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Jacob van Zwaluwenburg's memoir contains a discussion of his experiences during the Civil War along with an account of his childhood in the Netherlands and America.

Jacob van Zwaluwenburg's autobiography contains discussion of his experiences during the Civil War along with an account of his childhood in the Netherlands and America. He discusses his family, schooling, and religious upbringing in the Hervormde Kerk (Reformed Church in the Netherlands). He describes the ocean voyage and Erie Canal journey which brought the family to Michigan.

Van Zwaluwenburg describes his wartime experiences in the 16th U.S. Infantry, from his humorous efforts to volunteer through the end of his enlistment. He provides particularly detailed descriptions of the battles of Shiloh and Stones River and the fighting around Chattanooga. His account centers on the experiences of a private and strays little into the fields of politics and the evaluation of generals. Although there are a few geographical and chronological errors, the account provides an interesting view of the common soldier in the regular army.

The journal is in both manuscript and typescript; however, the two are not entirely the same. The typescript copy, 36 pages long, follows the manuscript copy, 33 pages long, with only minor differences until page 18 of the manuscript and page 22 of the typescript. From this point the copies differ greatly, although they cover roughly the same events. The manuscript is incomplete, lacking an ending.

The Turner-Whiton papers contain correspondence, financial records, legal documents, essays, and newspaper clippings pertaining to T. Larkin Turner, a druggist from Boston, Massachusetts, and his wife, Elizabeth D. Whiton. The material primarily concerns the couple's courtship and two of Turner's pharmaceutical products.

This collection contains correspondence, financial records, legal documents, essays, and newspaper clippings pertaining to T. Larkin Turner, a druggist from Boston, Massachusetts, and his wife, Elizabeth D. Whiton. The material primarily concerns the couple's courtship and two of Turner's pharmaceutical products.

The first three subseries in the Correspondence series are grouped by correspondents: Elizabeth Whiton letters to T. Larkin Turner (122 items), Letters to Elizabeth Whiton (121 items), and T. Larkin Turner letters to Elizabeth Whiton (12 items). These subseries are comprised of personal letters written in the mid-19th century, primarily concerning the writers' social lives in Hingham, Charlestown, and Boston, Massachusetts. Elizabeth Whiton's correspondents included her siblings and female friends.

The Letters from H. subseries contains 43 letters that a man named Henry and his wife Marie wrote to his parents while traveling in Italy, France, England, and Germany in 1884 and 1885. Henry wrote the majority of the letters, commented on his life in Venice, Paris, and London, and mentioned a recent cholera epidemic. The subseries also includes a ticket and printed advertisement in French.

The Chronological Correspondence subseries comprises the bulk of the collection. The first 2 items are letters from Reverend Sherman Johnson of Southborough, Massachusetts, to a female acquaintance. Most items from 1833-1880 are personal letters to T. Larkin Turner and Elizabeth D. Whiton (later Elizabeth Turner), including their letters to one another during their courtship (ca. 1837-1843) and later letters from a branch of the Turner family in Lexington, Massachusetts. The courtship-era letters primarily concern Turner and Whiton's daily lives in Boston and Hingham, Massachusetts, respectively. Elizabeth Whiton also received letters from male and female friends in New England and New York, particularly in Charlestown and Boston, Massachusetts.

T. Larkin Turner received letters from several correspondents, including George R. Turner, who wrote a series of letters to Turner about his work for a Massachusetts railroad in 1847 and 1848. He commented on his in-state travels, his co-workers, and the railroad's progress. George W. Prescott of the United States Navy Yard in Pensacola, Florida, wrote personal letters to Turner from 1877-1883. Undated items include additional correspondence between Turner and Whiton and genealogical notes about the Turner family.

Advertisements include printed booklets, fliers, and other advertisements for T. Larkin Turner's medical cures, particularly the "Tic-Douloureux, or Universal Neuralgia Pill" and "Lorraine's Vegetable Cathartic Pills." Manuscript drafts of advertisements are also present. Other clippings are articles on medical conditions such as neuralgia, on Turner's pills, and on other medical topics.

A group of papers related to Turner's Nostrums contains manuscript drafted advertisements and notes about T. Larkin Turner's "Tic-Douloureux, or Universal Neuralgia Pill" and other products. Two lengthy manuscript drafts concern the neuralgia pill and a cure for menstrual discomfort. Notes concern various medical conditions and the importance of sleep, among other topics.

The Receipts and Documents series primarily contains receipts to Captain Larkin Turner and T. Larkin Turner, largely for everyday personal expenses. T. Larkin Turner also purchased a newspaper subscription and hired a horse and buggy on at least one occasion. Indentures and similar legal documents primarily pertain to land in Massachusetts.

The Muster Roll/Town Roster series contains two items: a booklet with names of Boston residents and other annotations, and a booklet containing copied information from a 1757 muster roll.

The Genealogy series has notes and fragments about the Whiton, Turner, and Whitney families, as well as poetry, essays, correspondence, and receipts of payment for copied documents.

T. Larkin Turner composed a 94-page Memorative of Larkin Turner, his father, on the backs of assorted documents, scraps, and ephemera items. The bound volume, the first in a series, covers Larkin's life until about 1812.

Additional Newspaper Clippings pertain to deaths, marriages, and the Fusilier Veteran Association.

The Miscellaneous series contains ephemera, sketches, a lock of Turner's hair, a Tufts library card for "Russell H. Whiting," and other items.

Amos Stearns, who enlisted in the 25th Massachusetts Infantry during the Civil War, was held as a prisoner of war by the Confederates from May 1864 to March 1865. His account of his Civil War service and imprisonment, entitled Life in Rebel Prisons, offers insight into his experiences and the ways in which the experiences of war were recrafted in the minds of veterans as the years passed.

Amos E. Stearns's account of his Civil War service and imprisonment, entitled Life in Rebel Prisons, is remarkably free of visible animosity towards his Rebel captors and is therefore a rather unusual document. Beginning with his capture at Drewry's Bluff and ending with his release, Stearns depicts his captivity as part of a harsh reality, but without attributing cruel intentions to anyone: even Henry Wirz, the infamous commandant at Andersonville, receives relatively favorable treatment. Since the narrative was written following the war (published in 1887 as Narrative of Amos E. Stearns, A Prisoner at Andersonville), time may have softened Stearns's opinions of the Confederates, or it may be that he was simply more empathetic or more forgiving.

Stearns's published diary, which probably provides the original source material for this narrative, provides a more downhearted sense of the despair and hardships suffered during imprisonment. Together, the two volumes provide a balanced record of Stearns' experiences, offering insight as well into the ways in which the experiences of war were recrafted in the minds of veterans as the years passed.

The Seymour papers contain materials relating primarily to the Civil War service of Col. Isaac G. Seymour (6th Louisiana Infantry) and his son, William J., both residents of New Orleans.

The Seymour papers contain materials relating primarily to the Civil War service of Col. Isaac G. Seymour (6th Louisiana Infantry) and his son, William J., both residents of New Orleans. The most important items in the collection are the two journals kept by William Seymour describing his experiences in the defense of New Orleans, 1862, and as Assistant Adjutant General in the 1st Louisiana Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The first of these "journals" was begun by Col. Isaac Seymour as a manuscript drill manual for his regiment (55 pp.), but it appears to have been taken up by William following Isaac's death. This volume is arranged in four sections and includes a record of William Seymour's experiences from March, 1862 through May, 1864. The second volume is organized in a similar manner, but covers the period from April, 1863 through October, 1864, terminating in the middle of a description of the Battle of Cedar Creek. Both of William's "journals" are post-war memoirs drawn extensively from original diaries and notes, with some polishing and embellishment.

William Seymour's "journals" contain outstanding descriptions of life in the Confederate Army and are one of the premier sources for the Confederate side of the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip. His journals also contain very important accounts for Chancellorsville, 2nd Winchester, Gettysburg (Cemetery Hill), Mine Run, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania (the Bloody Angle), but almost as important are the descriptions of camp life, and the morale and emotions of the troops. Seymour is an observant, critical, and knowledgeable writer who was placed in a position where he had access to information on fairly high level command decisions. Yet while his journal is focused on the military aspects of the war, he includes a number of brief personal sketches of officers and soldiers, and vignettes of life in the army, ranging from accounts of Union soldiers bolstered in their courage by whiskey, to the courage of an officer's wife stopping a deserter and the Knights of the Golden Circle surfacing in Pennsylvania during the Confederate invasion.

The remainder of the collection includes three Civil War-date letters relating to Isaac Seymour, one written from Camp Bienville near Manassas, Va. (1861 September 2), one from the Shenandoah River (1862 May 2), and the third a letter relaying news of Seymour's death at Gaines Mills. The letter of May 1862 is a powerful, despairing one, and includes Isaac Seymour's thoughts on the Confederate loss of New Orleans and severe criticism for Jefferson Davis, a "man of small caliber, with mind perhaps enough, but without those qualities which go to make up the great and good man." At this moment, Seymour reported that he was disappointed in the quality of his officers, and regretted that he had not resigned his commission upon his son's enlistment, and further, he felt that the Confederacy was being held together only tenuously, due solely to the "the righteousness of our cause, and the innate, deep rooted mendicable hatred to the Yankee race." The remainder of the correspondence consists primarily of documents, but includes an interesting Seminole War letter of Isaac to Eulalia Whitlock and a letter from "Sister Régis" to Isaac, as editor of the New Orleans Bulletin, begging the aid of the press on behalf of the Female Orphan Asylum.

The collection consists of five journals and one memoir that document Quaker missionary John Parrish’s travels throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, and Ohio from 1773 to 1793, during a treaty negotiations between the U.S. government and the Six Nations Iroquois.

The Parrish journals consist of six volumes that document relations with several Native American tribes during and following the Revolutionary War (1775-1783). He was present during the creation of a series of treaties that attempted to end the conflicts over land ownership, such as the Newtown Point Treaty of 1791 and another treaty negotiated at Sandusky, Ohio, in 1793. Parrish’s journals provide a great deal of insight into the often hostile and tenuous relationship between White people and Native Americans, while at the same time giving an idea of what daily life was like for men and women residing in these much contested territories.

Written during the late 18th century, the five journals are dated 1791 (1) and 1793 (4). The sixth item in the collection is a memoir that describes events occurring in 1773, yet appears to be written much later, possibly as early as 1790. Parrish traveled through Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan and encountered many different Native American groups. The tribes with whom he had the most contact were the Shawnee, the Wyandot, the Seneca, the Stockbridge, the Chippewa, the Delaware, the Tuscarora, the Miami, and the Oneida. He also encounters many Native Americans who belong to the Moravian sect. Many of these tribes were part of the Six Nations Iroquois present at the treaty councils.

Each journal varies considerably in content, yet all contain very detailed descriptions. The memoir, which describes events occurring in 1773, documents Parrish’s journey to Newcomers Town in Ohio to meet with members of the Delaware tribe, most importantly Captain White Eyes and Chief Netawattwaleman. Traveling with fellow Quakers Lebulon Heston and John Lacy, the men embarked on the journey primarily as missionaries. Despite their intentions, however, the men become embroiled in the political volatility of the time. On his way to Newcomers Town, Parrish encountered Chief Logan (1725-1780), a Native American of the Mingo tribe, whose family was killed in what is known as the “Yellow Creek Massacre.” Logan, who delivered a speech referred to as “Logan’s Lament,” is quoted by Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia and likewise verbatim in Parrish’s memoir. In addition to the Delaware tribe, Parrish also met members of the Shawnee and Wyandot tribes. The memoir is thought to have been written sometime after 1773, the earliest possible year date being 1790, given Parrish’s reference to historical information occurring after this time, such as the “Yellow Creek Massacre,” Dunmore’s War, and Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State.

Parrish’s 1791 journal serves as a description of the Treaty of Newtown Point and the events leading up to it. Originally the council was to take place at Painted Post in New York, but was changed to Newtown Point due to the low water levels of the Tioga River. Over 600 Native Americans were present for the treaty, and Parrish faithfully records sentiments expressed regarding attitudes towards White people and land ownership. He was especially careful to document several interviews and speeches of prominent Native American leaders, such as the Stockbridge chief Hendricks, Pater of the Onieda tribe, the Seneca chief Red Jacket, and a chief named Cayasuter. In addition to describing Native American customs, attitudes, and the events that transpired during the council, the issue of alcoholism among the tribes proved to be a chief concern for Parrish. Consequently, he asked Col. Pickering to cease the distribution of whiskey at the council fearing that it was hindering the negotiation process while simultaneously making the Native Americans vulnerable and easily exploitable.

Ultimately the Newtown Point council was unsuccessful, and the three volumes dated 1793 relate another attempt by Pickering to secure peace with the tribes. Although the Six Nations had agreed with Pickering’s terms, the western tribes were still rebellious and discontented. This necessitated the scheduling of yet another council to form a treaty. In the first volume Parrish -- accompanied by Beverly Randolph, John Elliot, Joseph Moore, and Pickering -- traveled to Detroit as a point from which they could easily meet with several tribes, while being close to Sandusky on Lake Erie -- the site of the upcoming council. Parrish noted that the tribes insisted on Ohio as the eastern boundary for their lands, remaining persistent in their demand despite the abundance of gifts that Pickering bestowed upon them. The second volume is mainly a discussion of Native American customs and the problem of slavery, especially the multitude of white captives. The narrative of Parrish's departure from Detroit to attend the council appears at the end of the second and beginning of the third volume. This treaty too failed, the tribes rejecting Pickering’s gifts in lieu of the restoration of their lands. At the end of the third volume, Cornplanter (1750-1836) -- chief of the Seneca -- delivered a moving speech to President Washington on the selling of their lands. Parrish related how Cornplanter demanded of Washington, “Brothers of our Fathers where is the place which you have reserved for us to lie down upon?....all the Lands we have been speaking of belong to the Six Nations no part of it ever belonged to the King of England and he could not give it up to you” (1793, No. 3, p. 11, 13). The latter replied and a brief exchange ensued.

Parrish’s last journal entitled “Some Notes on Indian Affairs,” which also dates to 1793, seems to have been written after returning home from Detroit and Sandusky. Much of the information recorded serves as a summary of some of his work described in the previous journals, as well as commentary on the situation of the tribes. He discussed in particular the Gnadenhütten massacre. This massacre, carried out by Lt. Col. David Williamson (1749-1814) and 160 of his militiamen on March 8, 1782 near Gnadenhütten, Ohio, left approximately 96 Moravian Indians dead. Parrish deplored this and other crimes committed against the tribes.

Parrish wrote intelligently and clearly, alternating between descriptions of events and his personal thoughts. His religious beliefs figured prominently in his attitudes and opinions, and they informed his desire for social justice for Native Americans, as well as for African American slaves. Present in all these journals is his sympathy for the human suffering he encountered, which he hoped to see eradicated. These journals thus prove to be not only rich in historical information, but also detailed in the accounts of Parrish's quest for a more peaceful coexistence between whites and Native Americans.

This typescript contains John Henry Otto's detailed recollections about his service in the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, Company D, during the Civil War.

This typescript (646 pages) contains John Henry Otto's detailed recollections about his service in the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, Company D, during the Civil War. The narrative is divided into an introduction and 52 chapters, with outlines provided at the beginning of each chapter. Otto made two longhand copies of his reminiscences around 1902 and presented them to his sons August and George; Vincent R. R. Carboneau, Otto's grandson, created another longhand copy in early 1943. This typescript, completed by Carboneau's daughter, Phyllis McGrath, in 1977, is a typed version of Carboneau's manuscript, with original spelling, grammar, and punctuation intact.

The typescript, based on Otto's original war diaries, concerns the entirety of his Civil War service, from his initial enlistment in August 1862 to his final discharge in June 1865. An early chapter contains brief notes about his previous military experiences in the Prussian army, with which he served in wars against Denmark (1848) and Austria (1850-1851), and he occasionally referred to his wife and children in Wisconsin. He discussed Wisconsin residents' response to the war and the renewed call to arms in late 1862 and shared stories of his interactions with civilians and military personnel throughout his time in the South, including other German-American soldiers and both Union and Confederate sympathizers. Otto encountered runaway slaves and freedmen and occasionally referred to the Emancipation Proclamation. In 1864, he expressed his negative opinion of George McClellan and McClellan's nomination for the presidency.

Most of Otto's reminiscences concern his daily experiences, and some parts of the narrative are structured like a diary. Otto described camp life, winter quarters, drilling, equipment, and the areas he passed through and visited in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. In September and October 1864, he visited Wisconsin on furlough. The typescript includes his detailed recollections of the Tullahoma Campaign, the Atlanta Campaign, Sherman's March to the Sea, and the Carolinas Campaign; numerous skirmishes; and major engagements such as the Battle of Perryville, Battle of Stones River, Battle of Hoover's Gap, Battle of Chickamauga, Battle of Resaca, Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, Battle of Peachtree Creek, Siege of Atlanta, and the Battle of Averasboro. He recounted in-battle movements, the experience of coming under fire, and deaths. Otto witnessed a few executions, including that of at least one deserter, and wrote about the capture of Confederate prisoners and equipment. While in the Carolinas near the end of the war, he befriended a young mulatto boy, "Joe Hooker," who returned with him to Wisconsin in 1865. After the 21st Wisconsin Infantry Regiment participated in the Grand Review of the Armies in May 1865, Otto remained in Washington, D.C., where he did some sightseeing. The final pages of the typescript include a copy of Sherman's farewell address to the army.

This 2-volume account (301 pages) consists of William West Medwin's memoirs about his experiences in the Royal Navy and his later travels, as well as poetry that he composed in the early 19th century.

This 2-volume manuscript (301 pages) consists of William West Medwin's memoirs about his experiences in the Royal Navy and his later travels, as well as poetry that he composed in the early 19th century.

Medwin began composing his account in 1830, and dedicated the manuscript to his surviving son. Later pages contain references to dates as late as 1833. The memoir, written on pages 1-214 and 250a-299, chronicles Medwin's experiences from 1799, when he joined the crew of the Mercury, until around 1833, when he was living in his family in London, England. He began with a brief history of his ancestors and an account of his childhood up to his enlistment in the navy. Medwin was a crewman on multiple ships and traveled to North America, the Caribbean, South America, and Europe. During the American Revolution, he was stationed in Canada and elsewhere, and after the war helped evacuate Loyalists and African-American soldiers from the newly independent United States.

Medwin's memoirs also reflect his later life, including his residence in North America, where he described the tobacco industry and plantation farming, and his years in France, where he frequently attended theatrical performances. He sometimes commented on local customs, such as the practice of "bundling" in North America (p. 63). Pages 214-248 contain poetry by Medwin; some poems are laid and pinned into the volume. Medwin then resumed his memoir with an account of his life after his return to London and the death of his eldest son. The final pages (pp. 266-299) are comprised of Medwin's philosophical and religious musings.

The William Young papers center on the lives of William Young and his son-in-law John McAllister, Jr. The strengths of the collection are its documentation of William Young's careers as printer, publisher, bookseller and paper maker; the Associate Presbyterian Church; John McAllister's antiquarian interests; and the personal lives of the Young and McAllister families.

The William Young papers center on the lives of William Young and his son-in-law John McAllister, Jr., and through these lives document a wide scope of business, cultural, family and religious history both in America and Scotland. The strengths of the collection are its documentation of William Young's careers as printer, publisher, bookseller and paper maker; the Associate Presbyterian Church; John McAllister's antiquarian interests; and the personal lives of the Young and McAllister families.

The earliest papers in the collection date from William Young's days as a Scottish seminarian, and include valuable information on the Associate Presbytery of Scotland. A group of letters written after the Youngs' removal to America, 1784, documents European interest in the new nation: the immigrants received many letters from Scottish friends (and potential emigrants) inquiring into the details of America life. Young kept certain business concerns in Scotland; his brother Stephen and Agnes Young's brothers, William and John McLaws, were all active in the book trade, and their correspondence provides some insight into the burgeoning international book business.

The backbone of the collection is the correspondence relating to William Young's diverse business enterprises from the 1780s through 1820s. Among the later material, the correspondence between William Young McAllister and his thirty-year-old son, William Mitchell McAllister (7:54 and 56), stands out as illustration of a father's displeasure over his son's mismanagement of affairs during the disastrous panic of 1873. Also interesting is a plaintive letter written by the 52 year-old Thomas H. Young (7:59) in 1876, asking his aging father to bail out his business with a handout of $5,000.00. Box 8 contains a large quantity of receipts, accounts, and other business papers of Young's, along with information on the tangled settlement of Young's estate (8:30) and information on the settlement of other estates. Additional information on Young's estate is located with the oversized material (see Separation Record).

The Young Papers also contains rich resources for study of the history of the Associate Presbyterian Church in America. One of the smallest Presbyterian denominations, the Associate Presbyterians preserved few primary resources and little survives from their presence on the American scene; the Young Papers contain some of the earliest records known for that church (folder 8-37). Among other Associate Presbyterian ministers represented in the collection is Rev. Thomas Hamilton (1776-1818), William Young's son-in-law. Much of the work compiled by John McAllister Jr. in compiling the Associate Presbyterian volume of Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, is preserved in folder 8:10.

Yellow fever in Philadelphia (1793) and the nation's first major cholera epidemic (1832) are both well documented through letters containing medical information, largely confined to home remedies and professional advice on medicines. There is some discussion of Frances Stevenson's illness which cost her the use of a leg, resulting in her use of a prosthesis (6:88). In addition, there is a detailed report on the body of Dr. William R. Grant in 1852 (folder 7:6).

The photographs associated with the collection include valuable insights into family relations within both the Young and McAllister families (1:1 to 1:8), particularly when seen in conjunction with the large number of personal letters between family members. William Young's instructions to his housekeeper (3:54), John McAllister's consultations with his wife on business matters, race relations in Philadelphia (5:9, 6:11), relations with a mother-in-law (4:58), and the execution of Robert Morris's seldom-mentioned and ne'er-do-well son Charles (4:21) are among the topics discussed. Perhaps the wittiest correspondent is Mary Ann Hunter, a friend of Eliza Young McAllister, whose observations on Philadelphia society in the first decades of the 19th century are trenchant and insightful and read almost like a novel.

The Jonas P. Levy papers are made up of manuscript and printed items primarily related to merchant and ship captain Levy's claims against the United States government for property losses sustained during the Mexican War. The letters are professional, and provide insight into legal proceedings surrounding claims in the mid-nineteenth century.

This collection is made up of a 106-page memoir and approximately 290 letters, documents, and printed items related to businessman and ship captain Jonas P. Levy's claims against the United States government for property losses sustained during the Mexican War. The collection consists primarily of Levy's retained copies of written requests and petitions to and from various Mexican and American government officials, as well as printed reports on his various claims against the United States government. The materials encompass Levy's personal losses while in business with his brother Morton, as well as losses sustained by the Pedrigal Mining Company after its expulsion from Mexico. The letters are overwhelmingly professional in nature, and provide insight into legal proceedings surrounding claims in the mid-nineteenth century.

Correspondence and documents series (approximately 245 items, 1823-1907). The content of Levy's correspondence and documents outlines the specifics of his five legal claims and his involvement in the claims of the Pedrigal Mining Company. His first claim was for $6,000 for duties on shipped goods aboard the Sea Bird, illegally imposed by Laguna port collector Lewis Vargas. The second claim was for $1,600 worth of commissions commandeered by the Mexican Army in Laguna, as well as a $200 unpaid bond for additional goods owed to him. Third, Levy claimed that the Mexican government collected $3,000 worth of forced contributions during his residence in Laguna. Levy also claimed that the Mexican army sank $30,000.00 worth of iron houses and machinery, left in San Juan in care of Lobach & Co., in the river Tabasco. The iron houses had remained unassembled in a lot in Tabasco, brought from New Orleans. After the war between the U.S. and Mexico began, Mexican authorities required Americans in Mexico to move inland or leave the country, and Levy was unable to take these items with him. The Mexican military used the iron house materials to construct a dyke in the Tabasco River to hold off Commodore Perry. The final claim against the United States totaled $50,000 for personal wrongs, injuries, and losses of business by illegal expulsion from his house at the outbreak of the United States war with Mexico. The courts rejected the entirety of Levy's memorial, with the exception of $3,690 for repayment of the loss of his iron frames. The claims commission primarily rejected each claim because of Levy's inability to sufficiently provide evidence that his claimed losses matched what he originally listed on ship manifests and bills of lading; the iron frames were valued at only $690 when leaving port in New Orleans, and the Sea Bird's logs listed Levy's items at a value much less than the $6,000 he claimed.

The earliest document in the collection is a certificate rendered by the Port of Philadelphia in 1823 proclaiming Levy's American citizenship. The earliest document related to his claims is Levy's personal copy of a letter to Secretary of State John Spencer, 1845; Spencer may never have received this letter as he retired from federal politics in 1844. Other early items (approximately 25 items) include affidavits, character testimonies, and letters of appreciation from such persons as General W. Worth, F. M. Dimond (Consulate at Veracruz), and Col. J. H. Wright. The collection also contains a full copy of Rebecca P. Levy's testimony to her family's treatment in Mexico, dated 1851. Jonas saved a deposition signed by the passengers and crewmembers of the American schooner Bonita, which the Mexican government stopped on June 25, 1851. The deposition attests that the Mexicans took Jonas P. Levy on shore and detained him under the false pretense of owing them money.

Correspondence and documents from the 1850s to the 1870s illustrate disagreements between Levy and comptroller of the Treasury, Elisha Whittlesey. Levy accused Whittlesey of willfully suppressing documents that would prove his claims to be truthful and just, and called for a full investigation into his conduct. The correspondence of Levy and Whittlesey contains requests for duplicate copies of evidential documents used in Levy's claims, and updates on the claims' standings. Levy's later correspondence with the Secretary of State and the Treasury Department often addresses his displeasure at the apparent loss of primary evidential documents that he wanted to use as evidence in the retrials of his claims. The collection holds correspondence between Levy and the State Department requesting the re-opening of his failed claim and the return of documents originally surrendered to the Mexican Mixed Claims Commission. The State Department reportedly refused to relinquish control of documents submitted to them, claiming that they were not allowed to release primary documents used in Levy's cases. Jonas's claims ended in May 1873, at which point the legal documents primarily consist of inquiries into the status of the Pedrigal Mining Company case.

The collection includes a small number of letters between George Edward Burr and John A. Davenport discussing the Pedrigal Mining Company, beginning with a letter from Davenport in 1832, condemning Burr for his wasteful use of monetary resources -- including his overinflated salary, the hire of a costly and ineffective superintendent, and the failed implementation of a mining procedure. Materials related to Burr include a document attesting to the sale of shares in the mine in Taxco, Mexico, to purchase a steam engine and other mining equipment (November 21, 1850), and John Davenport's appointment of Burr as power of attorney, especially related to his Pedrigal Mine interests (June 11, 1851). Levy kept various letters between himself and Matilda and Nicholas Rappleye, owners of the Pedrigal Mining Company; requests for information from the U.S. government; and various newspaper clippings and reports regarding the Pedrigal mines. In a document dated March 3, 1872, Matilda Rappleye officially transferred her power of attorney in regards to the Pedrigal Mines to Levy, who had been looking into their case since the mid-1850s. In this same correspondence, Matilda Rappleye accused George Burr of illegally stealing the official ownership papers of the Pedrigal mines from her husband. In another letter dated April 22, 1872, she told Levy that she had no papers to give him to help with the claim because Burr stole them all. The Pedrigal Mining Company claimed that the Mexican government forced them off their rightful land, which led to the loss of expensive machinery and the ownership of the silver mines. Ultimately, the United States rejected the Pedrigal claim due to insufficient evidence showing the Rappleyes as the rightful owners.

The collection contains a small number of additional letters, petitions, and accounting items related to Levy's store in Wilmington, North Carolina, at the end of the Civil War. Levy claimed that a group of New York Volunteers entered his store and took cordage as well as other provisions without paying. Included among the documents are leases between Levy and the U.S. Army for the use of Levy's store as headquarters of the Camp Jackson Hospital at the end of the war. Letters from 1879 and 1880 illustrate Jonas’s attempts to petition for an act of Congress to grant a pension and three months extra pay for seamen that served on transport ships during the Mexican War. However, the proposed bill was unsuccessful.

The collection includes Levy's 106-page, handwritten memoir beginning with his birth in 1807 and concluding in 1877, the year of its writing. In this memoir, Levy principally concerns himself with his life as a sailor. He gave a detailed account of an attack on his ship by Tierra Del Fuego Indians, and described driving them away with cannons, which Levy believed was the Indian's first experience with such technology. The memoir also contains an extensive description of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate, then owned by Levy's brother Uriah. The author provided a brief history of the house and how it came to be in his family's possession. The memoir also provides a description of the surrender of San Juan Ulca and Veracruz to the United States military. Levy wrote about his experiences working as a ship captain in Peru during the mid-1830s, and about the honor of receiving Peruvian citizenship without having to relinquish his American citizenship. Levy rarely mentioned his court cases; his account of his experiences during the Civil War is brief.

Printed items and ephemera series (46 items, 1846-1882). This series is made up of printed reports, memorials, congressional acts, claims, public letters, newspaper clippings, and advertising cards directly related to Jonas P. Levy's claims against the U.S. and Mexican governments.

The Knox collection is a significant resource for study of the pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary turmoil engulfing Britain's North American colonies between 1766 and 1782, as seen from deep within the heart of the colonial administration. An arch-administrator, empowered as Undersecretary of State, Knox maintained a consistent line articulating a theory of imperial power based upon an evangelically-tinged system of paternal power and filial obligation.

The Knox papers comprise a significant resource for study of the pre-Revolutionary and Revolutionary turmoil engulfing Britain's North American colonies between 1766 and 1782, as seen from deep within the heart of the colonial administration. An arch-administrator, empowered as Undersecretary of State, Knox maintained a consistent line articulating a theory of imperial power based upon an evangelically-tinged system of paternal power and filial obligation. His correspondence, including letters from political titans such as Grenville and Shelburne, and prominent figures such as Henry Ellis and William Henry Lyttelton, maps out an intricate perspective on imperial theory and colonial administration, and provides insight into the British conduct of the war as viewed from the Colonial Office.

Between 1757 and 1765, Knox operated as provost marshal, council member, and later colonial agent for the colony of Georgia, living in Savannah between 1757 and 1761. The correspondence surviving from this period is incomplete, however a number of interesting and important letters regarding American affairs remain, particularly in Knox's correspondence with Ellis and Lyttelton. Knox was responsible for the management of supplies for Britain's Indian allies, and the papers therefore contain a limited record of arms and presents given distributed among Indians in the colony, and he maintained a close eye in particular on relations with the Cherokee and Creek Indians.

The collection provides better coverage of Knox's activities during the later 1760s, the years when Knox's political star began to rise and the colonies plunged into revolution. Especially after his appointment as Undersecretary in 1770, Knox's correspondence provides an informed, but essentially myopic perspective on the war in America, facilitating Germain in his overly optimistic assessment of the progress of the war. During the Revolution, he received regular, second-hand accounts of the course of military campaigns and news of the frustrations and failures of British efforts to quell the troubles, but managed in nearly every case to see such signs as temporary and of limited significance.

Knox's attention during the post-Revolutionary years was divided largely between Irish and Canadian affairs. Knox gathered information on Loyalist interests in eastern Canada, opinions on the fisheries issue in Newfoundland, and several documents outlining the state of the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Maintaining his suspicion of American intentions, Knox was repeatedly incensed by American behavior, particularly during the embargo of 1807-1809, and by their thinly-disguised designs on Canadian lands. Approximately 100 items relate to Irish affairs, mostly concerning Knox's desire to promote prosperity in Ireland through trade reform, using his experiences in Georgia as a model, believing that prosperity would be the best guarantor of imperial allegiance. For similar reasons, Knox maintained an interest in Catholic emancipation, supporting Catholic desires to be placed on the same footing as Protestant dissenters.

At the end of the collection are a series of interesting personal anecdotes and memoirs of Knox's political experiences, including fascinating commentary on Knox's first experiences in America, the first (1776) attempt at peace negotiations between Britain and America, and his reminiscences of George Grenville, William Henry Lyttelton, Lord Rockingham, William Howe, Lord Hillsborough, William Eden (Baron Auckland), George Germain, and others. Among the most interesting miscellaneous items is a lengthy letter from an elderly Knox to the great astronomer, William Herschel, regarding the motion of the planets and soliciting his ideas on the physical location of heaven in the new Copernican universe. Herschel's reply, also included, is as judicious as it is evasive.

Although the Historical Manuscripts Commission calendared the Knox Papers in Various Collections 6 (1909), pp. 81-296, 120 items in this collection were not listed.