May 27, 2020 Founders & Patriots
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/27/2020
A miscellaneous grouping of Ward-Brigham Family papers, photographs and ephemera, all once the contents stored in General Artemas Ward's old document box until rediscovered and written about in a 1910 article, "Found in an Old Trunk". 1) In the beforementioned work, noted the author: "I find a copybook of one of the old general's granddaughters, which is more than a hundred years old. It gives us an indication of the subjects to which young ladies directed their muse, though it is somewhat difficult to tell whether the verses are original or copied." This 7 5/8 x 6 7/16 inch copybook has a folky version of the Massachusetts state seal printed on its cover, surmounted by an American eagle and flanked by cannon, flags and arms, with floral bordering. Above the native American warrior within the seal are the initials "A M B" added in ink, with "Charlestown" across his legs and inside the cover is inscribed "Anna Maria Brigham/Charlestown Novr. 14 1808." Anna Maria (1794-1880) was a daughter of Elijah Brigham and Sarah Ward Brigham and later married Ebenezer Morgan Phillips, through which marriage the trunk and its contents descended. 2) An embossed calligraphic poem entitled "Contentment", as inked and signed by Anna's younger sister, "Susan W. Brigham. 1819" in a small, carved and gilded frame; Susanna Walter Brigham (1798-1825) only survived her schoolgirl study by six years. 3) An large grouping of Ward-Brigham family documents and ephemra (c. 1723-1860s), incl. receipts,poems, calling cards, tuition payments, eulogies, personal correspondence, society memberships, etc., as well as a 1922 newspaper article on Artemas Ward. 4) Small grouping of genealogical materials relating to the Ward-Brigham-Phillips-Clark families and 5) Two large cabinet photos of the Artemas Ward House at Shrewsbury (now a museum of Harvard University), one sepia-toned one done circa 1870 and the other, "taken in 1924 by Herbert C. Buxton" and later given to Francis E. Clark in 1926, along with a postcard of the same from the 1920s. JLK
Provenance: by descent in the General Artemas Ward-Elijah Brigham Family until 2012; private collection to present.