Asa B. Hutchinson (1823-1884) was a member and manager of the Hutchinson
Family singers, who were among the most famous and influential American
popular musical performers in the antebellum period. They were best known
for their temperance and anti-slavery songs. The group initially
consisted of Asa, his older brothers Judson and John, and their sister
Abby and continued as a trio after Abby's retirement in 1849.
This journal, kept by Asa B. Hutchinson from January to August, 1853 (with
two entries from later years) was previously unknown to scholars. It
contains a wealth of detail about the group's concert engagements,
relationships between the brothers, and Asa's ambivalence about his career
as a singer.
Purchased on the Harry G. Stoddard Memorial Fund
October 2004
"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by
a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography;
another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in
New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing
and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and
in this way I am kept very busy."
~Christopher Columbus Baldwin
3rd Librarian of AAS
For almost two hundred years the librarians at the Antiquarian Society
have worked to build collections by purchase and by donation. This page
displays a recent product of our zeal.
~Nancy Burkett
The Marcus A. McCorison Librarian of AAS
(and 13th in the line of AAS librarians)
Asa B. Hutchinson (1823-1884) was a member and manager of the Hutchinson
Family singers, who were among the most famous and influential American
popular musical performers in the antebellum period. They were best known
for their temperance and anti-slavery songs. The group initially
consisted of Asa, his older brothers Judson and John, and their sister
Abby and continued as a trio after Abby's retirement in 1849.
"One day I am visited by a collector of ordination sermons; the next, by
a collector of 4th of July orations; then comes a collector of geography;
another wants religious newspapers; another wants every book printed in
New York before 1700. I accommodate myself to all; for I want every thing
and collect every thing, and I have more zeal than the whole of them: and
in this way I am kept very busy."