In 1836, Henry Harmon and Eliza Hart Spalding, under appointment by the
American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) to the Osage
Indians, met Marcus Whitman and were persuaded to go to the Northwest as
Presbyterian missionaries. The Spaldings and Whitmans made a hazardous six
months journey, the wives being the first white women to cross the Rocky
Mountains. The Spaldings established a mission among the Nez Percé in the
Lapwai Valley (present Idaho). They opened a school, set up the first
printing press in the Northwest, and trained the Indians in farming. In 1847,
they escaped the massacre which claimed the lives of the Whitmans. The
collection consists of eight original letters by Henry and Eliza Spalding to
family members. View the
collection
guide to learn more.
Featured
image: Portrait of Henry Harmon Spalding by Matthew Brady, 1871.