Materials . . .

Early UA materials found

For the Akron Beacon-Journal, Colette M. Jenkins reports on the discovery of archival materials for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Akron, which oversaw Buchtel College until 1913. It contains some details that might amuse current students:

The Universalists administered the college until 1913, with ministers of the Akron church serving as its presidents. That year, it became a municipal college, which is now the University of Akron.

A Buchtel Leaflets publication that was among the documents in the box reveals that college tuition was $40 in 1885. Room rent was $10 to $30. Steam heating and gas was $12. The college offered three courses of study and required candidates for the freshman class to pass exams in Greek, Latin, math, drawing and English.

The Advocate of Moral Reform (May 1, 1839)

Adam Miller has prepared this full-text PDF reproduction of George Cragin's The Advocate of Moral Reform. This is volume 5, number 9, dated May 1, 1839, and it's eight pages long. As Adam writes in his one-page postscript, the Advocate was the mouthpiece of the New York Female Moral Reform Society from 1835 to 1845. It continued the notorious McDowall's Journal, which began in 1833 and met a quick end when its proprietor, the Rev. John Robert McDowall, was engulfed in a variety of scandals.

Unlike the other editions, this one reproduces the look and layout of the original. And I did none of the PDF production; Adam Miller made this all by himself.

T.S. Arthur, "Confessions of a Platonic Lover" (1838)

Here is David Sanders' edition of T.S. Arthur's early work, "Confessions of a Platonic Lover." He copied it from an 1838 gift book. This edition, and all other student editions hosted on this website, was created by the accumulation and merging of several distinct research and writing assignments. The introduction went through several revisions, and the final version, which you see here, was proofread and lightly edited by myself as I prepared the PDF file. In addition and again, as usual, I checked and double-checked the accuracy of David's text against my original before posting it here.

Portrait of Margaret Fuller (1810-1850)

Click on the thumbnail to enlarge. This image file is in the public domain. I created it with a scanner and an out-of-copyright book that I own. Use it as you please. Source of the original image: James Parton, Horace Greeley, T.W. Higginson, et al., Eminent Women of the Age; Being Narratives of The Lives and Deeds of The Most Prominent Women of the Present Generation (Hartford: S.M. Betts, 1869) 173.

The Advocate of Moral Reform for July 16, 1838

"Moral Reform" was an antebellum movement that consisted of societies, mainly female, devoted to (a) curbing the violent sexual passions and (b) generally reducing the amount of extramarital sex in America. The movement might be understood as a part of the broader temperance movement; the moral reform movement, as represented here, at least, also sought the restraint of passion and the cultivation of reason and religious feeling. As you will see if you "continue reading," Kathlene Verib copied the entire contents of a single issue of The Advocate of Moral Reform. This number features the following catalog of vice and crime: slovenly dress, premarital sex, sex with prostitutes, the premature sexualization of children, adultery, attempted rape, and the neglect of one's duty to promote and support Female Moral Reform societies.

Here is Kathlene Verib's edition of this number, with a brief introduction and a bibliography, in both PDF and (for searching purposes) plain ASCII format. Enjoy.

Selections from William A. Alcott’s Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human Constitution (1835)

Shawna Hoffman read the March 1835 issue of William Alcott's Moral Reformer and Teacher on the Human Constitution and prepared the following edition of what she regarded as the most interesting parts.

Thoreau, Emerson, and Their Circle, Spring 2006

This seminar is listed with a graduate as well as an undergraduate number. I've defined "their circle" in different ways over the years. This time, we study mentors and friends such as  Sampson Reed, W.E. Channing, Margaret Fuller, and Bronson Alcott.