Collection Summary
Davis, Paulina W. (Paulina Wright), 1813-1876
Paulina Wright Davis Papers
1843-1890
0.6 cubic feet (3 boxes)
Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries
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.
Scope 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.
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
Hildreth, Carolina
Léo, André, 1824-1900
Hamilton, Elizabeth Emma Proby, Lady, 1821-1900
Neal, John, 1793-1876
Nichols, Mary Sargeant Gove, 1810-1884
Purvis, Robert
Ream, Vinnie, 1847-1914
Smith, Gerrit, 1797-1874
Tyndale, Sharon
Woodhull, Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin), 1838-1927
Yale, Catharine Bullard
Merrieweather, Lizzie Avery
Ream, Vickie
Subjects:
Slavery--Anti-slavery movements
Temperance
Women's rights--United States
Women's rights--Europe
Women--Health and hygiene
Women--Social conditions
Women--Diaries
Women sculptors
Women--Suffrage
Places:
Europe--Description and travel
United States--Social life and customs--19th century
United States--Social conditions
Document Types:
Diaries
Poems
VCL Categories:
Slavery and Antislavery
Travel
Women's History
Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, December 2006.
Processing Information
Original processing date unknown.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Alma Lutz (VC 1912).
Preferred Citation
Paulina Wright Davis Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Series List
[Series I.](series1) Correspondence
(Box 1)
[Series II.](series2) Manuscripts
(Boxes 2-3)
[Series III.](series2) Works and Correspondence By
Others
(Box 3)
Container List
SERIES I. CORRESPONDENCE
Letters to Paulina Wright Davis
Folders 1.1-1.3
Relating to women's movement in US. and organization of
Women's Rights Convention in 1870,
(51 items)
1866-1876
Folder 1.4
Condolences upon the death of Paulina Wright Davis, and other
family affairs,
(7 items)
1853-1878
Folder 1.6
Miscellaneous,
(6 items)
circa 1870-1875
Letters from Paulina Wright Davis
Folder 1.5
Letter to one of her children on the coming of death,
(1 item)
1876
SERIES II. MANUSCRIPTS
Folders 1.7-1.8
Lectures on anatomy - including "Mental Development,"
(4 items)
1840s
Folders 2.1-2.5
Women's rights - including "On the Renting of a Hall for Woman's
Rights Meetings in Providence, RI." and "Social Rights and
Wrongs,"
(6 items)
1852-1870s
Folders 2.6-2.7
History of the women's rights movement - early draft and
manuscript of her 1871 book, A History of the National Woman's Rights
Movement,
(2 items)
circa 1869, 1871
Folders 3.1-3.4
Miscellaneous manuscripts. Includes 2 versions of "Despotism and
Democracy" and "Letter to an Editor re: Vickie Ream, the
Sculptor,"
(4 items)
1850s, undated
Folder 3.5
"Biography of John Neal 1793-1876," with the note "possibly
written by Paulina Wright Davis,"
undated
SERIES III. WORKS and CORRESPONDENCE by OTHERS
Folder 3.6
Letters to Robert Purvis, not written by Paulina Wright Davis,
(2 items)
1843, 1890
Folder 3.7
Poems, including one read at the Decade Convention of 1870 and
one dedicated to Paulina Wright Davis,
(3 items)
1870, undated
Folder 3.8
Collection of autographs,
(1 item)
undated
Folder 3.9
Travel diaries of a trip to Europe, purported to have been
written by Davis' niece, who accompanied Davis and her daughter to
Europe,
(2 items)
1871-1873