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Clara Barton Writes to Famous Phrenologist Who Had "Read" Her Head
Clara Barton Writes to Famous Phrenologist Who Had "Read" Her Head
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Description:

Clara Barton Writes to Famous Phrenologist Who Had "Read" Her Head

CLARA BARTON, Autograph Letter Signed, to Lorenzo N. Fowler, October 27, 1865, New York, New York. 2 pp., 5.125" x 8". With envelope, 5.25" x 2.75". Expected folds; very good.

In this intriguing letter, Clara Barton regrets having been unable to visit eminent phrenologist Lorenzo N. Fowler in her brief stay in New York on a trip to New England. Instead, she gave Fowler a brief account of her experiences in the Civil War and hoped for his soon return. Fowler had spent the Civil War years in Europe and remained there until near his death in 1896. Phrenology was a popular pseudoscience in the nineteenth century, in which practitioners claimed to "read" a person's personality and mental abilities based on the measurement of bumps on their skull.

Complete Transcript

New York City Oct. 27th 1865.
L. N. Fowler Esq
My esteemed & dear friend
I will not apologize for presenting myself before you, and at all this long distance I cannot quite think that my name has passed irrevocably from your recollection. If so, I have only to remind you of the 7+ friendship, which your own hand marked me the possessor of as a half grown girl running about the hills of North Oxford, and you will perceive that I cannot help remembering my friends better than they do me.
During these four years strife, I have missed you from our country, but when I have thought of you quietly away, amid peace and prosperity I have been glad that you were removed from such scenes of desolation and suffering. It is over now, and my we not hope to hear of your return?
Par mir, I have joined in the fray, with (not one of) the bravest and the best. I have lived four years on the fields, drank from the brooks, ate of what could be found in the dusty marching ranks of a fighting army, slept out under the moon and stars and washed the bleeding feet of the poorest soldier who marched on our enemie's works, or fell reeling back from his deadly blows.
Then I blessed God for Victory, tried to count its cost, and I spoke a word of comfort to they that mourned when the scourge was passed. I have sought to help them search among the wrecks for their living and identify their dead.
And this little report, is all I have to tell you of my whole four years. God grant that no such four years come to us again, but if they were to, I would try to do more and better.
I have seldom been in New York since your absence, but today on my way to New England I could not resist the temptation to call on Mr Wells and ask for you. He kindly offers to send a word or line and I accept gratefully With it I would send my hearts choicest blessing for you and yours, and my prayer that one day we see you with us.
As ever sincerely
Your friend
Clara Barton
Washington DC.

[Envelope:]
Copy of letter to L. N. Fowler in London, sent by Mr. Wells with copies of rolls--for N.Y. / Oct. 27/65

Clara Barton (1821-1912) was born in Massachusetts and received a good education though she was painfully shy. Her parents persuaded her to become a schoolteacher and she received her teacher's certificate in 1839. After working as a teacher for a dozen years, she attended the Clinton Liberal Institute in New York to continue her education. In 1852, she successfully opened a free school in Bordentown, the first free school in New Jersey. Demoted after the town built a new school building and hired a male principal, Barton quit. In 1855, she moved to Washington, D.C., and began work as a clerk in the Patent Office, the first woman to receive a substantial clerkship and equal pay with a man. After three years, the administration of James Buchanan fired her because of her "Black Republican" political views. After living with friends in Massachusetts for three years, she returned to Washington and took a position as temporary copyist in the Patent Office. After the Baltimore Riot of April 1861 against Massachusetts troops, Barton nursed forty of the victims back to health and learned valuable lessons about aiding soldiers. She began collecting medical supplies and distributing them to soldiers. In August 1862, she received permission from Quartermaster Daniel Rucker to work on the front lines. Throughout the war, she distributed medicine and food to wounded soldiers in close proximity to the battles of Cedar Mountain, Second Bull Run, Antietam, and Fredericksburg. In 1864, General Benjamin Butler placed her in charge of hospitals at the front of the Army of the James. For her Civil War service, Barton became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield" and the "Florence Nightingale of America." After the war, she ran the Office of Missing Soldiers in Washington, helping to locate the remains of more than 22,000 missing soldiers. She also lectured about her experiences and became associated with the women's suffrage movement and the civil rights movement for African Americans. In 1869, she became acquainted with the Red Cross in Switzerland and aided military hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War. In 1881, she founded the American Red Cross and became its first president. She continued to work in the field in response to natural disasters and wars as late as 1900.

Lorenzo Niles Fowler (1811-1896) was born in New York and studied at Amherst College from 1832 to 1834, where he became deeply interested in phrenology. Fowler and his brother Orson S. Fowler began lecturing on phrenology and opened an establishment in New York City in 1835. They began the American Phrenological Journal and in 1836 published the book Phrenology Proved, Illustrated, and Applied. He formed a partnership with Samuel R. Wells, and they made an extensive lecture tour in the United States and Canada from 1858 to 1860, then went to the United Kingdom. They "read" the heads of many famous individuals, including Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, William Cullen Bryant, and Clara Barton. In 1862, Fowler remained in Great Britain, while Wells returned to the United States. Fowler was also a temperance advocate and formed many total abstinence societies in the United States. He died soon after his return to the United States in 1896.

Samuel Roberts Wells (1820-1875) was born in Connecticut and trained as a physician. Although he never practiced, he became interested in phrenology and devoted his career to it. In 1844, he married Charlotte Fowler (1814-1901), the sister of Lorenzo and Orson Fowler and entered into a publishing partnership with his brothers-in-law under the name of Fowler and Wells. The firm produced many books and pamphlets on phrenology. In 1860, he accompanied Lorenzo N. Fowler on a lecturing turn to Europe but returned after two years, while Fowler remained. Wells edited the Water-Cure Journal and the American Phrenological Journal at various times during his career.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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