Original Documents Related to The Custom House Sketch
Title page of 1850 edition of The Scarlet Letter (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum)
The Salem Custom House from the title page of the 1892 Riverside Press (Houghton Mifflin) edition of The Scarlet Letter.
Title Page of "The Gentle Boy" "The Gentle Boy" was published in a separate volume in 1839 by Weeks, Jordan & Co. in Boston and by Wiley & Putnam in New York and London and illustrated by Sophia Peabody. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum)
Page one of a copy made by George B. Curwen of a letter from Hawthorne to Horace Ingersoll written in Lenox in the summer of 1850 about his firing as surveyor at the Salem Custom House the year before. On the first page of this letter to Ingersoll, Hawthorne calls Putnam (who is appointed to take Hawthorne's place as surveyor) a "knave and a jackass" but says that even so, Putnam treated him in a "rather gentlemanly way."
Ingersoll sold the original letter for one dollar to Curwen who made a copy of the letter for Ingersoll. This copy was given to George H. Holden by Ingersoll. Holden records this information on a note attached to the end of the letter dated March of 1896, Providence. (courtesy of The House of the Seven Gables Historic Site)
Page two of a copy made by Curwen of a letter from Hawthorne to Ingersoll regarding Ingersoll's role in Hawthorne's dismissal from the Salem Custom House Hawthorne twice on this page calls himself a Christian, and contrasts himself with Ingersoll's "backbiting and stabbing me in the dark." Hawthorne attacks Ingersoll for his role in his dismissal as surveyor but also insists that Ingersoll did him a favor. Hawthorne explains: "If I had remained four years longer in the Custom House I should have rusted utterly away...." Instead, Hawthorne insists, "I came forth as fresh as if I had been just made." (courtesy of The House of the Seven Gables Historic Site)
Page three of a copy made by Curwen of a letter from Hawthorne to Ingersoll regarding Ingersoll's role in Hawthorne's dismissal from the Salem Custom House On this page Hawthorne says to Ingersoll, "I do not reckon you among my enemies," but he refers to Ingersoll as "a kind of pet serpent who must be allowed to bite now and then."
Hawthorne also sarcastically relates that Ingersoll has had quite an effect on "our literature" as "The Scarlet Letter would not have been existed" if Ingersoll had not "set his mischief making faculties to work." (courtesy of The House of the Seven Gables Historic Site)
Fourth and final page of a letter from Hawthorne to Horace Ingersoll in which Hawthorne discusses Ingersoll's role in Hawthorne's dismissal from the Salem Custom House. After attacking Ingersoll on earlier pages, on this final page Hawthorne states,"I doubt whether anybody (except perhaps the duchess) feels a greater kindness for you...." Then Hawthorne tells Ingersoll, "Try to be a better boy than you have been,Say your prayers,Leave off cigars, Eschew evil, make the most of what good you find in yourself,Stick to your friends,forgive your enemies, and leave that wretched old town of Salem, the moment you are your own man." (courtesy of The House of the Seven Gables Historic Site)
Salem Custom House Receipt, September 13, 1847 The receipt is signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Burchmore
Salem Custom House Receipt, April 18, 1848 signed by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Salem Custom House Receipt from June, 1848 This receipt, signed by Hawthorne and General Miller, is for hides, ivory, nuts, and coffee brought to Salem on a ship from Africa.
Salem Custom House receipt from May, 1848 This receipt, signed by Hawthorne and Burchmore, is from a ship coming into Salem from Ceylon and Africa with hides, ivory, limes and two lions. (courtesy of The House of the Seven Gables Historic Site)
Hawthorne's Royalty Account from Ticknor and Fields dated July 10, 1865. This account includes income from The Scarlet
Letter.
Article from the June 11, 1849 edition of the Salem Register on Hawthorne's firing from his position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House. Part 1. (courtesy of The Boston Public Library.)
Article from the June 11, 1849 edition of the Salem Register on Hawthorne's firing from his position as Surveyor of the Port at the Salem Custom House. Part 2. (courtesy of The Boston Public Library.)
Article by Jim McAllister from the March 15, 2000 edition
of The Salem Evening News entitled " ‘A’
for Effort" on film adaptations of The Scarlet Letter. (courtesy
of Jim McAllister)
Article by Jim McAllister from the March 22, 2000 edition of The Salem
Evening News entitled "Forrester Was An
Active Millionaire." (courtesy of Jim McAllister)
