Research

Man standing in front of bookshelf with book in hands
Harry Dana in the Study Vault

LONG Buildings & Grounds Photograph Collection

The Longfellow house has served researchers for almost 100 years. The poet's grandson, H.W.L. Dana, carefully collected and organized family papers and encouraged their use by scholars. The rich archival and museum collections at Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters NHS span pre-contact archeology, colonial history, and modern resource management records. The archival collections—particularly rich in nineteenth century women's papers—complement the papers of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow held by Houghton Library, Harvard University. Regular internal research by park staff informs preservation, public programs, and publications. The collections today are actively used by academics, students, genealogists, and preservationists studying topics including literary criticism, art history, abolition, education, LGB history, and more.

Research in the archives and museum collections is by appointment. Please call (617) 491-1054 or email curatorial staff to make arrangements for research sessions. We will respond to remote research inquiries as quickly as possible, but please be aware it may take up to three weeks. Please consult our access policies before visiting the site.

Researchers are encouraged to start their search by consulting finding aids to the archival collections. Selected digitized content from these archival collections is available on our NPGallery Digital Archives website.

The park maintains a reference library of published primary and secondary sources, including rare books without Longfellow family provenance. (This collection is managed separately from the Longfellows' historic library.) Find a catalog of the LONG reference library in the NPS LIBRIS Discovery Portal.

 
 

Research Guides

Showing results 1-3 of 3
  • Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

    Research Guide to Black History in the Longfellow Archives

    • Locations: Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
    Man standing to the right of a large pile of papers on the outside porch of a house.

    Black history is interwoven with the story of 105 Brattle Street. Since its construction, this house and its inhabitants have been shaped by slavery and influenced by the fight for Black civil rights. This research guide features detailed lists of the holdings in the Longfellow Archives and Special Collections that are connected to Black history, as well as complementary resources from the National Park Service and other institutions.

  • Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site

    Research Guide to American Presidents in the Longfellow Archives

    • Locations: Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
    Signatures of Washington, Cleveland, T. Roosevelt, Taft, Lincoln, Wilson, J.Q. Adams, and Jefferson

    This research guide includes primarily letters written by United States presidents and first ladies, as well as documents notable primarily for containing signatures of presidents and documents created outside the term of the presidency and commentary on presidents by Fanny and Henry Longfellow.

    • Locations: Longfellow House Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site
    • Offices: Denver Service Center
    Screencapture of webpage with banner of manuscript letters and several search options

    The Digital Archives Portal offers researchers and the public access to the collections of Longfellow House-Washington's Headquarters NHS from home. Learn how digitization helps preserve our archival material while allowing us to share it widely.

 

Publications

The breadth of subject matter represented in the collection is reflected in the wide range of topics addressed by researchers. A selection of works based in part on research conducted in the site's collections includes:

Stefan Aguirre Quiroga. "From Brazil to Brattle street: the transnational history of emperor Dom Pedro II’s dinner with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow." American Nineteenth Century History, 1–19. (17 Sep 2024)

Samuel Kidder, ed. Our First Glimpse of Japan: Prominent American Visitors to Japan in the 1870s. Portsmouth, NH: Piscataqua Press, 2024.

David W. Granston III. “Like it Growed There”: Resort Architecture and the New England Landscape 1875-1915. Dissertation for PhD in History of Architecture, Boston University. 2024.

American Folk Art Museum. Unnamed Figures: Black Presence and Absence in the Early American North. 2023.

Joel Silveira Ávila. “The Dabneys on Pico - A Forgotten Heritage.” Boletim do Nucleo Cultural da Horta. No. 32. 2023. Pages 125-137.

Jacqueline Marie Musacchio. "Carrying Home Renaissance Florence in Extra-Illustrated Copies of George Eliot’s Romola.” Chapter in Italy for Sale: Alternative Objects – Alternative Markets. Boston: Brill, 2023.

Oa Sjoblom and Marieka Kaye. “Conservation and Study of Simon Pokagon’s Birch Bark Books.” Book and Paper Group Annual 41, 2022. p. 105-121.

Jeffrey Hotz. Longfellow’s Imaginative Engagement: The Works of His Late Career. March 2022.

Yoshimi Yamamoto. “Japanese Tattooing as Souvenirs for Foreign Travelers in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century.” Japanese Studies, Vol. 63. 2021. (<研究論文>「日本みやげ」としてのイレズミ : 十九世紀から二十世紀初頭における外国人観光と彫師 43-83 山本 芳美)

Anne Strachan Cross. "‘The Pictures Which We Publish To-Day Are Fearful to Look Upon’: The Circulation of Images of Atrocity During the American Civil War." History of Photography. 2021.

M. M. Gudkov. "An American on the 100th anniversary of Leo Tolstoy in the USSR." Rossica. Literary connections and contacts. No. 1. pp. 19-54. 2021.

Jeffrey Lantos. Why Longfellow Lied: The Truth about Paul Revere's Midnight Ride. 2021.

Elisabeth Gitter. "Fanny Appleton's Change of Heart" in The Massachusetts Historical Review. 2020.

Jamie M. Carr. Niagaras of Ink: Famous Writers at the Falls. 2020.

Nicholas Basbanes. Cross of Snow: A Life of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 2020.

Hilary Iris Lowe. "The Queerest House in Cambridge." The Public Historian. 2019, 41 (2): 44–69.

Christopher Phillips. The Hymnal: A Reading History. 2018.

Angela Shpolberg. "On the 'Russo-American Fever': Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana and the Gorki Fund." The New England Quarterly.Vol. 88, No. 3 (September 2015), pp. 509-526

Jeffrey Amestoy. Slavish Shore: The Odyssey of Richard Henry Dana Jr. 2015.

David Haven Blake. "Among the English Worthies: Longfellow and the Campaign for Poets' Corner." Critical Survey 27, no. 3 (Winter, 2015): 82-104.

Christopher Phillips. Epic in American Culture: Settlement to Reconstruction. 2014.

John Hebble. The Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House of 1759: From Colonial America to the Colonial Revival and Beyond. MA Thesis. 2014.

Christoph Irmscher and Robert Arbour, eds. Reconsidering Longfellow. 2014.

Bashar Shbib, director. "The Search for Evangeline." Documentary film. 2014.

Alan Wald. American Night: The Literary Left in the Era of the Cold War. 2012.

 
 

Cultural Resource Management Reports

Based on site-specific research, these reports document the cultural resources, historical structures, landscapes, and history of Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site.

 

Source: Data Store Collection 7945 (results presented are a subset). To search for additional information, visit the Data Store.

Last updated: February 14, 2025

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