How History Unfolds on Paper: Important Americana from the Eric C. Caren Collection, Part X

Locations vary, ca. 1830s-1930s. Archive of 218 documents related to Charles Hurd of Londonderry, New Hampshire, as well as his relatives or descendants. Including 165 manuscript pages of speeches and essays by Hurd; approximately 53 manuscript letters, bills, or receipts, by Hurd or his relatives; a small albumen postcard glossed "Hurd Family Farm"; a printed newspaper The Native American (Vol. I, No. I, February 22, 1844). Many documents housed in paper folders, and in green cloth binder titled, "Miscellaneous Writings of Charles Hurd Circ. 1850..." Size and condition varies; some documents heavily soiled.

An extensive archive of original manuscripts, essays, and speeches, by Charles Hurd (1791-1873), an active participant in the Native American political party (also known as The Know Nothings) in the 1840s-60s. His writings cover both his personal and party views on topics such as temperance, nativism, biblical truths or philosophies, anti-Catholic rhetoric, democracy, the Whig Party, tariffs, the Fillmore administration, and much more.

During the 1840s and 50s, as the Whig Party declined in political power, and the Republican Party was still in its beginning stages, the Native American Party or "Know Nothings" rose as an alternative faction to the Democrats. The Know Nothings preached a nativist stance against the growing trend of European immigration, specifically from Roman Catholic nations, while promoting traditional religious and political values, advocating temperance, and taking a neutral position on slavery. In 1856 the Know Nothings nominated former President Millard Fillmore to run on their ticket for the Presidency, but his loss that year to James Buchanan led to the party's rapid decline and eventual disappearance during the American Civil War.

An extensive archive offering an in-depth look at the ideology of a 19th century American political party.