Lester Frank Ward papers (Ms.90.23)

According to the Brown University Librarian's report dated October 1915, processing of the Lester Frank Ward papers began in August of that year. Since then several attempts were made to arrange and describe the collection, which at the present is organized into twelve series. In preparation for the microfilming of selected portions of the collection, the existing arrangement has been preserved, despite several anomalies.

Series 1 contains Ward's correspondence, ca. 1863-1913. Most of the letters were written to Ward and concern professional matters; some are personal letters and some are drafts or retained copies of letters written by Ward himself. Included in this series, also, is Ward's own hand written card index to scrapbooks containing much of his correspondence and published writings.

Series 2, containing Ward's published and unpublished writings composed between 1860 and 1913, includes various notebooks, a diary, a manuscript autobiography, a bibliography, proofs, manuscript and typescript articles and book reviews, and published editions of his own works.

Series 3 comprises the scrapbooks, now disbound, into which Ward pasted reviews and press notices referring to his writings. The clippings in these volumes date from 1833 to 1911.

Series 4 and Series 5 are made up of various indexes and lists of authors, book titles, names, and subjects compiled by Ward during his lifetime primarily as personal reference tools. While these seldom contain more than a citation to a source or a few words of identification, they do reveal something of the nature of his readings and principal research interests.

Series 6 through Series 9 include a rather miscellaneous group of items collected, received, or used by Ward: Newspaper and magazine clippings (Series 6); invitations, announcements, and calling cards (Series 7 and Series 8), and, in Series 9, a box of Ward's bank books, cancelled checks, and check stubs.

Series 10 consists of a small group of slides, prints, and photographs.

Series 11 contains a metal box of objects designated "Memorabilia".

See also Ward's personal library of about seven hundred books and an equivalent number of pamphlets. Ward appears to have relied heavily on the contents of his own library for research material. Consequently the contents of his library, as well as the marginal notes and annotations that he added to many volumes, are of use for the study of his intellectual development and interests.