Horace Greeley Papers, 1831-1873

Product Category: Microform

As editor of The New York Tribune and presidential candidate in 1872, Horace Greeley was an important 19th-century political and literary figure. Greeley launched The New York Tribune in 1841 and expressed his political views freely in the newspaper. In addition, he co-founded The New Yorker, a literary and news weekly in 1834, and he wrote for several influential Whig newspapers. An egalitarian, Greeley opposed monopoly and supported Fourerism, the agrarian movement, cooperative shops and labor unions. He was a staunch supporter of the anti-slavery movement and the Union in the Civil War years.

Greeley made a poor bid for president in 1872 and carried only six states. Not long after his failed presidential bid, his wife died. He returned to The New York Tribune to find that Whitelaw Reid was now running the paper. Greeley died soon after this string of disappointments.

The bulk of this collection consists of Greeley's incoming and outgoing correspondence, but it also includes writings, clippings, personal papers and scrapbooks. It is arranged by type of document (letters, writings, etc.), then chronologically.

The Horace Greeley Papers will be of interest to historians of the nineteenth century, especially those interested in politics, journalism, the anti-slavery movement, the Civil War, and Reconstruction. The collection will also attract literary scholars.

Number of rolls: 4

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