Guide to the Henry Northrup Castle Papers 1863-1942


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Table of Contents

• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Biographical Note
• Scope Note
• Related Resources
• Subject Headings
• INVENTORY
• Series I: Personal
• Series II: Correspondence
• Series III: Castle Family Correspondence
• Series IV: Castle Family Papers
• Series V: Publication of Letters
• Series VI: Photographs
• Series VII: Oversize

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

This collection is open for research.

Citation

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

Biographical Note

Henry Northrup Castle (1862-1895) was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of American missionary parents, Samuel and Mary Castle. After spending all of his youth in the islands, where he attended Oahu College, he came to the United States in 1878 to attend Oberlin College. It was at Oberlin that Castle began a close friendship with George Herbert Mead, which lasted the remainder of his short life.

After working two years in his brother Will's law office in Honolulu following graduation from Oberlin in 1883, Castle studied in Germany and for two years at the Harvard Law School. Mead joined Castle at Harvard, and both men continued their studies in Germany. As intellectual companions, they shared a mutual interest in philosophy and literature, and exchanged lively letters extensively on these subjects.

Castle returned to Hawaii after marrying a German girl, Frida Steckner, and became editor and owner of the Pacific Commercial Advertiser and the Hawaiian Gazette, the principal newspapers in the islands. Frida was tragically killed in an accident in 1890, a month after their daughter, Dorothy, was born. After having married his second wife Mabel Wing in 1892, Castle returned, in 1893, to the United States to attend the Hawaiian Commission in Washington, which was investigating American intervention in the Hawaiian revolution to overthrow Queen Lilinokalani, and to visit George and Helen Mead. Mead had married Castle's sister, Helen, in 1891.

In 1894, Castle, ever in search of knowledge, returned to Germany with Dorothy to continue his studies in Leipzig. When word reached him in December 1894 of a counter revolt by Hawaiian royalists, Castle and his daughter left immediately for the islands on the steamship, Elbe, which collided with a small steamer on January 30, 1895 in the North Sea. Both Castle and his daughter were drowned, and he never was able to see his younger daughter, Elinor, who had been born a month before.

Castle was eulogized as a martyr to the cause of democratic government for Hawaii and a loyal supporter of the new Hawaiian Republic. Additionally, he was a man of unusual intellectual attainments whose friendship was an important influence on the career of George Herbert Mead.

Scope Note

The collection of about 1500 pieces includes Henry Castle's personal correspondence, his college essays and other miscellaneous writings and papers, the personal correspondence of Castle's immediate family, miscellaneous family papers, and typed copy and printer's proofs of a volume of Castle's letters which were edited by George and Helen Mead and privately printed for the Castle family and friends in 1902.

The collection is divided into seven series. Series I: Personal, includes records related to Henry Northrup Castle’s education, his diaries, personal ephemera, and information about the sinking of the Elbe and Castle’s death. Series II: Correspondence, contains letters written by Castle, arranged alphabetically by correspondent. The majority of the letters are written to members of Castle’s family. General ingoing and outgoing correspondence between Castle and non-family members is found at the beginning of the series. Series III: Castle Family Correspondence, comprises personal letters from Castle's immediate family, arranged chronologically under the name of each relative, as well as letters received by members of the Castle family. Series IV: Castle Family Papers, includes ephemera related to various members of the Castle family. Series V: Publication of Letters, contains material related to the arrangement, transcription, and publication of Henry Northrup Castle’s correspondence by his sister, Helen Kingsbury Castle Mead, and his brother-in-law, George Herbert Mead. Series VI: Photographs, contains photographs of the Castle family and of Henry Northrup Castle and his daughter, Dorothy. Series VII: Oversize, contains galley proofs for Castle’s published letters.

Most of the original manuscripts of the published letters are included in the collection, as well as many unpublished letters and papers. The decision for or against publication of entire letters seems to have been based on technical problems rather than content, although occasional personal references were deleted. Since George and Helen Mead were responsible for the editing of the correspondence a natural reticence on their part seems to have motivated the withholding of scattered comments about their private lives. The original letters should always be consulted in preference to the published text to make certain that nothing of importance has been deleted. The original edited letters are always marked in blue pencil. Unpublished letters have the symbol "O" at the top of the first page or were not marked by the Meads.

(Persons interested in Mead will find references to him beginning with Castle's letters of the Oberlin period (c.1979-1883). Mead is most often mentioned, or entire letters are most often addressed to him, during the time when Castle was urging him to come to Harvard (c.1886-1887), and when the two friends were in Germany together (c.1893-1894). Letters to and from Helen Castle Mead after 1891 also reveal information about the philosopher(s early career.)

Fourteen personal letters from Mead, all unpublished, are found in the collection, but much of the correspondence addressed to Castle, other than personal family letters, is not included, and its present whereabouts is unknown. It can be assumed that this correspondence not only would contain more letters of philosophical content from Mead, but revealing letters about Hawaiian political affairs which Castle would have received as an influential newspaper editor.

A helpful list of the family members, their births and deaths, was found in the collection and is filed in Box 7, Folder 8.

Related Resources

Browse finding aids by topic.

Castle, Mabel Wing. Papers

Nef, Elinor Castle. Papers

Subject Headings

• Castle, Henry Northrup, 1862-1895
• Castle, Mabel Wing, 1864-1950
• Castle, Samuel Northrup, 1808-1894
• Mead, George Herbert, 1863-1931

INVENTORY