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Collection Overview
Title: William Goodell Family Papers, Part 1, 1780-1892
Primary Creator: Goodell family.
Other Creators: Frost, Maria Goodell., Goodell, Lavinia., Goodell, William.
Extent: 17.0 MS boxes
Arrangement:
The William Goodell Family Papers (Part 1) are arranged into two series, which are further divided into subseries:
Series 1 - William Goodell Documents
Sub-Series 1A - Writings
Sub-Series 1B - Sermons and Addresses
Sub-Series 1C - Correspondence
Sub-Series 1D - Antislavery Sources
Sub-Series 1E - Temperance
Series 2 - Goodell Family Papers
Sub-Series 2A - Personal and Biographical Family Documents
Sub-Series 2B - Family Correspondence
Sub-Series 2C - Writings of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost
Sub-Series 2D - Elizabeth Peck’s notes on the life of Lavinia Goodell
Subjects: Abolitionists -- Correspondence., Abolitionists., American Missionary Association., Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources., Berea College, Frost, Maria Goodell., Frost, William G. -- (William Goodell) -- 1854-1938, Goodell, Clarissa Cady., Goodell, Lavinia., Goodell, William -- 1792-1878, Goodell family., National Prohibition Party (U.S.)., Smith, Gerrit -- 1797-1874, Spooner, Lysander -- 1808-1887, Tappan, Lewis -- 1788-1873, Temperance., Torrey, Charles T. -- (Charles Turner) -- 1813-1846, United States -- Race relations -- History -- 19th century -- Sources., Weld, Theodore.
Languages: English
Abstract
William Goodell, a native of New York, was a prominent 19th century abolitionist and temperance reformer. He either edited or published such reform-minded publications as the Investigator and General Intelligencer, Friend of Man, Christian Investigator, and Principia. Although never ordained, he founded a church in Honeoye, New York, in 1842, based on the principles of emancipation, prohibition and church reform. Goodell was among those who organized the American Missionary Society (date unknown) and the National Prohibition Party in 1869. In 1870 he and his wife Clarissa Cady Goodell moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, home of their two daughters, where he remained until his death. The collection includes over 380 of Goodell's sermons and addresses; correspondence with family, colleagues, and such prominent abolitionists as Gerrit Smith, Lewis Tappan, Theodore Weld, Charles Torrey and Lysander Spooner; and various writings. Included in Goodell's writings are manuscripts of Moral Excellence: The Highest Good; Moral Right, The Highest Law; The Theology of Jesus Christ; and Congregationalism, which were never published. Also present are smaller writings on anti-slavery and temperance and many poems.
Maria Goodell Frost, eldest daughter of William and Clarissa Goodell, was the mother of Berea College's third president—William G. Frost. Like her father, Maria was an advocate of both abolitionist and temperance reform. She was also active in the women's suffrage movement. Included in the collection are Mrs. Frost's personal diaries of the years 1874, 1877, and 1879-1884; an unpublished manuscript on the life of Lavinia Goodell; Temperance Essay; and an article entitled Ten Reasons Why Women Should Vote. Correspondence includes letters to and from Mrs. Frost's husband, Rev. Lewis Frost; her son, Lewis Clayton Frost; other family members; and her publisher.
Lavinia Goodell, the younger daughter of William and Clarissa Goodell, became, in 1874, the first woman lawyer admitted to the Wisconsin bar. Her papers include 6 personal diaries (1873, 1874, 1876, 1877, 1878, 1879, and 1880) which document her day-to-day activities, and extensive correspondence with family and friends. Also present is a brief given by Miss Goodell before the Wisconsin State Supreme Court, an essay entitled The Responsibility of the North for Slavery, and other miscellaneous writings.
Following his mother's death in in Berea in 1899, William Goodell Frost, third president of Berea College, placed the Goodell family papers in the Berea College Library (some had already been donated to Oberlin College while he was a faculty member there).
Scope and Contents of the Materials
The William Goodell Family Papers (Part 1) consists of correspondence, writings, sermons and addresses, diaries, and biographical material of William Goodell (1792-1878), and his two daughters, Maria Goodell Frost (1826-1899) and Lavinia Goodell (1839-1880).
Subject/Index Terms
Abolitionists -- Correspondence.
Abolitionists.
American Missionary Association.
Antislavery movements -- United States -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Berea College
Frost, Maria Goodell.
Frost, William G. -- (William Goodell) -- 1854-1938
Goodell, Clarissa Cady.
Goodell, Lavinia.
Goodell, William -- 1792-1878
Goodell family.
National Prohibition Party (U.S.).
Smith, Gerrit -- 1797-1874
Spooner, Lysander -- 1808-1887
Tappan, Lewis -- 1788-1873
Temperance.
Torrey, Charles T. -- (Charles Turner) -- 1813-1846
United States -- Race relations -- History -- 19th century -- Sources.
Weld, Theodore.
Administrative Information
Repository:
Berea College Special Collections and Archives Catalog
Access Restrictions:
Records can be accessed through the Reading Room, Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Hutchins Library, Berea College.
Use Restrictions:
There are no restrictions on use by researchers other than federal copyright restrictions. Please cite all information and records.
Related Materials:
William Goodell Family Papers, Part 2, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
Anti-Slavery Collection, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
Founders and Founding, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
William G. Frost Papers, Berea College Special Collections and Archives
William Goodell Family Papers (RG 30/29), Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item/Folder/Box], The William Goodell Family Papers (Part 1), Berea College Special Collections and Archives, Berea, KY, Special Collections and Archives, Berea College, Berea, Ky.
Processing Information:
The finding aid was updated in February 2016. The finding aid was updated in October 2019 to reflect the addition of Part 2 of the papers.
Other Note:
Berea College students, faculty, and staff can access materials described below through the online Slavery, Abolition and Social Justice: 1490-2007 portal hosted by Adam Matthew Digital at http://www.slavery.amdigital.co.uk/Contents/Library.aspx?id=15.
Collection Number: BCA 0179 HC 04B
Box and Folder Listing
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: William Goodell Documents],
[Series 2: Goodell Family],
[
All]
- Series 2: Goodell Family
- This series consists primarily of personal records of Maria G. Frost and Lavinia Goodell, as well as the more personal letters and an autobiography by William Goodell. Writings by the Goodell sisters are collected here.
- Sub-Series 2A: Personal and Biographical Documents
- Most of these are small diaries kept by Maria Frost and Lavinia Goodell.
- Box 12
- Item 1: William Goodell-Journey 1824-25
- Item 2: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1874
- Item 3: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1877
- Item 4: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1879
- Item 5: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1880
- Item 6: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1881
- Item 7: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1882 and Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1880
- Item 8: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1883
- Item 9: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1884
- Item 10: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1886
- Item 11: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1888
- Item 12: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1889
- Item 13: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1890
- Item 14: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1891
- Item 15: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1892
- Item 16: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1894
- Item 17: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1895
- Item 18: Maria Goodell Frost-Diary 1897
- Item 19: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1873
- Item 20: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1874
- Item 21: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1876
- Item 22: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1877
- Item 23: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1878
- Item 24: Lavinia Goodell-Diary 1879
- Box 13
- Folder 1: Papers from Maria G. Frost's Diary, 1881
- Folder 2: Genealogy
- Folder 3: Portraits and Photographs
- Includes image of Lewis P. Frost and Maria Goodell Frost
- Folder 4: Wills
- Folder 5: William Goodell Autobiographies
- Folder 6: Clippings
- Folder 7: “Wisconsin Then and Now”
- Article on Lavinia Goodell
- Folder 8: Officer's Commission for Zachariah Goodell
- Folder 9: In Memoriam
- for William Goodell
- Folder 10: Lavinia Goodell Obituaries
- Folder 11: Miscellaneous Items
- Sub-Series 2B: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost
- Much of Maria's correspondence with her husband Lewis Frost, her sister, parents, and children, is preserved here. Lavinia's personal correspondence is also preserved, mostly with family members and friends.
- Box 13
- Folder 12: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, n.d.
- Folder 13: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1815
- Folder 14: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1820-1822
- Folder 15: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1838-1839
- Folder 16: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1842-1845
- Folder 17: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1846-1847
- Folder 18: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1848-1849
- Folder 19: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1850
- Folder 20: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1851-1852
- Folder 21: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1853
- Folder 22: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1853
- Folder 23: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1854
- Folder 24: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1855
- Folder 25: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1856
- Folder 26: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1857-1858
- Folder 27: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1859
- Folder 28: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1860
- Folder 29: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1861
- Folder 30: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1862
- Folder 31: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1863
- Folder 32: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1863
- Folder 33: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1864
- Box 14
- Folder 1: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1865
- Folder 2: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1865
- Folder 3: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1866
- Folder 4: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1866
- Folder 5: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1867
- Folder 6: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1868
- Folder 7: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1868
- Folder 8: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1869
- Folder 9: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1870
- Folder 10: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1870
- Folder 11: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1871
- Folder 12: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1871
- Folder 13: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1872
- Folder 14: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1873
- Folder 15: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1874
- Folder 16: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1874
- Folder 17: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1875
- Folder 18: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1876
- Folder 19: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1877
- Folder 20: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1877
- Folder 21: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1878
- Folder 22: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1879
- Folder 23: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1880
- Folder 24: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1881-1885
- Folder 25: Correspondence of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost, 1886-1892
- Sub-Series 2C: Writings of Lavinia Goodell and Maria Frost
- A historically significant document, Lavinia's brief for presentation to the Wisconsin Supreme Court makes a compelling argument, and its acceptance sealed her efforts to see women lawyers recognized. Both Maria's account of her sister's life and her statement on women's suffrage are of great interest.
- Box 14
- Folder 26: Manuscript of Life of Lavinia Goodell (by Maria G. Frost)
- Box 15
- Folder 1: Life of Lavinia Goodell
- (Fragments)
- Folder 2: Brief Biography of Lavinia Goodell (by Maria G. Frost)
- Folder 3: Ten Reasons Why Women Should Vote (by Maria G. Frost)
- Folder 4: Temperance Essay (by Maria G. Frost)
- Folder 5: Miscellaneous (by Maria G. Frost)
- Folder 6: Brief for Wisconsin State Supreme Court (by Lavinia Goodell)
- Folder 7: The Responsibility of the North for Slavery (by Lavinia Goodell)
- Folder 8: The Underground Railroad (by Lavinia Goodell)
- Folder 9: Articles by Lavinia Goodell - Clippings
- Sub-Series 2D: Notes on Lavinia Goodell by Elisabeth Peck
- Elisabeth Peck, who started teaching at Berea in 1912, wrote a book-length manuscript about Lavinia Goodell that was never published. She transcribed some of Lavinia's letters and diary entries from the William Goodell Family Papers in the process of her research. Elisabeth Peck's use of this material may be traced in the earlier draft of her manuscript on Lavinia Goodell in the Berea College Archives, and in the final version, in the Berea Collection, entitled, So Life is Learning.
- Box 15
- Folder 10: Peck Notes: General
- Folder 11: Lavinia Goodell - play as a child
- Folder 12: Familyness in youth (family)
- Folder 13: Lavinia Goodell's health
- Folder 14: Childhood with Maria
- Folder 15: Rusticating for health
- Folder 16: Lavinia Goodell, Teaching in Williamsburg
- Folder 17: Glimpses of Civil War
- Folder 18: Lavinia Goodell, Working for father and publishing business
- Folder 19: Lavinia Goodell, Growing Religion
- Folder 20: Lavinia Goodell and Negroes
- Folder 21: Life with German family
- Folder 22: Lavinia Goodell, Travel sights
- Folder 23: First visit to Janesville, Maria and William
- Folder 24: Lavinia and Maria: Adult relationship
- Folder 25: Lavinia Goodell, Childhood with father
- Folder 26: Lavinia Goodell, Temperance Work, Temperance Club
- Folder 27: Lavinia Goodell and Dress
- Folder 28: Lavinia Goodell and Women's Rights Issues
- Folder 29: Lavinia Goodell, Jail boys
- Folder 30: Lavinia Goodell, Women's Congress
- Folder 31: Lavinia Goodell, Interest in Prison Reform
- Folder 32: Lavinia Goodell, Self-examination
- Folder 33: Lavinia Goodell, Operations and struggling for recovery (health)
- Folder 34: Lavinia Goodell Homes in Janesville
- Folder 35: Lavinia Goodell, Moods
- Folder 36: Important people met, not literary
- Folder 37: Lavinia Goodell; Going into law
- Folder 38: Childhood ways of Lavinia Goodell, not written by William or Maria
- Folder 39: Lavinia Goodell as Notary Public
- Folder 40: Lavinia Goodell on women in politics
- Folder 41: Lavinia Goodell, Health in 1870s
- Folder 42: Lavinia Goodell, Law Studies
- Folder 43: Father (William Goodell) in Janesville
- Folder 44: Lavinia Goodell, a woman as lawyer
- Folder 45: Lavinia Goodell, Experience in public speaking
- Folder 46: Lavinia Goodell, Law office in Janesville
- Folder 47: Lavinia Goodell's writings
- Folder 48: Lavinia Goodell, Admission to Wisconsin Bar
- Folder 49: Lavinia Goodell, Law practice
- Folder 50: Lavinia Goodell, Work on State Legislature of Wisconsin
- Folder 51: Lavinia Goodell, Law Office
- Folder 52: Lavinia Goodell Letter (Carbon Copies) (typed excerpts from selected letters from 1854-1879)
- Folder 53: William Goodell, memorial 1879
- Folder 54: Lavinia Goodell, Settles in Madison
- Folder 55: Lavinia Goodell, Closing Weeks (of classes, teaching, 1880)
- Folder 56: Lavinia Goodell's Will
- Folder 57: Dorothy Thomas correspondence with Elizabeth Peck, 1959
- Folder 58: William Goodell, Peck notes
Browse by Series:
[
Series 1: William Goodell Documents],
[Series 2: Goodell Family],
[
All]
