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This school book contains essays, poetry, penmanship exercises, maps, and mathematical problems composed by Ausben W. Dech of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, during his time at Bethlehem's Moravian Day School. Many of the maps are accompanied by brief essays. Three poems and one essay are written in German.

This school book contains 89 pages of essays, poetry, penmanship exercises, maps, and mathematical problems that Ausben W. Dech composed between December 2, 1858, and March 4, 1860, while he attended the Moravian Day School in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Dech drew 33 maps of individual states, regions of the United States, and foreign countries. Many of his earlier maps include rivers, though unlabeled, and most of the later examples indicate the presence of mountains. Several state maps are accompanied by brief essays, often describing the primary natural resources or the state's history. Maps of Maine, France, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut are accompanied by pencil sketches of houses and ships. For a complete list of maps, see Additional Descriptive Data below.

Most early entries consist of essays and penmanship exercises, though Dech also wrote and copied poetry and worked out mathematical problems. One poem, entitled "An Indian's Gratitude," is attributed to "McLellan" (most likely New England author and poet Isaac McLellan (1806-1899)) and four entries are in German, including one essay and three poems. A small cross-stitched token reading "A token of love" is laid in between pages 56 and 57.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, school essays, ephemera, and other materials related to the family and descendants of Maskell Ewing of Radnor, Pennsylvania. The bulk relates to Maskell Ewing and his son, Maskell Cochran Ewing.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, school essays, ephemera, and other materials related to the family and descendants of Maskell Ewing of Radnor, Pennsylvania. The bulk relates to Maskell Ewing and his son, Maskell Cochran Ewing.

The Ewing family correspondence dates between 1784 and 1937, though the bulk falls between 1789 and 1845, with later groups dating from the Civil War and the mid-20th century. The earliest items include letters from Elinor Gardiner Hunter to her son James, written in the late 18th century, and incoming correspondence addressed to Maskell Ewing (1758-1825), often related to his financial affairs. Throughout the 1820s, Maskell Cochran Ewing (1806-1849) received letters from his mother and sisters while he studied at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. These letters reflect his military education and document women's lives in rural Pennsylvania in the early 1800s. Maskell Cochran Ewing occasionally wrote letters from the academy, and received letters from former classmates in the years immediately following his graduation. Several letters addressed to Maskell Cochran Ewing date from the Civil War.

The Ewing family's diaries, journals, school books, and a sketchbook primarily belonged to Maskell Cochran Ewing and James Hunter Ewing. One of Maskell Cochran's journals contains notes from a surveying expedition for the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal (1828). James Hunter Ewing composed 3 journals during the Civil War era.

Legal and financial documents comprise the bulk of the collection, with much of the material relating to the financial, legal, and real estate affairs of Maskell Ewing, with some items concerning Maskell Cochran Ewing's military career. Maskell Cochran Ewing kept a series of account books in 1859, intended for student use. Also of note is a set of United States debt certificates for goods seized for use by the Continental Army between 1780 and 1783. Bonds, receipts, financial records, and legal documents related to specific disputes also appear in the collection.

The Ewing family papers also include essays on many different topics, a manuscript map of West Point, and ephemera postcards, photographs, printed materials, and calling cards.