Treasures in your attic: The Dean of poetesses

Dear Helaine and Joe: I like to attend estate auctions in New Hampshire and recently bought a box of paper ephemera containing a poem by Edna Dean Proctor. I am curious as to whether it might be an original. The script looks as if it were written with a fountain pen, and the paper is dated 1916. How do I authenticate this document? If it is an original, does it have historical or monetary significance?

— J.L., Windham, N.H.

Dear J.L.: Edna Dean Proctor is not a household name, and certainly not one that many Americans would associate with great poetry. In fact, we found her referred to as the "semi-famous poet of Henniker, New Hampshire," which is where she was born on either Oct. 10, 1838, or Sept. 18, 1829.

She was educated in Concord, N.H., and at Mount Holyoke Seminary, now known as Mount Holyoke College; it was the first institution of higher learning dedicated exclusively to women in the United States. Proctor subsequently moved to Brooklyn, N.Y., where we found an indication that she may have worked as a governess.

She was a Northern super-patriot during the Civil War, and in 1861, she reportedly rewrote the famous "John Brown lies a moldering in his grave …" to be sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Her first book was published in 1867, and she contributed to magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, where she reviewed books by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Bret Harte.

She enjoyed the friendship of John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and other famous American poets. Whittier said that her poem "New Hampshire" was one of the noblest produced in America and considered her to be one of the best female poets of the day.

Proctor is also remembered for her poems concerning Native Americans, and her "Song of the Ancient People" is praised as the best poem ever written about aboriginal Americans. Edna Dean Proctor died in Framingham, Mass., in 1923, and left money for a fountain and a bridge that bear her name.

J.L. mentions in his letter that he acquired a "box of paper ephemera" of which this handwritten poem is just one piece. We believe that J.L. should look at this collection as a whole and see if other items in the box might have some sort of relationship to this poem.

This might put the poem into context and help him decide its significance. At the top of the page is written "The Glory of Toil," and this refers to Proctor's last book, "The Glory of Toil and Other Poems," first published in 1916. We actually managed to find an authentic sample of Proctor's handwriting, and after careful comparison, we do not feel that this document is in her hand.

However, we are not experts in this field and strongly recommend that J.L. contact the Henniker Historical Society in Henniker, N.H. It holds the majority of Proctor's archives and should be able to shed some light on the authenticity of this piece. The museum is open on Thursdays and Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

As for the monetary value of this piece, we feel it is modest — almost nonexistent — especially if it is not in Proctor's hand.

Helaine Fendelman and Joe Rosson are the authors of "Price It Yourself" (HarperResource, $19.95). Contact them at Treasures in Your Attic, PO Box 27540, Knoxville, TN 37927. E-mail them at treasures@knology.net.