Laura C. Holloway Letters
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Abstract
A collection of letters addressed to turn-of-the-century author and journalist Mrs. Laura C. Holloway.
Biographical Note
Laura Carter Holloway, also known as Laura Holloway-Langford, was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1843, one of the fourteen children of Samuel Carter, hotel keeper, and Ann Vaulx Carter. She was educated at the Nashville Female Academy, and married Lieutenant Junius Brutus Holloway of the Union Army in 1862. They had a son, George Holloway, that same year, but the marriage was not a happy one and the pair quickly separated.
At the end of the war Sam Carter moved his family to New York, where Laura began a career as an author and journalist. She published her first book, The Ladies of the White House, in 1870, and its sales made her independently wealthy. That year she also became the literary and women's page editor at the Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper. Alongside her journalism, she continued to write books, among them The Hearthstone or Life at Home, a Household Manual (1883), The Mothers of Great Men and Women…(1883), Chinese Gordon, the Uncrowned King (1885), Five Years of Theosophy (1885), The Buddhist Diet-Book (1886), The Woman's Story (1888), and Atma Fairy Stories (1903).
Holloway's interests included theosophy, the Shakers, phrenology, the occult, vegetarianism and social reform. She is also considered an important force in the dissemination of ideas on Eastern religions. In 1884 she met Helena Blavatsky, leader of the theosophist movement, and worked with the theosophists for about six months. She was also a leader of Brooklyn's Seidl Society, the aim of which was to sponsor concerts at Brighton Beach to be available at low cost to working class women. Through this activity she came into contact with Susan B. Anthony, as well as her future husband, Edward L. Langford, whom she married in 1890.
Colonel Edward Langford was deputy police commissioner of Brooklyn, and later an officer of the Brooklyn & Brighton Beach Railroad that ran from Prospect Park to the Brighton Beach Hotel. He was also active in the affairs of the Seidl Society. Colonel Langford died in 1902.
After his death, and through her friendship with Eldress Anna White, Holloway became more involved with the Shakers, and in 1906 she put down a deposit on a farm in New Lebanon, Columbia County, NY. Her son George retired from the army in 1911 and came to Upper Canaan to manage the farm, but on his sudden death from heart disease in 1914, Holloway entered a period of financial difficulties and depression. The last years of her life were marred by poverty and struggles over the manuscript of a book she had written about Madame Blavatsky. Laura C. Holloway died in 1930.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged in seven folders. Folders 1-4 contain correspondence from specific senders. The folders are arranged alphabetically by surname and their contents are arranged chronologically. Folder 5 contains correspondence related to Holloway's book, The Ladies of the White House, and is arranged chronologically. Folder 6 contains mixed correspondence and is arranged by sender's surname. Folder 7 contains non-correspondence material and has no arrangement. There are also three books by Holloway included with the collection, listed alphabetically by title at the end of the folder listing.
Scope and Contents
The Laura C. Holloway Letters comprise 70 items spanning the years 1869 – 1926, almost all handwritten letters. Seventeen of the letters relate to Holloway's book, The Ladies of the White House. In addition there are five letters from poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox, four from Brooklyn Daily Eagle President Herbert F. Gunnison and one from abolitionist and author Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Most notably, there are ten letters written between 1881– 1889 to Mrs. Holloway from Susan B. Anthony, who joined the Women's Rights Movement in 1852 and dedicated her life to woman's suffrage. Correspondence from Susan B. Anthony was primarily in reference to the planning for the 40th Anniversary Council of the First National Women's Suffrage Convention, at which Mrs. Holloway was expected to present a paper on Women in Journalism.
Also notable in the collection are a letter from William Howard Taft, president 1909–1913, and notes from Andrew Johnson, president 1865-1869. In addition, this collection includes copies of three of Holloway's books: Adelaide Neilson, An Hour with Charlotte Bronte, and The Ladies of the White House.
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Access
Open to researchers without restriction.
Use
While many items at the Center for Brooklyn History are unrestricted, we do not own reproduction rights to all materials. Be aware of the several kinds of rights that might apply: copyright, licensing and trademarks. The researcher assumes all responsibility for copyright questions.
Preferred Citation
Identification of item, date (if known); Laura C. Holloway Letters, BCMS.0020, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Public Library, Center for Brooklyn History.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The provenance of this collection is not known.
