Research Catalog

Title

Augusta Melville papers.

Author

Melville, Augusta, 1821-1876

Publication

1796-1863.

Supplementary Content

Finding aid

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891.

Description

1.46 linear feet (4 boxes).

Summary

The collection of Augusta Melville papers, 1796-1863, consists primarily of over 500 letters, chiefly addressed to Augusta Melville, sister of author Herman Melville, and members of her extended family and friends. These letters describe in considerable detail the lives and daily activities of the writers, including travel, social doings and health matters. The portion of the collection directly pertaining to Herman Melville consists of eight letters sent or received, a fragment of a manuscript of Bartleby, the Scrivener in an unknown hand; thirty pages of the first draft of Typee in Melville's hand, 1845, and family letters in which he is mentioned. The collection also contains personal and business notebooks kept by family members, an autobiographical sketch by his sister Frances, a brief journal written at sea by his brother Thomas, and family artifacts (trunks and business signs).

Alternative Title

Melville family additions, Gansevoort-Lansing collection.

Subjects

• Melville family
• Autobiographies (literary works)
• Gansevoort family
• Melville, Augusta, 1821-1876 > Correspondence
• Diaries
• Exercise books
• Correspondence
• Women > United States > Correspondence
• United States > Social life and customs > 1783-1865
• Women > United States > History > 19th century
• Artifacts (object genre)
• Melville, Herman, 1819-1891 > Correspondence
• Manuscripts for publication
• Notebooks

Genre/Form

• Artifacts (object genre)
• Autobiographies (literary works)
• Correspondence.
• Diaries.
• Exercise books.
• Manuscripts for publication.
• Notebooks.

Access (note)

• Apply to Manuscripts and Archives Division for access at http://www.nypl.org/mssref

Source (note)

• Purchased from Lyrical Ballad Bookstore, 1983.

Location of Other Archival Materials (note)

• See the Gansevoort-Lansing collection for additional papers of members of the Melville family.

Provenance (note)

• The papers probably belonged to Herman Melville's sister, Augusta Melville, (1821-1876) who left them to her sister, Frances Priscilla (Fanny) Melville (1827-1885). Upon her death, the papers passed into non-family hands, where they remained until they were discovered in 1983 and subsequently acquired by The New York Public Library.

Processing Action (note)

• Recataloged as the Augusta Melville papers in 2018.

Call Number

MssCol 24415

OCLC

1037014330

Author

Melville, Augusta, 1821-1876, creator.

Title

Augusta Melville papers.

Production

1796-1863.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

sheet

Restricted Access

Apply to Manuscripts and Archives Division for access at http://www.nypl.org/mssref

Location of Other Archival Materials

See the Gansevoort-Lansing collection for additional papers of members of the Melville family.

Provenance

The papers probably belonged to Herman Melville's sister, Augusta Melville, (1821-1876) who left them to her sister, Frances Priscilla (Fanny) Melville (1827-1885). Upon her death, the papers passed into non-family hands, where they remained until they were discovered in 1983 and subsequently acquired by The New York Public Library.

Processing Action

Recataloged as the Augusta Melville papers in 2018.

Source

Purchased from Lyrical Ballad Bookstore, 1983.

Connect to:

NYPL Digital Collections

Finding aid

Added Author

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Bartleby, the scrivener.

Melville, Herman, 1819-1891. Typee.

Added Title

Melville family additions, Gansevoort-Lansing collection.

Research Call Number

MssCol 24415