Recollections

Collection

Identifier: MSS 0097-Item 0034

Staff Only

Scope and Content Note

Margaret Hazlitt's "Recollections" of her literary family, written for the instruction of her nephew William Hazlitt (1811-1893), cover the period 1737 to approximately 1812. She compiled information about her father William Hazlitt (1737-1820), and her brothers William Hazlitt (1778-1830) and John Hazlitt (1767-1837) from family papers and her own recollections, as well as those of her mother. The diary is of interest for its account of the origins and history of the Hazlitt family and its detailed description of the visit of the Reverend William Hazlitt and his family to North America from 1783 to 1787. Margaret Hazlitt's journal is the sole source of biographical material on the early years of her brother, the essayist and critic William Hazlitt, and a valuable record of conditions in the United States immediately after the American Revolution, particularly near Boston, where the family lived for a period.

This single bound volume is paginated irregularly: Margaret Hazlitt filled 185 pages of the volume, writing on the rectos of 141 pages. She then turned the book and wrote on the versos of 45 pages, but pages are mis-numbered throughout. Ernest J. Moyne transcribed and published this journal in its entirety in 1967.

Dates

Creation: 1835 April 18-1838 October 27

Creator

Hazlitt, Margaret, 1770-1841 (Person)

Language of Materials

Materials entirely in English.

Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections, University of Delaware Library, http://library.udel.edu/spec/askspec/

Biographical Note

Margaret Hazlitt (1770-1841) was the daughter of the Rev. William Hazlitt and Grace Loftus Hazlitt. She was sister and middle sibling to her brothers, essayist William Hazlitt and artist John Hazlitt.

The Reverend William Hazlitt attended the University of Glasgow, but departed from the Presbyterian ministry to become a Unitarian minister. In 1783 Hazlitt took his family and sailed for America to begin a three-year stint of preaching Unitarianism from Maryland to Maine. Reverend Hazlitt founded the First Unitarian Church at Boston, but by 1786, Hazlitt returned to England to seek a home for his family. His eldest son, John Hazlitt, began painting portraits in miniature in Boston and became an accomplished artist upon return to England. Son William Hazlitt attended New College at Hackney to study divinity, but withdrew after a spell, feeling unfit for the ministry. He became well known as an English literary and social critic.

Moyne, Ernest J., ed.The Journal of Margaret Hazlitt: Recollections of England, Ireland, and America. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1967."William Hazlitt." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed. reproduced in Biography Resource Center. http://galenet.galegroup.com/ (accessed October 2008).

Extent

1 volume (circa 185 pages) ; 19 cm

Additional Description

Abstract

Margaret Hazlitt's "Recollections" of her father Reverend William Hazlitt (1737-1820), and her brothers essayist and critic William Hazlitt (1778-1830) and artist John Hazlitt (1767-1837) cover the period 1737 to approximately 1812. The diary is of interest for its account of the origins and history of the Hazlitt family and its detailed description of the visit of the Reverend William Hazlitt and his family to North America from 1783 to 1787.

Source

Purchase, 1949.

Related Materials in this Repository

This item forms part of MSS 0097 Diaries, Journals, and Ships' Logs collection.

Imprints from the (William) Hazlitt Collection at the University of Delaware Library may be searched in the library catalog.

Publication Note

Moyne, Ernest J., ed. The Journal of Margaret Hazlitt: Recollections of England, Ireland, and America. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1967.
University of Delaware. Library. Self works : diaries, scrapbooks, and other autobiographical efforts : catalog of an exhibition, August 19, 1997-December 18, 1997 : guide to selected sources. Newark, Del. : Special Collections, Hugh M. Morris Library, University of Delaware Library, 1997.