F. L. H. Willis Papers

1806-1974 (Bulk: 1856-1921)
13 boxes (7.5 linear foot)
Call no.: MS 1116
rotating decorative images from SCUA collections

In 1857, Frederick L. H. Willis earned the singular distinction of being expelled from Harvard Divinity School for acting as a spirit medium. An important figure in the post-Civil War Spiritualist movement, Willis lived a long and eclectic life in which he was at turns an intimate of the family of Bronson Alcott, an ardent proponent of Spiritualism, a lecturer, preacher, homeopathic physician, and writer.



A wide-ranging intellect and steadfast opposition to orthodoxy suffuse the Willis Papers. The heart of the collection is an extensive collection of sermons, lectures, and essays by Frederick L. H. Willis dating from the late 1850s to the turn of the twentieth century. These works veer into commentary on ancient history, art and aesthetics, medicine, astrology, Eastern religion, and social reform, but are rooted firmly in the framework of a Spiritualist worldview. The collection also includes a large number of family photographs, some correspondence, and a few works by Willis's wife, Love, and daughter, Edith.

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Background on Frederick L. H. Willis


An image of: F. L. H. Willis, ca.1887

F. L. H. Willis, ca.1887

In 1857, Frederick L. H. Willis earned the singular distinction of being expelled from Harvard Divinity School for acting as a spirit medium. In a life marked by misfortune, he carved out a unique public role for himself as an ardent proponent of Spiritualism, a lecturer and preacher, homeopathic physician, and writer.

Born on January 29, 1830, Willis was the only child of Lorenzo Dow Willis, a merchant from Cambridge, Mass., who could boast of solid social connections and a rising place in the world. All that would change. The family's taste of prosperity ended suddenly when Lorenzo's business partner absconded with their company's fund, and even though Lorenzo won release from debtor's prison, the family's fortunes darkened further when Lorenzo's wife, Eleanor (Hovey), died three days after giving birth.

After four years of struggle with financial and emotional distress and failing health, Lorenzo called upon his wealthy in-laws to raise his son. Under their care, Fred received an education in the Cambridge public schools and he reportedly apprenticed with an apothecary. Yet from early in life, he found little intellectual kinship in his adoptive home. Willis's grandfather Hovey, an archconservative, was a founder of the Baptist Church in Cambridge and brought a stern edge to both his religion and life. Willis rebelled. After initially acceding to the faith, Willis soon developed a loathing for the Church, and by the age of twelve, he was said to have been expelled as a heretic for rejecting predestination. At thirteen, he was expelled from his grandparent's home.

Thrown out into the world, Willis experienced another surprising turn of fate. While traveling by stagecoach during the summer of 1844, hoping to spend a summer in the country with a relative, a kind woman helped care for him after he wounded his hand in the stage door. Abba May Alcott -- wife of Bronson Alcott -- took an immediate liking to the young man, and within a week, Willis earned an invitation to visit, which soon became a long-term arrangement. Off and on for ten or twelve years, he lived with the Alcotts, becoming a close companion of the daughters, Louisa May, Abigail, Elizabeth, and Anna. It was under their roof, that he met some of the great intellectual figures of the day, including Emerson, Thoreau, and Hawthorne, and he prepared there for Harvard Divinity School under the care of the eminent divine, Thomas Starr King. Willis explicitly denied claims in contemporary newspapers that he was the model for the character Laurie in Louisa's Little Women, but his intimate connections with the family ran deep.

As a student at Harvard during the fall of 1855, Willis experienced a series of profound visions, trances, and spirit manifestations that confirmed his gifts as a powerful Spiritualist medium. The phenomena he exhibited were remarkable, including raps and spirit voices, mental telepathy and apports, levitation, and accordion serenades by spirit musicians. Although reportedly reluctant to take part in public displays, he was persuaded by a woman acquaintance to try to convince a skeptical Harvard faculty member, Henry L. Eustis, of the veracity of spiritual claims. Willis's decision proved to be his undoing. While responding to mental questions during a dark seance with Eustis, the professor grabbed Willis under the table and denounced him on the spot as an impostor. According to Spiritualist writer and medium, Emma Hardinge Britten, it became clear that Eustis, the woman who encouraged Willis, and the members of the circle had all made "preconcerted arrangements" to trap the young student. Despite receiving letters attesting to his honesty from Thomas Wentworth Higginson and others, Willis was suspended from Harvard in April 1857 on the grounds of "imposture." The Willis case fed directly into a trial of Spiritualist mediums held at Harvard later that year, adjudicated by Professors Louis Agassiz, Benjamin Pierce, Eben Horsford, and N. B. Gould.

Although he failed to complete his degree, Willis landed a pulpit in relatively short order, accepted an offer from a fellow Spiritualist, Henry C. Gilbert, to settle in Coldwater, Michigan. For a time, he lived in the Gilbert home. On October 8, 1858, Willis married Love Maria Whitcomb of Hancock, N.H. -- daughter of Love Foster Whitcomb (1789-1873) and Henry Whitcomb (1787-1831). An aspiring writer, Love had overcome a protracted illness as a young woman through a mesmeric healer, and by the mid-1850s, she was herself displaying mediumistic skills. While tending to the small congregation in Coldwater, both Willis and his wife were contributors to Spiritualist publications such as Tiffany's Monthly and The Banner of Light, writing on Spiritualism, healing, and reform, and they published in the mainstream press as well. Spiritualism connected their whole family. Love's mother took up the cause despite having no mediumistic talent of her own, and her mother's cousin, Sarah Bartlett, married a major Spiritualist writer, Allen Putnam.

Preaching in Coldwater was a constant challenge for Willis. His Society there was small, but avid, but he expanded his base by speaking in towns as far away as Toledo, Ohio, and he branched out to give public lectures and courses on men of modern theology and other topics. The audiences for these inspired lectures, he reported, were often large and enthusiastic, and Coldwater played host to major figures in the Spiritualist world such as Emma Hardinge Britten (a medium and writer) and the Davenport Brothers (stage performers). But for all the successes, Coldwater proved to be less than inviting for a preacher with liberal sentiments. A deep-seated and sometimes bitter animosity toward Spiritualists within the community affected him deeply, compounded during the winter of 1860-1861, by a falling out with the Gilbert family over the "intolerable" behavior of Gilbert's new wife.

During the spring or summer of 1863, the tensions grew to such a degree that Willis decided to leave Coldwater and change course in life. Taking a degree from the New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1865, he accepted a position as Professor of Materia Medica at the Women's Medical College, and by the late 1860s, he went about building a practice in Boston, Willimantic, Conn., and Rochester, New York. Despite his unpromising start in Michigan, he gradually built a successful practice that won him a degree of financial stability. In 1868, he purchased a property that would become his family's seat for the better part of a hundred years. Situated on the west shore of Seneca Lake, his estate, Glen Eden, started as a summer home in 1874 and remained in family hands for a century.

Toward the end of his life, Willis maintained that he practiced two professions, medicine and preaching. While tending to patients, he continued to preach, usually from the Unitarian pulpit, and lectured and published regularly on religion, history, the occult sciences, healing, and other topics influenced by his Spiritualist faith and heterodox inclinations. He reached a culmination of sorts when he was asked to delivered a speech at the Fiftieth Anniversary celebration of the Spiritualist movement in 1898, "Can Spiritualism claim to be a religion?" Love Willis died at home in 1908, followed by Fred's death to "myocardial insufficiency" on April 12, 1914. They are buried together in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y.

The Willises had two children. The first, a daughter, died at the age of fourteen months, while the second, Edith Lenora Willis (b. 1865), became a prolific poet and writer who helped to co-edit and complete her father's memoir of the Alcott family (1915). In 1886, Edith married Dr. Samuel H. Linn, a Civil War Navy veteran who served for many years as the official dentist to the court of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. The Linns had two sons, Willis (who married Ethel G. Hamilton) and Benjamin F. Linn. After Samuel's death in 1916, Edith married a second time to George Mather Forbes, a member of the faculty at the University of Rochester.

Scope of collection

A wide-ranging intellect and steadfast opposition to orthodoxy suffuse the Willis Papers, which include an extensive collection of sermons, lectures, and essays by Frederick L. H. Willis. Dating from the late 1850s to the turn of the twentieth century, these works veer into commentary on ancient history, art and aesthetics, medicine, astrology, Eastern religion, and social reform, but are rooted firmly in the framework of a Spiritualist worldview.

Although only a single box of correspondence survives, there is some important Spiritualist content. The correspondence between Willis and his wife is particularly interesting and is accompanied by a handful of letters from her parents, Henry and Love Foster Whitcomb. Unfortunately, nothing has survived from his expulsion from Harvard and his letters to and from Louisa May Alcott were apparently lost long ago.

Although Willis's writings dominate the collection volumetrically, his wife and daughter are well represented as writers. Love Willis was less prolific than her husband, but the collection includes dozens of newspaper articles by her and one year of a diary, mostly reflecting the interests she and Frederick held in common. Their daughter Edith is represented by some of her poetry, selections from Alcott Memoirs (filed under F.L.H. Willis), and a lengthy typescript for a book. There is an intriguing manuscript transcription by Willis of the book Personified Unthinkables (1884), a work on esoteric healing by Sarah Stanley Grimke, a white mid-westerner who married Archibald Grimke, an African American relative of the abolitionist Grimke sisters.

The collection includes a significant number of photographs, five photograph albums, and three scrapbooks, mostly from the Willis and Linn families. Also of note is a rich and intriguing journal of Willis's voyage to Brazil in 1854, via Virginia, in which he records his impressions of Slavery and interactions with African American slaves.

Series descriptions

1806-1959
1 box (0.5 linear feet)

Although the correspondence is not voluminous, there are some remarkable letters recording the excitement and emotion of spirit communion during the early years of the Spiritualist movement. Letters from Willis, his wife, and mother in law, particularly during the family's years in Coldwater, are animated by both the promise of Spiritualism for social connection and the fierce conservative resistance to the movement. Among the highlights are accounts of a visit by the charismatic medium Emma Hardinge Britten, the arrest of the Davenport Brothers (stage magicians and "Spiritualists"), and an extraordinary account of lecturing on the theology of John Murray in the presence of the spirit of Murray himself. Love Whitcomb's discussions of her faith in the movement, despite lacking in mediumistic talent, offer a revealing commentary.

The Willises's Spiritualist correspondents include E. Davis, Flora C. Pierson, H. C. Robertson, Joseph G. Waters, and the spirit of Sara Payson, as well as a wonderful letter from Love Foster Whitcomb describing Love Maria Whitcomb Willis's healing through Mesmerism (Feb. 3, 1846). Equally interesting are letters from Mary Davis (wife of Andrew Jackson Davis), Luther Colby (publisher and purveyor of the Banner of Light), Harrison Gray Otis Blake and Theophilus Brown (correspondents of Henry David Thoreau), and the woman suffragist, Isabella Hooker. Much of the correspondence was addressed to Love Maria Whitcomb Willis or comes through the Whitcomb family.

Family correspondence extends back a generation for Love Willis (whose father died at a young age), with a nice series of letters written by Love's mother, Love Foster Whitcomb. Interestingly, it appears that a relative, Sarah Bartlett, became the wife of the noted Spiritualist writer Allen Putnam.

1859-1915
6 boxes (3 linear feet)

Willis was a prolific writer, lecturer, and preacher, and his writings reflect his long commitment to Spiritualist ideas and practice his later-life writing about the Alcott family, historical topics, and current affairs, mostly centering on social reform. The series contains a few examples, not always complete, of entire lecture series or courses offered by Willis.

Willis's writings are diverse, but most are imbued with a deeply held Spiritualist philosophy and theories of health and healing. Of particular importance are nine (of twelve) lectures on the Philosophy of the inner life and a series of four lectures on the "Triplicities," structured on the quartet of air, earth, fire, and water. Two or three works address William and Elizabeth Denton's seminal Spiritualist text The Soul of Things.

Given that Willis was inconsistent (at best) in recording dates for his writings, when necessary, we have supplied estimates based on the handwriting and type of paper used. Some of these manuscripts were wrapped in folders clearly labeled "sermons" -- and a subset of these includes dates when and where the sermon was written and delivered. In many cases, however, it is not abundantly clear which pieces were lectures, which sermons, and which essays. The collection includes a significant number of "fragments": incomplete bits of essays or lectures, sometimes fairly extensive, that have been severed from their original context.

1861-1927
2.5 boxes (1.25 linear feet)

Surrounded throughout life by writers, Willis, his wife, and daughter were all published authors. This series contains writings by all of them, along with newspaper clippings containing articles by Fred and Love Willis, ephemera, and miscellaneous materials relating the family. Also of note in the series are typed materials accompanying a course in Electrical health and lessons on "the will." These may have involved Fred Willis, however the connection is unclear.

Please note that Edith Willis is identified in the finding aid by the name authorized for her in the Library of Congress, Edith Willis Linn Forbes.

1863-1974
2.5 boxes (2.5 linear feet)

Although there are numerous images of the Willis family taken between the 1860s and turn of the twentieth century, most of the images are unidentified. Most of the images are studio portraits, primarily cabinet cards and cartes de visite, including images of a handful of Spiritualist associates, such as Luther Colby and Isaac B. Rich (proprietors of the Colby and Rich publishing house) and Mrs. Wells, the spirit medium.

Inventory

Series 1: Correspondence
1806-1959
1 box
Alcott, John Sewell Pratt
1913-1914
Box 1: 1
Bass, Lettie
1856-1857
Box 1: 2
1901
Box 1: 3
Briggs, John S.
1907
Box 1: 5
1856-1857
Box 1: 6
Butler, Jessie
ca.1915
Box 1: 7
Champney, R.
1887
Box 1: 8
ca.1865
Box 1: 9
Colledge, William A.
1915
Box 1: 10
Dake, Della E.
ca.1875
Box 1: 11
1856
Box 1: 12
1877
Box 1: 13

First wife of A.J. Davis

Dustin, Sophie
1807-1862
Box 1: 14
1837
Box 1: 15
Fletcher, Alice C.
1871
Box 1: 16
1871
Box 1: 17
1882
Box 1: 18
1913-1915
Box 1: 19
1873-1877
Box 1: 20

American Suffragist

Johnston, Jack W.
1914-1915
Box 1: 21
Lincoln, Jennie
1874
Box 1: 22
Linn, Samuel H.
1895
Box 1: 23
Linn, Willis
1914
Box 1: 24
ca.1865
Box 1: 25
Perkins, Caroline E.
1913
Box 1: 26
Phelps, S. M.
1873
Box 1: 27
Richardson, Edward A.
1905-1915
Box 1: 29
1869
Box 1: 30
1914
Box 1: 31
Stone, Charles N. L.
1913
Box 1: 33
1871
Box 1: 34
1856
Box 1: 35
Wesson, Miley B.
1959
Box 1: 36
Whitcomb, Henry
1827-1828
Box 1: 37
Whitcomb, Love Foster
1809-1862
Box 1: 38
Whitcomb, Love Foster: Letters to Sarah Bartlett
1806-1807
Box 1: 39

Sarah Bartlett (wife of Enoch Bartlett) was a cousin of Love Foster Whitcomb and mother of the Sarah.

Whitcomb, Love Foster: Letters to Sarah B. Putnam
1842-1870
Box 1: 40
Whitcomb, Love Foster: to Henry Whitcomb
1827
Box 1: 41
Whitcomb, Love Foster: to Love M. Whitcomb Willis
1869-1871
Box 1: 42
Whitcomb, Love Foster: to Love M. Whitcomb Willis
1872-1887
Box 1: 43
Willis, Edith L.
1868-1901
Box 1: 44
1872
Box 1: 45

On woman suffrage

1860-1861
Box 1: 47
Willis, Love M. Whitcomb
1867, undated
Box 1: 48
Willis, Love M. Whitcomb: Letters to Love Foster Whitcomb
1858-1861
Box 1: 49
Wyman, John
1871-1877
Box 1: 50
Unidentified correspondents
1868-1891
Box 1: 51
Series 2: F. L. H. Willis Writings
1859-1915
6 boxes
Sermons and lectures
1861-1900
Willis, F. L. H.: Axiomatic principles
1867
Sermon
Box 2: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Can Spiritualism claim to be a religion?
1898
Box 2: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Christmas or The true significance of Christmas
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 2: 3
Willis, F. L. H.: The discipline of sorrow
ca.1860
Sermon
Box 2: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Evil and good, or God in all
1860
Box 2: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Has man any control over his destiny?
ca.1895
Box 2: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Healing
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 2: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Hidden springs of our life (untitled lecture)
ca.1865
Lecture
Box 2: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: The immortal power of love
1889
Sermon
Box 2: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: The law of spiritual progress
1863
Sermon
Box 2: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: The law of vibrations in its relations to the perfect development of the human soul
ca.1870
Sermon
Box 2: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: The law of vibrations on the material plane
ca.1870
Sermon
Box 2: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Magnetism, or the higher magnetism
ca.1880
Sermon
Box 2: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: Mystical functions of the solar plexus
ca.1880
Sermon
Box 2: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Occult meaning of gems
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 2: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: On the office and condition of little children in the spirit world
1861
Sermon
Box 2: 16
Willis, F. L. H.: On the proper adjustment of our relations to life
ca.1895
Sermon
Box 2: 17
Willis, F. L. H.: The personal influence of every human soul
1862
Sermon
Box 2: 18
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 1: Introductory
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 3: The law of attraction
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 4: Discoveries of Reichenbach demonstrating the human aura
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 3
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 5: The astral light
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 6: Correspondence between the light of nature and the light of the soul
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 7: The law of influence
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 8: Transfiguration
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 9: Conscious or unconscious influence from the unseen
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Philosophy of the inner life, no. 12: Are they not all ministering spirits?
ca.1900
Lecture
Box 3: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: Power of will
ca.1875
Sermon
Box 3: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: Problem of evil from a physiological standpoint
1873
Sermon
Box 3: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: Psychical facts of the ages: Ancient India
ca.1865
Box 3: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Relations of God to man, or the divine to the human
1858
Box 3: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: Relations we sustain to the world above and about us
1862
Sermon
Box 3: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Rome
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 3: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: Sacred to the truth
1856
Box 4: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Sermons
ca.1865
Box 4: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Soul of things
1863
Sermon
Box 4: 3

Sermon responding to book of the same name by William Denton.

Willis, F. L. H.: Spiritual correspondence between th light of nature and the light of the soul
1859
Box 4: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Spiritual lecture
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Spiritualistic lectures (incomplete)
ca.1865-1890
Box 4: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Spiritualism in all the ages, no. 1: India
1862
Box 4: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Steps to spiritual growth
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Triplicities: The airy trigon
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: Triplicities: The earthly trigon
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: Triplicities: The fiery trigon
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: Triplicities: The watery trigon
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Triune nature of man
ca.1875
Sermon
Box 4: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: True value and use of life
1862
Sermon
Box 4: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Universal and eternal life
1861
Sermon
Box 4: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: What relations have these phenomena to the living present, no. 12
ca.1865
Box 4: 16
Willis, F. L. H.: Zodiacal gems, no. 2
ca.1865
Sermon
Box 4: 17
Essays and articles
1860-1915
Willis, F. L. H.: Aesthetic analysis
ca.1900
Box 5: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Aesthetic analysis, part 2
ca.1900
Box 5: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Alcott as an abolitionist
ca.1915
Box 5: 3
Willis, F. L. H.: Alcott Memoirs (typescript)
ca.1915
Box 5: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Alcott notes
ca.1915
Box 5: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Ancient Egypt, no. 2
ca.1865
Box 5: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Ancient Jews, no. 6
ca.1865
Box 5: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Ancient Greece and Rome, no. 4
ca.1865
Box 5: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Ancient Northmen, no. 5
ca.1865
Box 5: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: Apostolic phenomena, no. 8
ca.1865
Box 5: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: Causes of national decay
ca.1900
Box 5: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: City of Florence, Venice, Pisa, etc.
ca.1860
Box 5: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Classification of satwas and essays
ca.1895
Bound vol.
Box 10: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Constantine and the Early Catholic Church, no. 9
cac.1865
Box 5: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: Discipline of earth:a benefit to the spirit and its means of usefulness and growth
ca.1885
Box 5: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Dream of Christmas (poem)
1915
Box 5: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: Early Christianity, no. 7
ca.1865
Box 5: 16
Willis, F. L. H.: Educational power of music
ca.1875
Box 5: 17
Willis, F. L. H.: Four little women: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy
ca.1915
Box 6: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Four representative types of womanhood
ca.1910
Box 6: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragment (writing): The planets
ca.1880
Box 6: 3
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragments (writing)
ca.1870-1900
Box 6: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragments (writing): Light and color
ca.1880
Box 6: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragments (writing): On art
ca.1900
Box 6: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragments (writing): On religion
ca.1880
Box 6: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Fragments (writing): On spiritual matters
ca.1880
Box 6: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Fruitlands
ca.1915
Box 6: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: Glad gospel of nature
ca.1910
Box 6: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: If a man die, shall he live again?
ca.1900
Box 6: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: In memoriamL Mrs. Sophia Davis
1868
Box 6: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Is there anything in Spiritualism worthy to call forth the true spirit of sacrifice [printed]
1898
Box 6: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, no. 11
ca.1865
Box 6: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Journal of a voyage in the Barque May Queen. . . From Boston, Massachusetts, to Rio Grande, South America, via Richmond, Virginia
1854
Bound vol.
Box 10: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Louisa May Alcott
ca.1915
Box 6: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: Lucy Stone
ca.1900
Box 6: 16
Willis, F. L. H.: Man's relation to woman
ca.1900
Box 6: 17
Willis, F. L. H.: Materia medica notes, no. 1, Introductory; no. 2, General principles
ca.1870
Box 6: 18
Willis, F. L. H.: Memorial Day and what it implies
ca.1890
Box 6: 19
Willis, F. L. H.: Memory (notes)
ca.1900
Box 6: 20
Willis, F. L. H.: Miscellanea: An almost forgotten poet (McDonald Clarke)
ca.1900
Box 6: 21
Willis, F. L. H.: Mission of art
ca.1900
Box 6: 22
Willis, F. L. H.: Mr. Alcott as a prophet
ca.1915
Box 6: 23
Willis, F. L. H.: Mr. Alcott 's table talks
ca.1915
Box 6: 24
Willis, F. L. H.: My sketch of William and Mary Howitt
ca.1900
Bound vol.
Box 10: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: New Year's discourse
1859
Pamphlet
Box 6: 25
Willis, F. L. H.: On the true value of life
ca.1865
Box 6: 26
Willis, F. L. H.: On the woman question
1891
Box 6: 27
Willis, F. L. H.: Personified unthinkables and other works
ca.1884
Bound manuscript
Box 10: 7

Bound manuscript: the first section of the volume includes a transcription in Willis's hand of a book on esoteric medicine by Sarah Stanley Grimke (1884), followed by notes or drafts of other works, presumably by Willis himself.

Willis, F. L. H.: Phenix, or Wignham Herald
ca.1900
Box 6: 28
Willis, F. L. H.: Physical and social revolutions
ca.1890
Box 6: 29
Willis, F. L. H.: Power of love (incomplete)
ca.1865
Box 6: 30
Willis, F. L. H.: Prayers
ca.1870
Box 6: 31
Willis, F. L. H.: Psychometry of the Soul of Things
ca.1863
Box 6: 32
Willis, F. L. H.: Recollections of Henry Ward Beecher, Elias Howe
ca.1900
Box 6: 33
Willis, F. L. H.: Relations of the divine to the human
ca.1870
Box 7: 1
Willis, F. L. H.: Remarks at the burial service o Mrs. Mary C. Lewis
1900
Box 7: 2
Willis, F. L. H.: Reply to Rev. Dr. Snyder's comments on Spiritualism. Boston : Colby and Rich
1894
Pamphlet
Box 7: 3
Willis, F. L. H.: Representative men of modern theology, no. 7, Theodore Parker, the independent
1861
Box 7: 4
Willis, F. L. H.: Representative women, no. 5: Margaret Fuller, the Transendentalist
1861
Box 7: 5
Willis, F. L. H.: Saturday thoughts for Sunday consideration
ca.1910
Box 7: 6
Willis, F. L. H.: Serene, I hold my hands and wait
ca.1900
Box 7: 7
Willis, F. L. H.: Some practical thoughts for the Lenten season, no. 1: The true significance of life
ca.1910
Box 7: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Some practical thoughts for the Lenten season, no. 2: By the octogenarian
ca.1910
Box 7: 9
Willis, F. L. H.: Some practical thoughts for the Lenten season, no. 3: The divine significance of life
ca.1910
Box 7: 10
Willis, F. L. H.: Some practical thoughts for the Lenten season, no. 4: What do we owe the world about us?
ca.1910
Box 7: 11
Willis, F. L. H.: Sound
ca.1865
Box 7: 12
Willis, F. L. H.: Theodore Parker in spirit life. Boston : Colby and Rich
1868
Pamphlet
Box 7: 13
Willis, F. L. H.: This wonderful soul-power
ca.1880
Incomplete
Box 7: 14
Willis, F. L. H.: Thomas Starr King
ca.1910
Bound vol.
Box 10: 8
Willis, F. L. H.: Truth is stranger than fiction
ca.1870
Box 7: 15
Willis, F. L. H.: Two discourses. . . delivered before the First Society of Spiritualists of New York. New York : s.n.
1865
Pamphlet
Box 7: 16
Willis, F. L. H.: Untitled
ca.1865
Box 7: 17
Willis, F. L. H.: Untitled
ca.1880
Incomplete
Box 7: 18
Willis, F. L. H.: Very marked possibilities of human nature
ca.1890
Box 7: 19
Willis, F. L. H.: Voice of the new year
1894
Pamphlet
Box 7: 20
Willis, F. L. H.: Voice of the old year
ca.1894
Box 7: 21
Willis, F. L. H.: What is the matter with the methods of reform?
ca.1900
Box 7: 22
Willis, F. L. H.: Worldliness
ca.1890
Box 7: 23
Series 3: Family Materials
1861-1927
3 boxes
Astronomical Ephemeris
1861-1893
Box 7: 24
Balkam, J. D., Stellar reading for F. L. H. Willis
ca.1865
Box 7: 25
Banner of Light
1891-05-16
Newspaper
Box 7: 26
Calling cards
ca.1870-1900
Box 7: 27
Dr. Willis and his experience as a medium
undated
Extracted article
Box 7: 28
Electrical health course notes
ca.1900
Box 7: 29
Envelopes and postcards
ca.1860-1902
Box 7: 30
Ephemera: trade cards of birds (Arm and Hammer)
ca.1900
Box 7: 31
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Beside Deborah's grave
ca.1910
Box 7: 32
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Chapter 2: Blossoming boughs
ca.1910
Box 7: 33

Attribution uncertain

Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Chapter 4: For the healing of the nations
ca.1910
Box 7: 34

Attribution uncertain

Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Chapter 5: The gray stone cliffs
ca.1910
Box 7: 35

Attribution uncertain

Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Dream child
ca.1910
Box 7: 36
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Dwellers of highway and byway
ca.1910
Box 8: 1
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Notebooks
1878-1885
Box 8: 2
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Odds and ends from here and there
1883
Bound vol.
Box 10: 1
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Poetry and printed miscellany
ca.1910
Box 8: 3
Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Untitled
undated
Box 8: 4

Attibution uncertain

Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Untitled manuscript (incomplete)
undated
Box 8: 5

Attibution uncertain

Forbes, Edith Willis Linn: Wedding invitation
1886
Box 8: 6
Hussey, R. G.: Pathology notes, University of Maryland
1911
Bound vol.
Box 10: 2
Invitations, cards, and ephemera
1869-1971
Box 8: 7
Linn, S. Henry: The sigmoid flexure, constipation, and its relation to pelvic disease
1895
Box 8: 8
Linn, Willis: Pathology notes
1909-1910
Bound vol.
Box 10: 3
Miscellaneous
ca.1865-1912
Box 8: 9
Newspaper clippings
1868-1879
Box 8: 10
Newspaper clippings: articles by F. L. H. and Love M. Whitcomb Willis
1864-1880
Box 8: 11
Newspaper clippings: articles by F. L. H. and Love M. Whitcomb Willis
1864-1880
Box 8: 12
Newspaper clippings: articles by F. L. H. and Love M. Whitcomb Willis
1864-1880
Box 9: 1
Newspaper clippings: Aunt Zera's stories
undated
Box 9: 2
Occult philosophy: Attainment course
ca.1900
Box 9: 3
Notes to Taine's Italy
ca.1865
Box 9: 4
Pocket diary
1871
Box 9: 5
Poetry
ca.1864-1910
Box 9: 6
Receipts
1865-1896
Box 9: 7
Will and its training, lessons 1-6
ca.1900
Box 9: 8
1862
Broadside
Box 9: 10
Willis, Love M. Whitcomb: Centennial Poem
1879
Box 9: 11
Willis, Love M. Whitcomb: Diary
1856
Box 9: 12
Willis, Love M. Whitcomb: Essays on H.H., Molly Pitcher, Battle of Yorktown, Battle of Monmouth, Antislavery leaders, William Ellery, Abby Kelly Foster
1900
Bound vol.
Box 9: 13

Although the volume is not signed, the handwriting and content appear to be the work of Love Willis.

Willis, Love M. Whitcomb: Welcome home
1901
Box 9: 14
Guest book
1907-1927
Box 13: 2

Limp Roycroft leather covers (deteriorating), with tipped in photographs

Series 4. Photographs and Scrapbooks
1863-1974
2.5 boxes
Photograph album: cartes de visite
ca.1863-1880
Cartes de visite, Tintypes
Box 12: 1

Album of cartes and tintypes, mostly, unidentified, with some taken in studios in Willimantic, Conn.

Photograph album: Cabinet cards (View selected images)
ca.1875-1890
Cabinet cards
Box 12: 2

Brown leather covers with brass clasp. Linn family, Edith, F.L.H. Willis, Love Willis, and other relatives; cartes de visite section in center and end.

Photograph album: Cabinet cards
ca.1880-1895
Cabinet cards
Box 12: 3

Worn red velvet covers. Mostly unidentified. Mourning cards for Alexander J. Stults, Martha Stults, Ellen Johnson, Mary S. Johnson, Mary Stults. Some cartes de visite at the end of the album

Photograph album: Cabinet cards
ca.1885-1895
Cabinet cards
Box 12: 4

Brown textured leather covers blindstamped in gilt "Photographs." Willis and Linn family photographs.

Photograph album: Cabinet cards (View selected images)
ca.1890-1895
Cabinet cards
Box 12: 5

Worn red velvet covers inlaid with metal "Souvenir." Mostly unidentified

Photographs: Cobb, Cornelia Willis
ca.1865
Carte de visite
Box 9: 15
Photographs: Dogs
ca.1870-1909
Carte de visite and Real photo postcard
Box 9: 16
ca.1883
Cartes de visite
Box 9: 18

Embossed oval cartes de visite with wrapping case from Barber's Studio, Willimantic, Conn.

Cabinet card with scalloped edges. Willis Linn was born Aug. 1887

Photographs: Linn, Bill
1921-1935
Box 9: 20
Photographs: Linn, Ethel H. Album (disbound)
1907-1974
Box 9: 21
ca.1890-1900
Albumen print
Box 9: 22

Family in carriage in front of house; Carriage driver with horse in front of house; Studio portrait.

ca.1863
Carte de visite
Box 9: 23
1887-1900
Cabinet card
Box 9: 24

Studio portrait of Willis with grandson; also later silver print portrait.

ca.1868-1880
Cartes de visite
Box 9: 25

Portraits by Gurney and Barber, respectively, with wrapping case from Barber's Studio, Willimantic, Conn.

Photographs: Unidentified
ca.1865-1930
Box 9: 27
ca.1880
Box 11: 1

Cover: The Universal Scrapbook. Includes pasted in engravings; laid in valentines and other cards, ephemers

ca.1892
Box 11: 2

Cover: Three inset chromos. Laid in chromolithographs, valentines and cards.

Scrapbook
ca.1903-1905
Box 11: 3

Cover: Three inset chromos. Laid in newspaper images and articles.

Scrapbook and notebook
1857-1865
Box 13: 3

Half leather over cloth with gilt ruling. Newspaper clippings by Love M. Whitcomb Willis.

Painting: Flowers
undated
Oil on wood
Box 13: 1

Administrative information

Access

The collection is open for research.

Provenance

Acquired from Michael Brown, Feb. 2020 (2020-026).

Bibliography

Willis's account of his life with the Alcott family is included in his book Alcott Memoirs. Boston : Richard G. Badger, 1915.

Willis's expulsion from Harvard is discussed at length from a Spiritualist's perspective in Emma Britten Hardinge, Modern American Spiritualism. New York : the author, 1870.

Willis's obituary appeared in the Unitarian Register, vol. 93 (May 14, 1914): 477.

Digitized content

Selected materials from the Willis Papers have been digitized and may be viewed online through SCUA's digital repository, Credo.

Processing Information

Processed by I. Eliot Wentworth, Feb. 2020.

Separated Material

A number of books owned by Willis were received with the collection and have been cataloged separately.

  • Academian. Lakemont, N.Y. : Lakemont Academy, 1952
  • Course of Time: A Poem. Portland, Me. : , Sanborn and Carter, 1844
  • Cynosure. Baltimore : Gilman Country School, 1938
  • Gannett, W. C., Year of Miracle. Boston : Geo. H. Ellis, 1882
  • Gertrude: The Story of a Beautiful Life. New York : Privately printed, 1900
  • Grahams Magazine, vol. 22, 1843
  • Holy Bible. King James Bible lacking title page
  • Holy Bible. New York : Collins and Hanay, 1818
  • Holy Bible. Boston : Lincoln and Edmands, 1825
  • Holy Bible. New York : Oxford, 1869
  • Hours of Communion. Boston : A. Tompkins, 1855
  • In Memory of Nathaniel White. Concord, N.H. : Republican Press Association, 1881
  • Linn, Edith Willis, Cycle of Sonnets. New York : James T. White, 1918
  • Linn, Edith Willis, From Dream to Dream: Poems. New York : James T. White, 1918
  • Linn, Edith Willis, Poems. Buffalo : Charles Wells Moulton, 1892
  • Parker, Theodore, Sermon, Preached in New York, June 10, 1860. Boston : Walker, Wise, and Co., 1860
  • Sears, Clara Endicott, Catalog of Fruitlands, at Harvard, Mass.. S.l. : s.n., ca.1914
  • Self-Pronouncing New Testament. Philadelphia : A. J. Holman,
  • Story of the Alcotts. Concord, Mass : Orchard House, ca.1946
  • Taps. Waynesboro, Va. : Fishburne Military School, 1928
  • Taps. Waynesboro, Va. : Fishburne Military School, 1929
  • Willis, Frederick L. H., Alcott Memoirs. Boston : Richard G. Badger, 1915
  • Willis, N. P., Poems: Sacred, passionate, and Humorous.New York : Clark, Austin, and Smith, 1852
  • Woolard, Samuel Francis, Beauties of Friendship. Wichita, Kans. : Goldmsith, 1906
  • Young Gentleman's Library. Philadelphia : Crissy, Waldie, and Co., 1835 (presented to William L. Whitcomb, with laid-in sketch and note)

Language:

English

Copyright and Use (More information )

Cite as: F. L. H. Willis Papers (MS 1116). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries.

Search terms

Subjects

  • Alcott, Amos Bronson, 1799-1888
  • Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888
  • Astrology
  • Coldwater (Mich.)--Religious life
  • Homeopathic physicians--New York (State)
  • Spiritualism--Massachusetts
  • Unitarian churches--Clergy

Contributors

  • Willis, F. L. H. (Frederick Llewellyn Hovey), 1830-1914 [main entry]
  • Forbes, Edith Willis Linn, 1865-1945
  • Whitcomb, Love Foster
  • Willis, Love M. Whitcomb

Genres and formats

  • Lectures
  • Photographs
  • Sermons

Link to similar SCUA collections