[Autograph letters of Harriet E. Freeman to Edward E. Hale.]

Italy, Tunisia, Boston, mainly December 1905–May 1906. 50 autograph letters (30 complete, 20 partial), 342 pp., mostly 5.25” x 8.25” and 8.5” x 11”, many on hotel letterhead; 1 photograph (3.25” x 3.5”); 16 postcards (14 blank); 2 pp. difficult-to-read note, likely in Hale’s hand; 2 typescripts of Hale’s sermons; 1 letter (2 pp.) to Freeman, dated 16 January, 1893 and 1 tribute to Hale (3 pp.) both in manuscript from Harriet Townsend, likely the pioneering Women’s Union leader; assorted personal and church-related documents and letters to Freeman from the 1890s, totaling 11 pp. manuscript and 3 pp. typed. Also included are 2 autograph letters from Ethel Hale Freeman (Florence, 19 March 1906), 11 pp.; Syracuse, 6 January 1906, 10 pp. All letters in ink. 11 envelopes included. All materials laid into an album, 8vo (7.5” x 9.75”), half leather with marbled paper over boards. CONDITION: Good, album worn, but binding tight; occasional minor tears to letters, no losses to the text; some envelopes heavily worn.

An important trove of letters—parts of which are written in secret code—from Harriet Freeman to the prominent author Rev. Edward Everett Hale, further illuminating their twenty-five years of clandestine love. These letters chronicle Freeman’s extensive trip through Italy and Tunisia; suggest the depth and complication of her personal and intellectual connection with Hale; discuss their shared endeavors in natural conservation, and more.

Born in Boston to Caroline Crosby Lewis and William Frederick Freeman, a wealthy tradesman, Harriet Elizabeth Freeman (1847–1930) was a writer, botanist, geologist, and conservationist. She is best known for her recently-uncovered relationship with the noted writer and Unitarian Minister Edward Everett Hale (1822–1909), author of the famous short story “Man Without a Country” (1863). Freeman’s acquaintance with Hale began in her teenage years, when her family moved to South Boston and joined his Unitarian Church. In 1871 she began volunteering as the treasurer of the South Church ladies’ charities—a position she would hold for 20 years—and, in addition, “was soon Hale’s most valued volunteer amanuensis and assistant” (Day, “Freeman”).

From 1884 until Hale’s death in 1909, Freeman and Hale exchanged over 3,000 letters, some of which—those of a more personal nature—were written in code (actually a defunct form of shorthand invented by Thomas Towndrow). Following Sara Day’s recent decoding work with Freeman letters held by the Library of Congress, we now know that Hale and Freeman had a twenty-five-year long romantic relationship that was covered up by Hale’s family and biographers.

Although Hale never publicly credited Freeman as a collaborator, their correspondence reveals the extent of their personal intimacy and intellectual exchange. Freeman co-wrote many of Hale’s sermons, articles, stories, and books, and in addition was active in his Lend-a-Hand Society, writing and editing parts of the Society’s journal, The Look-Out, from the 1880s to the early 1890s. Likewise, Hale was inspired by Freeman’s commitment to forest conservation: he championed that cause in the early 1900s through his role as Chaplain to the U.S. Senate, and in 1905 accompanied her as a delegate to the first National Forest Congress in Washington, D.C. Their efforts (along with those of Freeman’s naturalist friend Emma Cummings) contributed to the establishment of the White Mountain National Forest in 1911.

This lot of letters was written during Freeman’s travels through Italy and Tunisia in the winter and spring of 1905–1906. She is accompanied by her niece (Hale’s god-daughter) Ethel Hale Freeman, along with one “Emma,” clearly also known to Hale—and clearly an annoyance to Freeman, who at one point records that “we went out, without Emma, wonderful to say!” Freeman’s descriptions are lively, intelligent, sometimes critical, and occasionally racist and xenophobic. Her responses to Hale suggest at once the scope of her intimacy with his work and private life and the discomfort and emotional insecurity of her position outside his sanctioned family circle. She complains, for instance, that “not one” of Hale’s letters “make any reference to your Edward! And you say nothing more about it, about his visit to you; how Mrs. Hale & Nelly feel about it; or how even you feel about his ‘treason’ as you called it. And yet you write me all about Mr. O___?”

The trip is well-documented through Ethel’s letters, as well as Freeman’s regular communications to her family; however, this lot of letters appears to be an important addition to those records. In several passages Freeman reminds Hale to keep her letters as a record of the journey, explaining that “I write to you more fully than anyone else.” In several passages, Freeman reminds Hale to keep her letters as a record of her trip, since “I write to you more fully than anyone else.” However, she also reports that, just before leaving the States: “I did as you asked & as I promised. I took all your letters & put them in a trunk. Before locking it, I wrote & enclosed it on top that in case of your death & my death, these were to be destroyed by members of my family & were under no condition to go to any members of your family, as there was no material there which could be used in any possible biography.” Most of the journey’s letters include passages in shorthand, and almost all conclude with a few lines of it, which are sometimes accompanied by heart symbols.

Alongside regular indications of intimacy, Freeman’s letters discuss a wide variety of subjects including: visiting jewelers in Carthage (where there are “very ugly” idols, “as a heathen idol should be”); sending Hale messages via Marconi (the recently developed radio telegraph); mosques and Arabs in Kairouan and Sousse, Tunisia; officers, Zouaves, camels, and a Bedouin camp in Tunisia; quotes from books she is reading; Sicilian architecture; visits to ancient Greek theaters; descriptions of her visits to Pompeii, Naples, and Palermo; churches, religious events, and religious commentary; and news of friends, acquaintances, and family back home. Freeman received copies of the Boston Transcript throughout her travels, and, especially in relation to Hale’s presence in Washington, discusses current issues and politics. Her journey took place in the aftermath of the National Forest Congress, and Freeman, “reminded of my dear White Mountains” by sights abroad, discusses their shared forest conservation efforts.

Hale died in 1909, after which Freeman continued her philanthropic efforts, conservation work, and scientifically-oriented travels, mostly with Emma Cummings. Throughout her life, Freeman was particularly interested in the natural sciences. Alongside her involvement with Hale and his work, she was active in multiple scientific organizations, including the Teachers’ School of Science of the Boston Society of Natural History and the Boston Institute of Technology (now MIT), where in the 1890s she studied biology and geology. She was a founding board member of the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, Massachusetts; joined the Appalachian Mountain Club as soon as it opened to women in 1879; and, when Science magazine published its first issue in 1880, was one of its first subscribers. Freeman was likewise a steady advocate for women’s education: among memberships and leadership roles in organizations like the Women’s National Indian Association, Freeman—through her work with the Perkins School for the Blind—financed Anne Sullivan’s trip to Alabama to work with the young Hellen Keller. Freeman died in West Newton, Massachusetts, at age 83.

SOME REPRESENTATIVE PASSAGES

[31 Dec.] “You can imagine how many dear sacred thoughts of the past come to me as tonight comes on! How I remember the thirty eight years without a break on which I went to the Church, each time to see & hear you at the Table! Last year was the first break. You were in Washington & Helen & I were there. This year is the second break & you well know that I should not be here, if you were there. And next year? Shall we ever be at that table again on the last night of the year? If not, I have those memories, which can never, never be taken away from me.”

Naples; 4 Jan. “Of course there is no great cathedral or picture gallery here, so the great interest is in the view & the queer street scenes. I always remember that this is the place where Torricelli saw the blood of Saint Januarius move! The little donkey carts are so picturesque & it is amazing how much work the little horses will do. Their ornamental harnesses often attract our attention.”

Palermo; 14 Jan. “Thanks to my old lessons in geology, I can never see a building without being conscious of the stone of which it is constructed. This is of a fossiliferous limestone of a warm yellow tone. We lunched there—pardon the commonplace!—& then continued our climb & walk up much higher! till we reached the old Greek Theatre having a magnificent outlook to the sea.”

[no date]. “I am afraid that you being a man have no idea of how fond women are of bead necklaces. Consequently, you can not imagine how many beads are made here in Venice.”

Naples; 16 Feb. “Dont you send me any type written letter. I had rather puzzle for hours over [passage in shorthand]. But I rarely have to give up a word.”

Naples; 17 Feb. “In this country I have not seen one individual that you would call a good type; dirty, ignorant, debased! And we are to carry 2000 of them, not only to our country, but to our City. I think our attitude even with the present restrictions is one of utter folly & suicide. That our fair country! our white paper! is to be so soiled & encroached. But who will vote against Emigration? […] When I see this type, I lose all faith in the divinity of man. When I see you, I can believe.”

Florence; 2 April. “I went […] this afternoon to write the cable to be sent tomorrow. ‘Hopes for continued health & happiness.’ You will read much more in it & know that it carries prayers, blessings, & love beyond words.”

Venice; 14 April [Good Friday]. “In the morning there was a service, which was followed by the Processional which signified Christ on the way to Calvary and bearing His cross. It was made up of all the dignitaries of the Church dressed in black & white. It was preceded by the Crucifix in black […] It passed through the nave around to one of the side chapels, & back stopping frequently, to signify the Stations, I suppose. It was followed by many of the people—the people of the place. At the close, on the last going up of the nave I joined in. I tried to feel that I too was watching in grief & reverence & the tears indeed came to my eyes as I pictured the reality of the scene of which this was but a commemoration.”

Verona, 24 April. “This is a charming city, entirely apart from the fact that Romeo & Juliet lived & loved & died here. There are several bridges over the river—but two are of especial interest. One dates from Roman times‚ the other from the Scaliger times. The 14th century—& all its turrets & towers have the Ghibellini outline [diagram]. Of course you know it as distinct from the Guelph [another diagram]. Was there ever a thing so easily memorized.”

Milan; 10 May. “I wish Nelly [Hale’s daughter] would make a caricature of Speaker [Joseph Gurney] Cannon […]. His ignorance, & bumptiousness—for nothing will ever persuade me that western men have not both those qualities—in this Forest business is intolerable! I suppose he was never out of the U.S. in his life! Let him come here & see what Italy has left because she has cut her forests!”

“How absurd in a purely Democratic country, where freedom is so lauded before all the world! That one man can so oppose the wish & purpose of thousands of men! I don’t understand the present power of the Speaker. […] perhaps this San Francisco disaster will turn against them. A million dollars was voted for that in a moment & here our poor Country has been haggling over an appropriation for half that amount for years! I know of that Committee meeting to which you were to go, & which is noticed in this Transcript article. I hope something, even at the tail end of the Session, will come from it. But I doubt it.”

“I wish any amount of ridicule & abuse could be poured on Cannon’s head. I think his obstruction of this Forest business is enough to condemn him before the whole Country for all future time!”

Personally and intellectually engaging travel letters from a pioneer in natural conservation and women’s education whose active life and secret love shed light on the development of 19th and 20th century natural science, feminism, and social mores in America.

REFERENCES: Day, Sara. Coded Letters, Concealed Love: The Larger Lives of Harriet Freeman and Edward Everett Hale. New Academia, 2014; Day, Sara, “Freeman, Harriet Elizabeth,” American National Biography. Published online, 2014; Day, Sara, “Coded letters reveal an illicit affair and a woman of substance,” OUPblog, 24 October, 2014; Freeman, Harriet E. Papers, ca. 1860-1922 at hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu; Seaburg, Alan, “Edward Everett Hale,” Dictionary of Unitarian & Universalist Biography, 28 October, 2014.