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University of Chicago Library

Guide to the Elijah Phelps Grant Papers 1843-1874

© 2006 University of Chicago Library

Descriptive Summary

Title:

Grant, Elijah Phelps. Papers

Dates:

1843-1874

Size:

1 linear ft. (2 boxes)

Repository:

Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 East 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.

Abstract:

The Elijah Phelps Grant Papers consist of correspondence, as well as a few manuscripts and clippings. Much of the material in the collection relates to Grant's attempt to establish and promote a communal society in Kansas called Sikville.

Information on Use

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Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Grant, Elijah Phelps. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Biographical Note

Elijah Phelps Grant (1810-1874) was the leading American Fourierite in the country west of the Allegheny Mountains in the 1840's. Grant left his native Connecticut soon after being graduated in law from Yale College, and began the practice of his profession in Canton, Ohio. Early in the 1840's he became an enthusiastic convert to the social doctrines of Charles Fourier, and subsequently led in the establishment of the Ohio Phalanx, one of those experimental colonies, usually designated as utopian socialist, to which the Fourierist movement gave rise. The last six years of his life, 1868-1874, Grant spent in promoting a colony in Kansas. It came to be called Silkville, and was based upon an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to raise silk for profit.

Scope Note

The Elijah Phelps Grant Papers consist of correspondence, as well as a few manuscripts and clippings. Much of the material in the collection relates to Grant's attempt to establish and promote a communal society in Kansas called Sikville.

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Subject Headings

INVENTORY

Box 1   Folder 1

Letterbook I, 30 May 1843-6 February 1844

Box 1   Folder 2

Typed copies of contents of Letterbook I

Box 1   Folder 3

Letterbook II, 7 February 1844-5 August 1844

Box 1   Folder 4

Letterbook III, 8 August 1844-25 October 1844

Box 1   Folder 5

Draft of unsent letter to Brisbane, ca. 1 April 1844 (cf. Letterbook III, p. 25)

Box 1   Folder 6

Letterbook IV, 11 November 1844-16 June 1845

Box 1   Folder 7

Letterbook V, 30 June 1845-21 July 1845; also a diary, 15-18 April 1845

Box 1   Folder 8

Letterbook VI, 11 May 1868-13 June 1869

Box 1   Folder 9

Letterbook VII, 20 Junary 1869-31 December 1870; in this book are also some copies of sundry letter to Albert Brisbane from other persons; a few clippings; and Proceedings of the Western Improved Plastic Roofing Company, 1866.

Box 1   Folder 10

Letterbook VIII, 2 January 1871-30 December 1871

Box 1   Folder 11

Letterbook IX, 6 January 1872-27 July 1872

Box 1   Folder 12

Letterbook X, 6 August 1872-29 March 1873

Box 1   Folder 13

Letterbook XI, 1 April 1875-27 December 1873

Box 1   Folder 14

Letterbook XII, 1 January 1874-14 December 1874

Box 2   Folder 1

Letters written in reply to letters addressed to E.V. Boissiere, and at Boissiere's request, 14 July 1872-8 November 1873; also some clippings.

Box 2   Folder 2

E. V. Boissiere to Grant, 23 February 1869-12 December, 1871, 21 letters; also E.V. Boissiere to Charles Sears, 11 July 1869

Box 2   Folder 3

Albert Brisbane to Grant, 24 January 1869-8 December 1869, 16 letters

Box 2   Folder 4

Brisbane to Grant, 6 January 1870-15 December 1870, 17 letters

Box 2   Folder 5

Brisbane to Grant, 7 January 1871-31 October 1873, 19 letters, one ms. article

Box 2   Folder 6

Correspondence

  • C.C. Colby to Grant, 30 December, 1868
  • E. Hovey to Grant, 5 January, 21 January 1872
  • E. Howland to Grant, 5 February 1868-March 1869, 5 letters -
  • Grant to Howland, 22 February 1868
  • Alexander Longley to Grant, 11 letters
Box 2   Folder 7

Correspondence

  • F. L. Macdaniel to Grant, 12 December 1847
  • Osborne Macdaniel to Grant, 1847-48, 3 letters
  • J. E. Merriman to Grant, 18 January 1869
  • Charles Sears to Grant, 1869-71, (19 letters in folder)
Box 2   Folder 8

Miscellaneous

  • Ms. copy of "Short Circular", by albert Brisbane.
  • Ms. article, "The Religion of the Future", by Brisbane
  • Copy of letter, Brisbane to Grant, 25 July, 1868, accompanying first sixteen pages of "Short Circular"
Box 2   Folder 9

Memoranda of conversations with Brishane "Hasty Translation of an Article addressed by A. Brisbane to V. Considerant, Jan. 1868"

Box 2   Folder 10

Book of clippings on labor questions, ca. 1868

Box 2   Folder 11

Clippings, marginal jottings, and notes on "Commerce", November 1870; Ms. notes on labor

Box 2   Folder 12

Miscellaneous notes, circulars, and clippings on the Kansas Experiment

Box 2   Folder 13

"Circular to the Friends of Progress. . . ."

Box 2   Folder 14

Material on "The Order of the Adelphi"