Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection is primarily made up of letters that Joseph Stokes received while attending the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the early 1840s. His parents, Nathaniel Newlin and Nancy Evans Stokes, wrote most of the letters, though he also corresponded with aunts, cousins, and friends. Most items pertain to family news from Westfield, New Jersey, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

This collection is primarily made up of letters that Joseph Stokes received while attending the Westtown School in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the early 1840s. His parents, N. N. (Nathaniel Newlin) and N. E. (Nancy Evans) Stokes, wrote most of the letters from their home in Westfield, New Jersey; N. N. Stokes also wrote from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After 1842, some of the letters are addressed to both Joseph and John Stokes; one undated item is addressed to Anna Stokes, who also attended the Westtown School.

The Stokes family letters largely concern personal news of family members and friends, including members of the Stokes, Bispham, Lippincott, and Sharpless families, some of whom lived in Moorestown, New Jersey. They reported on the state of their farm in Westfield, where they raised cattle and hogs, and grew wheat, oats, potatoes, and corn. Some of the letters contain academic advice for Joseph and, later, his brother John. As the eldest of his siblings, the parents encouraged Joseph to set a good example; they once chastised John for the content of a previous letter (February 16, 1844). The letter of January 28, 1842, includes a description of a recent episode in which several members of the Stokes family fainted as a result of a gas leak in their stove. Joseph's aunts, cousins, and friends wrote similar letters, requesting news of his time at school and discussing their lives in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; one cousin reported on his pet pigeons and squirrel. Some of Joseph's friends reminisced about their time at Westtown School.

This collection is made up of two volumes containing book containing essays and poetry composed by Henry Dickinson, as well as a register of boys and girls who attended the Westtown ("Weston") School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, between 1799 and 1805. The first volume is made up of undated essays and poetry often relate to religious topics, and the second volume is a friendship album of poetry and extracts, copied and addressed to Dickinson from his Weston School classmates between 1805 and 1806.

This collection is made up of two volumes containing book containing essays and poetry composed by Henry Dickinson, as well as a register of boys and girls who attended the Westtown ("Weston") School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, between 1799 and 1805. The first volume is made up of undated essays and poetry often relate to religious topics, and the second volume is a friendship album of poetry and extracts, copied and addressed to Dickinson from his West-Town Boarding School classmates between 1805 and 1806.

Volume 1 contains undated essays and poetry composed by Henry Dickinson, as well as a register of boys and girls who attended the Westtown ("Weston") School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, between 1799 and 1805.

The first section (21 pages), entitled "Henry Dickinson's Piece Book," contains essays, epigrams, and poetic excerpts, often dealing with religious topics. One essay, entitled "Carianers," examines the native people of the Ava Kingdom, in what is now Myanmar (Burma).

The remainder of the book, beginning from the opposite cover, is labeled "Henry Dickinson's Book" and consists of ledgers of female and male students admitted to the Westtown School between 1799 and 1805. This register is divided by gender, and covers approximately 500 female students (31 pages) and 430 male students (23 pages). Each name is accompanied by the individual's student number, age, parents' names, and place of residence. Henry Dickinson is listed as number 329 in the list of male students. Most of the students came from the area around Philadelphia, and several came from Wilmington, Delaware. Near the end, both ledgers have several skipped or incomplete entries.

Volume 2 contains around 20 poems and extracts of poems copied by Henry Dickinson's classmates at Weston/West-Town/Westtown Boarding School between 1805 and 1806. The extracts are predominantly religious in nature, including, for example, excerpt from Edward Young's poetry on hope, Isaac Watts' Excellency of the Bible, Henry Baker's The Universe, and many others. Each copyist is identified after their contribution.