SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS MANUSCRIPT NUMBER MS 512 Ernest Thompson Seton Manuscript ca. 1900-1941 Written by Rachael A. Salyer August 2010 Shelf space occupied .5 linear feet Number of boxes 1 box ABSTRACT This collection contains a single manuscript by illustrator, naturalist, and author Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946) entitled ―History of Woodcraft and its Offshoot, the Boy Scouts (Original Notes).‖ The manuscript focuses on Seton‘s role in the establishment of the Scouting Movement, and it includes texts by Seton, copies of excerpts from letters and conversations that Seton had with men like Robert Baden-Powell, James E. West, and Edgar M. Robinson, and some actual correspondence with West and Robinson. The Seton and Robinson families were friends, colleagues, and correspondents, and Seton provided Robinson—who helped develope Springfield College‘s Freshman Camp in 1930—with illustrations and blue prints for Pukwana Lodge and the Pueblo of the Seven Fires at Springfield College‘s East Campus. ORGANIZATION The collection is organized into a single series. ARRANGEMENT The Seton manuscript is still partially bound together, and the original order of the pages has been preserved. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Ernest Thompson Seton Manuscript Page 2 Archives and Special Collections Babson Library, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts INFORMATION ON USE OF THE COLLECTION TERMS OF ACCESS AND USE Unrestricted PREFERRED CITATION Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information (in addition to any other information required by the citation style being used): Ernest Thompson Seton Papers, box #, folder #, Archives and Special Collections, Springfield College, Springfield, Mass. HISTORY OF COLLECTION The acquisition and accession history of this manuscript are currently being researched. It is possible that the manuscript came into the collection through Seton‘s connections to Edgar M. Robinson. Collection processed and arranged by Rachael A. Salyer, August 2010. RELATED MATERIALS In Archives and Special Collections, Springfield College, Springfield, Mass.: East Campus. http://www.spfldcol.edu/archives Edgar M. Robinson Papers, MS 505. http://www.spfldcol.edu/archives Freshman Camp (Outdoor Pursuits). http://www.spfldcol.edu/archives Luther Halsey Gulick Papers, MS 503. http://www.spfldcol.edu/archives Pueblo of the Seven Fires. http://www.spfldcol.edu/archives Seton, Ernest T. The Birch Bark Roll of Woodcraft: the Twenty-ninth Edition of the Manual for Boys and Girls from 4 to 94. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1931. Book. GV1201.S47 1931. Seton, Ernest T. Boy Scouts of America: a Handbook of Woodcraft, Scouting, and Life-Craft. New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1910. Book. HS3313.B73 S4 Seton, Ernest T. The Red Lodge. [S.I. : s.n., 19--]. Book. E98.S7 S38 Seton, Ernest T. The Rhythm of the Redman in Song, Dance, and Decoration. New York: A.S. Barnes & Co., Inc., 1930. Book. E98.D2 S4 _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Ernest Thompson Seton Manuscript Page 3 Archives and Special Collections Babson Library, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts Seton, Ernest T. Rolf in the Woods: the Adventures of a Boy Scout with Indian Quonab and Little Dog Skookum. New York: Grosset, 1911. Book. E98.F6 S47 Seton, Ernest T. The Woodcraft Manual for Boys: the Seventeenth Birch Bark Roll. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Co., 1923. In other collections: Adams, Charles F., William G. Chapman, James W. Fawcett, Richard W. Gilder, Kate D.S. Wiggin, and Ernest T. Seton. Additional Letters of Ernest Thompson Seton. 1970. Archival material. University of Virginia. Aldrich, Bess S, Ralph H. Barbour, William C. Bryant, Donn Byrne, Robert W. Chambers, Palmer Cox, Stephen Crane, Zona Gale, Joel C. Harris, Rudyard Kipling, Joseph C. Lincoln, Jack London, S W. Mitchell, Ernest T. Seton, Frank R. Stockton, Edward N. Westcott, Edith Wharton, and Harold B. Wright. Records. 1846. Archival material. Indiana University. Blue Sky! The Ernest Thompson Seton Pages. 2010. Website. http://www.etsetoninstitute.org/ Boyden, Albert A, Elizabeth B. Custer, Hamlin Garland, Emerson Hough, Joseph B. Lippincott, Charles F. Lummis, Ernest T. Seton, Frank . Thoma, Stewart E. White, William A. White, Caspar Whitney, Owen Wister, and Fernand Lungren. Papers of Fernand Lungren. 1897. Archival material. Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens. Cassidy, Gerald, Witter Bynner, Charles F. Lummis, Ernest T. Seton, and Ina S. Cassidy. Ina Sizer Cassidy Collection. 1915. Archival material. Museum of New Mexico Library. Catt, Carrie C., Charles G. Whiting, John V. Lindsay, Nelson A. Rockefeller, Ernest T. Seton, and Luellen T. Bussenius. Luellen Teters Bussenius Papers. 1874. Archival material. Columbia University. Hart, Albert B, Charles L. Freer, Ernest T. Seton, and Gerald Cassidy. Scrapbooks of Paintings. 1905. Archival material. University of California, Berkeley. Langley, S P, and Ernest T. Seton. : N.y. to [s.p.] Langley [washington, D.c.]. 1899. Archival material. University of Michigan Library. Nussbaum, Jesse L, Ernest T. Seton, Herman Schweizer, William W. Simpson, and Charles H. Burke. 1933 Chicago World's Fair Southwest Indian Exhibit Collection. 1913. Archival material. Museum of New Mexico Library. Olsen, Clara H, Ernest T. Seton, Miguel A. Otero, and Carmen Quintana. Carmen Quintana Collection. 1782. Archival material. New Mexico State Library. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Ernest Thompson Seton Manuscript Page 4 Archives and Special Collections Babson Library, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts Pond, James B and Ernest T. Seton. Correspondence of Ernest Thompson Seton. 1970. Archival material. University of Virginia. Seton, Ernest T. Collection. 1879. Archival material. American Museum of Natural History. Seton, Ernest T. Correspondence, 1890-1946. Archival material. New York State Historical Documents. Seton, Ernest T. Ernest Thompson Seton Papers. 1970. Archival material. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Seton, Ernest T. Letter, 1931. Archival material. Wisconsin Historical Society Archives. Seton, Ernest T. Letters of Ernest Thompson Seton. 1970. Archival material. University of Virginia. Smith, Pamela, Marc Simmons, Lawrence C. Powell, Sarah Laughlin, Jack Crawford, Peter Wells, Rudolfo A. Anaya, Ernest T. Seton, and Willard Clark. Press of the Palace of the Governors Records. 1974. Archival material. Museum of New Mexico Library. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Ernest Thompson Seton Manuscript Page 5 Archives and Special Collections Babson Library, Springfield College, Springfield, Massachusetts HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE Ernest Thompson Seton was born Ernest Evan Thompson on August 14, 1860 in South Shield, Durham, England. His parents were Joseph and Alice Thompson. Seton immigrated to Canada with his family in 1866 and legally changed his name to Seton—an old family name—in 1883. Later, Seton immigrated to the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen on November 6, 1931. He attended the Ontario College of Art from 1877-1879, the Royal Academy School of Painting and Sculpture in 1881, the Art Students‘ League in 1884, and the Academie Julian in 1891. Seton married Grace Gallatin in 1896; the two had one child, Ann, and were divorced in 1935. That same year, Seton married his second wife, Julia Ross Buttree, with whom he also adopted a second daughter, Dee. Seton died on October 23, 1946. Seton had a diverse career as an artist (often using the pseudonym BlackWolf), naturalist, lecturer, illustrator, and author. He worked as an artist for the lithographic publishers Wilhelms and Betzig in New York from 1883-1884 and as an illustrator for The Century Dictionary—also in New York—in 1886. From 1887-1890, Seton served as a resort manager at Lake Ontario, and then became a naturalist for the government of Manitoba after 1892. ―In 1898 Seton published his first book of animal stories, Wild Animals I Have Known, telling the stories of Lobo, King of Currumpaw; Silverspot, the crow; and Raggylug, the cottontail rabbit, from the animals' points of view. Lavishly illustrated with Seton's unique drawings and paintings, the book was an instant success, and Seton went on tour telling his stories and showing slides of his illustrations. For the next ten years he turned out at least one book of stories annually, including The Biography of a Grizzly; Lives of the Hunted; Monarch, the Big Bear of Tallac; Woodmyth and Fable; and Animal Heroes.‖ ―In 1902 Seton organized the Woodcraft Indians [which later became the Woodcraft League] for boys in order to encourage outdoor activities, and in 1904 he presented a copy of his Birchbark Roll of the Woodcraft Indians to Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the hero of the siege of Mafeking, South Africa, asking him to help popularize Woodcraft summer camps in England. Instead, Baden-Powell introduced his own organization--the Boy Scouts--into England in 1908, incorporating most of the games and activities Seton had included in the Birchbark Roll. When it appeared that Baden-Powell intended to move the Boy Scout organization into the United States, Seton joined forces with other youth leaders to form the Boy Scouts of America in 1910.‖ He served as the