The career of Burke Aaron Hinsdale (1837-1900) included a variety of occupations. At various times he was a teacher, a minister, an editor, a college president, a superintendent of schools, a university professor, and a prolific author of numerous books and articles. While pursuing these occupations he made lasting friendships with a number of noted contemporaries, including President James A. Garfield and his wife Lucretia. After President Garfield was assassinated, Lucretia Garfield authorized Hinsdale to collect, edit, and publish
Burke Aaron Hinsdale was born to the farmer Albert Hinsdale on March 31, 1837 in Wadsworth, Medina County, Ohio. The family had originally moved to Ohio from Connecticut in 1816. Burke attended the local school, and at sixteen he left Wadsworth to attend the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute (renamed Hiram College in 1867) at Hiram, Ohio. There he met and befriended James A. Garfield. To pay for his education Hinsdale taught school in Franklin, Ohio. After his graduation, he became a teacher in the English Department of the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute and remained at his post until 1864.
Hinsdale's departure from Western Reserve Eclectic Institute led him to new occupations. He served as pastor of the Church of the Disciples of Christ in Solon, Ohio, and later of the Franklin Circle Church of the same denomination in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an associate editor of
In 1870 he was elected President of Hiram College and was engaged in the teaching, fundraising, and administrative duties of his office. Hinsdale's energy was drained by these duties, and he continued to write and publish --
Hinsdale became discontented with being president of a small college and sought other positions. He asked President Garfield for an appointment to the State Department, an opportunity that vanished after Garfield's assassination in 1881. Hinsdale finally resigned from Hiram College in 1881 to become the Superintendent of Cleveland Public Schools in 1882. In a pamphlet entitled
During his period of unemployment, Hinsdale published
V
The Burke Aaron Hinsdale Papers (1854-1901) consist of letters, writings, speeches, sermons, religious notes, research notes, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous items.
This collection will be useful to researchers studying the history of Cleveland, Ohio, and the educational and literary activities of Burke Aaron Hinsdale. Those studying political and educational history in Ohio and the United States during the nineteenth century will find this collection useful. Those studying public education in Cleveland, Ohio, and the United States will find this collection useful. Of special interest are letters from noted contemporaries, including Henry Brooks Adams, Charles Eliot, John Fiske, E. L. Godkin, and James A. Garfield. The research notes about Garfield's career are also a valuable part of this collection. The letters in this collection include answers to Hinsdale's requests for information concerning Garfield's early life and the Republican Convention of 1880. Also included are biographical sketches and obituary notices for Hinsdale, recollections of his early life and ancestry, and letters of condolence addressed to Mrs. Hinsdale after her husband's death. Among the many educators, publishers, newspaper editors, and political figures who corresponded with hindsdale were James B. Angell, A. E. Church, Isaac N. Demmon, Charles W. Eliot, Isaac Errett, Charles Foster, President James A. and Lucretia R. Garfield, E. L. Godkin, W. T. Harris, Benjamin Harrison, C. E. Henry, A. Johnston, George C. Mann, William A. Mowry, A. P. Peabody, A. L. Perry, J. H. Rhodes, Whitelaw Reid, Albion W. Tourgee, and Francis A. Walker.
The collection is arranged in seven series.
Photographs of the Hinsdale family may be found in the photographic collection of the Western Reserve Historical Society.
Processed by Raimund E. Goerler in 1971.
None.
The Reference Desk of the Western Reserve Historical Society Research Center has an alphabetical list of the correspondents in this collection and a complete list of Hinsdale's titled writings contained in this collection.
[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 1772 Burke Aaron Hinsdale Papers, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.