950

Scope and Contents

The papers contain letters, writings, and records of the Day family. Series I holds letters sent to Horace Day from his parents Gad and Roxanna Day, his brother George Edward Day (Yale 1833), his cousin Lucinda Day, and his friends, Yale classmates, and colleagues including Edward E. Atwater, Erasmus Darwin Hudson, Charles Backus McLean, and Noah Porter. Also present are letters of recommendation written on Day's behalf by Jeremiah Day, Eleazar T. Fitch, Anthony D. Stanley, and Nathaniel W. Taylor. Personal Papers includes material investigating Gad Day's military service and a proposal from E. S. Goodrich to publish the Pioneer newspaper at St. Paul, Minnesota. Also present is a manuscript broadside announcing a music concert at sea and a printed broadside advertising Thomas Kimpton's Parcel Express shipping service from London to "all parts of the kingdom" as well as the colonies and North America; they may be related to Day's trips to Europe in the late 1850s. Series II holds autograph manuscripts and typescripts of writings by Day and his daughter Sarah Day Woodward, including addresses delivered before the New Haven Colony Historical Society. Also in the series are a group of manuscript sermons by an unidentified preacher, dated 1728-1833, and newspaper clippings related to the history of New Haven, Connecticut, dated 1857-1915. Series III holds five financial ledgers for the Day & Fitch company dating 1845-1855, and one personal account book recording Day's expenses, 1868-1874. Series IV holds two volumes of Day's notes made during meetings of the New Haven Board of Education, 1882-1890.

Dates

  • 1728 - 1915
  • Majority of material found within 1833 - 1874

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

The Horace Day Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Sarah Day Woodward, 1936.

Arrangement

Organized into four series: I. Correspondence and Personal Papers, 1814-1867. II. Writings, 1728-1915. III. Financial Records, 1845-1874. IV. New Haven Board of Education Minutes, 1882-1890.

Associated Materials

Gad Day Family Papers (MS 1225). Manuscripts and Archives, Yale University Library.

Extent

2 Linear Feet (5 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.dayh

Abstract

The papers contain letters, writings, and records of the Day family. Series I holds letters sent to Horace Day from his parents Gad and Roxanna Day, his brother George Edward Day (Yale 1833), his cousin Lucinda Day, and his friends, Yale classmates, and colleagues including Edward E. Atwater, Erasmus Darwin Hudson, Charles Backus McLean, and Noah Porter. Also present are letters of recommendation written on Day's behalf by Jeremiah Day, Eleazar T. Fitch, Anthony D. Stanley, and Nathaniel W. Taylor. Personal Papers includes material investigating Gad Day's military service and a proposal from E. S. Goodrich to publish the Pioneer newspaper at St. Paul, Minnesota. Also present is a manuscript broadside announcing a music concert at sea and a printed broadside advertising Thomas Kimpton's Parcel Express shipping service from London to "all parts of the kingdom" as well as the colonies and and North America; they may be related to Day's trips to Europe in the late 1850s. Series II holds autograph manuscripts and typescripts of writings by Day and his daughter Sarah Day Woodward, including addresses delivered before the New Haven Colony Historical Society. Also in the series are a group of manuscript sermons by an unidentified author, dated 1728-1833, and newspaper clippings related to the history of New Haven, Connecticut, dated 1857-1915. Series III holds five financial ledgers for the Day & Fitch company dating 1845-1855, and one personal account book recording Day's expenses, 1868-1874. Series IV holds two volumes of Day's notes made during meetings of the New Haven Board of Education, 1882-1890.

Horace Day (1816-1902)

Horace Day was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on November 5, 1816, the son of Gad and Roxanna Rice Day; the family moved to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1822. Day studied at the Hopkins Grammar School and graduated from Yale College in 1836. After briefly teaching school he studied for three years in Yale Seminary, but was never ordained. Day was for several years a publisher and bookseller in New Haven as a partner with L. W. Fitch in the firm of Day & Fitch, afterward becoming editor of the New Haven Journal and Courier, and assistant editor of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette. He returned to New Haven in 1856, and in 1860 was appointed superintendent of the public schools of New Haven, an office he held for five years. In 1868 he became secretary of the New Haven Board of Education and served the city in that capacity to the end of his life. Day was one of the founders of the New Haven Colony Historical Society and was the institution's first secretary. Day's antiquarian interests led to his being often consulted regarding early landmarks and local history, and he assisted in the compilation of several genealogies. In 1887 Day became secretary of the Yale Class of 1836. He died in New Haven on July 22, 1902.

Sarah Cazneau Day Woodward (1855-1946)

Sarah Cazneau Day (1855-1946) was the daughter of Horace and Sarah Rice Day; she married Richard W. Woodward (1846-1931, Yale 1867) in 1881. An antiquarian like her father, Sarah Day Woodward was an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the author of Early New Haven (New Haven, Conn.: Price, Lee & Adkins Co., 1912).

Processing Information

This collection includes materials previously identified by the following call numbers: MS Vault Shelves Day, MS Vault Day

Title
Guide to the Horace Day Papers
Author
by Sandra Markham
Date
2013
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository

Contact:
P. O. Box 208330
New Haven CT 06520-8330 US
(203) 432-2977

Location

121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours

Access Information

The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.