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The Saturday Club and its Contribution to the Crusade

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Richard Henry Dana (1815-1882) "How we met John Brown": manuscript, no date.

Militant abolitionists such as John Brown inspired like-minded Bostonians, including several members of the Saturday Club. Cambridge native Richard Henry Dana, Jr. had toured the Adirondacks in the summer of 1848, where he met Brown, who lived in a black community known as "Timbuctoo." Dana was stunned by Brown's racial egalitarianism, which he describes in "How We Met John Brown." His reminiscence concludes with a quotation from "John Brown's Body." Dana submitted the manuscript to James T. Fields for publication in his magazine, Atlantic Monthly. Dana along with Robert Morris had earlier gained notoriety for representing Anthony Burns at his trial in 1854.

MS Am 55 – Gift of Mrs. James T. Fields, 1915.