Samuel Joseph May Portrait
- Title:
- Samuel Joseph May Portrait
- Collection:
- Campus Artifacts, Art & Memorabilia
- Creator:
- Knapp, George Kasson
- Donor:
- Coffin-May, Mrs. Lucretia
- Photographer:
- Espinosa de los Monteros, Pamela
- Date:
- ca. 1853-1910
- Acquisition Date:
- 1948
- Location:
- Uris Library, Sumner M. Kirby Memorial Room, Cornell University
- Country:
- United States
- ID Number:
- artsdb_0089
- Accession Number:
- W84-43.2
- File Name:
- artsdb_0089.jpg
- Culture:
- American
- Work Type:
- portraits
- Materials/Techniques:
- Oil
- Subject:
- May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph), 1797-1871
- Description:
- Donor of the Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection to the Cornell Library. This portrait is part of the Sumner M. Kirby room dedicated and furnished by Allan P. Kirby as a memorial to his brother for the undergraduate library of Cornell University, now Uris Library.
Reverend Samuel Joseph May is a graduate from Harvard (1817) and studied theology in Cambridge, MA. He was one of twelve children and uncle to Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women [Unitarian Congregational Society (Syracuse, N.Y.). 1871. In memorial: Samuel Joseph May. Syracuse, N.Y.: The Journal, http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/maysamuel/maysamuel.html. As an ordained minister, he was pastor for churches in Connecticut and Massachusetts. In 1845, he settled in Syracuse, New York and became the minister for the Church of the Messiah, later renamed the May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society in his honor. “Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection: Samuel J. May Biography.” Cornell University Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, accessed May 22, 2012, http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/biography.htm]l. May was an active Pacifist, Abolitionist, educational reformist and advocate of equal rights for women. He supported the temperance movement, penal reform and better treatment for Native Americans. ["May, Samuel Joseph" The Oxford Companion to American Literature. James D. Hart, ed., rev. Phillip W. Leininger. Oxford University Press 1995. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordreference.com]. As an abolitionist May served as general agent and secretary of the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and his house was a station for the Underground Railroad. Notable writings include The Rights and Condition of Women (1846), A Brief Account of His Ministry (1867)
and Some Recollections of Our Anti-Slavery Conflict (1869) ["May, Samuel Joseph" The Oxford Companion to American Literature. James D. Hart, ed., rev. Phillip W. Leininger. Oxford University Press 1995. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordreference.com]. May acted as a mentor and friend to Cornell’s first President Andrew Dickson White. In 1870, President White was instrumental in bringing an extensive slavery and abolitionist collection gathered Reverend Samuel Joseph May, to the Cornell Library. With over 10,000 titles, May's pamphlets and leaflets document the anti-slavery struggle at the local, regional, and national levels.Today the May Anti-Slavery Collection is part of Cornell Library’s extensive anti-slavery and Civil War collections. [Engst, Elaine. “Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection: Collection Description,” Cornell University Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, accessed May 22, 2012, http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/collection.html]. - Source:
- Unitarian Congregational Society (Syracuse, N.Y.). 1871. In memorial: Samuel Joseph May. Syracuse, N.Y.: The Journal, http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/maysamuel/maysamuel.html
“Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection: Samuel J. May Biography.” Cornell University Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, accessed May 22, 2012, http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/biography.htm
"May, Samuel Joseph" The Oxford Companion to American Literature. James D. Hart, ed., rev. Phillip W. Leininger. Oxford University Press 1995. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxfordreference.com
Engst, Elaine. “Samuel J. May Anti-Slavery Collection: Collection Description,” Cornell University Library Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, accessed May 22, 2012, http://digital.library.cornell.edu/m/mayantislavery/collection.html - Repository:
- Cornell University
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The content in the Campus Artifacts, Art & Memorabilia Collection is protected by copyright, and the copyright holders are Cornell University Library and the Cornell Association of Professors Emeritus. This collection was created by Cornell University Library in 2010, with funding from a Digital Collections in Arts and Sciences Grant to Howard Howland. Cornell is providing access to the materials for research and personal use. The written permission of any copyright and other rights holders is required for distribution, reproduction, or other use that extends beyond what is authorized by fair use and other statutory exemptions. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item. Please contact the Cornell Association of Professors Emeritus at cape@cornell.edu for more information about this collection, or to request permission to use these images.