C. Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery, Ephemera Collection.
(Book)

This collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Providence Public Library, Special Collections department.

This collection consists of printed ephemera relating to the Civil War and slavery including newspaper clippings, advertisements, posters, prints and lithographs, political tracts, maps, illustrations and Confederate currency. Topics include African-American history, slavery, abolitionism, politics, and the Civil War. Particular subjects of note include state productions of Uncle Tom's Cabin, items related to African-Americans in the military, political tracts regarding the Copperhead or Peace Democrat movement, materials related to Rhode Island and Massachusetts regiments of the Union Army as well as engravings, etchings and print portraits of American individuals and military scenes.

The collection is divided into the following series according to theme. : Series 1. Race and slavery Series 2. Abraham Lincoln Series 3. Political topics and Patriotic Expression Series 4. Military Series 5. Later Additions Each series is arranged according to the earliest known date of the publication or event. Series 3 is arranged by media format and by date so that all political cartoons are together, and all news clippings and broadsides are together. Series 4 is arranged by media format and by earliest known date. Series 5 includes miscellaneous material added after the original processing of the collection.

Researchers are requested to use the following citation format: [item title], C. Fiske Harris Collection on the Civil War and Slavery, Ephemera Collection, Special Collections, Providence Public Library.

Property rights are owned by Providence Public Library.

The Harris Collection was separated into several sub-collections based on format. Monographs, pamphlets and newspapers are cataloged individually. The manuscript and ephemera collections are processed as archival collections.

See also: 007-01-01, C. Fiske Harris Collection on Civil War and Slavery Monographs 007-01-02, C. Fiske Harris Collection on Civil War and Slavery Pamphlets 007-02-01, C. Fiske Harris Collection on Civil War and Slavery Manuscripts 005-02-01, Daniel Berkeley Updike Autograph Collection 022-02, Rhode Island Soldiers and Sailors Society Records Harris Collection of American Poetry and Plays, Brown University

Caleb Fiske Harris (1818-1881) was a businessman and rare books collector. He was born in Warwick. Rhode Island on March 9, 1818 to Dr. Stephen and Eliza Greene Harris. He attended Brown University in the class of 1834. He left school to pursue business ventures in New York in 1837. In New York he was a partner in a commission business and finally headed his own company before returning to Rhode Island in 1856. He settled in Providence and set up his business there until the Civil War. He married Emily Stevenson Davis, of Philadelphia in 1866. He drown with his wife in Moosehead Lake, Maine on October 2, 1881. Harris became an avid collector of literature of England, American poetry and plays, and the literature of slavery and the Rebellion (the Civil War). His collection on the Civil War and slavery was purchased from his estate by the Providence Public Library in 1884.

Materials are in English and German.

https://www.provlib.org/wp-content/uploads/finding-aids/007-04-01-FA.pdf

The collection was processed by Robin Alario in 2011. The finding aid was revised by Kate Wells in 2018.

Original material purchased from the estate of C. Fiske Harris in 1884; Grand Army of the Potomac lithograph was a gift of Miss Alicia Appleton; Photostat copy of R.I. Camp near Washington, DC from the collection of Greg Shepley; Fort Pulaski flag originally loaned by Professor C. W. Brown 29 August, 1921; Confederate money donated by U.S. Treasury Department in 1913, the Rhode Island Historical Society in 1924. No accruals are expected.