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Size | 0.5 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 4 items) |
Abstract | Jane Fraser (b. 1786), native of Charleston, S.C., helped run a girls' school in Bordentown, N.J., and then lived in France. The collection contains four handwritten volumes of unpublished literature written by Jane Fraser. The first two volumes, entitled "Aunt Jane's American Tales and Sketches," are dated 7 September 1862, although the material within was likely written in the late 1830s or early 1840s, when the first of her sister's children was reaching the age of ten. The two volumes contain 14 stories, mostly fictional, intended for younger audiences. In the preface, Fraser stated that the stories were never meant to be published; therefore, they were probably intended to serve as a reminder to her sister's children of their American origins. The third volume, "Celestine, a Tale of the Eighteenth Century," is a novel set during the French Revolution. It is dated 20 December 1862, although in the preface, Fraser claimed to have written the novel in 1802, when she was 16 years old. The novel tells the story of a French woman imprisoned by revolutionaries, who escapes to England to search for her son, who had been taken away by her estranged husband. The fourth volume, entitled "Letters Between Julia and Lucy," is a novel written in the form correspondence between Julia, a seminary pupil, and Lucy, a woman who travels widely. Some of the "letters" may reflect Jane Fraser's own memories of her southern upbringing and her opinions on the state of southern society at the time. |
Creator | Fraser, Jane, b. 1786. |
Curatorial Unit | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. |
Language | English |
The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.
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Jane Fraser was born in 1786 in Charleston, S.C., the daughter of Major Thomas Fraser, a British officer who had commanded the South Carolina Royalists in the American Revolutionary War. The Fraser family moved to Bordentown, N.J., in the early part of the nineteenth century. There, Jane Fraser's sister, Caroline Fraser (1810-1879) married Prince Lucien Murat (1803-1878), nephew of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been living in exile in Bordentown, N.J. After Lucien Murat squandered much of the family's fortune, Jane Fraser and Caroline Fraser Murat opened a boarding school for young women at their residence, Linden Hall. After the Revolution of 1848, Lucien Murat returned to France, where he received a number of government appointments. Jane Fraser accompanied Caroline Fraser Murat and her children to Paris, France, in 1849. They lived in the Chateau de Buzenval, outside Paris where Jane Fraser produced her volumes.
Back to TopThe collection includes four handwritten volumes of unpublished literature produced by Jane Fraser in 1862 while living in France. The first two volumes, entitled "Aunt Jane's American Tales and Sketches," are dated 7 September 1862, although the material within was likely written in the late 1830s or early 1840s, when the first of her sister's children was reaching the age of ten. The two volumes contain 14 children's stories, most of them fictional. In the preface, Fraser stated that the stories were never meant to be published; therefore, they were probably intended to serve as a reminder to her sister's children of their American origins. The third volume, "Celestine, a Tale of the Eighteenth Century," is a novel set during the French Revolution. It is dated 20 December 1862, although in the preface, Jane Fraser claimed to have written the novel in 1802, when she was 16 years old. The novel tells the story of a French woman, imprisoned by revolutionaries, who escapes to England to search for her son, who had been taken away by her estranged husband. The fourth volume, entitled "Letters Between Julia and Lucy," is a novel written in the form of a correspondence between Julia, a seminary pupil, and Lucy, a woman who travels widely. Some of the "letters" seem to indicate Jane Fraser's own memories of her southern upbringing and her opinions on the state of southern society at the time.
Back to TopArrangement: alphabetical.