Dodd Family papers

The Dodd Family papers contain 23 items of correspondence to and from members of the family (1862-1866), 15 sermons (1848-1864), 1 printed extract from a speech by Alexander H. Stephens (1861), 1 abolitionist pamphlet (n.d.), 3 clippings (1863, n.d.), 4 photocopies on 2 sheets including 2 photographs of Helen M. Dodd (1868, n.d.), 1 pass issued by the Office of the Superintendent of Negro Affairs (1864), and 1 oath of loyalty (1863). Most of the correspondence is from Helen Dodd, with one holograph letter and the rest photocopies. Other correspondents are Rev. John Dodd and his wife. Most of the non-correspondence consists of originals. Four of the items are photocopies and are so noted in this description of the papers. The family was living in Arcade, New York, in 1862, the date of the earliest letter. Helen Dodd joined the American Missionary Association teaching staff and taught at schools for freedmen in 1863 in Virginia and North Carolina. Additional materials from John and Helen Dodd are located in the American Missionary Association Archives

Letters were written by Rev. and Mrs. Dodd or Helen Dodd. In general they may be described as family correspondence because all of them are to members of the Dodd family. Most of them were written by Helen Dodd from her various schools in Virginia and North Carolina. They cluster in 1863 and 1864, with the largest number having been written in the latter year. Because they were written during the Civil War, and because Helen was living in former slave states occupied by Union forces, her letters provide a description of the daily life and times of northern teachers among the freedmen. On the other hand, the letters of Rev. and Mrs. Dodd provide a commentary on church affairs, local townspeople and the anti-slavery sentiments held by them and incorporated in his sermons. The letter from Rev. Dodd to his brother provides information about his family. Helen Dodd’s letters are of special interest in this collection because they provide firsthand information about the work of the American Missionary Association in the South. As an abolitionist organization, the anti-slavery sentiments of the membership was predictable. However, once the Union troops began occupation of the secessionist states, the Association sent in teachers on the heels of the soldiers. Helen Dodd was one of these teachers to the former slaves in 1863, before the war had ended. Furthermore, she had her first assignment in Virginia, where the Association had hired its first salaried teacher, Mary Peake. Helen Dodd eventually worked within nine miles of Fortress Monroe, where Mary Peake had established the school that became a forerunner of Hampton Institute. Observations made by Dodd about the attitude of the populace toward General Butler and his troops, toward the teachers of blacks, and about the eagerness of these former slaves for education are valuable as documents of the times. Moreover, the letters of Helen Dodd complement the voluminous American Missionary Association Archives housed in the Center and expand the file of letters written by her and included in those archives. Non-correspondence items include several printed pieces. An extract from a speech by Alexander H. Stephens, vice president of the Confederate States, is of interest. The speech was delivered in the Secession Convention of Georgia, January 1861, and expressed an anti-secessionist viewpoint. Three pages of this four-page item contain words of the speech, and the last page contains “Views of Jefferson Davis in 1860.” One of the clippings that can be dated is from The Independent, October 31, 1863. Other clippings cannot be dated nor otherwise identified except that one bears a caption, “Mr. Edward’s speech.” The speech is anti-slavery in sentiment. Still another printed item is the abolitionist pamphlet titled Southern Hatred for Free Institutions. Containing forty-six pages, it has no title page nor imprint. Pagination begins with page 3 and concludes with page 48. Sermons in the accession are all handwritten and dated. Most contain several dates that indicate the frequency with which they were used. For the purpose of this description, beginning and ending dates have been compiled from these notations written on the items. Of special interest in this record type is a Thanksgiving sermon because it alludes to the Stephens speech, and expresses pro-Union and anti-slavery opinions held by Rev. Dodd and apparently shared by his family, including Helen. Photocopied items of non-correspondence include two photographs of Helen Dodd, one from the nineteenth century. Another is dated by a family member as sometime before 1906 and was taken in Brooklyn, N.Y.. Helen Dodd had married James Sample, a northern businessman, in Beaufort, N.C. during her tenure as an American Missionary Association teacher there in 1866. The earlier photograph is dated a few years later. The other two items pertain to her, one being a pass issued to establish her right to travel to and from Taylor Farm where she taught freedmen. It is signed by Captain O. Brown, Superintendent of Negro Affairs. A certificate of oath, attesting to the loyalty of Helen Dodd to the United States although living in a state in rebellion, is the other item in the group. Both pieces state they were issued from the Norfolk, Va. office. Other accessions in the Amistad Research Center are the papers of American Missionary Association teachers who were in the field about the same time as Helen Dodd, including letters of Rebecca Bacon in the Bacon Family Papers, John Rockwell and Esther Douglass in their personal papers, and numerous other teachers in American Missionary Association schools of a later date. Gift of Claire Wesselmann, great granddaughter of Helen M. Dodd.