Henry Clay Reed papers

The Henry Clay Reed papers, spanning the dates from 1915-1974, contains legal documents, photographs, microfilm, correspondence, research notes, manuscripts, publications, and ephemera from the historian and University of Delaware professor. The collection was a gift of Marion (Bjornson) Reed in 1978, with an additional gift in 1980. Because Reed’s research interests spanned his career and many items are difficult to date, items have been arranged utilizing both chronology and consideration of subject matter. In addition, where possible, Henry Clay or Marion Reed’s organization of materials has been maintained.

The collection will perhaps be most useful to scholars who share Henry Clay Reed’s research interests. Many of his extensive notes, transcripts, and manuscript pages consider aspects of crime or punishment both in the secular legal system and in various Christian denominations in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Topics with extensive documentation in the proposed history of Crime and Punishment in New Jersey include animal cruelty, church discipline, domestic violence, infanticide, theft, the legal system in relation to servants, apprentices, children, and slaves, and other topics. In addition to dissertation material, this collection preserves Reed’s original research notes, annotations to the dissertation, and later revisions. It could serve as an entry point for researchers into colonial history sources, or assist a researcher in placing Christian denominational differences of the Colonial period in comparative perspective. Reed’s papers also include a considerable amount of academic research on the history of counterfeiting in the United States, and on the history of crime and punishment in Delaware. He taught advanced-level seminars on the history of crime and punishment and on the history of church discipline; teaching notes, research, and student papers in the collection reflect the content of these courses. Another topic in Delaware’s history of punishment which interested Reed was “Red Hannah,” or, the whipping post. Researchers interested in the history of this punishment in Delaware will find Reed’s notes, clippings, and correspondence useful.

Reed’s research interests also included the history of African Americans in Delaware. Amongst his papers is a manuscript article on the Underground Railroad in Delaware, with a collection of letters from the 1920-1930s that contain personal recollections from the niece and grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe, regarding Stowe’s contacts with Thomas Garrett, a stationmaster on the Wilmington Underground Railroad. In addition, a large collection of newspaper clippings documents the Civil Rights movement and the history of integration in Delaware. Researchers may also be interested in Reed’s correspondence with Pauline Young (F67), who wrote the chapter on the history of African Americans in Delaware for Delaware: a History of the First State.

Reed’s correspondence with other chapter contributors is equally interesting. Mary de Vou kept up a substantial exchange with Reed as she made progress on her history of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association for her chapter on women in Delaware. De Vou forwarded a letter from Carrie Chapman Catt, in which Catt recalled her unsuccessful visit to the Delaware Assembly to lobby for suffrage. A series of letters between Reed and Emalea Pusey Warner, and letters with local reminiscences about Julia Ward Howe and others punctuate this file (F66, F68).

Researchers interested in collecting activities or philately will also find items of interest in the Henry Clay Reed Papers. For example, Reed began collecting stamps at age six, and much of the correspondence in the collection reflects his interest: he frequently requested that the postage stamps he had sent out be returned to him, and this is acknowledged in several letters. Another indication of his deep interest in stamps is his instigation, in 1932, of a letter writing campaign to convince the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp of William Penn. His arguments in favor of the stamp, the progress of the campaign, and other participants can all be traced in the collection. The Postal Service initially refused to issue a stamp, but after increasing pressure was brought on the Postmaster General, Walter F. Brown, by Senator John Townsend of Delaware, Brown acceded to the request, and the Postal Service issued a three cent Penn stamp. The stamp was first sold at the post office in New Castle, Delaware – Penn’s original landing site. Reed’s efforts with this stamp will likely also interest scholars concerned with historical memory and the public.

Scholars interested in historical memory and public celebrations, colonial revivals, or the attention given to European cultural influences in America, will also find evidence of Reed’s efforts to revive public interest in historic events. Academically, these topics relate to Reed’s efforts in translating the works of Charles de Lannoy, a French scholar concerned with European Colonial expansion, and his active involvement in the Swedish Colonial Society, the Tercentenary Celebrations in Delaware, and his activities with the Civil War Centennial Commission and the Wilmington Civil War Round Table group. The collection contains correspondence, ephemera, and printed materials about these activities which are supplemented by other sources in the Special Collections department.

Those interested in the history of libraries, especially the development and acquisition of books in the University of Delaware Library, may be interested in Reed’s "Library Committee Papers," and his correspondence with librarians and archivists. He advised the Delaware State Archives Commission about activities, organization, and steps needed to preserve collections in the 1930s. Collection correspondence shows Reed participated in collecting activities for several libraries, as well as shaping area museum development. For example, the collection contains papers about consulting work Reed completed for the Winterthur Museum, the Dickinson Mansion, and the University of Delaware Museum.

A historian interested in the material culture of death and the social and cultural courtesies surrounding death and literary memory may also be interested in the collection. It contains over a hundred condolence cards and letters. In addition, it contains letters about the will and last wishes of Wilbur Owen Sypherd. Sypherd, a University of Delaware professor and administrator, directed in his Last Will and Testament that Henry Clay Reed evaluate his unpublished literary remains (see also MSS 232 Wilbur Owen Sypherd Papers).

Scholars interested in academic or encyclopedia publishing may find correspondence, draft submissions, and manuscript notes of interest. Those researching faculty lives at public universities will find Reed’s correspondence with colleagues and administrators interesting. Reed’s housing documents also contain papers highlighting the University of Delaware’s efforts to assist faculty in securing mortgages.

The Henry Clay Reed Papers also contain a number of items which will excite Delaware historians, particularly those interested in the history of Newark. Reed saved campaign materials for many local elections, and collected cultural and recreational ephemera from the town. Local historians may especially enjoy the item An Historical Note Upon the Retirement of Henry Clay Reed by Carl J. Rees, a reminiscence of life in Newark in 1925 when Reed, Rees, and other boarders shared an apartment in Angie Perkins’ home. Finally, those interested in how Delaware history is taught may be interested in the exam questions used by Reed to access student knowledge of Delaware history in undergraduate classes. The collection also contains letters from Leon deValinger, Harold Hancock, John Munroe, Winifred Robinson, and C.A. Weslager.