Letter from Edward A. Brackett to George L. Stearns that reads, "My Dear Sir What do you think about taking a bust of old Brown. Can any thing be done about it. I shall be at my rooms till a quarter past 2 o'clock and should like to know what you think about it. Yours with regard, E.A. Brackett."
Attribution:
Brackett, Edward Augustus
Attribution Statement:
Image courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives, John Brown/Boyd B. Stutler Collection
Letter from John Brown written to George L. Stearns from Tabor, Iowa. The letter is dated August 10, 1857. Brown wrote, "I am in immediate want of from Five Hundred to One Thousand Dollars for secret service & no questions asked."
Attribution:
Brown, John
Attribution Statement:
Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Program for the dedication ceremonies of the Stearns Estate marker in front of Cousens Gymnasium, held April 8, 1987. The dedication consisted of several speakers and a performance of "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" ("Battle Hymn of the Republic," sung to the tune of "John Brown's Body") by Julia Ward Howe of Medford.
A page from the 1937 inventory of artworks at Tufts College, showing that the busts of John Brown and George L. Stearns were on display in the Eaton Library.
Excerpt from the will of Mary E. Stearns, 1901. She dictates that a third part each of her remaining estate holdings should be given to Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Berea College, and Tuskegee College, for "The George L. Stearns Memorial Fund of [that College]" for the purpose of "promoting in those several institutions the education and elevation of the youth of the South, and especially of the youth of the colored race, in whose interest and welfare my deceased husband George L. Stearns ever felt such a profound interest and to which he gave such devoted service."
Excerpts from the handwritten will of Mary E. Stearns, who died in December 1901. The excepts itemize a number of specific objects in her house that she would like to be donated to Tufts College after her sons are finished with them. The text reads, "Also to hold for the use and enjoyment of the said Henry during his life the following described articles of personal property situated in the house where I now reside namely: my tall "grandfather's clock" on the front stairway, the "highboy," the cabinet, the tripod table, the old English mirror, all the old-fashioned chairs which belonged to my deceased husband, the bust of John Brown, the bust of George L. Stearns, the bust of Beethoven, the bust of Emerson, the bust of Clytie, the Venus of Milo, and the several paintings painted by my old friend Christopher P. Cranch, excepting only the one hereinbefore given to Lenora Cranch Scott, said articles all to be kept, preserved and used by him during his life in the house where I now live and not elsewhere."
A list of objects to be delivered to Fine Arts Express by the Tufts University Gallery in September 1998. The first two in the list are the busts of John Brown and George L. Stearns, at that point identified only as "Bust of a bearded man" and "Bust of a man."
Attribution Statement:
Courtesy of the Tufts University Permanent Art Collection