The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Elijah Phelps Grant Papers 1843-1874
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Grant, Elijah Phelps. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1843-1874 |
| Size: | 1 linear ft. (2 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| 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. |
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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
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.
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.
| 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
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| Box 2 Folder 7 | Correspondence
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| Box 2 Folder 8 | Miscellaneous
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| 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" |