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Collection

Journal and Commonplace Book, 1803-1851

1 volume

The anonymous author of this volume (approximately 382 pages) recorded poetry, historical notes, and journal entries throughout much of his adult life. The material concerns topics such as military history, learning foreign languages, proverbs, and travel.

The anonymous author of this volume (approximately 382 pages) recorded poetry, historical notes, and journal entries throughout much of his adult life. The material concerns topics such as military history, learning foreign languages, proverbs, and travel.

A small paper laid into the volume's cover records that the author began keeping notes on October 5, 1803, and other entries are dated as late as December 7, 1851. Much material is copied from other sources, and some poems are recorded in Italian and French. Literary extracts include the following:
  • Boccaccio, Decameron (pp. 26-28a, 32-34a)
  • Byron, "Fare thee well! And if for ever..." (p. 9)
  • Catullus, "Vivamus mea Lesbia, atque amemus" (p. 68)
  • Cicero (p. 55)
  • William Cowper, "The Task" (pp. 23, 118a)
  • Homer, Iliad (p. 117)
  • John Milton, "Tractate on Education" (p. 5)
  • Ossian (p. 85)
  • Shakespeare, Macbeth (122), Timon of Athens (124a)
  • Edward Young, "Night Thoughts" (p. 109)

Some examples from the volume indicate the nature of its contents. It contains notes about learning the Italian language; a timeline of the author's life between 1780 and 1825; and a list of hotels where the author stayed while traveling in Holland, France, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy between July 1, 1816, and August 5, 1820. This list includes the cost of room and board at each hotel or lodging, with comments on the quality of the accommodations. An essay on the Battle of Copenhagen is accompanied by a poem written by a soldier who participated in the battle. Some poetry and other entries are religious in nature, and the author copied several Bible verses. Two essays written in October 1850 and October 1851 share the author's "anticipations" for the coming years, as well as his reflections on past years (pp. 61-62a).

Pagination within the volume is inconsistent, and some of its contents are organized alphabetically by subject, with a partial index appearing on pages 142-150.

Collection

Letters to the Editor of the United Service Journal, 1829-1837

54 items

The collection consists of letters and essays submitted to the editor of the United Service Journal for publication, principally regarding British naval and military matters.

The collection consists of letters and essays submitted to the editor of the United Service Journal for publication, principally regarding British naval and military matters. Topics range from naval architecture, technology, and weaponry, to histories of naval and specific military engagements and defenses of individual persons. The letters also regard such matters as the recovery of the HMS Thetis off the Brazilian coast, charities and education efforts, discipline, piracy, officer promotions, and military mortality in Canada. Several letters reference disagreements over articles published in the United Service Journal.

Collection

Levi M. Carson notebook, 1849-1879 (majority within 1849-1850, 1878-1879)

1 volume

This volume contains medical essays composed at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in 1849 and 1850, as well as drafts of letters composed in 1878 and 1879. Essay topics include examinations of specific cases, information on various ailments, notes on surgical operations, and descriptions of medicines.

This volume (162 pages) contains medical essays composed at the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia in 1849 and 1850, as well as drafts of letters composed in 1878 and 1879. The first 99 pages consist of medical notes and essays written during Carson's final year studying medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, including reports on medical cases, information on ailments and medicines, and notes concerning surgical operations. Essays on ailments and medicines (pages 100-159) focus on symptoms and relief, and include several based on particular types of medicines, such as diuretics and expectorants. Other essays examine the effects of the medicines on the body. The volume also contains medicinal recipes (pp. 160-161). Several doctors are mentioned, including H. S. Patterson, Joseph Carson, G[eorge] B. Wood, and Henry H. Smith. The medical content dates from March 15, 1849, to January 1850, and covers most of the volume's odd-numbered pages, with additional content appearing on some even-numbered pages, including several rough sketches of generic human figures that appear on the inside of both covers and throughout the book, and a series of indexes of miscellaneous words. Some additional items are signatures for residents of several towns in New York, a poem entitled "Buccaneer Bride" (p. 42), recipes for breakfast rolls and doughnuts (pp. 46, 48), household accounts for decorative items, and drafts of letters. Of the letters, one is signed by Grace Burton of Millport, New York. Addie A. McCurdy, also of Millport, New York, occasionally signed her name on some of the even-numbered pages.

Collection

Louisiana Surveys collection, 1782-1803

101 items

This collection contains around 100 land surveys pertaining to property along the southern Mississippi River in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

This collection contains around 100 land surveys with maps pertaining to property along the southern Mississippi River in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Many of the items are signed by William Dunbar, Valentine Layssard, and Carlos Trudeau, surveyors under the Spanish government in West Florida and Louisiana. The collection contains petitions, grants, and other documents, many of which are in French or Spanish. The lands fell under the jurisdiction of several administrative districts, including Natchez, Baton Rouge, Feliciana, Rapides, San Bernardo, and Galveston.

Collection

Maine account book, 1818-1824

1 volume

An unidentified tradesperson, possibly a cooper or blacksmith within the area of Washington County, Maine, kept this account book between 1818 and 1824. They document debts and credits with several members of the community. Customers' debts included services (mending rakes, pails, and tubs, making tubs, and making a delivery) as well as goods (flax seed, various grains, leather, churns, and tubs). The accounts also record credits, often in the form of bartered services and goods such as chopping acres, setting shoes, making a chisel, and hay and corn. One sheet of paper is laid into the volume, recording births and marriages in Nathaniel C. Kelly and Abigail Kelly's family.

An unidentified tradesperson, possibly a cooper or blacksmith within the area of Washington County, Maine, kept this account book between 1818 and 1824. They document debts and credits with several members of the community. Debts included services (mending rakes, pails, and tubs, making tubs, and making a delivery) as well as goods (flax seed, various grains, leather, churns, and tubs). The accounts also record credits, often in the form of bartered services and goods such as chopping acres, setting shoes, making a chisel, and hay and corn. One sheet of paper is laid into the volume, recording births and marriages in Nathaniel C. Kelly and Abigail Kelly's family.

Collection

Maine account book, 1818-1824

1 volume

An unidentified tradesperson, possibly a cooper or blacksmith within the area of Washington County, Maine, kept this account book between 1818 and 1824. They document debts and credits with several members of the community. Customers' debts included services (mending rakes, pails, and tubs, making tubs, and making a delivery) as well as goods (flax seed, various grains, leather, churns, and tubs). The accounts also record credits, often in the form of bartered services and goods such as chopping acres, setting shoes, making a chisel, and hay and corn. One sheet of paper is laid into the volume, recording births and marriages in Nathaniel C. Kelly and Abigail Kelly's family.

An unidentified tradesperson, possibly a cooper or blacksmith within the area of Washington County, Maine, kept this account book between 1818 and 1824. They document debts and credits with several members of the community. Debts included services (mending rakes, pails, and tubs, making tubs, and making a delivery) as well as goods (flax seed, various grains, leather, churns, and tubs). The accounts also record credits, often in the form of bartered services and goods such as chopping acres, setting shoes, making a chisel, and hay and corn. One sheet of paper is laid into the volume, recording births and marriages in Nathaniel C. Kelly and Abigail Kelly's family.

Collection

Manuscript Sheet Music collection, 1801-1923 (majority within 1850s-1890s)

0.25 linear feet

The Manuscript Sheet Music collection is made up of manuscript music scores, correspondence, and composers' autographs.

The Manuscript Sheet Music collection (approximately 140 items) contains manuscript music scores and composers' autographs, as well as correspondence and other items.

The bulk of the collection is comprised of around 80 music scores, which range in length from one line to several pages; some are complete works, and some are fragments. Most of the brief melodies are accompanied by the composers' signatures and may have been intended as autograph gifts. The longer works are mainly piano and/or vocal scores, and some include lines for violin with piano accompaniment. Lyrics, when present, are written in English and German. Some of the scores are dated and signed, and a few were written in German cities. The cover of the score for "Barcarola" includes an engraving of "The Great Western crossing the Atlantic," and Harry Keyser's "Two Etudes for Pianoforte" is accompanied by a letter by the composer. A manuscript music book belonging to "Th. Hämb, Junior" contains several short pieces with lyrics in a Nordic language.

Additional autographed items include 25 autograph cards, 8 autograph musical quotations, 10 sheets of paper (some with inscriptions), and a photograph of violinist A. Rivarde. Many of the autographed cards, which are the size of business cards or visiting cards, are dated at Chicago in the mid- to late 1880s. The collection's 8 letters (in English, German, and Italian) include one man's opinion of a performance of "Wanda" and a letter illustrated with lines of music. Additional items are a program for a Manchester, New Hampshire, performance of the comic opera Jonah, an ink drawing of a decaying stone building, and lines of poetry or musical lyrics.

Collection

Marblehead (Mass.) legal and financial documents, 1730-1812

27 items

This collection is made up of 27 legal documents and financial records pertaining to residents of Marblehead, Massachusetts, between 1730 and 1812.

This collection is made up of 27 partially printed legal documents and financial records pertaining to residents of Marblehead, Massachusetts, between 1730 and 1812. Sixteen items are statements of monthly and annual taxes that individual Marblehead residents owed between 1780 and 1812; most are addressed to Benjamin Lancey (or Lansey). The remaining items pertain to financial agreements, real property ownership and sales, and shipping. Two indentures concern the division of large residential buildings and provide detailed information about the rooms and passages belonging to each owner. One financial document relates to the town's fishing industry, and two relate to the schooner Sally: a bill of sale and an insurance policy.

Additional legal documents include an appointment of guardianship and a plaintiff's bill for legal costs incurred during a case in the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the Middle Circuit.

Collection

Mélange de Toutes les Couleurs Propres au Dessein du Plan manuscript, [1750-1800]

32 pages

This 32-page manuscript notebook, dated to the second half of the eighteenth century, is an instruction manual for the systematic use of color in mapmaking. Though the writer and exact date of publication are unknown, it is assumed that the writer was a master mapmaker and that this notebook was meant to be distributed to students who were learning how to make maps. An English translation of the notebook is published in "Coloring Manuscript Maps in the Eighteenth Century," Clements Library Occasional Bulletin 4 (January 2017): 5-11.

This 32-page manuscript notebook, dated to the second half of the eighteenth century, is an instruction manual on the systematic use of color in mapmaking. Though the writer and exact date of publication are unknown, it is assumed that the writer was a master mapmaker and that this notebook was meant to be distributed to students who were learning how to make maps. An English translation of the notebook is published in "Coloring Manuscript Maps in the Eighteenth Century," Clements Library Occasional Bulletin 4 (January 2017): 5-11.

The writer begins by explaining the process that one should follow when preparing and using colors for a map. After the writer explains how to mix colors, they offer detailed notes about the use of eight main colors; a palette of those colors is found on page three of the manuscript. Throughout the rest of the manuscript, the writer explains how to mix colors and correctly render features like cultivated lands, meadows, pastures, woods, vineyards, mountains, trees, hedges, rocks, quarries, sand, and rivers. Interspersed throughout the manuscript is the writer's observations about common mapmaking mistakes and diagrams illustrating different techniques.

Collection

Morris County (N.J.) Woman's collection, 1815-1820

1 volume

This collection is made up of diary entries, letters, and prayers by a woman who lived in Morris County, New Jersey, in the early 19th century. She discussed her religious convictions and activities, her social activities, and daily life. Internal evidence suggests that the materials may have belonged to Abigail Harrison.

This collection is made up of 90 pages of diary entries, letters, and prayers written by a woman who lived in Morris County, New Jersey, between December 25, 1815, and January 1, 1820. She discussed her religious convictions and activities, her social activities, and daily life.

The collection includes 3 diaries (67 pages). The first has paper covers with engraved illustrations and a multiplication table. The author wrote about her Christian faith, particularly with respect to good and evil and deliverance from sin. Her religious activities included reading the Bible and published sermons, attending church services, and attending prayer meetings. A few entries contain personal reflections on the death of the author's husband (January 1, 1819, pages 31-32) and her conversion to Christianity (June 27, 1819, page 66, and others).

The diary entries occasionally refer to missionary work; one entry mentions an extract from the Boston Recorder about a schoolteacher working with Native Americans in the west (January 4, 1819, page 36). The journal includes two religious poems (pages 12-13 and 21), one of which is attributed to Mrs. Isabella Graham. Additional manuscripts include one letter addressed to a sister and several prayers.