Amos+Bronson+Alcott's+Journey+through+the+Midwest

Original Author: Matthew Martenson, ENG299 FL10 Revision Author:
 * Amos Bronson Alcott’s Journey through the Midwest **

Amos Bronson Alcott was born in Walcott, Connecticut on November 29, 1799. Alcott was born to Episcopalian parents Joseph Alcox and Anna Bronson. Alcott was of a modest educational background and manufactured many of his writing utensils himself from various tree barks and natural materials. Alcott’s upbringing revolved more around housework and upkeep than scholastic endeavors and he revealed in an autobiographical quote from Sanborn and Harris’ //A. Bronson Alcott: his life and philosophy, Volume 1,// that his upbringing was steeped in “husbandry and housewifery” (10). Bronson was a prolific speaker and lecturer was a key figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 19th century. This report will cover five main visits Alcott took to Mount Pleasant, Dubuque, Davenport, Iowa City and Muscatine. An article from //The Iowa Journal of History// and Politics chronicles the four latter visits and a 1965 report from the //Annals of Iowa// covers the former.

A. Bronson Alcott’s visit to Mount Pleasant, Iowa had a significant impact on the town and as Dr. Louis A Haselmayer points out: “Alcott’s influence in Mount Pleasant [was especially vital] because he entered into a pattern of cultural activity sponsored by a rather close-knit group of citizens” (122-3). Alcott’s visit and influence was describe by Haselmayer as being central in the formation of the Ladies Library Association; the group that went on to establish the Mt. Pleasant Public Library (123). A. Bronson Alcott was said to have been the “father-inspirer” for the city’s library (Haselmayer 123).

Dubuque was another city that Alcott spent much time in and had several visits between 1870 and 1881. On his first visit to Dubuque in December 1870 he met Austin and Mary Newbury Adams, whom he stayed with for the time that he was in town. Alcott was very warmly received in Dubuque and the connection between he and the city’s members was strong; so much so that he extended his initial four day visit fourfold and ended up staying with the Adams for sixteen days. Mrs. Adams says in a letter reprinted in a 1985 edition of //Studies in the American Renaissance// of Alcott’s visit: “Mr. Alcott broke the prejudice of men, then made them respect—then esteem—then reverence him…I have some good friendships too, these aid us to complete ourselves, but this visit was not of a friend but a Christ that removed scales from eyes—put me on my feet” (325-6). Certainly the impact of Bronson Alcott’s visit is most pronounced in the last line when Alcott is referred to by Mrs. Adams not as simply a friend, but a Christ figure that came to the town performing miracles and giving the residents new life. Alcott and Mrs. Adams kept a running correspondence over the years until Alcott’s death in 1888.

Alcott graced the city with his presence again in November, the month of his birthday, 1872 and during this visit the citizens of Dubuque presented him with a gold-headed cane with the message “A Birthday Gift to A. Bronson Alcott – From His Dubuque Friends, 1872” (384). Alcott was overjoyed by the heartwarming reception and the generosity of the friends he had made in Dubuque and shared his impressions of the West in the following passage from Hoeltje’s “Amos Bronson Alcott in Iowa”: “We are just beginning to find out in the East that we are slow…In the West a young man gains a position for his talents ten or twelve years sooner that he does in the East. The East is more learned, perhaps, but the West is doing more for civilization. In the West people are more ready to listen to the diviner minds” (385).

Dubuque had made a significant impact on Alcott and he it, but he moved on with his conversations continuing to Davenport. Alcott arrived in Davenport following his Christmas stay with the Adamses and took shelter with the French family. Evidently Alcott’s particular diet was an obstacle for the carnivorous family, but Alcott was said to have been “a gentleman as well as a sage” and stressed that Mrs. French should not put herself out working around his diet (Hoeltje 377). During this time his daughter Louisa May Alcott was gaining recognition for //Little Women// and he wryly writes home after being introduced as “the father of Miss Louisa M. Alcott” that he was “riding in Louisa’s chariot, and adored as the grandfather of //Little Women//” (Hoeltje 378). Alcott spoke on several occasions during his stay in Davenport on a range of subjects including the abandonment of prejudice, social life, culture, New England authors, and The Pagans and their doctrines. Though most of his conversations were well received by the audience and free from controversy, there were some that after he left Davenport that were skeptical of his views. In one such instance a spectator during his sermon at the Davenport Unitarian Church said of Alcott,“His liberal church is what all liberal minds must desire, but which we imagine will arrive ‘when cockle shells turn silver bells, and jewels grow on ilka tree” (Hoeltje 379).

After departing from Davenport, Alcott made his way to Iowa City to the home of Professor and Mrs. James Edmunds. Alcott made several lectures at the Edmunds’ home, at the local Congregational Church and in Irving Hall at the University. Alcott was widely accepted as a “suggestive and very pleasing speaker” (Hoeltje 388). Much to his chagrin, at the conclusion of his lecture to a large audience at Irving Hall on “New England Authors”, an audience member stood up and asked Alcott to speak more of the author of //Little Women// (Hoeltje 388).

Alcott left Iowa City and briefly stopped in Davenport before moving on to Muscatine in mid January, 1873. Though Alcott’s stay in Muscatine was brief it was fairly significant in that Alcott had never before spoken so highly of the West as he did during a lecture in Tremont Hall. Alcott said that the West was in advance of the East in everything constituting American culture. He also asserted that the West was of more liberal thought in it’s progressiveness in allowing women to teach, and admitting both sexes into colleges and universities (Hoeltje 389).

A. Bronson Alcott brought his two and one-half month stay in Iowa to an end in late January, 1873. Alcott’s wife was ill and it appeared that death was imminent. After tending to his family obligations Alcott once again returned to the conversation circuit, visiting Iowa cities intermittently from 1874 until 1881. During these years Alcott visited Dubuque, Davenport, Burlington, Mount Pleasant, Des Moines, Ames, and Cedar Rapids. Alcott was in his early eighties during the round of touring, but still commanded the attention of his audience and warmed the hearts of his listeners. Alcott’s establishment of the Concord School of Philosophy shifted his presentation from the father of the author of //Little Women// to a wise accomplished sage in his own right.

A. Bronson Alcott was not only a gifted orator and a successful presenter; he was a man of the people. Alcott didn’t lump the inhabitants of a town into a paying audience; he spoke with them and got to know them and established relationships as he moved town to town. Alcott was as much appreciated for his wealth of knowledge and skillful conversations as he was for the rich relationships he struck up with city members and the lasting impression he left on those that he met along the way.

**Works Cited** Haselmayer, Dr. Louis A. “Amos Bronson Alcott and Southeast Iowa.” //Annals of Iowa// 38.2 (1965): 121-152. Print. Herrnstadt, Richard L. “Alcott in Iowa: Two Letters of Mary Newbury Adams and Five Letters of A. Bronson Alcott.” //Studies in the American Renaissance.// Ed. Joel Myerson. Virginia: University of Virginia Press, 1986. 323-331. Print. Hoeltje, Hubert H. “Some Iowa Lectures and Conversations of Amos Bronson Alcott.” //The Iowa Journal of History and Politics// 29. (1931): 375-401. Print. Sanborn, F.B. William T. Harris. //A. Bronson Alcott: His Life and Philosophy.// Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1893. Web. Nov. 2010.

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