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Uncle Tomitudes

Uncle Tomitudes - posterHarriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin shook up American culture in the 1850s. It sold more copies than any other novel of the 19th century and spurred a multitude of "Uncle Tomitudes," or spinoffs, such as theatrical adaptations, popular songs, and even "anti-Tom" novels that depicted slavery as a benign institution. This exhibition uses Dartmouth history as a context for understanding the deep intellectual and emotional tensions slavery created in America that led to Uncle Tom's Cabin's unprecedented success.

The exhibition was curated by Jay Satterfield, and was on display in the Class of 1965 gallery from April 3 - May 31, 2006.

You may download a small, 8x10 version of the poster: Tomitudes_8x10.jpg (1 MB) You may also download a handlist of the items in this exhibition: Uncle_Tomitudes.pdf

Materials Included in the Exhibition

Case 1. Uncle Tomitudes: The Story of a Book

In the past year, three different classes have come to Rauner Special Collections Library to discuss Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. The novel is an excellent example of how exploring the book’s publishing history creates a deeper understanding of the novel’s phenomenal impact on American society. Uncle Tom’s Cabin was a two edged sword: it invigorated the abolitionist movement, exposed the horrors of the institution of slavery to a wide audience, and provided a passionate argument against slavery, but, at the same time, the novel infused racial stereotypes more deeply into American culture. Uncle Tom’s Cabin started as a serialized story in The National Era, an abolitionist newspaper, and became the most successful novel published in the 19th century. It sold over 300,000 copies in the United States, and an estimated 1.5 million copies in England in its first 14 months. In addition the novel spurred a multitude of spinoffs (popularly coined “Uncle Tomitudes”) such as theatrical adaptations, popular songs, and even “anti-Tom” novels that depicted slavery as either a benign or beneficial institution. Uncle Tom’s Cabin owes part of its success to innovations in printing technologies developed in the first half of the century that allowed for massive print runs to match the unprecedented demand. Multiple steam presses operated 24 hours a day using easily replicated stereotype plates. The publisher, J. P. Jewett, issued competing editions designed to exploit distinct market niches, from deluxe sets to cheap editions printed in narrow columns of type. He also used illustrations to appeal to different audiences. In one case, he featured the story of redemption through Christ to market a Christmas edition. Despite Jewett’s marketing savvy, over production cut into his profits: while the book sold extremely well for a year, it suffered from market saturation and Jewett was left holding an estimated 20,000 copies in warehouses for years.

  1. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1852. Rauner Val 816 St78 X711
    1. First printing of 5,000 copies, March 1852
  2. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom’s Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1852. Rauner Val 816 St78 X711
    1. 60,000th printing.
  3. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1852. Rauner Val 816 St78 X711
  4. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1853. Rauner 1926 Coll S77u
  5. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1853. Rauner 1926 Coll S77u
  6. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin: or, Life among the Lowly. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: J. Cassell, 1852. Rauner Illus C888st or Rauner Sine Illus C78unc

Case 2. Uncle Tomitudes: Beyond the Book

Even if a person did not read Uncle Tom’s Cabin in 1852, he or she could hardly have escaped the story. It was adapted for the stage and became the most popular theatrical production of the century. Publisher J. P. Jewett commissioned John Greenleaf Whittier to write lyrics for a popular song based on the emotionally charged death of the character Little Eva. Dozens of other popular songs followed and sold briskly throughout the 1850s. The success of the novel also spurred “anti-Tom” novels such as William Smith’s Life at the South: or, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” as it Is, and other attacks on the validity of Stowe’s characterization of slavery. Stowe fought back with her Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabinthat cited newspaper accounts of various atrocities fictionalized in the novel.

  1. “Uncle Tomitudes,” Putnam’s Monthly Magazine of American Literature, Science and Art 1 (January 1853): 97-102. Can be found in American Periodicals Series Here
  2. Harriet Beecher Stowe. La Case de l’Oncle Tom. Paris: Aux Pureaux de Magasin Pittoresque, 1853. Rauner Val 816 St78 X718
  3. Harriet Beecher Stowe. A Key to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1853. Rauner Rare Book E449 .S8959
  4. William Smith. Life at the South : or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as it Is. Buffalo: G. H. Derby and Co., 1852. Baker Berry 816 Sm67 S8
  5. Manuel Emilio. Little Eva. Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1852. Rauner Sheet Music BM 23 Item 27 or SC 564
  6. John Adams. I Am Going There, or the Death of Little Eva. Boston: O. Ditson, 1852. Rauner Sheet Music SC 538
  7. F. James. Eva's Parting. Boston: G.P. Reed & Co., 1852. Rauner Sheet Music SC 516
  8. The Death of St. Clare. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1852. Rauner 1926 Coll C6534d or Rauner Sheet Music SC 507
  9. Adelphi Theatre (London, England). Playbill for Uncle Tom’s Cabin, December 30, 1852. Rauner Williams/Watson PR ENK Lon-Adel f8521230
  10. Eden B. Foster. A Sermon on the Crime against Freedom. Concord: Jones and Gogswell, 1856. Rauner NH Concord 1856b
  11. Salmon Chase. Speech of Hon. Salmon P. Chase, Delivered at the Republican Mass Meeting in Cincinnati, August 21, 1855. Columbus: Ohio State Journal, 1855. Rauner Alumni C3877spe

Case 3. Uncle Tomitudes: Dartmouth and Slavery

Slavery was an emotional and hotly debated topic on the Dartmouth campus. In an effort to maintain the Union, Dartmouth’s favorite son Daniel Webster delivered a key speech in support of the Fugitive Slave Law, an act that strengthened the mandate requiring northern states to aid in the capture and return of slaves fleeing southern states. Dartmouth President Nathan Lord was an outspoken supporter of slavery and repeatedly marshaled evidence from the Bible to argue for the validity of the institution. Other faculty, administrators and alumni were outspoken critics of slavery, including Salmon Chase who helped to found the Republican Party. Many Dartmouth students held views of slavery that were aligned with the abolitionist views prevalent in most New England states. A rally for the abolition of slavery was held in Hanover 1839, and later student publications ridiculed President Lord’s views.

One particularly vitriolic attack on Lord came as a mock advertisement in the student newspaper, The Dartmouth Oestrus, for a “slave auction” on the College Green. The chattel offered were none other than Nathan Lord’s wife, characterized as a “good breeder,” and his children. Ironically, it was under Lord’s administration that the College admitted many African-American students. Despite Lord’s support of slavery, Harriet Beecher Stowe sent her son, Henry Ellis, to Dartmouth in 1857. Tragically, he died while swimming in the Connecticut River during his freshman year.

  1. The Dartmouth Oestrus, July 1855. Rauner D.C. History LH1 .D3 D282 V.1, no.1-4 1853-1856
  2. Nathan Lord. Manuscripts on Slavery. Lord Family Papers. “Drowning of a Son of Mrs. H. B. Stowe,” The Daily American, July 10, 1957. Rauner Manuscript MS-510 Box 1 Folder 28-34, 40
  3. “Order of Exercises for the Anti-Slavery Celebration at Hanover, N.H., July 4, 1839.
  4. Broadside condemning Daniel Webster’s stance on the Fugitive Slave Law, Massachusetts, September 17, 1859. Rauner Manuscript Webster 851302
  5. Fedediah K. Hayward. “A Dartmouth Tragedy.” In Dartmouth Traditions. Edited by William Carroll Hill. Hanover: Dartmouth Press: 1901. Rauner Alumni H556d or Rauner Ref LD1438 .H6
  6. Eliza Cook and Asa B. Hutchinson.Little Topsy’s Song. Boston: Oliver Ditson, 1853. Rauner Sheet Music HF 78