Harris Broadsides

Broadsides are single-sheet publications, often issued as ephemera or announcements. The Harris Broadsides Collection is a comprehensive collection of American poetry published in broadside format from colonial times to the present. The collection offers materials covering a broad spectrum of American life, and includes poetry of every description: 18th and 19th century ballads, verse describing newsworthy events, poetic effusions of sentimentality and patriotism, comic verse, and much more. When completed, this digital project will include over 20,000 titles.
This collection is part of Brown University Library, hosted by Brown University.

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Items in this collection

The banks of Newfoundland

At head of text: In the winter of 1894 and 5, among the hundreds of families in the Southern portion of Newfoundland, great destitution prevailed, financial distress having prevented the obtaining of winter supplies ... The stricken condition, and response thereto, have given rise to the following. At end of text: Hyde Park, Mass., April, 1895.

The balm of thousand flowers

Advertising brochure. Within single line border. Date suggested by appearance of item and life of A. Lewis.

The ballad of the dead woodcutter

Jack Spicer. French fold; printed on double page. Printed in red and black on yellow paper within ornamental border on page [1] Cover title. Poem in six two-line stanzas. Printer's mark in red on last page. Imprint from Lepper, p. 381.

The ballad of the Banff-Windermere Highway

Crawford Hamilton. Page [4] blank. Printed in sepia on heavy cream paper. At head of title on page [1] reproduction of photograph of automobile on mountain road. Cover title. Poem in eight stanzas of varying length. Type-signed at end: Crawford Hamilton, Kootenai Lodge, Invermere, B.C. Suggested range of publication dates from internal evidence.

The ballad of Benjamin Britt: expelled from Wesleyan University October 25, 1837

composed by Richard Leighton Greene. Printed in dark and light green on white paper. Illustrated by wood-engravings of college buildings, a horse and a man walking. Author statement continues: In commemoration of the retirement of John William Spaeth, Jr. as Dean of the Faculty of Wesleyan University. Cover title. Includes excerpt from the Wesleyan faculty minutes of Oct. 25, 1837. Poem in Scottish dialect in 23 stanzas.

The bald eagle

The bald eagle

Brown University

At head of title: The Long Island Farmer Poet. Facsimile autograph. Contains prose.

The baby's welcome

The baby's welcome

Brown University

1 broadsheet. With conjugate blank leaf. Within ornamental border. At head of text: Inscribed to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Morton.

The baby's complaint

The baby's complaint

Brown University

Baby complains of rough treatment by well-meaning nurse who jounces him incessantly. Baby complains of rough treatment by well-meaning nurse who jounces him incessantly. Printed on peach paper within border of ornamental type sections. Poem in five stanzas of six or eight lines. Possible range of publication dates from other dated items in scrapbook from which Brown University copy was removed.

The baby

The baby

Brown University

Caption title. Poetry in four four-line stanzas printed in black on ivory paper Broadside removed from scrapbook containing material printed between 1850 and 1861 which suggested possible range of publication dates for this undated piece. Printed on white paper (18 x 11 cm.); mounted on paper (22 x 14 cm.)

The baby

The baby

Brown University

Caption title Poetry in four four-line stanzas printed in black on ivory paper Broadside removed from scrapbook containing material printed between 1850 and 1861 which suggested possible range of publication dates for this undated piece.

The Babe

The Babe

Brown University

Pages [2] and [4] blank. At head of text on page [3] drawing of flying figure. Sewn into lettered illustrated wrapper painted red on outside. Title from page [1], not wrapper. Drawing of naked angel on front cover. Colophon on inner back cover: Reprinted by permission of the executors of Mary Coleridge, from her "Poems" published by Messrs. Elkin, Matthews and Marot. The Cummington Press, Cummington, Massachusetts. Drawings after William Blake.

The awful malignant fever at Newburyport, in the year 1796

Prose and poetry. Printed in four columns. Cuts of 44 coffins in 2 rows at head. At head of text: An elegiac epistle to the mourners, on the death of forty four persons, who died of a malignant fever in Newburyport and the adjacent towns, in the summer and autumn of the year 1796--Together with a short account of that alarming disorder--by Jonathan Plummer, jun. At end of text below double rule: Printed for and sold by the author--Price 4 1/2 d. Short poem included in A short account, beginning: You're welcome to the blissful shore.

The awful malignant fever at Newburyport, in the year 1796

List of those who died (First lines: Miss Flood, Mr. Davis Lamber, Miss Hannah Cilley -- Elegiac epistle (First line: Daughters of Eve and sons of men) -- A short account of the ravages of the Yellow Fever, at Newburyport, in the year 1796 (First line: Although the execution done by this disorder) -- Invitation to the inhabitants of Newburyport, who have fled to the country, on account of the malignant fever (First line: The dreadful fever is no more) Prose and poetry. Printed in four columns Cuts of 44 coffins in 2 rows at head At head of text: An elegiac epistle to the mourners, on the death of forty four persons, who died of a malignant fever in Newburyport and the adjacent towns, in the summer and autumn of the year 1796--Together with a short account of that alarming disorder--by Jonathan Plummer, jun. At end of text below double rule: Printed for and sold by the author--Price 4 1/2 d Short poem included in A short account, beginning: You're welcome to the blissful shore.

The awful death of a sea captain: His dying warning to his friends and shipmates. Who died with the spotted fever in ...

Poetry. Printed in three columns divided by single lines. Wood-engraving of man at left of title and of devil and angel standing over four gamblers at right. Printed area measures: 26.0 x 18.9 cm. Poem in 41 numbered four-line stanzas. At end of text: Composed by the author of the Mournful song. Author's name not on item, but Shaw wrote A mournful song on the death of the wife and child of Mr. Nathaniel Knights; other broadsides by him were printed in Maine. Not in Shaw & Shoemaker. First line: Good people all, both great and small.