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Manuscript Group 150
HENRY C. CORBIT COLLECTION
1835-1843
.5 cu. ft.


Outgoing family correspondence of Henry C. Corbit, Philadelphia city legislator, member of the Society of Friends, and noted traveler, who was personally acquainted with a number of well-known abolitionists and advocates of woman suffrage. Collection consists of letters from Corbit to his wife, Sarah, written during travels through western Pennsylvania and New York state, 1835; letters to his mother, Elizabeth Corbit, and one letter to his brother, Joseph, written during a trip through England and several European countries, 1839, 1840; and letters to his wife and one to his daughter, Emma, describing a trip to England and France, 1843.

Subjects discussed include the modes of transportation used, other travelers, scenery along the way, towns and cities visited, and impressions of the English and French. In an 1843 letter, Corbit compared England unfavorably with the United States and remarked upon England's "unholy war upon the Chinese for pelf and upon the poor nations of India for Territory." Notable in the correspondence are references, some rather casually made, to personal encounters with individuals who were or would become well-known, including Lucretia Mott, whom Corbit met at a Friends Yearly Meeting in New York state in 1835 and again in London in 1840. Two other persons referred to were with Corbit on the steamer Britannia on the way to Europe in 1843; these were Horace Mann, "a tall old fashioned white headed man of about sixty!" and Julia Ward Howe, "a round full unintellectual faced dame of about thirty... said to possess abundance of solid charms."




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