Collection on the Thomas Whittemore Family

Collection

Call Number: MS178

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Scope and Contents

This collection contains a bound volume of maps of the Battle of New Orleans, contracts between Tufts College and Thomas Whittmore (the grandson of Reverend Thomas Whittmore, a Universalist minister and Trustee of Tufts College), correspondence, newspaper clippings and newspapers, and biographical sketches of Reverend Thomas Whittmore and his grandson. Correspondence also includes letters to Rev. Thomas Whittemore from Thomas Jefferson.

Dates

1777 -- 1950
Majority of material found within 1892 -- 1950

Creator

Whittemore, Thomas

Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Some material in this collection may be protected by copyright and other rights. Please see “Reproductions and Use” on the Digital Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permission to publish. No documentation is available regarding the intellectual property rights in this collection.

Arrangement

This collection is organized into one series.

Extent

0.75 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Biographical / Historical

Reverend Thomas Whittemore (1800-1861) was a Universalist minister and Trustee of Tufts College from 1852-1861. He was given an honorary degree by Tufts College in 1857.

Rev. Thomas Whittemore was born January 1, 1800 at Copps Hill, Boston. He was apprenticed to a 'morocco dresser,' a brass-founder, a shoemaker, and a bootmaker before the age of 20. He studied for the ministry under his friend Rev. Hosea Ballou. He married Lovice Corbett in September, 1821. They had eight children including Thomas Whittemore Jr. who eventually became a Tufts trustee as well in 1868. His grandson, Thomas Whittemore, graduated from Tufts in 1894 and stayed on as faculty until 1912.

In 1828, Reverend Whittemore published a Universalist Magazine entitled "Trumpet" with his friend Rev. Hosea Ballou. He was an opponent of slavery. A founding member of Tufts College, Whittemore served on the board of Trustees from 1852 until his death in 1861.

Processing Information

This collection was created in October 2011 in order to house material scattered across several collections. Bound volume of maps were removed from Ritter Collection (MS096) based on provenance and published Ritter Catalog. Correspondence was removed from the vertical file for Reverend Thomas Whittemore. The Nathaniel Greene letter, the Thomas Jefferson letter, and the Columbian Sentinel removed from Artifacts Collection (AC) based on provenance research on the letter from Lovice Whittemore by Erin Faulder and Susanne Belovari.