Harris-Oliphant papers, 1867-1940
Harris-Oliphant papers, 1867-1940
Summary Information
At a Glance
- Call No.:
- MS#0559
- Bib ID:
- 4078869 View CLIO record
- Creator(s):
- Harris, Thomas Lake, 1823-1906; Markham, Edwin, 1852-1940; Schneider, Herbert W (Herbert Wallace), 1892-1984; Lawton, George, 1900-1957
- Repository:
- Rare Book and Manuscript Library
- Physical Description:
- 9 linear feet (21 manuscript boxes and 1 custom CMI box)
- Language(s):
- English .
- Access:
- You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
-
This collection has no restrictions.
The following boxes are located off-site: Box 21 [cmi]. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least five business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Description
Summary
Letters written by and to Harris and his associate, Laurence Oliphant. In addition to the correspondence, these papers include manuscripts of books, miscellaneous biographical materials, and photographs.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into 6 series.
Using the Collection
Restrictions on Access
You will need to make an appointment in advance to use this collection material in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room. You can schedule an appointment once you've submitted your request through your Special Collections Research Account.
This collection has no restrictions.
The following boxes are located off-site: Box 21 [cmi]. You will need to request this material from the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at least five business days in advance to use the collection in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library reading room.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
Reproductions may be made for research purposes. The RBML maintains ownership of the physical material only. Copyright remains with the creator and his/her heirs. The responsibility to secure copyright permission rests with the patron.
Preferred Citation
Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Harris-Oliphant papers; Box and Folder; Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library.
Related Archival Materials
Collections related by provenance: Harris-Oliphant Papers at the Horrmann Library of Wagner College, Staten Island. This collection duplicates Columbia holdings in part, but there are items at Wagner which are not in Columbia's Collection.
Accruals
Materials may have been added to the collection since this finding aid was prepared. Contact rbml@columbia.edu for more information.
Existence and Location of Copies
Box 19, Folder 5 (Address book and diary of James Murray Templeton) is on Microfilm. MN#2001-3110-1.
A microfilm research collection, Thomas Lake Harris and the Brotherhood of the New Life, 1854–1942 was issued on 14 reels by UMI, using materials from the collections at Wagner College (Staten Island) and the Rare Book & Manuscript Library. The microfilm research collection is available in Butler Library in the Periodicals & Microforms Reading Room, and includes a guide (the guide is filed separately from the reels in Microform Reference under call# Fa 52). More information is available in the CLIO record https://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/7229743.
Ownership and Custodial History
The collection was formed in part by the poet Edwin Markham, after whose death it passed to Prof. Herbert Schneider and George Lawton and was used in writing their biography of Harris and Oliphant, A PROPHET AND A PILGRIM.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Source of acquisition--Schneider, Herbert O. Method of acquisition--Gift; Date of acquisition--1943. Accession number--M-43.
Gift of Prof. Herbert Schneider, 1943.
Publications About Described Materials
Schneider, Herbert Wallace. A Prophet and a Pilgrim; being the incredible history of Thomas Lake Harris and Laurence Oliphant; their sexual mysticisms and Utopian communities amply documented to confound the skeptic. New York : Columbia University Press, 1942.
About the Finding Aid / Processing Information
Columbia University Libraries, Rare Book and Manuscript Library
Processing Information
Cataloged Christina Hilton Fenn 06/--/89. Processed by Scott Libson.
Revision Description
2010-02-11 Legacy finding aid created from Pro Cite.
2019-05-20 EAD was imported spring 2019 as part of the ArchivesSpace Phase II migration.
2024-03-28 Scrapbook added to container list. Note about related UMI microfilm research collection and guide added to the front matter. CCR.
2024-04-11 CMI scrapbook number changed from 21 to 22, to avoid conflict with box 21. kws
Biographical / Historical
Thomas Lake Harris (May 15, 1823-March 23 1906) - American Christian mystic. Born in Fenny Stratford, England he was brought to the United States as a child. In 1845 he was called to the pulpit of the Fourth Universalist Society in New York City but three years later, deeply impressed by spiritualism, Harris organized the First Independent Christian Society. During that period he dictated long poems for which he said he had received inspiration while in trances. He wove the ideas of Swedenborgianism into his religious teachings. He established The Herald of New Light (1857-1861), a monthly journal.
Under his leadership, the Brotherhood of the New Life established (1861) a community in Wassaic N. Y., later moving it (1863) to nearby Amenia and (1867) to Brocton near Buffalo where it was known as Salem-on-Erie. In that year Laurence Oliphant joined the communal religious settlement. Harris and part of the community moved to Santa Rosa, Calif. in 1875. Oliphant remained behind and in 1881 broke completely with Harris. Ten years later Harris left the Santa Rosa community. His later years were spent in New York. His poetical works include The Epic of the Starry Heaven (1854), A Lyric of the Morning Land (1855) and A Lyric of the Golden Age (1856) His writings include also Hymns of Spiritual Devotion (2 vols. 1861) The Wisdom of the Adepts (1884) Star-Flowers (1887) God's Breath in Man and in Humane Society (1891) and The Song of Theos (1903).
Laurence Oliphant (1829-1888) was a British writer and traveller.
Subject Headings
The subject headings listed below are found in this collection. Links below allow searches for other collections at Columbia University, through CLIO, the catalog for Columbia University Libraries, and through ArchiveGRID, a catalog that allows users to search the holdings of multiple research libraries and archives.
All links open new windows.
| Genre/Form |
|---|
| Photographic prints |
| Name |
| Oliphant, Laurence, 1829-1888 |
| Subject |
| Authors, English |
| Christianity.ican |
| Mysticism and literature |
| Mystics |
| Religion and literature |
Series I: Correspondence
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1
Box 1 Folder 1
Box 1 Folder 2
Box 1 Folder 3
Box 1 Folder 4
Box 1 Folder 5
Box 1 Folder 6-8
Box 1 Folder 9-11
Box 2 Folder 1
Box 2 Folder 2
Box 2 Folder 3
Box 2 Folder 4
Box 2 Folder 5
Box 2 Folder 6, 7
Box 2 Folder 8
Box 2 Folder 9
Box 2 Folder 10
Box 2 Folder 11
Box 2 Folder 12
Series II: Diaries and Transcriptions
This series comprises transcriptions of letters by various writers, diary entries by Thomas Lake Harris, dictations/sermons of Thomas Lake Harris, an epigram from Thomas Lake Harris, and a partial bibliography of Thomas Lake Harris works with table of contents.
Box 3 Folder 1
Box 3 Folder 2
Box 3 Folder 3
Box 3 Folder 4
Box 3 Folder 5
Box 3 Folder 6
Box 3 Folder 7
Box 3 Folder 8
Box 3 Folder 9
Box 3 Folder 10
Series III: Writings
Box 4 Folder 1
Box 4 Folder 2
Box 4 Folder 3
Box 4 Folder 4
Box 4 Folder 5
Box 4 Folder 6
Box 4 Folder 7
Box 4 Folder 8
Box 4 Folder 9
Box 4 Folder 10
Box 4 Folder 11
Box 4 Folder 12
Box 4 Folder 13
Box 4 Folder 14
Box 4 Folder 15
Box 4 Folder 16
Box 4 Folder 17
Box 4 Folder 18
Box 4 Folder 19
Box 5 Folder 1
Box 5 Folder 2
Box 5 Folder 3-5
Box 6 Folder 1
Box 6 Folder 2-5
Box 6 Folder 6
Box 6 Folder 7, 8
Box 6 Folder 9, 10
Box 6 Folder 11
Box 6 Folder 12
Box 6 Folder 13
Box 6 Folder 14
Box 6 Folder 15, 16
Box 6 Folder 17-19
Box 6 Folder 20, 21
Box 6 Folder 22
Box 6 Folder 23
Box 6 Folder 24
Box 7 Folder 2-5
Box 7 Folder 6, 7
Box 7 Folder 8
Box 7 Folder 9, 10
[Version 3 located in Box 21, Folder 1]
Box 7 Folder 11
Box 7 Folder 12
Box 7 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 14
Box 7 Folder 15
Box 21 Folder 2
Box 21 Folder 3
Box 8 Folder 1
Box 8 Folder 2
Box 8 Folder 3
Box 8 Folder 4-8
Box 8 Folder 9
Box 8 Folder 10
Box 9 Folder 1, 2
[Version 3 located in Box 21, Folder 4.]
Box 9 Folder 3
Box 9 Folder 4
Box 21 Folder 5
Box 9 Folder 5
Box 9 Folder 6, 7
Box 9 Folder 8, 9
Box 9 Folder 10
Box 9 Folder 11
Box 9 Folder 12
Box 9 Folder 14
Box 21 Folder 6
Box 9 Folder 15
Box 9 Folder 16, 17
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 7]
Box 9 Folder 18-21
Box 9 Folder 22
Box 21 Folder 8
Box 21 Folder 9
Box 9 Folder 23
Box 9 Folder 24, 25
Box 9 Folder 26
Box 21 Folder 10-12
Box 11 Folder 1, 2
Box 21 Folder 13, 14
Box 11 Folder 3
[Version 2 is located in Box 21, Folder 15]
Box 11 Folder 4, 5
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 16]
Box 11 Folder 6-8
[Version 4 is located in Box 21, Folder 17.]
Box 11 Folder 9
Box 21 Folder 18
Box 10 Folder 1-10
Box 11 Folder 10
Box 11 Folder 11
Box 11 Folder 12, 13
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 19.]
Box 11 Folder 14
Box 11 Folder 15
Box 11 Folder 16
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 20]
Box 11 Folder 17, 18
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 21.]
Box 11 Folder 19, 20
Box 11 Folder 21
Box 11 Folder 22
Box 11 Folder 23
Box 11 Folder 24
Box 11 Folder 25
Box 11 Folder 26
Box 11 Folder 27
Box 11 Folder 28-30
[Version 4 is located in Box 21, Folder 22.]
Box 11 Folder 31
Box 11 Folder 32
Box 11 Folder 33
Box 11 Folder 34
Box 11 Folder 35
Box 21 Folder 23
Box 11 Folder 36
Box 11 Folder 37
Box 12 Folder 1
Box 12 Folder 2
Box 12 Folder 3
Box 12 Folder 4
Box 12 Folder 5, 6
Box 12 Folder 7
Box 12 Folder 8
Box 12 Folder 9
Box 12 Folder 10
Box 12 Folder 11, 12
[Version 3 is located in Box 21, Folder 24.]
Box 12 Folder 13
Box 12 Folder 14
Box 21 Folder 26
Box 12 Folder 16-18
Box 12 Folder 19-21
Box 12 Folder 22
Box 13 Folder 1-5
Box 13 Folder 7
Box 13 Folder 8
Box 13 Folder 9
Box 13 Folder 10, 11
Box 13 Folder 12
Box 13 Folder 13
Box 14 Folder 1-19
Box 14 Folder 20
Box 14 Folder 21
Box 14 Folder 22, 23
Box 14 Folder 24
Box 14 Folder 25
Box 14 Folder 26
Box 21 Folder 27
Box 21 Folder 28
Box 15 Folder 1
Box 15 Folder 2
Box 15 Folder 3
Box 15 Folder 4
Box 15 Folder 5
Box 15 Folder 6
Box 15 Folder 7, 8
Box 15 Folder 9, 10
Box 15 Folder 11
Box 15 Folder 13
Box 15 Folder 14
Box 15 Folder 15
Box 15 Folder 16-18
Box 16 Folder 1-9
Box 17 Folder 1
Box 17 Folder 2
Box 17 Folder 3, 4
Box 17 Folder 5
Box 17 Folder 6-8
Box 17 Folder 9
Box 17 Folder 10
Box 17 Folder 11
Box 17 Folder 12
Box 17 Folder 13
Box 7 Folder 1
Box 15 Folder 12
Box 17 Folder 14-18
Box 21 Folder 25
Box 12 Folder 15
Box 13 Folder 6
Series IV: Lawton & Schneider's Notes and Research Files
Box 18 Folder 1
Box 18 Folder 2
Box 18 Folder 3
Box 18 Folder 4
Box 18 Folder 5
Box 18 Folder 6
Box 18 Folder 7
Box 18 Folder 8
Box 18 Folder 9
Box 18 Folder 10, 11
Box 19 Folder 1
Box 19 Folder 2
Box 19 Folder 3
Box 19 Folder 4
Box 19 Folder 5
[This folder is on Microfilm. MN#2001-3110-1]
Box 19 Folder 6
Box 19 Folder 7
Box 19 Folder 8
Box 19 Folder 9
Series V: Miscellaneous
Box 20 Folder 1
Box 20 Folder 2
Box 22 [cmi]
Clippings scrapbook, of clippings and miscellaneous pamphlets re: Thomas Lake Harris. Loose clippings about Harris's death in 1906 are found in the front. FRAGILE
Series VI: Photographs
Box 20 Folder 3
Box 20 Folder 4
Box 20 Folder 5
Box 20 Folder 6
Box 20 Folder 7