Lydia Howard (Huntley) Sigourney, the "Sweet Singer of Hartford" was a major figure in the rise of feminized, sentimental fiction in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Born in Norwich, Conn., as the only child of Ezekiel and Zerviah Huntley, Sigourney was educated in the common schools of Norwich and Hartford, and from 1811-1813, conducted a school in Norwich. By 1814, Sigourney was considered successful enough as an educator to establish a school of her own in Hartford, and the following year she followed up this triumph with the publication of her first book, Moral pieces, in prose and verse.

In June, 1819, Lydia married Charles Sigourney, a widower with three children. Contrary to Lydia's expectations, Charles' finances were not very solid, and as a result, she turned to writing to supplement the family income. Her first efforts were published anonymously because of the objections of her husband, but as her reputation began to grow, she began to show increasing confidence in her abilities and autonomy. By the early 1830s, Sigourney was a regular and highly sought after contributor to periodicals, eventually editing her own annual, the Religious Souvenir. Although she took a dim view of the average quality of American literary outlets, her popularity eventually grew so great that Louis Godey, among other magazine publishers, was willing to pay her simply to include her name on his magazine's list of editors. A highly prolific writer, Sigourney helped to shape literary tastes in early Victorian America, spawning numerous imitators. Her writing is steeped in a prim religious moralism, with a clear fascination for death, and tends to be overtly didactic, as exemplified by works such as How to be happy (1833), Letters to young ladies (1833), and Letters to mothers (1837).

Despite her success, Sigourney never came to feel as warmly about her publishers as they may have felt about her. "As a body of men," she wrote, "I have feared the Publishers, ever since I have had anything to do with them. They seem to me wily, & not liberal, neither disposed to be the natural allies of authors, but rather to forage upon them" (1834 April 6). Nor were her fellow writers any more helpful. "Literary men, and poets, will only go to certain lengths, for their fraternity. There are secrets in their trade, as well as in all others. Their efforts to uphold the body corporate, are subject to certain checks. I have little dependence on Bryant or Halleck for aid..." Characteristically, however, Sigourney turned some of her feelings inward: "While I express these opinions, I feel painfully, how little I have done, deserving of notice. But I have been inspired with desires to do more worthily" (1834 April 6). By the later 1830s, Sigourney felt that her contributions to annuals and magazines, as well as her voluminous correspondence, distracted her from more significant, serious work, but she noted that her decision to continue with lesser publications stemmed directly "from the necessity of writing for gain, and from the paucity of the channels, in which our Republick permits it to flow" (1834 March 11).

As a professional writer, Sigourney developed an astute business sense and was able to exact favorable terms from her publishers. A close friend, George Griffin, appears to have acted as intermediary for her in many of her negotiations and provided her with general financial advice. Griffin, an attorney from New York City, his wife Lydia (nee Butler), and their children Caroline, Mary, George, Jr., and Edmund Dorr (1804-1830) became intimate acquaintances of Sigourney's, sharing literary, business, and friendships. The relationship between the Sigourneys and Griffins was close enough that following the death in 1830 of Edmund, a promising poet in his own right, Sigourney offered to write a laudatory biography of the ill-fated youth and several times requested permission to include examples of Edmund's work in the annuals she edited.

Sigourney maintained a lengthy personal and business relationship with Griffin and his family, often visiting or receiving visits. Griffin was a key intermediary in representing Sigourney's interests with publishers such as Key & Biddle, Van Nostrand, Harper Brothers, Leavitt, Lord, & Co., and D. Appleton. Sigourney's confidence in her business sense, and her keen awareness of her own financial dealings, often led her to direct Griffin as much as he directed her (occasionally, in a gentle way, through asking his advice).

Following her husband's death in 1854 and the marriage of her daughter, Sigourney lived alone in Hartford, continuing to publish at a prolific rate. She died in Hartford in 1864, leaving only her daughter, Mary, and a legacy of sixty-seven books.

Scope and contents:

The Sigourney Papers contain 54 letters from Lydia Huntley Sigourney (51 addressed to George Griffin, two to Griffin's wife, Lydia, and one to his daughter Caroline), the drafts of 13 responses written by Griffin, and a manuscript copy of Griffin's review of The Gospel, its own advocate. The letters appear to span much of the time that two would have known each other and appear to be a fairly complete assemblage of her letters to him for at least the mid-1830s. The return correspondence is clearly spottier. These letters are concentrated in the period during which Sigourney achieved her greatest popularity and in which she experienced her greatest financial and critical success.

Sigourney's letters suggest a casual and increasingly warm friendship between the two, and a growing intimacy that extended beyond literary matters. On occasion, a note of tension enters the relationship, as when Griffin wrote to request that Sigourney not proceed with her plans to write a memorial to his deceased son, Edmund, for fear "that any effort on the part of relatives or near friends to bring out his writings in a new form, might bear the aspect of ostentation" (1836 February 29). Sigourney, in fact, was so well known for writing laudatory pieces for the recently deceased that one joker suggested that she had added a new terror to death.

In her correspondence with Griffin, Sigourney includes interesting candid discussions of her writing and editing activities, her opinions of other writers, her literary and personal business arrangements, and personal and family matters. Griffin's important role as an intermediary between Sigourney and several of her publishers, including Harper & Brothers, Key & Biddle, and Leavitt, Lord & Co., offer an interesting insight into the business end of the writing profession for women in the 1830s. Among other items are copies of two of Sigourney's contracts with publishers (with Harpers for Letters to Young Ladies and Van Nostrand & Dwight for the Religious Souvenir of 1838). Sigourney's confidence in discussing financial matters appears to have grown with her popularity, and there is little question that while she valued Griffin's advice, she was the one who dictated terms.

The Sigourney-Griffin correspondence includes interesting critical discussion of the writing and publication of various editions of Sigourney's Letters to Young Ladies (1833), Sketches (1834), Letters to Mothers (1837), Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands (1842), several editions of Poems, and the annual Religious Souvenir during the financial panic of 1837. Griffin appears to have acted in the capacity of an intermediary in arranging the publication of Sketches, and Sigourney's letters are filled with critical commentary and close management of the terms of publication.

Related collections:

Sigourney's correspondence is scattered among a number of repositories, with the major collections being at the Connecticut Historical Society, the Library of Congress, the Rosenbach Library, and the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Clements' collections include two letters from Sigourney in the papers of George Brinley and one in the papers of Lewis Cass.

M-3105, M-3142
cat. 1/95 rsc

Subject index to the Lydia H. Sigourney Papers

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