In 1897, Havelock Ellis and John Addington Symonds published Sexual Inversion, among the first scientific books written about LGBTQ+ individuals. Within it, LGBTQ+ experiences were explored through case studies. These were presented as natural expressions of the human experience, rather than as disorders in need of medical intervention or as moral failings. While many aspects of this book are dated and problematic, the appendix is of interest.
Within the appendix of the book, an anonymous letter is provided, the author referring to themselves only as Professor X. Professor X is introduced as an “American of eminence, who holds a scientific professorship in one of the first universities of the world” and it is stated that the letter is “the farthest point to which the defense of sexual inversion has gone, or, indeed, could go, unless anyone were bold enough to assert that homosexuality is the only normal impulse, and heterosexual love a perversion.”1
All too often queerness has been omitted from the historical record. It has been confined to rumors, speculation over roommates and close friends, to notes in the margins. This letter exemplifies the presence of and the passion for the LGBTQ+ community, even prior to the 20th century.
Some extractions from Professor X’s letter are included here:
I have considered and inquired into this question for many years; and it has long been my settled conviction that no breach of morality is involved in homosexual love; that, like every other passion, it tends, when duly understood and controlled by spiritual feeling, to the physical and moral health of the individual and the race…
we ought to think and speak of homosexual love, not as ‘inverted’ or ‘abnormal… but as being in itself a natural, pure, and sound passion, as worthy of the reverence of all fine natures as the honorable devotion of husband and wife, or the ardor of bride and groom.2
Scholars generally agree that Professor X was a man named James Mills Peirce, the first being Johnathan Katz, who argued that James Mills Peirce was Professor X in Gay American History published in 1976.3 Later, Hubert Kennedy published multiple articles regarding the life of James Mills Peirce. In his 1978 article “The Case for James Mills Peirce,” Kennedy traces the various evidence for authorship, citing correspondence from John Addington Symonds, among others. He concluded that the most likely candidate for ‘Professor X’ was James Mills Peirce.
James Mills Peirce was born in 1834 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father was Benjamin Peirce (1809-1880) and his mother was Sarah Hunt Mills (1808-1887). His family was heavily involved in Harvard faculty and the world of academia; his father held a professorship, as did his brother, Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914).
Photograph of James Mills Peirce c. 1899
The Private Journal, Volume Third [of] James Mills Peirce, 1849-1850 is available in a digitized format through Harvard University Archives. It spans just over a year of his time at Harvard University from 1849 to 1850. Throughout it, James mentions a friend, Frank. The early pages of the diary discuss an intense friendship, and a longing to become closer. “How could I have ever felt any jealousy of Frank??? am more in love with him than ever.”4 On his birthday, James discusses his hopes for the year to come:
How many things have happened since my last birthday! I wonder if as many more will happen before my next. One thing I hope will continue the same, & that is the friendship between Frank and me. Nor do I wish that to remain the same, but to increase a hundred-fold.4
From the Private Journal, Volume Third [of] James Mills Peirce, 1849-18506
While James never (explicitly) states that he feels romantically for Frank, I think many can recognize the unnamed and unknown yearning felt by a young person beginning to understand themselves, particularly when their feelings do not fit into a model accepted by society.
James graduated from Harvard College in 1853. He later held prominent positions at Harvard University, including Professor of Mathematics, Dean of Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and Dean of Faculty for Arts and Sciences. His time as a faculty member at Harvard spanned nearly 50 years. He was an authority on quaternions, an author of textbooks, and a contributor to papers.
Outside of academia, we know that he was a lover of the theater, which was reflected in his early journal entries and demonstrated in his Hasty Pudding membership. His obituary lists some of his club affiliations, including the St Botolph Club, a private gentleman’s club founded in 1880. It consisted of artistically inclined individuals and still exists today. He also was a member of the Shelley Society of Boston, the Player’s Club, and the Harvard Club of New York.7
James never married and had no children. He maintained a permanent residence in Cambridge for the entirety of his life, though documents such as passports tell us that he spent time in Europe.8 Census records tell us that he lived on or very near the Harvard campus after graduating and is listed as living with family at some points, and other times just with servants.9
James died in 1906 at the age of 71. His obituary details: “Professor Peirce, though known as a student of higher mathematics to the world in general, was a patron of the arts, being a great lover of poetry and the theatre. He was an omnivorous reader of the poetry and literature of all races.”10
James Mills Peirce remained anonymous as Professor X, as the time in which he lived would not have permitted such openness. Despite this anonymity he formed his own community through clubs, art, literature, and travel. His contributions to Harvard University have lasting impact, as does his position as a figure in LGBTQ+ history.
Sources
[1] Havelock Ellis, Sexual Inversion (Philadelphia, Penn.: F. A. Davis Company, 1897), 240.
[2] Ellis, Sexual Inversion, 240, 242.
[3] Hubert Kennedy, Six Articles on James Mills Peirce (Peremptory Publications, 2003), p. 4.
[4] Private Journal, Volume Third [of] James Mills Peirce, 1849-1850, James Mills Peirce, 1849-1850, HUM 421, Harvard University Archives, Harvard University, p. 5.
[5] Private Journal, James Mills Peirce, . p. 6.
[6] Private Journal, James Mills Peirce, p. 20.
[7] “Professor James Mills Peirce,” Boston Evening Transcript, 21 March, 1906, Newspapers.com, p. 4.
[8] James Mills Peirce, U.S., Passport Applications, 1795-1925, Ancestry.com, Original data: The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC, USA; Emergency Passport Applications (Issued Abroad), 1877-1907, image 297.
[9] 1865 State Census, Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Mass., image 18, household of Harriet Mills, Ancestry.com.; 1900 United States Census, Cambridge, Middlesex Co., Mass., image 9, household of James M Peirce, Ancestry.com.
[10] “Professor James Mills Peirce,” Boston Evening Transcript, 21 March, 1906, Newspapers.com, p. 4.
