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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.

Henry P. Skinner of Hudson, New York, kept these 4 journals (approximately 6.5" x 8" and 200 pages each) between 1817 and 1824. In brief daily entries, Skinner recorded aspects of his everyday life, including his social activities, church attendance, and household expenses.

Henry P. Skinner of Hudson, New York, kept these 4 journals (approximately 6.5" x 8" and 200 pages each) between 1817 and 1824. Skinner wrote daily journal entries throughout much of his adult life, documenting his everyday experiences and expenses as an artisan and as head of household. He often mentioned his children and his wife Mary, and frequently attended religious services and social events. His occasional travels to New York City via the Hudson River are also briefly documented.

• 1818 July 6. Seeing a military salute to Major General Richard Montgomery as his remains were transported down the Hudson River by steamship (on their way from Quebec to New York City)
• 1818 October 30. Viewing John Trumbull's painting of the Declaration of Independence and a panoramic view of Paris in New York City
• 1822 October 13 and 1823 April 6. Hearing sermons delivered by African American preachers
• 1823 April 7. Seeing a man who was attempting to gradually lighten his skin
• 1824 September 16-17. Seeing Lafayette on his Grand Tour

Skinner recorded daily expenses, which often included food purchases and charitable donations, in the right margin of each page of the journal,. He compiled his total expenses annually, broken down by month. Skinner also recorded methods for preserving eggs, making a wash for plaster and stucco, and varnishing paper.

Nathaniel W. Little kept this journal while traveling to the Northwest Territory with James Kilbourn in August and September 1802. Little recorded his impressions of the scenery in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, modern-day West Virginia, and modern-day Ohio. The volume also contains financial records from Little's later life in Worthington, Ohio.

Nathaniel W. Little kept this 81-page journal while traveling to the Northwest Territory with James Kilbourn in August and September 1802. Little recorded his impressions of the scenery in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, modern-day West Virginia, and modern-day Ohio. The volume also contains financial records from Little's later life in Worthington, Ohio.

Little began his journal after his departure from Blandford, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1802. He first went to Connecticut, where he was joined by James Kilbourne. Little described the scenery as they traveled west by stage, in canoes, and on horseback to parts of the Northwest Territory that are now in the state of Ohio. After they arrived, Little and Kilbourn scouted lands for possible purchase by the Scioto Company, and on one occasion they visited future Ohio governor Thomas Worthington. Little regularly mentioned the names of settlements he passed, and he wrote more extensively about towns such as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he had previously lived, and Chillicothe, Ohio. In his entry of August 28, 1802, he commented on a Native American settlement (pp. 43-44). Little returned to Blandford, Massachusetts, on September 22, 1802, and on October 5, he and Kilbourn went to Granby, Connecticut, to address members of the Scioto Company at Clark's Tavern. Little continued to write brief entries until October 7.

The remaining pages (pp. 81-129) pertain to Little's personal finances. Most of the accounts record individual transactions related to temporary laborers. One group of accounts is dated July-October 1805, and others concern Little's financial relationship with Nathan Stewart.