Scope and Contents:
This collection contains correspondence from Sarah Moore Grimke, an abolitionist, public speaker and teacher at Eagleswood School, as well as letters written to Theodore Dwight Weld, Grimke’s brother-in-law.
Sarah Moore Grimke (1792-1873) was born in Charleston, South Carolina to Mary Smith and John Faucheraud Grimke, a judge of the state supreme court. After visiting Philadelphia in 1819, Grimke became a Quaker, along with her sister Angelina Emily Grimke, and both became involved with anti-slavery groups and published booklets about abolition. Angelina married Thomas Dwight Weld, and the three taught at Eagleswood School (also known as Raritan Bay Union School) in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The school was part of the Raritan Bay Union, a utopian community that existed from 1853 to 1860.
This collection consists of one microfilm reel containing correspondence written by Sarah Moore Grimke discussing education, slavery, the proposed admission of Kansas into the Union, and the philosophy and purpose of the Eagleswood School. Many of her letters are addressed to “Friends” or to members of the Wattles family. Augustus and Susan Wattles, along with their daughter Sarah Grimke Wattles, were an abolitionist family who lived in Kansas and were friends with Sarah Moore Grimke. This collection also contains some letters written to Theodore Dwight Weld, Grimke’s brother-in-law. These letters were written by: Adin Ballou, abolitionist and founder of the Hopedale Community; S. Wilkinson; and William Morris Davis, the grandson of Quaker abolitionist Lucretia Mott.
This microfilm contains a selection of manuscripts copied from the Weld-Grimke Papers, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan.
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