Pond, James B. (James Burton), 1838-1903. Draft memorandum of the Henry Morton Stanley tour
Object Details
- General note
- Manuscript notebook. Signed by the author in various places and on the manuscript. M185 is the accession number in the Russell E. Train inventory list of the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History.
- Collection Creator
- Train, Russell E., 1920-2012
- Russell E. Train Africana Collection (Smithsonian. Libraries)
- See more items in
- Russell E. Train Africana collection
- Russell E. Train Africana collection / Series 5: Manuscripts
- Extent
- 1 Item (Manuscripts (document genre), 6 x 9 x 2 in.)
- Date
- 1890 - 1891
- Container
- Item M185
- Archival Repository
- Smithsonian Libraries
- Type
- Archival materials
- Collection Rights
- The collection is housed in the Joseph F. Cullman 3rd Library of Natural History, which is open to researchers Monday through Friday in the afternoons, from 1:30 to 5:00 p.m.; morning visits are by appointment only. Please call (202) 633-1184 or email AskaLibrarian@si.edu for an appointment.
- Scope and Contents note
- Contains Pond's account of the lecture tour undertaken by Stanley in the United States after his return from the Emin Pasha expedition. Loaded with anecdotes as well as the financial details and full "goings-on" of the tour (conversations, disagreements, etc.), Pond's notebook describes in great depth the typical important late nineteenth century lecture tour and its organization. The notebook starts with Pond's recollection of how he met Stanley while touring in England in 1886 with Henry Ward Beecher. Mr. G. W. Appleton asked if Pond wanted Stanley to lecture in America. Stanley had done it before, but it was a failure, and Pond was a bit reluctant. Pond discussed the possibilities with Beecher, who responded "You get Stanley if you can. He is one of the greatest men in the world. I have been reading his Through the dark continent. It is a great book. He is doing great work for civilization and the reading world knows about him." Pond goes on to describe his first visit with Stanley, and when asked if he would consider doing another lecture tour in America, Stanley "replied by asking if people ever went to lectures in America." What a dismal failure that first tour must have been! Pond's persuasiveness and charm obviously won over Stanley, who quickly consented to the tour. The rest of the manuscript describes in detail the resulting tour. Stanley and Appleton were apparently eventually involved in a lawsuit over the lecture tour.
- Record ID
- ebl-1503510890585-1503510890730-3
- Metadata Usage
- CC0