Manuscript Division John Davis Batchelder Collection of Manuscripts

John Davis Batchelder Collection of Manuscripts

Collection

Identifier: MSS12021

Scope and Content Note

The autograph collection of John Davis Batchelder (1872-1958) spans the years 1537-1944, with the bulk of material dating from 1800 to 1910. The collection contains autographs, letters, official documents, photographs, writings, sketches, and printed matter of prominent historical figures in the arts, sciences, and politics. The collection is in English and French with other languages, and is arranged in three series. Part I: Autographs comprises historical manuscripts and other material from Batchelder's earliest gifts. Items in this series are numbered and are arranged in numerically. Part II: Autographs contains an alphabetical arrangement of unnumbered autographs and other documents received in 1974. The Miscellany series consists of Batchelder's personal papers and includes correspondence, invitations, calling cards, sketches, notes, war ration books, and printed matter.

Batchelder acquired historical manuscripts, pictorial material, and printed matter in the United States and during his studies and extensive travel abroad, particularly in Europe. The broad range of the collection reflects his interest in documenting the history of Western culture. Persons represented in the Autograph series in Parts I and II include Honoré de Balzac; Catherine II, Empress of Russia; Albert Einstein, Henry VIII, King of England; Louis XIV, King of France; Peter I, Emperor of Russia; Auguste Rodin; and various presidents including Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Washington.

Despite the disparate nature of the collection, Batchelder collected extensively in several fields. Documents relating to American history include letters and writings from Henry Ward Beecher, Buffalo Bill, James Fenimore Cooper, Robert Fulton, and Cotton Mather. Among several items from seventeenth-century New England is a petition from more than a dozen women and men jailed for witchcraft in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1692. Many of the documents relate to events surrounding the French Revolution. Letters and writings from Jeanne de Saint-Remy de Valois La Motte, Marie Antoinette, Honoré-Gabrielle de Riquette Mirabeau, Henri Sanson, and François Marie Arouet de Voltaire, among others, are represented. The collection also reflects Batchelder's interest in nineteenth and early twentieth-century theater. Included are autographs, photographs, and letters from numerous actors, among them Sarah Bernhardt, Edwin Booth, Charlotte Cushman, John Drew, and Lillie Langtry.

Portions of Batchelder's vast collection are located in other divisions of the Library. Close to fifteen hundred books, broadsides, fine bindings, and some manuscripts are housed in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division. The Music Division includes autographs, letters, photographs, and ephemera relating chiefly to opera singers and nineteenth-century composers. Nearly eight hundred photographs, prints, postcards, and reproductions collected by Batchelder are located in the Prints and Photographs Division.

Dates

Creation: 1537-1944
Creation: Majority of material found within 1800-1910

Language of Materials

Collection material in English and French, with other languages

Access and Restrictions

The Batchelder Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.

Copyright Status

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of individuals represented in the collection and in the unpublished writings of John Davis Batchelder is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

Extent

2,000 items
14 containers
4.4 linear feet

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Additional Description

Abstract

Educator and collector. Autographs, letters, official documents, writings, printed material, photographs, and other papers of prominent historical figures in the arts, science, and politics of the Western world collected by Batchelder.

Arrangement of the Papers

The collection is arranged in three series:

Additional Guides

A description of portions of the Batchelder Collection appears in Library of Congress, Exhibit of Books, Manuscripts, Bindings, Illustrations, and Broadsides Selected from the Collection of John Davis Batchelder, Esquire (Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, 1938. 62 pp.)

Catalog Record

https://lccn.loc.gov/mm78012021

Acquisition Information

The autograph collection of John Davis Batchelder, educator and collector, was given to the Library of Congress by Batchelder in 1936. He made several subsequent gifts. Originally housed in the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division, the collection was transferred to the Manuscript Division in 1961. Other material was transferred from the Prints and Photographs Division in 1961 and from the Exchange and Gift Division in 1974.

Transfers

Some manuscripts have been transferred back to the Library's Rare Book and Special Collections Division, where they are identified as part of these papers. Some photographs, engravings, prints, and clippings have been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division, where they are identified as part of these papers.

Processing History

The Batchelder Collection was processed in 1984 by Michael McElderry and David Mathisen and revised in 1997 by Margaret McAleer. The finding aid was revised again in 2010.