Modern Books and Manuscripts

In 1862, Boston native and Union army officer Robert Gould Shaw took command of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, the nation’s first all-black regiment. While leading the regiment, Shaw wrote several hundred letters to his parents, sisters, and wife, which constitute one of the main sources of information on the regiment from this period.

Shaw was killed in the second battle of Fort Wagner on July 18, 1863. He and the 54th Massachusetts soldiers are memorialized in a monument on Boston Common, and in the 1989 film “Glory,” which starred Matthew Broderick as Col. Shaw.

At some point in their history, Shaw’s letters were removed from the albums in which his family had mounted them.  This left scabs of mounting paper on most, which often obscured text; and the popularity of Shaw as a research topic over the years meant there were also numerous tears to be mended. Vicki Denby, Curatorial Assistant, assisted by Susi Barbarossa, Conservation Technician for Houghton Library; and Christopher Sokolowski, Project Paper Conservator, and Karen Walter, Senior Paper Conservation Technician of the Weissman Preservation Center, spent more than 90 days repairing the fragile documents.

Houghton’s large collection of Shaw’s letters to his family and other papers has now been fully digitized with funding provided by the Ruth Miller Memorial Philanthropic Fund, and is available to view through the collection’s finding aid.

Below: MS Am 1910 (14). [Notice of the death of Robert Gould Shaw]. MS. (unidentified author); Beaufort, 31 Jul 1863.

Below: Shaw to his father from St Helena, 4 July 1863.

MS Am 1910. Gift of Mrs. Lloyd K. Garrison, Mrs. Alexander D. Harvey, Frances Jay, and Mrs. Lawrence Fox, 1975.

Image at top left: Portrait file.