Exhibit Information

The John Bigelow Collection at Schaffer Library is comprised of the John Bigelow papers and the contents of his library. The Bigelow papers are among one of the most requested collections by researchers visiting Union College, but the contents of the Bigelow library offer just as much scholarly interest to researchers and historical significance. Books belonging to the Bigelow library represent a rich collection of almost 6,000 books that range from the seventeenth century to the early twentieth century. 

Bigelow graduated from Union College in 1835 and was an author, diplomat, lawyer, and distinguished man of letters who helped to change the political, literary, and societal landscape of the Reconstruction Era, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era. His professional acumen facilitated the outcome of the American Civil War, the construction of the Panama Canal, and the building of the New York Public Library and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Moreover, he was a staunch advocate of the anti-slavery and women’s suffrage movements. Bigelow was a prolific writer and man of letters, corresponding with European and American leaders of his time.

A life-long lover of libraries, Bigelow was insistent upon building an impressive one of his own. As a student at Union, Bigelow joined the Philomathean Society and was delighted with the extensive library that was owned by the Society. When it was time to build his own library, Bigelow did not discriminate. His multilingual library contains religious texts, books about Eastern and Western philosophy, anti-slavery pamphlets, domestic and international politics, and classic literature. Moreover, the numerous books that champion progressive rhetoric about sex, gender, and marriage show Bigelow’s open-minded approach to understanding the sexual revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.