Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains 2 letters and 1 account book related to the family of Frederick Shinckle, a leather worker who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the turn of the 19th century. The letters concern his son Frederick's travels and his daughter-in-law Margaret's financial difficulties. The account book records the finances of his estate following the elder Frederick's death in 1810.

This collection contains 2 letters (3 pages) and 1 account book (15 pages) related to the family of Frederick Shinckle, a leather worker who lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the turn of the 19th century. The letters concern his son Frederick's travels and his daughter-in-law Margaret's financial difficulties. The account book records the finances of the elder Frederick's estate following his death in 1810.

Frederick Shinckle, Jr., wrote a letter to his parents, Frederick and Salome Shinckle, from New York on December 4, 1789, in which he briefly discussed a 5-day voyage to New York and alluded to some financial difficulties. He reported North Carolina's adoption of the United States Constitution by a margin of 18 votes. His wife Margaret wrote to her father-in-law on May 12, 1790, from Philadelphia. She reacted negatively to his request that she move her belongings to a different room in his home and described her destitution and other difficulties she and her children suffered when her husband was separated from them.

An unknown executor compiled an account book respecting the financial affairs of Frederick Shinckle's estate after his death in April 1810. The volume has two overlapping sections: the first contains accounts dated May 4, 1810-January 27, 1819; the second, titled "Account of Vents appertaining to Estate of F. Shinckle," contains accounts dated April 10, 1812-March 11, 1817. Shinckle's estate paid a regular remittance to his widow, to taxes, and to repair-related fees, among other expenses. The estate received payments from banks, bonds, "Louisiana stock," and individual debtors. A 2-page item containing 4 columns of similar financial records is laid into the volume.

The Shadrach Allard papers consist primarily of business correspondence addressed to Allard by Henry Charlesworth, regarding their business carving gravestones and memorial markers. Additionally, the collection contains a receipt book kept by Allard during the late 1840s.

The Shadrach Allard papers consist primarily of business correspondence addressed to Allard by Henry Charlesworth, regarding their business carving gravestones and memorial markers. Additionally, the collection contains a receipt book kept by Allard during the late 1840s. Allard, then living in Gallipolis, Ohio, worked closely with Charlesworth, of Portsmouth, Ohio, to acquire marble and other stone for the markers. Though the letters imply a general agreeability between the men, Charlesworth often chastised Allard for delays, and repeatedly asked him to send money. Other correspondence includes a fragment and a personal letter from Allard's brother in Cincinnati. Financial records within the collection include a receipt book kept by Allard from 1845-1848 and a receipt for a quantity of marble received by Charlesworth.

The Ogden collection consists of diaries written by Sarah and Edward Ogden detailing trips to places in Europe, Russia, the United States and Mexico from the years 1886 to 1908.

The Sarah and Edward Ogden diaries consist of seven diaries written by Sarah Ogden, one expense book kept by Edward Ogden, and one other diary, possibly written by Edward Ogden. The diaries span the years from 1886 to 1908.

A trip taken from 1886-1887 was to Europe, and the destinations were as follows: England (June 1886); Germany (July 1886); Austria and Switzerland (August 1886); France (September 1886); Spain (October 1886); France (the end of 1886, and early 1887); Italy (March 1887); Denmark (June 1887); St. Petersburg and Moscow (July and August, 1887); England (September and October, 1887); and then back to the United States. The trip taken from 1889-1890 was from New Jersey to Seattle, then south to Vera Cruz, Mexico, and back north again to New Jersey. The trip in 1891 was south to Florida. The final trip in 1908 was also to Europe -- Amsterdam, Coblenz, and Bologne.

This journal contains Samuel Lightfoot's notes about surveys he conducted in southeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. An account book, dated primarily in the 1780s, is laid into the volume.

This journal (around 200 pages) contains Samuel Lightfoot's notes about surveys he conducted in southeastern Pennsylvania in the mid-18th century. An account book (30 pages), dated primarily in the late 1780s, is laid into the volume.

Samuel Lightfoot recorded information about surveys he conducted in Berks, Chester, Lancaster, and Lehigh Counties, Pennsylvania, from June 8, 1739-December 2, 1757. A 73-page section covering September 1743-March 1753 is missing. Lightfoot made detailed notes about his work, including the names of his customers and property owners and the boundaries of surveyed tracts.

The first 2 pages of the small account book pertain to "Outstanding Debts Due To Samuel Lightfoot," with a list of names and monetary amounts. The remaining 28 pages concern an anonymous author's personal finances from June 3, 1786-September 13, 1788. The accounts consist of brief notes about individual transactions, which often involved farm labor, such as haying or threshing, and the sale of potatoes. At least one laborer was a woman. A memorandum on the back of the volume concerns the sale of a tract of land by David Davis to George Davis. The account book also has a note laid inside it, indicating the extent of a lot of land owned by Thomas Lloyd.

This account book (88 pages) contains information about a saloon owner's personal and professional expenses from January 1889-December 1890. Internal evidence suggests that this may have been the Leonard Brothers Saloon, located on Edmond Street in St. Joseph, Missouri.

This account book (88 pages) contains information about a saloon owner's personal and professional expenses from January 1889-December 1890.

The owner recorded daily accounts of cash, stocked goods, and expenses on facing pages. He purchased beer from the Anheuser-Bush Brewing Association, the August Nunning Brewing Company, the St. Joseph Brewing Company, the M. K. Goetz Brewing Company, and other suppliers. He also bought whiskey, rye, gin, cider, soda water, and cigars. Business-related expenses included electric lighting, foods, insurance, licenses, and laborers, such as a watchman and a "colored man" (p. 33). Personal expenses included groceries, shoes, medical care, opera and theater tickets, a "hired girl," streetcar passes, membership dues, and taxes.

This account book, kept by R. P. Van Deusen, documents 18 trips of the barge Berkshire on the Hudson River and Erie Canal carrying passengers and cargo.

The account book of the barge Berkshire contains records eighteen trips up and down the Hudson River and Erie Canal. Some passengers paid simply for passage, some for passage and board. The diverse cargo included hay, reams of paper, vinegar, cattle, potatoes, books and oats. There is much detail of barge expenses as well, including provisions and the cost of being towed up and down the river by various captains and steamboats. Deposits to the Mercantile and Exchange Bank are also noted. A later possessor of the account book filled thirty one pages at the opposite end of the book with notations on the life and death of many authors, and starts with the witty quote, "Woodsman spare that tree." There are a few pages of manuscript verse, and sadly, several pages of accounts are covered up with poems clipped out of newspapers. Some of these have been removed.

This 61-page ledger contains the accounts of an unidentified supplier of horse and carriage rentals in Rochester, New York, 1870-1871. The entries are brief, frequently containing the name of a horse (Ned, Cinderella, Nellie, Blk, Charly, Jeny, Sam, Duk, and others), the type of carriage (i.e. hack, buggy, coach), and costs. Other accounts include cash and rent by livery stable workers Hiram Wood and John H. Austin, and First National Bank transactions for the purchase of hay and oats.

This 61-page ledger contains the accounts of an unidentified supplier of horse and carriage rentals in Rochester, New York, 1870-1871. The entries are brief, frequently containing the name of a horse (Ned, Cinderella, Nellie, Blk, Charly, Jeny, Sam, Duk, and others), the type of carriage (hack, buggy, coach, etc.), and a cost. Among many clients are livery stable workers Hiram Wood and John H. Austin (cash and rent); First National Bank (purchase of hay and oats); and the Rochester Iron Manufacturing Company, whose foundry was located at nearby Charlotte.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers consist of documents generated by the society as well as correspondence to and from various members of the society about slavery, the conditions of freemen, and other progressive issues.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers contain only a small portion of what must at one time have been a much larger collection. As a society devoted to the immediate abolition of slavery, the antislavery movement forms the context of most of the correspondence in the collection, but the members of the society were individually and collectively involved in the education of freedmen and in other movements, including women's rights. As a result, the collection offers a broad perspective on the mentality and activity of a small group of progressive northern women involved in the reform of what they saw as the worst inequities in American society.

The Society maintained contact with several national-level leaders of the antislavery movements, and provided important financial support to Frederick Douglass, in particular. The nine letters from Douglass in the collection all relate to the assistance provided for publication of his newspaper or are requests from him for direct aid to fugitive slaves en route to Canada. A particularly affecting letter is one that he wrote from England in 1860, while on an antislavery tour. Harriet Tubman, Beriah Green, Lewis Tappan, George B. Cheever, and Gerrit Smith also appear in the collection, either as correspondents or subjects of letters. Among the more interesting of these letters is one from John Stewart, probably a free black man, addressed to Harriet Tubman; a letter from Moses Anderson, also African-American, writing about the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin in shaping his political consciousness; Jacob Gibb's letter of introduction for a fugitive slave; and William Watkins' report on the number of fugitive slaves that have passed through Rochester into Canada in the year 1857.

British support for the Society was crucial in keeping it viable in the late 1850s, and is documented through the letters of Julia Griffiths Crofts (Leeds, England); Sarah Plummer (Dalkeith, Scotland), and Maria Webb (Dublin, Ireland). The fund-raising efforts of the society can be tracked partly through the list of goods donated for a Festival (1:77), a small collection of ephemera relating to British antislavery societies (1:82), and a list of donations from those British societies (1:28). The most significant item for tracking finances, however, is the account book for the Society (2:20), which covers its entire history. The secretaries of the Society recorded the complete finances of the organization, and provided lists of speakers at their annual events, and carefully delineated money remitted to individual fugitive slaves. Included at the end of the collection are a set of photocopies of the manuscripts (2:21) and supplemental information about the Society and its members, provided by the University of Rochester (2:22).

Freedmen's education was a major concern of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and is discussed extensively by several correspondents. The single most frequent correspondent in the collection is Julia A. Wilbur, writing while working with freedmen in Alexandria, Va., 1862-1865. Wilbur writes long and vivid letters describing the miserable living conditions found among the freedmen, their want of clothing and shelter, and she describes several individual cases. Wilbur also met and became familiar with the renowned ex-slave and author, Harriet Jacobs. The situation that Wilbur describes in Virginia verges on the chaotic, with corruption at the highest levels, dissension among those in charge of contraband matters, and many in the military reluctant or unwilling to take any responsibility. She was a perceptive observer of the progress of the war, Southern citizenry, and of the destruction that the war had inflicted upon Virginia. Her official reports to the Society, which are more general and less pointed than her private correspondence, were published in the Society's published annual reports (2:1-13).

In addition to Wilbur's letters, there are six other items pertaining to freedmen's education. Three letters from G. W. Gardiner and one document signed by Lewis Overton, 1862-63, relate to the work of the Colored School, founded for freedmen at Leavenworth, Kansas, and both letters from Daniel Breed, 1863-64, include discussions of the Rochester School for Freedmen in Washington, D.C., named for the Society whose money founded it.

The printed items in the collection include fourteen of the seventeen known annual reports of the Society, a report from the Toronto Ladies' Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored fugitives (2:14), and circulars from two British societies (2:15-16). Three issues of Frederick Douglass' Paper (October 2, 1851, February 19 1858, and July 1, 1859) and one issue of The North Star (April 14, 1848) are included in Oversize Manuscripts. An issue of the Christian Inquirer (New York, July 24, 1858), having no direct relation to the Rochester Society, was transferred to the Newspapers Division. Finally, in two letters written in 1859 and 1861, Rebecca Bailey discusses her father William Bailey's newspaper, The Free South.

The Riley family papers (2,902 items) document the personal and business activities of Ashbel Wells Riley and his son George Stillson Riley of Rochester, New York. The papers concern family relationships and society in western New York, as well as the Riley family's participation in the temperance movement, and George Riley's involvement in the Grand Council of the Iroquois.

The Riley family papers (2,902 items) document the personal and business activities of Ashbel Wells Riley and his son George Stillson Riley of Rochester, New York. The papers concern family relationships and society in western New York, as well as the Riley's participation in the temperance movement, and George Riley's involvement in the Grand Council of the Iroquois.

The Personal Correspondence series (356 items) consists primarily of letters to Ashbel W. and George S. Riley, from friends and family members. Included are several letters from Charlotte to her husband Ashbell, when he was traveling in Europe in the 1840s; letters from Ashbel Riley, Jr., to George during his travels in Cuba and around New York; and letters from Anna H. Riley to her family from the Utica Female Seminary and while living with her husband in Chicago. Of particular interest are letters, written in the 1840s by George's cousin Caleb Hutton Hammond, in which he relayed family news and commented on social happenings in Rochester. These include his criticisms of several wealthy acquaintances who follow the Graham System (September 13, 1840); a description of a lecture and demonstration by Dr. Reid of Philadelphia, who studied phrenology; and a discussion of a lecture on American Antiquities that claimed that Egyptians must have settled Central America and built pyramids there (February 26, 1841). The majority of the letters spanning 1892-1917 are from Belle Hart ("Aunt Belle") to George Riley. She wrote from hotels in New York City and Rochester; the content is personal in nature.

Visual material includes letters on hotel letterhead that feature engraved depictions of the hotel, and a December 25, 1849, letter from Ashbel Riley, Jr., to George Riley that contains a diagram of his invention for a device that holds writing paper.

The Business Correspondence series (494 items) documents the Rileys' business communications, largely concerning property transactions and debts. Both Ashbel and George invested heavily in land but struggled to pay back debts throughout their lives. The bulk of these papers ranges from 1840 to 1895. In addition to letters requesting repayments for loans, the series contains copies and drafts of outgoing letters from George S. Riley to business partners and debtors, with many sent o S. P. Ely concerning property in Diamond, Utah, and in Michigan.

The Personal Writings Papers series (189 items) is comprised of non-correspondence writings, including notes, speech drafts, and fragments (1841-1908). Included are two bundles of items, which are kept in their original order, entitled "Scribblings & odds & ends -- t. c. in reference written mostly 1841, 2, & 3" and "Temperance Convention" from October 1845. These primarily relate to temperance activities with some material concerning the Seneca Indians.

The Financial Records series (1481 items) consists of receipts and accounts, account books, tax records, insurance records, stocks, and other miscellaneous items related to the Rileys' finances. The bulk of these records dates from between 1850 and 1880. In addition to the family's detailed business accounts, the series conatins a 1844 house expense book.

The Documents series (226 items) consists of legal papers (62 items), real estate papers (131 items), Grand Council of the Iroquois papers (14 items), and temperance-related papers (13 items). The legal papers concern Ashbel and George's financial problems related to land owning and paying taxes. It also contains George's patent certificate for "Improvements in smoke consuming furnaces." The real estate papers document the Riley's land holdings, mostly in upstate New York, consisting of land agreements and details on values. The Grand Council of the Iroquois papers are comprised of documents and letters relating to meetings of the Grand Council between 1842 and 1846. These include a description of a Seneca fort and a burial ground that Timothy Sullivan destroyed during his raids in 1779, a petition to Congress concerning Seneca landholdings, and a heavily edited description of a meeting. The Temperance papers contain documents related to various temperance meetings held in Rochester in 1845.

The Photographs series (1 item) contains a photograph of a bearded man, likely George S. Riley, taken by Notman & Fraser of Toronto, Ontario.

• Newspaper clippings (71 items), mostly from Rochester papers containing topics such as death notices, scientific and philosophical articles, poetry, and news of the day
• Pamphlet (1 item) entitled, "Inquiries, Respecting the History, Present Condition and Future Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States" [1847]
• Invitations (9 items) for formal and religious events such as lectures, plays, memorials, weddings, and a piano recital
• Miscellaneous material (10 items), including a voter registration reminder, and a constitution for the Christian Reform Association of Monroe County, New York.

This collection contains correspondence and documents related to Reverend Richard Peters (1704-1776) and his nephew, also named Richard Peters (1744-1828), both of Philadelphia. The bulk of the material pertains to their professional and financial affairs.

This collection (11 items) contains correspondence and documents related to Reverend Richard Peters and his nephew, also named Richard Peters, who both lived in Philadelphia in the mid- to late 18th century. The material pertains to Pennsylvania property and Cumberland County boundaries, Arlington sheep, finances, and politics. The collection includes a certified copy of a map of property belonging to Peters in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (copy dated March 17, 1810), an account book kept by the younger Richard Peters from 1785-1789, and a letter that the younger Richard Peters wrote to William Rawle about his uncle's biography (September 22, 1825).