English
Gift of Henry F. Brownson, 1890.
Orestes Augustus Brownson Papers (BRO), University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA), Notre Dame, IN 46556
Correspondence, journal, clippings, and manuscript drafts of books, speeches, articles, and essays, both published and unpublished, 1823-1876; including correspondence with the Comte de Montalembert, Louis Veuillot, Lord Acton, John Henry Cardinal Newman, George Bancroft, Salmon Chase, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Isaac Hecker, Henry David Thoreau, and Archbishops John Hughes, Francis Patrick Kenrick and Martin Spalding; manuscripts of essays by Albert Brisbane, Archbishop Francis P. Kenrick, George Thompson and others; and a photograph of Orestes Brownson.
Collection available on microfilm from the Archives of the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 46556.
Associate of the New England Transcendentalists; convert to Roman Catholicism; founder, editor, and chief author of the Boston Quarterly Review (1838-1842) and Brownson's Quarterly Review (1844-1864 and 1873-1875). He wrote essays on Church and State, civil and religious freedom, Catholic education, the philosophy of science, and the conflict between conservative and progressive forces in the Church.
This list contains the names, arranged alphabetically, of those who corresponded with Orestes Augustus Brownson and whose letters are found on the first eight rolls of this microfilm publication. Where one person has written more than one letter, the letters have been listed under his name in a chronological order. Where several persons have joined to send one letter, separate entries have been made for each person. The dates of each correspondent's letters are given in the same chronological order in which they are found on the microfilm. An exception has been in the case of enclosures, which have been filmed immediately after their cover letters. In such cases, two dates have been given: first, the date of the enclosure; and, second, the date of the cover letter. For example, E.D. Barker's letter of Feb. 5, 1862, to William D. Kelley is listed thus: 1862 Feb. 5 (to William D. Kelley, encl'd in 1862 Feb. 6, Kelley to O.A.B.). On the microfilm the reader will find the letter by referring to the date of the cover letter. Letters dated only by month and year will be found at the beginning of that month; letters dated only by year will be found at the beginning of that year. Letters dated only by decade will be found at the beginning of that decade. For example, a letter dated [186?] will be found at the very beginning of the letters for 1860. Undated correspondence has been filmed after the dated correspondence and arranged alphabetically according to the author's last name.This list does not include either the correspondence in the Scrapbook of Army Letters of Captain Edward P. Brownson, filmed on Roll Eight, or the correspondence acquired from other collections, filmed on Roll Nine. The correspondence from other collections has been filmed separately in units according to the source from which it has been obtained. A complete listing of this material will be found in the list of items microfilmed. On both the film and in that list this material has been placed after the undated correspondence in the original Orestes A. Brownson Collection.
Summaries of letters and other documents may be found by searching the online version of our calendar.
This guide is intended to serve users of this microfilm publication as well as those desiring information on its contents prior to acquisition. The accompanying microfilm meets standards established by the National Historical Publications Commission General Services Administration. Both the guide and the microfilm were produced with the assistance, financial and advisory, of the Commission. [A printed version of this guide is available for one dollar from the Archives of the University of Notre Dame.]
Over the course of the years a substantial number of items or copies of items have been obtained from other depositories. Included in this category, which consists largely of outgoing correspondence, are photostats of many letters in the Archives of the Paulist Fathers; photostats of letters and other items in the possession of the Odiorne family -- descended from Orestes through his daughter Sarah; original letters from the Sadlier family, with whose publishing firm Brownson conducted a good deal of business; and copies of material from numerous other depositories both in the United States and in Europe. Recently, the University of Notre Dame Archives, in its capacity as the Catholic Archives of America, has been in the process of acquiring microfilms of material relating to the United States from the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide in Rome, Italy. Among the items thus obtained are several letters written by Brownson as well as a number of letters and copies of letters about Brownson. Magnaprints have been made from the microfilm of these letters and placed with the Collection. All this material from other sources has been grouped together and filmed in an arrangement based upon the source. A complete list, item by item, will be found on Roll I of the present microfilm publication. The material itself will be found on Roll IX.
The entire Collection, with the exception of several hundred pages containing brief unidentifiable fragments of drafts that have no substantial research value, copies of certain items, copies of published material about Brownson, several notes relating to the use of the Collection, some material relating to the identification of various items in the Collection, and, finally, Henry Brownson's manuscript of the life of his father, has been filmed. The material left unfilmed is available for use at the Archives, and will be filmed specially upon request.
A complete listing of all items microfilmed, in the order microfilmed, will be found on Roll One. In addition, each roll contains a complete list of all the items which appear on that roll.