Henry Charles Carey correspondence

Table of Contents

Summary Information

Background note

Scope and content note

Administrative Information

Controlled Access Headings

Collection Inventory

Summary Information

Repository

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Creator

Carey, Henry Charles, 1793-1879.

Title

Henry Charles Carey correspondence

ID

3671

Date

1824, 1846-1848

Extent

0.6 Linear feet ; 2 boxes

Author

Finding aid prepared by Annie Halliday.

Sponsor

Processing made possible by a generous donation from Howard and Maxine Lewis.

Language

English

Abstract

Henry Charles Carey was born December 15, 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Carey was the eldest son of Irish social activist, publisher, and author Mathew Carey (1760-1839) and Bridget Flahaven Carey (1769-1829). Henry began working as an apprentice in his father’s bookshop at eight years old. In 1825 Carey replaced his father at the publishing firm which was then renamed Carey & Lea. After years working as a successful publisher and businessman Carey left Carey & Lea to focus more on his writing. Henry Charles Carey soon became one of America’s leading economic and political authors of the time. Henry Charles Carey died in Philadelphia on October 13, 1879. He is buried in Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard in Burlington, New Jersey. This collection consists of Carey's incoming letters as well as some copies of his outgoing letters. There are 390 letters total with 132 different correspondents represented. The letters are organized alphabetically by correspondent. The incoming letters date from the time around the publication of his work, The Past, the Present, and the Future (1848), and are from various publishers, printers, colleagues, friends, and family members.

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Background note

Henry Charles Carey was born December 15, 1793, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Carey was the eldest son of Irish social activist, publisher, and author Mathew Carey (1760-1839) and Bridget Flahaven Carey (1769-1829). He had three siblings; Frances [Fanny] Lea, Eliza Carey Baird, and Maria Carey. Henry began working as an apprentice in his father’s bookshop at eight years old. In 1825 Carey replaced his father at the publishing firm which was then renamed Carey & Lea. In 1835 Carey cofounded the Franklin Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia. Henry Charles Carey married Martha [Patty] Leslie, sister to painter Charles Robert Leslie, artist Anna Leslie, and author Eliza Leslie, in 1819. Patty died in April 1847, after a prolonged illness. Patty and Henry never had children of their own but had an adopted daughter Virginia Carey Haven (1820-1891), who married Thomas Albert Haven on August 4, 1841, and subsequently named their daughter after Patty in 1850.

After years working as a successful publisher and businessman Carey left Carey & Lea to focus more on his writing. Henry Charles Carey soon became one of America’s leading economic and political authors of the time. Carey wrote and published several pieces including his major work The Past, the Present, and the Future which was published in 1848. Other writings include Essay on the Rate of Wages (1835), Principles of Political Economy (1837–1840), Principles of Social Science (1858–1860), and The Unity of Law (1872). Carey was elected as an associate fellow of the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences in 1863. Then in 1868 he was elected to be a foreign member of the Royal Swedish of Sciences. Henry Charles Carey died in Philadelphia on October 13, 1879. He is buried in Saint Mary's Episcopal Churchyard in Burlington, New Jersey.

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Scope and content note

This collection consists of Carey's incoming letters as well as some copies of his outgoing letters. There are 390 letters total with 132 different correspondents represented. The letters are organized alphabetically by correspondent. The incoming letters date from the time around the publication of his work, The Past, the Present, and the Future (1848), and are from various publishers, printers, colleagues, friends, and family members. They discuss not only his work but also some of his economic and political philosophies. Some letters concern St. Clair, a coal tract in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, of which he had holdings.

Among his familial correspondents are his aunt Margaret Bache in Baltimore, Maryland, siblings; Eliza Carey Baird, Frances [Fanny] Lea and Maria Carey, nephew Henry Carey Baird, cousin Elizabeth Sherman Carey, nephew Joseph Lawton, aunt Joanna Carey in London, adopted daughter Virginia Carey Haven, and son in law Thomas Albert Haven. There are several letters from his wife Patty’s siblings Anna Leslie and Charles Leslie following the death of their sister in 1848. Letters from his adopted daughter Virginia also deal heavily with the loss of her mother. Amongst letters from Henry’s own siblings is an 1845 copy of Maria’s will. These letters also contain details about a disagreement within the siblings on the execution of their father’s (Mathew Carey) will. An 1848 letter from his aunt Joanna Carey, who lives in London, details observations on the 1848 revolutions occurring in Europe. His professional correspondents from the publishing business include Philadelphia merchant Hyman Gratz, bookseller and publisher William A. Blanchard, printer Lydia R. Baily, merchant David S. Brown, author and historian George T. Curtis, lawyer Edward N. Dickinson, publisher and brother in law Isaac Lea, author and publisher Freeman Hunt, Henry S. Getz of Leary and Getz, publisher Abraham Hart, and bookbinder B. Gaskill. These letters deal with a myriad of topics related to publishing and bookselling such as business accounts, loans, legal issues, critique of Carey’s writings, and the dissemination of Carey’s work. Other correspondents from outside the publishing world include industrialist Peter Cooper, editor Samuel Hazan, author and ambassador George Bancroft, playwright Robert Montgomery Bird, political scientist Francis Lieber, geographer and author William Darby, author Caroline M. Kirkland, English mathematician James Inman, and French economist Michel Chevalier. There are a few letters related to Carey’s land holdings in St. Clair, Schuylkill County. There are letters from his manager and nephew Joseph G. Lawton and Alfred Lawton reporting on the progress of coal mining, finances, and other topics. These letters reveal insights into how Carey navigated professional and personal relationships.

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Administrative Information

Publication Information

 Historical Society of Pennsylvania ; 2018.

Conditions Governing Access note

Collection is open for research.

Immediate Source of Acquisition note

Purchased, 2012.

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Controlled Access Headings

Corporate Name(s)

• Carey & Hart.
• Carey & Lea.

Genre(s)

• Correspondence.

Personal Name(s)

• Bancroft, George, 1800-1891.
• Bird, Robert Montgomery, 1806-1854.
• Cadwalader, John, 1805-1879.
• Carey, Henry Charles, 1793-1879.
• Carey, Mathew, 1760-1839
• Gratz, Hyman, 1776-1857.
• Hunt, Freeman, 1804-1858.
• Leslie, Charles Robert, 1794-1859.
• Leslie, Eliza, 1787-1858.
• Lieber, Francis, 1800-1872.

Subject(s)

• Books and Bookselling--19th Century
• Booksellers and bookselling -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
• Economics--19th century
• Publishers and publishing
• Publishers and Publishing--Philadelphia--19th century
• Publishing--19th century
• Publishing.
• Selling--Books.

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Collection Inventory