Josiah Bushnell Grinnell Papers

Scope and Content Note: The J. B. Grinnell papers consist primarily of correspondence ca. 1852-91; the remainder are land deeds and Grinnell’s 1850 diary. The major portion of the correspondence is Grinnell’s letters to his wife 1852-54, and 1868-69, some of these touching on his coming to Iowa in 1854.

The collection may be augmented by clippings, photographs, and letters in the Archives’ pamphlet file and by Grinnell’s autobiography, Men and Events of Forty Years.

Biographical Note:
1821 Born in New Hampshire
1847-ca.1853 Congregational pastor
1852 Married Julia Chapin
1854 Founded Grinnell, Iowa
1856 Active in organizing Republican Party in Iowa
1856-60 State Senator. Worked to establish public schools in Iowa
1858 Admitted to the Iowa bar
1860 Delegate to Republican convention which nominated Lincoln
1863-67 Representative (Republican) to U. S. House of Representatives
1854-84 Trustee of Iowa (Grinnell) College
1891 Death

Interests included religion, education, politics, railroading, stock breeding, and sheep raising.

More details in Dictionary of American Biography, National Cyclopedia of American Biography, Who Was Who in America, Charles Payne’s Josiah Bushnell Grinnell.

Provenance: Unknown, but possibly gifts from Grinnell’s daughter, Mary Mears. Two letters to Lanman were a gift of Philip Brown.

Quantity: one small archives box. 2 linear inches.

Suggested citation: Josiah Bushnell Grinnell papers, Grinnell College Libraries, Department of Special Collections, Grinnell, Iowa. Ms.01.16.

Contents:
Letters. JBG to Julia Grinnell. April 1852-July 1854. 14 letters. A.L.S. and transcription of many of the letters.
1. April 11-12, 1852. New York
2. April 13-14, 1852. New York
3. April 15-16, 1852. New York
4. Aug. 1, 1852. New York
5. Aug. ?, 1852. New York. Includes clipping from N.Y. Tribune of letter from JBG, July 28, 1852.
6. Aug. 7, 1852. New York
7. Aug. 8-9, 1852. New York
8. Between Aug. 9 and Sept. 2, 1852. New York
9. Sept. 2, 1852. New York
10. June 3, 1853. New York
11. April 25, 854. Marengo, Iowa
12. May 3-5, 1854. Montezuma, Iowa
13. May 27, 1854. Davenport, Iowa
14. July 3, 1854. Grinnell, Iowa

Letters. JBG, from various cities, 1868-69, to Julia Grinnell, Dansville, N.Y. 11 letters. A.L.S.
1. Dec. 5, 1868. Detroit Mich.
2. Jan. 8, 1869. Grinnell, Iowa
3. Jan. 23, 1869. Grinnell Iowa
4. Feb. 3, 1869. Washington, D.C.
5. Feb. 5, 1869. Washington, D.C.
6. Feb. 16, 1869. Washington, D.C.
7. Mar. 1, 1869. Washington, D.C.
8. Mar. 2, 1869. Washington, D.C.
9. Mar. 23, 1869. Rock Island, Illinois
10. April 8, 1869. Grinnell. Iowa
11. April 9, 1869. Wyanett (?) station en route to Kansas City (?)

JBG, N.Y., Dec. 1853, to Julius Reed. A.L.S. and transcript. 3p. relative to establishing a town in Iowa.

Horace Greeley, N.Y., Nov. 1872, to JBG. A.L.S. and transcript. 1 leaf.

JBG letters to Charles Lanman: (gift of Philip Brown)

JBG, Grinnell, 1863, to Lanman. A.L.S. l leaf

JBG, Washington, D.C., 1866, to Lanman. A.L.S. 1 leaf.

Wendell Phillips, Boston, 1878-1882, to JBG and Mary Grinnell, Grinnell, Iowa. A.L.S. 20 letters. (Phillips, 1811-1884, was a Boston abolitionist, reformer, and orator.)

JGB to Hon. Geo. B. Sargent:
JBG, Davenport, 1859, to Sargent. Typed copy. 2 leaves.
G. B. Sargent, Boston, 1859, to JBG, typed copy. 1 leaf.
(Regarding extending railroad west of Iowa City.

JGB, Muscatine, 1872, to Hon. Chas. Sumner. Typed copy (original in Sumner file, Widener Library, Harvard). 1 leaf. Cf. letter from Greeley

Chester Arthur to JBG Nov. 2, 1881. A.L.S.

Correspondence, 1851-89. 17 items

Miscellaneous documents: marriage certificate, 1852, House of Representatives election certificate, 1862, land deeds, JGB last will and testament (rough draft).
Deeds and tax sale certificates for property owned by JBG. 1855, 1872-78.
Provenance: Mrs. Virgil Welch (see letters in folder with deeds)

Letters of tribute to JBG, 1891, from President George Gates, Sen. J.P. Dolliver, Sen. W.B.Allison, Charles Aldrich.

Diary, 1850.

Correspondence, 1860, 1865, 1887, 1890

Photocopies of 4 letters in the Iowa Historical Museum and Archives, Des Moines: Edwin M. Stanton to JBG 1865, JBG to William Clark 1860, JBG to Charles Aldrich 1887, 1890.