Collections

The Edwin F. Belden friendship album contains autographs (sometimes accompanied by poems or other inscriptions), newspaper clippings, and biographical notes by and related to New York politicians, Civil War soldiers, and other individuals. Photographs are also included.

The Edwin F. Belden friendship album (25cm x 18cm, 141 pages) contains autographs (sometimes accompanied by poems or other inscriptions), newspaper clippings, and biographical notes by and related to New York politicians, Civil War soldiers, and other individuals. Included are 112 salted paper and 3 albumen photographic portraits. The album has a hard cover with Belden's name and a decorative border stamped in gold on the front. Plates on the inside of the front and back covers feature a patriotic eagle and banner with the slogan "The Federal Union it must be preserved" and of a building used as "Republican Head Quarters" in 1860.

The first 37 pages contain signatures from members of the New York State Assembly, where Belden was a messenger in the early 1850s. Some politicians accompanied their signatures with brief personal message for Belden, often including well wishes and advice. Many signers recorded the name of the district they represented, and most dated their contributions April 16, and 17, 1851. This section of the album is followed by other autographs that Belden solicited in the mid-1850s, as well as an endorsement from his employers Lemuel Jenkins and C. Ten Broeck (November 22, 1852, p. 41).

The remaining contents, dated 1860-1866, are comprised of small photographic portraits, brief biographical notes, inscriptions, autographs, and newspaper clippings related to a variety of individuals, including many men who served in the Civil War. One page of individual full-length portraits represents members of the Albany Zouave Cadets with military equipment and musical instruments. Belden labeled most of the photographs and often included notes about the subjects' dates of death. Several entries include copied correspondence, inscriptions and autographs, and obituaries or other news articles. Contributors included former New York Governors Washington Hunt and John A. King; General William Tecumseh Sherman; and Samuel Streeter, a former delegate representing Albany at The Colored Men's Convention of 1840 (also pictured, October 30, 1860, p. 63). A letter from William F. Russell, a former member of the state legislature, is laid into the volume after the autographs (April 19, 1886).

The Huntington family papers are a collection of letters from the children of Cyrus Huntington of Watertown, New York, between 1845 and 1886. The collection contains 7 Civil War era letters, written by Hiram Huntington of Co. G of the 94th New York Regiment, in which he discussed his experiences in Washington and Virginia and expressed his opinions on the state of the war.

The Huntington family papers contain 83 letters, written between 1845 and 1886, mainly by the children of Cyrus Huntington, and 4 undated newspaper clippings. The earliest item is a document assigning Cyrus T. Huntington, the marshal of election in district no. 2 in Watertown, New York, the responsibility of taking the "census or enumeration of the inhabitants" of the town in 1845. The next six letters are from Charles S. Huntington in Lee Center, Illinois, addressed to his parents and sister Eliza. He writes of his health and his work on his family farm, and news of mutual family, friends, and acquaintances. Hiram's letters begin in 1855, when he left home to attend the Fairfield Seminary in Fairfield, New York. Hiram's 10 pre-war letters to family and friends largely concern family news and his life at school.

Several other pre-war letters are from Eliza to her brothers, and from John, who lives in Black River, New York, a small town close to Watertown, to his parents and friends. One notable item is a constitution of the Fairfield Union Guards, organized in May 11, 1861. No Huntington names, however, appear on the list.

The collection holds 7 Civil War era letters from Hiram, writing from Co. G of the 94th New York Regiment, including 2 undated letters. In these he described his war experiences in Washington and Virginia, and shared his opinions on the state of the war. On July 24, 1862, Hiram wrote "I think that placing Gen. Pope in his position was the very best thing that could be done, McDowell's imbecility or intended Backwardness has been a serious drawback upon the war." In his letter from November 14, 1862, he mentioned that General Tower was wounded at Bull Run and lamented that

"Gen McClellan took his leave of us. I think that if there had been any one to start the thing the whole corps would have lain down their arms. As it was the thing was Much talked of[.] little Mack as McClellan is called is the Man we want to fight under. & no one who has not been in on a battle can estimate the advantage of giving Men a leader in whom they can have confidence. In McL that Confidence was unbounded."

Hiram's final letter is dated November 22, 1862.

The remainder of the collection consists of letters written to family members still residing in Watertown, New York, between 1862 and 1886. These include 5 letters from John, who by 1878 is living in Mexico, New York; three letters addressed to John; three letters from Charles, who is living in Liverpool, New York; and one letter from brother Henry.

The collection also contains 4 undated newspaper clippings including a Watertown obituary for Dr. Isaac Munson and poems entitled "Come," "Railroad Matters," and Dash Down the Wine Cup."

The Huntington family papers have two items with illustrations: a letter from September 28, 1855, contains a large letterhead engraving depicting a pastoral view of Fairfield Seminary, and a letter from July 13, 1862, contains a patriotic letterhead in red and blue depicting an eagle raising a flag with the inscription "Not a Star Must Fall."

The Joseph Hooker Collection is comprised of 22 letters dating from May 10, 1862, to February 12, 1865. They describe Hooker's involvement in the Peninsula Campaign and the Western Theater. Additionally, this collection covers Hooker's leave from the army in Watertown, New York (September 1864), and administrative duty in Cincinnati, Ohio (1864-1865). Roughly half of the letters are addressed to Dr. Bela Nettleton Stevens, a physician at the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D. C.

Of twenty-two letters, nineteen were authored by Hooker. U.S. Senator of New Jersey John Conover Ten Eyck wrote the remaining three. Hooker sought Ten Eyck's help with repairing his reputation after the Battle of Williamsburg in May 1862.

The collection contains official battle reports, including two letters to Chauncey McKeever, one a report on the Battle of Williamsburg, and a report on the Battle of Fair Oaks. The collection includes one letter to L. Sherman and one to Samuel Wylie Crawford. Three letters to William Denison Whipple contain reports on Mill Gap and the Battle of Kolb's Farm.

A majority of the letters are of a personal nature, including one to William Pitt Fessenden and ten letters addressed to Dr. Bela N. Stevens, a physician at the Government Hospital for the Insane in Washington, D.C.

The Warner papers consist of letters relating to the Warner family including Michael Warner III's Civil War service.

The main interest in the Warner papers is likely to be found in one of two sets of documents. The first concerns the Civil War experiences of Michael Warner III. While only a few individual letters are interesting in themselves (most being filled with routine requests for food or other goods), the letters concerning Warner while he was missing in action are, as a group, the highlight. These letters underscore the confusion of battle and the organizational difficulties inherent in any military campaign, and the many conflicting interpretations of the battlefield fate of Warner are an interesting commentary on the Union army's ability to deal with MIAs.

Of secondary interest are a series of 10 letters concerning a dispute over a fence constructed on the Warners' land by Frederick Dawson. The remarkable aspect of these letters is that the argument over the placement of the fence was protracted over 20 years even though both parties agreed the fence was illegally placed. Dawson's underhanded intransigence in the matter, and Warner's increasing level of frustration is almost comical.

Other non-war material includes a few interesting letters written by friends to Michael Warner, Jr., while he was at college (c.1812-1816), family documents, and some photographs of the Warner (?) home in Maryland probably taken during the 1890's.

The Newell family papers show what life was like in a small New York town in the mid-1860s and detail Albert Newell's entrepreneurial ventures into the oil and cotton trades. The heart of the Newell family papers consists of 41 letters written by Arthur W. and Cornelia E. Newell to their son George Newell during his first two years at Yale.

The Newell family papers show what life was like in a small New York town in the mid-1860s and detail Albert Newell's entrepreneurial ventures into the oil and cotton trades. The heart of the Newell family papers consists of 41 letters written by Arthur W. and Cornelia E. Newell to their son George Newell during his first two years at Yale. Most were written from the family home in Medina, New York. Both Arthur and Cornelia included news of local people's movements and sicknesses, of events, and the effects of the weather on the crops. They frequently mentioned trips to nearby Lockport, Middleport and Ridgeway, often for cultural or religious activities. The Newells' letters also recounted longer trips to Chicago for the nomination of Lincoln on the Republican ticket in 1860, to the Armory in Springfield, Mass., and to the Grand Review of the Army of the Potomac in Washington in May 1865.

There are no letters from George to his parents, but some information about his university years can be inferred from the letters they wrote to him. They both lectured him about being an upstanding young gentleman, exhorting him to "choose virtue as your Goddess..." and to "beware of all evil". As a freshman he joined a fraternity without having to undergo too many trials. During the winter of 1865-66 he hurt his ankle severely enough to necessitate the use of a crutch for several months. He first lived in a private home at 30 High Street but moved to college rooms his sophomore year. Arthur's investments meant that the Newells were often cash poor, however, they were still able to send George over $970.00 during his first two years of college. Yale tuition at the time was less than $25.00 per term. Almost all of George's tuition bills are included in this collection, along with a "promise to pay" signed by his father.

There are five letters written to George Newell in the 1880s and 1900. As an older man, he evidently developed an interest in his family history, and there are two letters from a second cousin concerning their great grandfather Thomas Steadman. Colonel Edwin Franklin Brown of the 28th New York Infantry wrote George a marvelous letter recounting the involvement of his father, Jeremiah Brown, in the "Morgan Affair". In 1826 the Masons of the Batavia Lodge were accused of murdering Capt. William A. Morgan for divulging secrets of the society. Jeremiah Brown was charged with complicity in the abduction of Morgan, went into hiding, was tried at Lockport and acquitted by Judge William S. Marcy (who went on to serve as governor 1833-1838). This event catalyzed the Anti-Masonic movement, led by Thurlow Weed, and Brown related some of the repercussions felt by his family.

The collection also includes three earlier Newell family documents. The oldest is a small copybook, inscribed, "Samuel Newell his book 1734". It evidently passed from generation to generation of Newells and contains genealogical information and some accounts; dates span from 1726 to 1823. According to the copybook, Solomon Newell married Sally Steadman in 1807. The two letters from George's second cousin G. W. Pierce suggest that her father was Thomas Steadman, a Revolutionary War soldier from Connecticut. Pierce refers to Thomas Steadman as "your [George's] Grandmother's Father", offering further evidence that Arthur was the son of Solomon and Sally (Steadman) Newell. The other two documents are early nineteenth century deeds. One, from Damaris Newell, gave his son Solomon Newell land on Center Hill in Barkhamsted, Litchfield County, Conn. The second, signed by Grandison Newell, gave Solomon a portion of a house and barn, also on Center Hill. The rest of the collection is comprised of a variety of miscellaneous documents relating to the life of George Newell, including Yale tuition bills, a bill from the photographer, George K. Warren, a stock certificate issued by the Medina & Alabama Plank Road Company, a mortgage, two checks drawn from a Union Bank of Medina account and a clipping from the Medina Tribune.

This collection is made up of correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, and realia related to the family of Universalist Rev. James Shrigley of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The collection spans 1761 to 1955, with the bulk of the materials covering the lives of Rev. James Shrigley (1813-1905) and his son James Burley Shrigley (1846-1914).

The Shrigley family papers are divided into four series: Correspondence and Documents; Diaries, School Books, and Scrapbooks; Photographs and Watercolor Illustration; and Realia. The collection spans 1761 to 1955, with the bulk of the materials covering the lives of James Shrigley and James Burley Shrigley.

The Correspondence and Documents series is divided into two sub-series: Family correspondence and documents, and financial records.

The Shrigley family correspondence and documents subseries contains letters from George S. White, Margaret Shrigley, and James B. Shrigley. James B. Shrigley and Ella G. Oler's marriage certificate and license are present. The items in this subseries were found in a portable writing desk, described below. The Financial records subseries is comprised of receipts and warrant deeds for Corlienus DeHart. DeHart's connection with the Shrigley family has not been determined. Two family account books date from 1764 to 1787 and 1803 to 1811.

The Diaries, School Books, and Scrapbooks series contains seven bound volumes. Three journals by James Burley Shrigley date from 1859-1864, while he was a teenager in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The third volume contains several watercolor illustrations, including one of a US steamer Monitor-inspired hat. The collection includes two scrapbooks compiled by James B. Shrigley and Arthur Shrigley. James's scrapbook contains a biography of his father Reverend James Shrigley and several signed letters and clipped autographs of prominent public individuals, such as P. T. Barnum and Daniel Webster. Arthur's scrapbook contains holiday-themed newspaper clippings.

The Photographs series contains images of multiple members of the Shrigley family and scenes of Frankford, Pennsylvania. Among the photographs are cabinet cards of Reverend James Shrigley and Mary Shrigley, and stereograph cards of Frankford, Pennsylvania, in 1875. The series includes ten photographs that were removed from their frames; three of the frames (original to the photographs) were retained and are filed in the Realia series.

The Realia series contains a portable writing desk, a leather pouch, and three frames. The items in the family correspondence and documents series above were found within the portable writing desk. The owner of the desk has not been determined. The three frames were original to three photographs described in the photographs series.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, Uriah Lee's discharge papers, and a photograph.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items (1850-1912) related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, and Uriah Lee's discharge papers.

The Correspondence series (32 items) contains 27 letters that Uriah Lee wrote to his family while serving in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. Lee provided details about his daily life as a soldier, and discussed soldiers' attitudes toward officers, food, and clothing; encounters with former slaves; the weather; and political issues. He also mentioned specific battles, and his letter of May 18, 1863, includes a hand-drawn map of his company's route from New Berne, North Carolina, to Washington, D. C. Leonard Lee wrote 3 letters during his Civil War military service, and discussed similar topics. In his postwar letters, Uriah Lee offered advice to his younger siblings and discussed family affairs. Anne Lee wrote a letter to Lyman Lee in which she recounted the events surrounding the death of a man named Edward, and Chauncey received an unsigned letter about his wife Eva's visit to the writer.

Elizabeth Lee kept 3 Diaries between July 1851 and November 1878, concerning her thoughts and activities as a wife and mother. Among other topics, she discussed housework, the weather, her family, social engagements, and religion. Most of her entries are brief lines about the weather and the housework she was able to finish, with details of church meetings provided every few days.

The Documents, Poetry, and Miscellaneous series is comprised of 5 items. Fanny Hosier wrote Uriah Lee a poem that reflected positively on Southern rights and secession. Uriah Lee's military discharge papers from 1863 and 1865 are also included. A piece of ephemera illustrates 4 badges of the Grand Army of the Republic.