[Autograph Letter, Signed, by Abolitionist Elias Richards, to His Abolitionist Wife Elizabeth Hunt Richards in Weymouth, Massachusetts, Describing Pittsburgh and Mentioning an Early Abolitionist Meeting in the City]

Pittsburgh, Pa: August 2, 1838. Good.. [2]pp., on a single folded sheet, integral blank addressed on verso. Original mailing folds, somewhat tender along fold lines, a small panel of integral blank chipped away along fold lines, short tear and small area of loss from removed wax seal to first leaf costing or affecting a few words, top edge bumped. An informative manuscript letter written by a notable abolitionist during his travels through Pittsburgh in the summer of 1838. Elias Richards (1802-1887) writes from the United States Hotel to his wife Elizabeth Hunt Richards (1804-1892) in Massachusetts while on a trip intending to locate a place he could settle in business. Both Elias and Elizabeth Richards were prominent abolitionists based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. Richards details his travel from Philadelphia through Pennsylvania, mentioning several towns on the road to Pittsburgh. Richards then provides a description of the Steel City: "This is a very busy city, situated on a point of land, between the Monongahela & Allegheny Rivers. I think this is a good place for business, everything seems to be lively, except the Steam Boats, the River being low they cannot run."

Richards then relates his notable activities of the day before: "I called on W.H. Burleigh, yesterday. He invited me to attend an A.S. Slavery meeting at 3 o'clock P.M. which I did. I was introduced to a number of our A.S. Slavery friends. We had a very good meeting indeed. The meeting was addressed by Messrs. Hillin, McLeod, & Burleigh. It seemed almost as if I were at home, being in company with these noble spirits. They seem like old acquaintances." William Henry Burleigh was also a noted abolitionist. Burleigh was a Connecticut-based journalist, editor, abolitionist, women's rights and peace activist, and Unitarian. At the time of the present letter, Burleigh was serving as editor of the Pittsburgh Temperance Banner, which afterwards became the Christian Witness, the official periodical of the Western Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society.

Richards ends his letter with his indecision on Pittsburgh as a place to center his commercial activities (he was a cobbler and leatherworker by trade), a report of his good health, and well wishes for his wife and children back home. Manuscript material from Elias Richards appears to be quite uncommon, especially mentioning other important abolitionists working in places such as Pittsburgh as early as the 1830s.