Collections

The Bowman collection contains financial documents, correspondence, and essays related to the family of Samuel Bowman of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The material reflects financial, legal, and personal affairs of various Bowman family members.

The Bowman collection contains financial documents, correspondence, and essays related to the family of Samuel Bowman of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Two early receipts, dated 1770 and 1771, pertain to the financial affairs of William Ledlie, Captain Samuel Bowman's father-in-law. Other receipts from the 1790s, indicate Bowman's purchase of "twenty Gallons of Whiskey and one Cask," and a transaction involving a horse; one later financial document records an order for schoolbooks in 1809 made by Jacob Morris, a Revolutionary War colonel.

Several legal documents throughout the collection document land holdings of the Bowman family, as well as additional fiscal matters; these include a sworn statement about Ebenezer Bowman's debts (November 10, 1821), a deed for land owned by the estate of Jesse Fell near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania [1831], and a notice of a pending lawsuit against William Ledlie Bowman (February 20, 1837).

The collection also holds personal correspondence, including, among other material, one anonymous, religious letter (May 29, 1797), and an item about local military recruitment efforts (February 4, 1800). Among the additional materials are a celebratory essay written on July 4, 1825; an article about local lawyer Mr. Phillips, addressed to the editor of the Wyoming Herald; and an essay composed "On Nothing."

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.

This collection contains legal and financial documents related to Robert Caldwell and his son Washington, both of Penn Township, Pennsylvania. Material includes indentures and court documents related to Robert Caldwell's land holdings, as well as receipts and court records reflecting Washington's career as a carpenter and, later, his service as a justice of the peace for Allegheny County.

This collection contains legal and financial documents related to Robert Caldwell and his son Washington, of Penn Township, Pennsylvania. The first item is an indenture between Samuel and Margaret Caldwell of Salem, Pennsylvania, and Robert Caldwell, related to the estate of the recently deceased Joseph Harvey (January 24, 1823). The bulk of the material dates from 1840 to 1901, and documents the property interests of Robert Caldwell, as well as the financial and legal affairs of his son. Early items (1840-1872) consist of indentures, court records, and other documents, primarily pertaining to land in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Also included are several early bonds (late 1840s), as well as testimonies from several court cases, including Caldwell's disputes with William and Sophia Whitfield, John P. Schuster et al., George Miller, and Robert M. Callen. A survey map that Caldwell commissioned from E. H. Heastings, shows land along Plum Creek, near Millersville (December 28, 1854).

Later material pertains to the financial and legal affairs of Washington Caldwell, beginning with his assumption of administrative powers over his father's estate (March 25, 1873). Several receipts dated throughout the late 1800s relate to the purchase of carpentry supplies, and a series of court documents from 1899-1900 concern legal cases he presided over while a justice of the peace for the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, particularly wage disputes against Daniel Moore. Other material includes insurance policies from various companies, covering Washington Caldwell's property in Verona, Pennsylvania (1886-1892).

Two broadsides document Robert Caldwell's efforts to arrest a burglar (December 21, 1843), and Washington Caldwell's sale of his deceased father's "Frame Grist and Saw Mill" (January 23, 1875).