Collection Description

This collection consists of the personal papers of John O. Sargent, of Boston and New York, including three volumes of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and calling cards related to his political and literary work, particularly his translations of Horace and of A. A. von Auersperg's The Last Knight; a European travel diary, including a typewritten transcript, 1861-1862; a scrapbook of correspondence related to the Sargent Prize at Harvard for translations of Horace, and correspondence, clippings, bills, receipts, and menus collected during his travels in Europe in 1889; and a scrapbook of writings by Sargent against slavery, including clippings about black troops, especially the 2nd Louisiana Regiment, 1863-1865. The collection contains correspondence related to Sargent's political work from Benjamin F. Butler, Henry Clay, Schuyler Colfax, Caleb Cushing, Edward Everett, Millard Fillmore, Horace Greeley, Reverdy Johnson, and William H. Seward, among others; related to his literary work from William Cullen Bryant, Epes Sargent Dixwell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Owen Wister, among others; and with and about inventor and engineer John Ericsson. The collection also contains material related to Sargent's interest in Harvard University, from which he graduated in 1830, and his involvement in various legal cases. Correspondence received after Sargent's death in 1891 is addressed to his daughter Georgiana Sargent.