Item 59: Letter from Sir Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland, 1st Baronet, to [James Monroe] Sanderson, 1860 October 10
Item — Box: 2, Folder: 59
Dates
- Created: 1860 October 10
Creator
Access:
All series and subseries within this collection are open for research, with the exception of a few files within the Academia series that are restricted. The Academia series contains financial and sensitive institutional records from Wilkes College, and financial report records from Princeton University that will remain restricted for 80 years upon creation.
Extent
1 items
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Type of Material:
Letter
Condition Note:
Good; some stains; difficult to read; fading ink
Measurements:
9 13/16 in. x 7 ¾ in.
Description:
This is a letter from Henry Wentworth Dyke Acland to Sanderson [likely Lt. Col. James Monroe Sanderson], on October 10, 1860, regarding an invitation. In this letter, Acland is responding to Sanderson’s invitation to attend a meeting of the Century Association, specifically a meeting with the Committee of the Arts & Sciences. Acland studied medicine in London and became a professor of medicine at the University of Oxford in 1858. Acland also served as president of the General Medical Council while at Oxford. In 1869 he would serve on the Royal Commission on sanitary laws in England and Wales. At the time the letter was written, Acland had been touring the British North American Colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and visited the United States, touring Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Washington, Richmond, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Albany and Boston. His tour included visits to asylums for the mentally ill in the four Atlantic colonies and Quebec. The Century Association is a private club founded in 1847, based in New York City, and Sanderson was the Chairman of the Committee of the Arts & Sciences. Sanderson was involved with the United States Sanitary Commission and wrote Camp Fires and Camp Cooking in 1862, which included many recipes for meals made from military rations and advice for soldiers fighting in the American Civil War (1861-1865). He also wrote about the Cook’s Creed, which highlights the importance of sanitation. Less than a year after this letter was dated, the Century Association became headquarters to the United States Sanitary Commission, which supported sick and wounded soldiers from the American Civil War (1861-1865), specifically from the North. This suggests that Sanderson invited Acland to the meeting for his medical expertise and possibly to see if he were interested in joining the cause. Acland responded to the invitation that he was unsure he could attend the meeting because he was with Baron Renfrew the evening of the meeting. The Baron of Renfrew is the title held by the heir apparent to the British throne, and at this time period, the Baron Renfrew would be Prince Albert Edward, future King Edward VII. Acland was likely traveling with Edward through his tour of America, so this would be a worthy excuse to decline the invitation.
Location:
New York, New York.; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;
Transcription:
Dear Sir;
I am grateful for your obliging invitation, as “Chairman of the Committee of the Arts & Sciences of the Century Association” to join their meeting on Saturday next.
I much regret that until our arrival in New York it will not be in my power to say whether I shall be at liberty to leave Baron Renfrew on that Evening = but should it be so be assured it will give me great pleasure to be honoured by the introduction to a body of your Literary, Scientific Professional men such as you in person.
I am Dear sir
y[ou]r. Faithful servant
H. W. Acland
Philadelphia Oct 10. 1860.
To J.M.(?) Sanderson L.L.(?)
Creator
Repository Details
Part of the Wilkes University Archives Repository
Contact:
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu
84 W South St.
Wilkes-Barre PA 18701 US
570-408-2000
570-408-7823 (Fax)
ask.archives@wilkes.edu