P2283.xml JOHN TALMAN: An Inventory of His Papers at the Minnesota Historical Society Finding aid prepared by Kathryn A. Johnson. Minnesota Historical Society

St. Paul MN.

Manuscripts Collection

Finding aid encoded by Lyda Morehouse, October 6, 1999. Finding aid written inEnglish August 2008Converted from EAD Version 1.0 to Version 2002 by Monica Manny Ralston, Daniel Sher, and Joyce Chapman. OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION Minnesota Historical Society Talman, John, 1851-1936. John Talman papers. 1869. Writings and other papers of New York and Twin Cities (Minn.) newspaper editor John Talman including biographical and genealogical information on Talman and the Talman, Foote, and Wilcox families (1921-1936); a folder of correspondence (1874-1936) containing letters from poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox and other writers; photocopies of poems by Talman (undated and 1869-1918); nineteen manuscripts by Talman on topics of Minnesota history (ca. 1914-1915); and an original manuscript (ca.1875) of a story by Alfred Billings Street. 0.4 cu. ft. (1 box). See Detailed Description section for shelf location. BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN TALMAN

Talman, a writer, poet, and journalist, was born near Fairport (Monroe County), New York (July 30, 1851); was educated in the New York public schools and in Macedon Academy; and came to Minnesota with his brother (1864), farming in Olmsted County. Between 1867 and 1872, he worked in Wisconsin logging camps, and then returned to Rochester, New York, where he was employed in his father's soap factory. From February 22, 1872 until 1908 he was employed by a number of newspapers: the Democrat-Chronicle and the Albany Argus in New York, the St. Paul Pioneer Press (managing editor), St. Paul Globe, and the Minneapolis Journal. St. Paul Dispatch. From 1909 to 1926 he was the librarian of the Minnesota Historical Society newspaper department. He married Rena Augusta Doney (d. 1924) in Elgin, Illinois (February 17, 1874), with whom he had one daughter, Irene Talman Dewart. Talman died on March 26, 1936 in Gold Beach ,Oregon. See the first folder in the collection for more biographical information.

CATALOG HEADINGS

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.

Topics: Poetry. Caves -- Minnesota --Saint Paul. Fiction -- 19th century. Fiction -- Men authors. World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- France. Vimy Ridge, Battle of, 1917. Women poets -- United States. Places: Minneapolis (Minn.) -- Newspapers. New York (State). Saint Paul (Minn.) -- History. Saint Paul (Minn.) -- Newspapers. Persons: Castle, Henry A. (Henry Anson), 1841-1916. Foote family. Talman family. Wilcox family. Saxe, John Godfrey, 1816-1881. Smith, Frances Hopkinson, 1838-1915. Street, Alfred Billings, 1811-1881. Wilcox, Ella Wheeler, 1855-1916. Organizations: Minnesota Historical Society. Types of Documents: Manuscripts for publication. Occupations: Poets, American. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION Preferred Citation:

[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. John Talman Papers. Minnesota Historical Society.

See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.

Accession Information:

Accession number: 1820B, 1897, 1944A, 1955A, 2027, 2332, 2431, 2444, 3100, 3515, 4150, 6900

Processing Information:

Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, April 1998

Catalog ID number: 09-00320342

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION P2283 1 Biographical, genealogical, and family history information, 1921-1936. 1 folder.

The folder contains obituaries of Talman from the St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minneapolis Journal (March 28, 136); a four-page autobiography (June 10, 1925); a letter to William E. Culkin (Oct. 7, 1929) with brief biographical information; "Our Talman and Foote Forebears and Furbears" (Dec. 1931), (typed, 5 p.), which contains genealogical and other family information; a newspaper clipping (Jan. 17, 1932) with information on Talman's activities; a "Partial Bibliography of the Writings of John Talman" (Feb. 12, 1921), original holograph and two copies; and a list of references to Talman found in the Minnesota History Bulletin (1919-1924) and Minnesota History (1925-1926).

Of particular interest is the manuscript "Our Talman and Foote Forebears and Furbears," which contains details on his father's activities as an abolitionist leader and speaker; his business activities and his career as a revenue assessor during the Lincoln and Johnson administrations; the emigration of the Talman family from Prussia in the 1700s; the settlement of the family in Long Island, (N.Y.) and then in Fairport in 1825; and the family's Revolutionary War service. There is also information on collateral families including the Foote family of Massachusetts and Vermont, who were musicians, writers, and newspaper editors, and a brief mention of the Wilcox family. The mention may relate to the Ella Wheeler Wilcox correspondence in the collection, although there is no evidence of her connection to that family.

P2283 1 Correspondence, 1874-1936. 1 folder.

The only notable run of correspondence are five letters (1882, [1884], and 1885) written to Talman by author and poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox. The 1882 letters mention Talman's poems, Wilcox's love of children, her stay at a sulphur springs spa in Illinois, and denial of reports of her marriage. The last letter (1885) discusses her poems published in the Minneapolis and St. Paul newspapers, and states that she will be married in August.

Other items of interest include a manuscript of a poem by John Godfrey Saxe entitled "Saratoga, A Philosophical View of Saratoga" (August 4, 1874, 7 p.); Talman's letter (Feb. 4, 1901) to author Francis Hopkinson Smith, with an answering note from Smith, containing information on a St. Paul writer, Charles E. George, who presumably plagiarized portions of a story by Smith; and letters from James H. Davidson (Oct. 13, 1920), John McCarthy (April 21, 1922), and James Nankivell (Jan. 25, 1936) containing information on early St. Paul history, people, buildings, the Davidson family, and Carver's Cave.

P2283 1 Poems by Talman, undated and 1869-1918. 2 folders.

Photocopies of poetry published in newspapers, along with typed manuscripts for "Chopin's Twelfth Nocturne" (June 1894); "Canadian Victory at Vimy Ridge" (April 9, 1917); and "Dedication of the Minnesota Historical Society Building" (May 11, 1918).

P2283 1 Manuscripts by Talman used in Henry A. Castle's Minnesota, Its Story and Biography, 1915. 2 folders. Folder 1: Duluth and St. Louis County. Education in the United States and in Minnesota During the last Sixty-Five Years. The Fur Trade. Judge Flandreau in the Defense of New Ulm in 1862. Groseilliers and Radisson, the First White Men in Minnesota. Lumbering in the St. Croix Valley. Minnesota Boundaries. Minnesota Historical Society. Folder 2: The Ojibway in Minnesota. The Old Government Mill at St. Anthony Falls. Pioneer Lumbering on the Upper Mississippi River. Recollections of Early Territorial Days and Legislature. The Sioux Outbreak of 1862. Sioux Narrative of the Outbreak in 1862. Transportation. Women Pioneer Recollections. P2283 1 Alfred Billings Street Manuscript, [ca. 1875]. Handwritten, 103 pp. 3 folders.

Original manuscript of Street's story, "Mystery of Beverwych or the Double-Faced Ghost: A New Year's Story." The manuscript was submitted to the Albany Argus, when Talman was employed there. Street was a poet and New York State Librarian.