Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
| Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
|---|---|
| Creator: | Davis, Paulina W. (Paulina Wright), 1813-1876 |
| Title: | Paulina Wright Davis Papers |
| Dates: | 1843-1890 |
| Quantity: | 0.6 cubic feet (3 boxes) |
| Abstract: | 61 letters, mainly incoming (with typewritten copies), 17 manuscripts, 2 travel diaries (attributed to Davis' niece) and miscellaneous papers. |
Biographical Note
Paulina Wright Davis was born in Bloomfield, NY., on August 7, 1813. After an unsettled childhood, she married Frances Wright, a wealthy merchant from Utica, NY., in 1883; both of them were involved in various reform movements -- antislavery, temperance, women's rights. She became acquainted with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other reformers during this period. Interested also in health reform, she studied anatomy; and after her husband's death, gave lectures on this subject (see Manuscripts, folders 1.6-1.8). In 1849 she married Thomas Davis, a prominent merchant and politician from Providence, RI. Four years later, Mrs. Davis founded the periodical UNA, one of the first devoted to the struggle for women's rights. In 1871 she wrote A History of the National Women's Rights Movement for Twenty Years... Her personal charm, wealth and position were valuable assets for the cause of women's rights in the years from 1850 until her death in 1876.
TopScope and Content Note
Correspondence includes letters concerning the women's movement in the United States and Europe and the organization of the 1870 Women's Rights Convention, 1866-1876, from Barbara Leigh Bodichon, Mary Booth, Frances Power Cobbe, Kate Newell Doggett, Emily Faithfull, Josephine S. Griffing, Carolina Hildreth, Andre Leo, John Neal, Mary Sargeant Gove Nichols, Elizabeth Proby, Robert Purvis, Vinnie Ream, Gerrit Smith, Sharon Tyndale, Victoria Claflin Woodhull, Catharine Bullard Yale, and Lizzie Avery Merrieweather. Personal letters about family matters, including one by Davis on her approaching death, and condolences on her death, 1853-1878; and two letters to Robert Purvis from others, 1843 and 1890. Other items include her travel diaries from a trip to Europe, 1871-1873; her manuscripts on anatomy, health, women's rights, the sculptor Vickie Ream, John Neal, and women's condition under despotism and democracy, ca. 1840-1871; manuscripts of her book A HISTORY OF THE NATIONAL WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT...; and miscellaneous poems and autographs.
TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Subject Headings
Names:
- Bodichon, Barbara Leigh Smith, 1827-1891
- Booth, Mary Louise, 1831-1889
- Cobbe, Frances Power, 1822-1904
- Doggett, Kate Newell, 1828-1884
- Faithfull, Emily, 1835-1895
- Griffing, Josephine Sophia White, 1814-1872
- Hamilton, Elizabeth Emma Proby, Lady, 1821-1900
- Hildreth, Carolina
- Léo, André, 1824-1900
- Merrieweather, Lizzie Avery
- Neal, John, 1793-1876
- Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove, 1810-1884
- Purvis, Robert
- Ream, Vickie
- Ream, Vinnie, 1847-1914
- Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874
- Tyndale, Sharon
- Woodhull, Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin), 1838-1927
- Yale, Catharine Bullard
Subjects:
- Slavery--Anti-slavery movements
- Temperance
- Women sculptors
- Women's rights--Europe
- Women's rights--United States
- Women--Diaries
- Women--Health and hygiene
- Women--Social conditions
- Women--Suffrage
Places:
- Europe--Description and travel
- United States--Social conditions
- United States--Social life and customs--19th century
Document Types:
- Diaries
- Poems
VCL Categories:
- Slavery and Antislavery
- Travel
- Women's History
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Paulina Wright Davis Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Alma Lutz (VC 1912).
Series List
Series I. Correspondence (Box 1) |
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Series II. Manuscripts (Boxes 2-3) |
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Series III. Works and Correspondence By Others (Box 3) |
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Container List
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
61 letters, mainly incoming (with
typewritten copies), 17 manuscripts, 2 travel diaries (attributed to Davis' niece)
and miscellaneous papers.
