Guide to the Matthew Vassar Papers, 1730-1975

Collection Summary

Biographical Note

Matthew Vassar, born in the County of Norfolk, England, emigrated with his parents and other family members to Dutchess County, N.Y., in 1796. The Vassars were a family of brewers, and Matthew set up his own brewery in Poughkeepsie in 1811. His other enterprises included land dwellings in Michigan and an interest in a whaling fleet and dock in Poughkeepsie.

Married to Catherine Valentine in 1813, Vassar made a comfortable fortune. After a trip to Europe in 1845, he thought seriously of using his means to endow a hospital. About that time, however, he met Milo P. Jewett, who had bought a Poughkeepsie girl’s school from Vassar’s niece Lydia Booth. Jewett apparently interested Vassar in the idea of establishing a college for women. Vassar College was chartered in 1861 and opened its doors to students in 1865. It was not the first venture in higher education for women, but the extensive advertising and publicity for the college brought the question of women’s education to popular attention with greater force than ever before. Matthew Vassar strongly believed in women’s mental capacity, in proving that woman’s mind was equal to man’s; and he intended that his college should both prove that point and prepare women to live in the modern world.

Though he was not polished in manner of speech, Matthew Vassar was undeniably a man of remarkable creativity, intelligence, and determination. Vassar’s experiment was responsible for the appearance of many colleges for women in England and in this country, and encouraged coeducation, as well, in state-supported institutions.

Chronology

Scope and Content Note

Much of the correspondence, especially personal, is missing because after Matthew Vassar’s death, his nephew, Matthew Vassar Jr. , sold all of the letters and papers in the house to the rag and old paper dealers to benefit the estate. Much of the remaining correspondence concerns his business. Upon the death of Matthew Vassar’s nephew and business partner, Oliver H. Booth (1823-1896), a large accumulation of “all and any paper that had been written on” covering most of the nineteenth century was found in the brewery, and Henry Booth (1849-1929)[son/nephew of Oliver H. Booth?] kept those which were considered worth keeping. They were donated to Vassar College in 1964 by Deling Booth, Henry Booth's grandson, and are marked in the register with a double asterisk (**). They are described as written by Matthew Vassar to his firm.

Among the letters to the college, there are a number of people with whom Matthew Vassar maintained a substantial correspondence. These include Martin Brewer Anderson at the University of Rochester (where the originals are held); Sarah J. Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, a strong early supporter who was responsible for the removal of “Female” from the college’s name; Benson J. Lossing; Charles A. Raymond; John H. Raymond (President of Vassar College, 1864-1878) and Sarah L. Stilson, one of Vassar College’s first students (graduated 1869).

The portion of the collection which deals with Matthew Vassar’s estate “Springside” contains the architect’s drawings. These are housed separately, and can be accessed through the index which is in folder 312, and following page 37 of the register. There is some secondary material on “Springside” in the collection, including some on its recent history, and also some material on Andrew Jackson Downing, the architect and landscape artist.

The exact provenance of much of the memorabilia collection is unknown; those items marked * in the register were transferred to Special Collections from Main Building in 1971.

Items marked with a triple asterisk (***) are a late accession, but whether from the Booth Collection or the 1971 transfer from Main Building is unknown.

Access and Use

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Encoding Information

Encoded by Jennifer Palmentiero, July 2006. Updated by Emma Gronbeck, March 2023.

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