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RARE 1894–1895 EVANS ACADEMY • PETERBORO, NEW YORK • ORIGINAL VICTORIAN AUTOGRAPH & FRIENDSHIP ALBUM • HISTORIC ABOLITIONIST SITE CONNECTION
Offered here is a remarkable original late-19th-century handwritten autograph/friendship album dating primarily from 1894–1895, with numerous period inscriptions from residents and apparent students/friends associated with Peterboro, Madison County, New York and Evans Academy.
This is NOT a modern reproduction. The book itself, handwriting, ink/pencil inscriptions, paper and bindings are period.
One of the inscriptions specifically references:
EVANS ACADEMY
along with Peterboro / Madison County, New York, providing an important historical connection to this small but exceptionally significant New York community.
The album contains numerous individual handwritten signatures, friendship messages, poems, humorous sayings, locations and dates. Many entries cluster tightly around January 24–29, 1894, with additional inscriptions extending into 1895, strongly suggesting an album circulated among a closely connected group of young people/classmates and friends.
⭐ THE EVANS ACADEMY CONNECTION
What makes this little album considerably more interesting than a typical 1890s autograph book is its association with Evans Academy in historic Peterboro, New York.
The building associated with Evans Academy had an extraordinary earlier life.
It was originally constructed as the Peterboro/Smithfield Presbyterian Church, and on October 22, 1835, it became the meeting place where abolitionists organized the New York State Anti-Slavery Society after their original convention in Utica had been disrupted by a hostile anti-abolitionist mob. Historical accounts describe the delegates traveling to Peterboro after abolitionist and philanthropist Gerrit Smith invited them to continue their work there. �
Minnesota Law Library Collections +1
Peterboro consequently became one of the important centers of the American abolition movement.
The original published proceedings from 1835 survive and identify the New York Anti-Slavery State Society meeting at Peterboro on October 22, 1835. �
Wikimedia Commons
⭐ GERRIT SMITH & PETERBORO
Peterboro was the home of the nationally important abolitionist, philanthropist and reformer Gerrit Smith (1797–1874).
Smith became one of America's leading abolitionists and was also a financial supporter of John Brown. His activities extended across abolition, temperance and other reform movements. �
New-York Historical Society
His relationship with Frederick Douglass was significant enough that Douglass dedicated My Bondage and My Freedom to Gerrit Smith, praising his work on behalf of liberty and the rights of enslaved people. �
nyhistory.net
Peterboro's abolitionist reputation became so well known that Black abolitionist Henry Highland Garnet wrote in 1848:
“There are yet two places where slaveholders cannot come, Heaven and Peterboro.” �
Abolition Hall of Fame
That gives some idea of the historical environment surrounding this tiny New York community.
⭐ FROM CHURCH TO EVANS ACADEMY
The historic building eventually changed uses and became associated with Evans Academy, followed later by the Peterboro Union School and Peterboro Elementary School.
Remarkably, the building still survives today.
It is now the Smithfield Community Center, and its second floor houses the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum. �
Flickr
Therefore, this album represents a fascinating later chapter in the life of a community and educational institution connected to a building that had already witnessed an important episode in American abolitionist history.
IMPORTANT HISTORICAL CLARIFICATION: This listing does NOT claim that Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Gerrit Smith or other famous abolitionists personally signed this album. The famous abolitionist activity associated with Peterboro and the historic building predates these 1894–1895 student/friendship inscriptions.
✍️ NAMES & INSCRIPTIONS
Based upon examination of the surviving handwritten pages, names visible in the album include:
Edward R. Hall
Dated January 23, 1894
Marianne / Marian E. Rice
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Miss Mabel C. Rich
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Nannie Davis
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Bertha M. Rice
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Grace Olcott
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Lucy W. Holmes
New York
January 24, 1894
Marietta Simmons
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
Julia Dunckey / Duncky
Peterboro, Madison County, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
John W. Morris
Peterboro
January 25, 1894
Anna May Hoyt
Madison County / Peterboro
January 29, 1894
Maye C. Beebe
January 29, 1894
Katie Simmons
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
William / Wm. Dorrance
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 26, 1894
Ella Simmons
Peterboro, N.Y.
January 24, 1894
A. E. Marshall
Peterboro
1894
Bessie Gough
Peterborough, N.Y.
January 25, 1894
Ruth Merrell
Fayetteville, N.Y.
John T. Petrie
Peterboro, Madison County, N.Y.
January 29, 1895
Evans Academy is specifically written in association with one of the period entries.
Additional writing, names and inscriptions are present throughout. Some handwriting is difficult to decipher and spellings above are our best reading of the original 19th-century script.
✒️ A WINDOW INTO LIFE IN THE 1890s
These albums served much the same social purpose that a school yearbook later would.
Friends and classmates would pass the album around, writing their names, hometowns, dates, sentimental verses and humorous messages.
Several wonderful period friendship sentiments survive here, including messages essentially asking the owner to remember the writer when they were older.
That gives the album an unusually personal quality: these aren't printed historical documents—they are the actual handwriting of people living in Peterboro more than 130 years ago.
The remarkable concentration of entries during only a few days in January 1894 makes the album particularly interesting as a snapshot of one social or school circle at a specific moment in time.
🏛️ HISTORICAL & COLLECTING INTEREST
This piece should appeal to collectors of:
19th-Century Americana • Victorian Autograph Albums • New York History • Madison County History • Peterboro History • Evans Academy • Historic Schools • Abolition History • African-American History Related Sites • Gerrit Smith / Peterboro History • Genealogy • Ephemera • Antique Manuscripts • Handwritten Documents • Educational History
The combination of identifiable names, dates, locations, Evans Academy association and Peterboro's extraordinary historical significance makes this much more researchable than the typical anonymous Victorian autograph album.
CONDITION
Authentic antique condition consistent with an approximately 130+ year-old personal album.
The red cover shows substantial age-related wear, rubbing, edge loss and deterioration. Interior paper is heavily toned/browned with age. Pages exhibit expected spotting, staining, edge wear, handling and occasional small tears/damage. Binding shows age and weakness/wear.
Some inscriptions are dark and exceptionally legible, while others are lighter pencil or faded ink.
Please carefully examine ALL photographs. They are an important part of the condition description and show the actual item you will receive.
Nothing has been restored or altered to make the album appear newer than it is.
⭐ A genuine piece of 1890s Peterboro history
More than simply an old autograph book, this is an original handwritten artifact documenting people associated with Peterboro and Evans Academy during the 1890s—a school connected to a surviving historic building at the heart of one of New York State's most important abolitionist communities.
Over 130 years old. One-of-a-kind. Once this particular album is gone, another identical example cannot be purchased.
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