Overview
The majority of the archival and manuscript collections highlighted below contain digitized material that is freely available online.
For collections with finding aids, digitized material can be accessed through those finding aids.
Once in the finding aid, navigate to the Digital Material tab, located near the top of the screen, and click the Item title found in the square on the right side of the screen.
For material without finding aids, digitized material can be accessed through the HOLLIS catalog record. Each title listed below is linked to its corresponding HOLLIS record.
Once in the HOLLIS catalog record, scroll to the 'Get It' section of the page to find the link the digitized item(s).
Archival and Manuscript Collections
Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott was an American philosopher of the New England Transcendentalist group, teacher, reformer, and father of writer Louisa May Alcott.
- Amos Bronson Alcott papers, 1799-1888Papers include autograph manuscripts of ABA (and others), clippings, diaries, drawings, ephemera, Alcott family genealogical materials, letterbooks, maps, notes, photographs, printed materials, and scrapbooks. All series have multiple types of materials including: records of the Town and Country Club; a few Ralph Waldo Emerson manuscripts; autobiographical writings by ABA; Alcott family correspondence (both within and outside the family); correspondence of friends and family to and from ABA; ABA and family members' diaries; and materials relating to life in Concord (Mass.).
- Alcott family papers, 1830-1888A portion of the family papers (letters, poems, and other compositions) of the Alcott family of Concord, Mass. Includes papers of the writer Louisa May Alcott and her father, Amos Bronson Alcott, the New England transcendentalist.
William Ellery Channing
William Ellery Channing was a Unitarian minister in Boston and the principal spokesman for the Unitarian movement in the United States. He was a chief influence on the Transcendentalist movement.
- William Ellery Channing papers, 1819-1852Chiefly letters to William Ellery Channing, including many from correspondents in Great Britain; letters and sermon notes by Channing; and letters to Channing's wife, Ruth Gibbs Channing. Also includes notes and documents of Ellis Gray Loring relating to the trial of Abner Kneeland for blasphemy, and bills and legal papers of William Ellery Channing.
- F. B. Sanborn and William Ellery Channing papers, 1834-1917Collection contains letters from William Ellery Channing to Ralph Waldo Emerson discussing poetry, the Dial, and lecture tours. Letters from Channing to Elizabeth Hoar are about their relationship, poetry, and mutual acquaintances. There is a journal, notebooks, and poems by Channing, among other items.
Christopher Pearse Cranch
Christopher Pearse Cranch was a Unitarian minister, poet, author, artist, editor, humorist, and member of the New England transcendentalist group.
- Christopher Pearse Cranch illustrations of the New Philosophy, ca. 1837-1839Ink drawings, created in Louisville, Kentucky, with autograph captions. These are humorous illustrations, sometimes called cartoons or caricatures, relating to New England transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. Originally drawn by Cranch on loose sheets, but later mounted into a bound blank-book (22 leaves) sometimes called the "transcendental scrapbook," or the "new philosophy scrapbook."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Emerson was an American essayist, poet, philosopher and leader of the Transcendentalist movement.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson additional papers, circa 1835-1922Correspondence and compositions of RWE and of his family, friends, and colleagues including Charles Chauncy Emerson, Ellen Tucker Emerson, and Mary Moody Emerson, among others.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson lectures and sermons, ca. 1831-1882Manuscripts of lectures and sermons given by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Margaret Fuller
Sarah Margaret Fuller Ossoli, known as Margaret Fuller, (1810-1850) was an American author, editor, critic, and social reformer, who was interested in Transcendentalism, feminism, and the revolution in Rome.
- Margaret Fuller family papers, 1662-1970The Fuller family papers contains correspondence, journals, and writings of Margaret Fuller, including letters she wrote as a child to her father; correspondence with her husband Giovanni Angelo Ossoli; letters to other relatives and friends; notebooks on her reading, literary studies, and the first issue of the Dial; clippings of her articles for the New York Tribune; "Italian letters"; her Roman diary, 1849, that was washed ashore after the shipwreck of the Elizabeth; and a daguerreotype of a painting of Fuller. Much of the material is handwritten transcriptions of the originals
- James Freeman Clarke letters to Margaret Fuller, 1829-1840Includes 77 letters from Clarke to Fuller. James Freeman Clarke (1810-1888) was a Unitarian clergyman, author, and reformer closely associated with the Transcendentalists. He was minister in Louisville, Ky. (1833-1840) and at the Church of the Disciples in Boston (1841-1850, 1854-1888). Margaret Fuller (1810-1850) was a literary critic, editor, teacher, and political activist also closely associated with the Transcendentalists.
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was a leading member of the Transcendentalist movement. He was also an essayist, poet, and philosopher.
- Extracts, mostly upon Natural History : manuscript, 1853-1858Autograph notebook, signed, in the hand of Henry David Thoreau, including autograph manuscript notes by former owners.
This volume is one of Thoreau's "Fact-Books - citations which concern his studies." Volume includes autograph manuscript notes from former owner, George S. Hellman, concerning provenance of this and other Thoreau manuscripts.
Jones Very
Jones Very (1813-1880) was a transcendentalist poet and essayist.
- Jones Very sermons, 1844-1873Autograph manuscript sermons of Jones Very, with a manuscript index of titles (in hand of his sister Lydia Louisa Anna Very ), at the start of volume.
Publications and Serials
- The dial"A magazine for literature, philosophy, and religion."
Edited by Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Ripley. - Transcendentalismby William B. Greene. Author's copy and heavily annotated.
- An essay on transcendentalismby Charles M. Ellis.
From the library of Sylvester Judd, Harvard 1840, with his signature and date.
