Battle Hymn of the Republic
author
Julia Ward Howe
(New York, 1819 - 1910, Portsmouth, Rhode Island)
publisher
New England Women's Club
(active Boston, 1868 - 1970)
Date27 May 1889
Place MadeBoston, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumPrinted ink on paper
ClassificationsArchival Material
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.002059
eMuseum ID722302
EmbARK ObjectID28771
TMS Source ID12362
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentarySocial reformer Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910) was a good friend of Isabella Stewart Gardner. Howe wrote ”The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” a pro-Union, anti-slavery, civil war song in 1861, and it was first pubished in the magazine The Atlantic a year later. This copy of the song was published by the New England Women’s Club in 1889 during Ward’s appointment as Club President. It includes her account of writing the lyrics the morning after visiting Union troops.
Ten years later Isabella gave the New England Women’s Club a portrait of her friend painted by Andreas Martin Anderson. She wrote, ”For the sake of the love & honour in which we all hold Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, may I offer this portrait of her, painted by Andreas Anderson? As she is enshrined in all our hearts, so I feel sure this portrait of her will be given a shrine, as it were, in the New England Woman's Club.” The Club gratefully accepted Isabella’s gift, and Isabella kept a photograph of the painting in the Berenson Case in the Blue Room, along with Julia's letters.
Ten years later Isabella gave the New England Women’s Club a portrait of her friend painted by Andreas Martin Anderson. She wrote, ”For the sake of the love & honour in which we all hold Mrs. Julia Ward Howe, may I offer this portrait of her, painted by Andreas Anderson? As she is enshrined in all our hearts, so I feel sure this portrait of her will be given a shrine, as it were, in the New England Woman's Club.” The Club gratefully accepted Isabella’s gift, and Isabella kept a photograph of the painting in the Berenson Case in the Blue Room, along with Julia's letters.
BibliographyNotesElizabeth Reluga, "Julia Ward Howe, BFF and Suffragette," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2 November 2020, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/julia-ward-howe-bff-and-suffragette
MarksNotesSigned (inside front cover, lower right): Julia Ward Howe
ProvenanceNotesEntered Isabella Stewart Gardner's collection after 27 May 1889.
