Series I: Papers of John Rogers, Jr., 1837-1941, inclusive

This subseries primarily consists of letters written by John Rogers, Jr. dating from adolescence up until his death in 1904. John Rogers wrote mainly to siblings, particularly sister Ellen Derby Rogers, his parents John Rogers, Sr. and Sarah Ellen Derby Rogers, and later in life to his children and wife Harriet Moore Francis Rogers. Also included is correspondence from a few notable Americans who wrote to John Rogers, Jr. about his work, including Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, Grover Cleveland, and Henry Ward Beecher. The letters are arranged chronologically.

Rogers' earliest letters date back to his time at grammar school in Roxbury and the Boston English High School. The letters reflect day to day life, occasionally revealing an early interest in the arts. Later letters from Manchester, New Hampshire describe his first exploits in machinery and plan to develop a career as a machinist when he later writes from Hannibal, Missouri as a Master Mechanic. Rogers wrote fewer letters during his times abroad, but returns to Chicago and New York to write many letters about his unexpected success as an artist. His letters also include the many he wrote to wife Harriet Moore Francis Rogers following their marriage in 1865.

Included are drawings of work and travels created by John Rogers, Jr. during his young adulthood, as well as poetry and prose both apart from and about his sculpture. While at the Amoskeag Corporation in New Hampshire, Rogers filled a notebook with sketches of the various machinery he used and found in the Machine Shop. Rogers' trip to Spain in 1849 due to lingering illness and inability to work produced a number of sketches of sights, such as Gibraltar and the Alhambra. The travel journal documents his daily activities, his sometimes animated experiences on board the ship, and his encounters with Spanish natives and cultural events. The creative writings of John Rogers, Jr. include short stories and poems complemented with drawings as well as numerous copies of press releases for his sculpted groups.

This subseries is comprised of John Rogers, Jr.'s patents of the Rogers Groups, ledger books, bills, business correspondence, papers and articles written about his Groups, and ephemera of past exhibitions of his statues. Business papers and documents include communication about upcoming exhibitions of his works, contracts of sale or donation to the Corcoran Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many other lesser known institutions, and a draft notice for the army addressed to John Rogers, Jr. just months before the end of the Civil War in 1865. The writings on John Rogers' Groups contain a lecture by Frank Adams and a collection of poems by admirer Elizabeth Schip. These materials are arranged chronologically.