Scope and Content Note
The family papers of Anson Burlingame (1820-1870) and Edward L. Burlingame (1848-1922) span the years 1810-1922 and consist of correspondence and other papers mainly of Anson Burlingame, congressman and diplomat in the mid-nineteenth century, and his son Edward L. Burlingame, editor of Scribner’s magazine from 1879 to 1914. Also in the collection are the papers of Anson’s wife, Jane Cornelia Livermore Burlingame, and Jane’s father and mother, Isaac Livermore and Eunice H. Livermore. Included are diaries of both Anson and Edward, commissions from President Abraham Lincoln, and correspondence relating to Anson’s Chinese and European postings and to Edward’s editorship at Scribner’s. The files also contain printed matter, maps, autographed menus, programs, and photographs, and letters and miscellaneous material relating to William Henry Seward and Charles Sumner. The collection is organized by name of family member and therein by type of material.
Among the acquaintances of father and son represented by letters or autographs in the collection are writers, reformers, artists, and political figures such as William Cullen Bryant, Richard Henry Dana, John A. Dix, Gustave Doré, Jessie Benton Frémont, John Charles Frémont, Henry James (1843-1916), Rudyard Kipling, Francis Lieber, Horace Mann (1796-1859), Edwin Markham, George du Maurier, George Meredith, Thomas Nast, Theodore Parker, Ernest Thompson Seton, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, and Owen Wister.