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Joseph Henry
 
   
   


DOCUMENTS








When Henry became secretary of the newly created Smithsonian Institution in December 1846, he retained his position at the College of New Jersey until June 1848.  During this period, Henry divided his time between Washington, D.C., and Princeton, where his wife, son, and three daughters remained until January 1848. Lonely and   under tremendous pressure in his new position, Henry often poured out his feelings in  letters to his wife Harriet. These letters provide us with insights into his family life as well as documentation about his various initiatives in the early days of the Smithsonian. As can be inferred from the letter below, Harriet was less than enthusiastic about the   family's pending move to the nation's capital.



 



HENRY TO HARRIET HENRY   39 

                                                                 Washington wednesday 
                                                                 morning 7 o'clock 1847 
                                                                 May 5 





             My Dearest  

  I have written to you every day since my arrival and therefore this is my fourth epistle I  hope you will receive the whole number though they contain nothing of importance. I say  nothing of importance meaning thereby of interest to any Person but yourself for I am happy in   beleiving that every thing however, trifling which relates to me, is of high importance to you.  And though it is impossible that I should appear in your physical eyes quite as great and as  faultless a man as I may in the mental vision of those who have only heard of me from a   distance yet I feel assured and rejoice in the assurance that I am very dear to you and that you   are even more tenderly and anxiously attached to me on account of the faults of character which must be glaringly exhibitid to one in as close communion with me as you are. I was in   my early life exposed to many temptations and I can never be sufficiently thankful that I have  been preserved as I have been. "You may love me for the dangers that I have escaped and I        will love you for pitying them."  

 I think the transfer to Washington when once it is made will be much less disagreeable than    you immagine.40 YouA as well as myself will be roused to greater effort-- Your time and  thoughts have been for several years past engrossed necssisarily with the whole care of the  Family the physical and moral developement of our children,41 but as they grow older their   intellectual faculties wil require more attention. You will be called on to devote with them considerable time to reading and mental operations which will rouse your energies in the
direction in which they you are well qualified to excell. Mary will soon be old enough to take  an interest in works of a higher order than those which now occupy her attention-- She wll  read to you while you are sewing and your comments will as they do now but in a higher degree expand her mind. We must endeavour to get for our little Girls a Governess in the      Family--if possible a Lady of good education, accomplished maners and of a good heart and temper. Mary requires a good deal of attention as to her carriage & her personal habits as to ease of action--Helen will require less of this and Carry least of all; she is a Lady born. The  substratum foundation and the material of the character of each is admirable and they only   require a little attention as to the embellishment. Will. I presume will be much pleased with the  expected visit of Richard.42 I must take him more under my charge and perhaps I can do this more effectually by carrying him with me when I travel we will then be more thrown together and a more free communication established. 

I am now going to the Treasury office and shall not return until 3 O'clockB when I may  perhaps scribble a few more lines. I start for home this evening or in the early train tomorrow.    I expect to be in Princeton on Friday but should I not arrive until saturday do not be uneasy--   For a time adieu--  Just through dinner--was quite hungry spent the morning in the west part of the city visited J. Q. Adams43 in his 80th year remarkable memory related several interesting annecdotes of   history-- Exhibited to him my plans of the Smithsonian Institution with which he was    pleased.44 I promised to furnish him with a copy-- I shall not be able to get off until  tomorrow morning.  

The day has been warm but plesant the spring is quite late for this place though vegetation is much perhaps I should say considerably farther advanced than in Princeton.I [...]C my letter  to

 Mrs Ludlow yesterday so that she will be prepared for my arrival tomorrow.   I hope to find you very much better on my return and shall be much disappointed if I do not  receive the accustomed greeting inD the entry when I enter the door. Give my kind regards to  Mary Ann LaGrange45E and thank her for the use of her watch it has done me good service. I was however obliged to purchase a key for the article.    Kiss all the children for me and receive the unnecessary assurance that I am as ever

                                                                            Your--H.
 

             A. Altered from A 
             B. 3 O'clock altered from 12 
             C. Hole in paper. 
             D. Altered from on 
             E. Altered from Lagrange  

     


Family Correspondence, Henry Papers, Smithsonian Archives. Published in Marc Rothenberg   et al., eds. The Papers of Joseph Henry, vol. 7, January 1847-December 1849:The  Smithsonian Years (Washington, 1996), pp. 102-104.