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Henry Harmon Spalding family papers, 1778-1874

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874
Title
Henry Harmon Spalding family papers
Dates
1778-1874 (inclusive)
1835-1874 (bulk)
Quantity
3.2 cubic feet, (1 legal document case; 1 slim legal document case; 1 oversize framed item)
Collection Number
Mss 1201
Summary
Papers of Henry H. Spalding, a Presbyterian missionary to the Oregon Territory; his first wife, Eliza Hart Spalding; and his second wife, Rachel Spalding. Primarily contains typescript and photostatic copies of correspondence, diaries, and other papers relating to Henry H. Spalding's missionary work. Subjects include: the overland journey, the Nimiipuu (Nez Percé) people, conditions in the Oregon Country, and the Whitman killings of 1847. Some original letters are included. Also includes microfilm of books that the Spalding mission published in Nimipuutímt (Nez Percé) and Npoqínišcn (Spokane) languages.
Repository
Oregon Historical Society Research Library
1200 SW Park Avenue
Portland, OR
97205
Telephone: 503-306-5240
Fax: 503-219-2040
libreference@ohs.org
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Additional Reference Guides

Eliza Hart Spalding's diary is described in "Overland passages: a guide to overland documents in the Oregon Historical Society," entry 190, and listed in "Platte River road narratives," entry 30.

Languages
Publications on microfilm are written in Nimipuutímt (Nez Percé) and Npoqínišcn (Spokane) languages. Text on Protestant ladder is in Nimipuutímt (Nez Percé).
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Biographical Note

Reverend Henry Harmon Spalding was born on November 26, 1803, in New York. In 1825 he entered Franklin Academy, and in 1831 he enrolled in Western Reserve College, graduating in 1833. On October 13, 1833, he married Eliza Hart (born in Connecticut, July 11, 1807) with whom he would have four children: Eliza, Henry Hart, Martha, and Amelia. That same year, he entered Lane Theological Seminary, and following the completion of his studies in 1835 he applied for work under the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. In the summer of 1836, Henry H. Spalding and Eliza Hart Spalding crossed the continent with Marcus and Narcissa Whitman and established a mission to convert the Nimiipuu (Nez Percé) people. The mission was at Lapwai, in a part of the Oregon Territory that would later become Idaho.

Following the Whitman killings in late 1847, the Spaldings moved to Brownsville, Oregon Territory. There Henry H. Spalding farmed, taught school, preached at the local Presbyterian church, and served as school commissioner, postmaster, and Indian agent. Eliza Hart Spalding died in Brownsville on January 7, 1851. Henry H. Spalding remarried in 1853 to Rachel Johonet Smith (1808-1880). He returned to the Nimiipuu (Nez Percé) country in 1859, taking up farming on the Touchet River. In 1863, he went back to Lapwai, and from then until 1866 he was the local Indian agent. He made an overland trip to the East in 1870, returning to Lapwai in 1871. There he continued his missionary work until his death on August 3, 1874.

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Content Description

The bulk of the collection consists of typescript and photostatic copies of letters and diaries, although some original letters are included. The collection contains the correspondence of Henry H. Spalding (1835-1874), Eliza Spalding (1846-1849), and Rachel Spalding (1870-1874); and diaries of Henry H. Spalding (1838-1843) and Eliza Hart Spalding (1836-1840) describing the overland journey and operation of the mission. The collection's correspondence concerns missionary activities, conflicts between Indigenous peoples and Euro-American emigrants, conditions in the Oregon Country and Walla Walla area, Catholic missionaries, the Whitman killings, and Henry H. Spalding's 1870 trip to the East Coast. Correspondents include Dudley Allen, David Greene, and members of the Prentiss family. Some letters include anti-Catholic sentiments.

Eliza Hart Spalding's diary (1836-1840) describes the Spalding party's overland journey from Plattsburg, New York (February 1, 1836) to Fort Walla Walla (September 3, 1836) and the formation of the Whitman mission; travels from Cincinnati to Walla Walla with Marcus Whitman and Narcissa Whitman; and a daily listing of Bible passages selected for meditation.

Additional materials in the collection include a report on the number and condition of Indigenous tribes west of the Cascade Mountains; lectures and essays concerning the history of relations with the Nimiipuu (Nez Percé) people, missionary labors, and Spalding's views on the impact of early missions in the Pacific Northwest; and books published by the Spalding Mission in Nimipuutímt (Nez Percé) and Npoqínišcn (Spokane) languages.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

Diaries and letters of Henry H. Spalding are published in "The Diaries and Letters of Henry H. Spalding and Asa Bowen Smith Relating to the Nez Percé Mission, 1838-1842" (Glendale, Calif.: A. H. Clark Co., 1958). Eliza Hart Spalding's diary is published in "First White Women over the Rockies, edited by Clifford Merrill Drury (Glendale, Calif.: A. H. Clark Company, 1963).

Alternative Forms Available

The Protestant ladder in this collection is viewable online in OHS Digital Collections.

Preferred Citation

Henry Harmon Spalding family papers, Mss 1201, Oregon Historical Society Research Library

Restrictions on Use

The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in two series: Series 1. Henry Harmon Spalding papers; Series 2. Eliza Hart Spalding and Rachel Spalding papers.

Acquisition Information

Acquired prior to 1971, including gifts and acquisitions made in 1900, 1903, and 1906 (RL2021-020-RETRO, RL2021-021-RETRO, RL2021-022-RETRO, RL2021-023-RETRO, RL2021-024-RETRO, RL2021-025-RETRO, and RL2021-038-RETRO). Photostatic reproduction of Spalding's 1861 letter to American Home Missionary Society of New York may have been the gift of Edwin Payne in February 1958 (Lib. Acc. 7301). Letter from Spalding to Stephen Prentiss and Clarissa Prentiss was acquired by George Himes from Narcissa Whitman's sister, Harriet P. Jackson, prior to August 1893 (RL2022-054-RETRO).

Location of Originals

Originals of some of the materials are located at Washington State University, Pullman, Washington; and at Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington. Originals of microfilmed books are located at the archives of Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon.

Preservation Note

The Protestant ladder in this collection is not available for direct access; researchers are asked to use the digitized version viewable online.

Related Materials

Additional papers relating to Protestant missionaries in the Pacific Northwest can be found in Mss 1200 through Mss 1225, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Indians of North America--Missions--Northwest, Pacific
  • Missionaries--Northwest, Pacific
  • Nez Percé Indians--Missions
  • Overland journeys to the Pacific
  • Women missionaries--Northwest, Pacific

Personal Names

  • Spalding, Eliza Hart, 1807-1851
  • Spalding, Henry Harmon, 1803-1874
  • Spalding, Rachel, 1808-1880

Form or Genre Terms

  • correspondence
  • diaries

Other Creators

  • Personal Names

    • Spalding, Eliza Hart, 1807-1851
    • Spalding, Rachel, 1808-1880

Geoffrey B. Wexler; revised by Jeffrey A. Hayes
2006; revised 2021

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