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This collection consists of an unidentified persons' notes on petitions and sworn statements related to a proposed new road in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, on August 23, 1847. The volume is a blank book with a blue paper cover, with title "WRITING BOOK. MADE FOR JOHN P. HASKELL, TEACHER OF PENMANSHIP. 1847", printed by W. J. Merriam in Fitchburg.

The Charles Garth letterbook contains letters from Sir James Wright, South Carolina's agent to parliament from 1758-1760, and letters from Charles Garth, South Carolina's agent to parliament from 1762 through 1766.

The Charles Garth letterbook (358 pages and 6 blank pages) contains 20 pages of copied letters from Sir James Wright, South Carolina's agent to parliament from 1758-1760, and 336 pages of copied letters from Charles Garth, South Carolina's agent to parliament from 1762 through 1766.

The volume begins with 12 letters from Sir James Wright, addressed to members of parliament, commissioner of the treasury, and the lord high admiral of Great Britain. These largely relate to trade policies between South Carolina, England, and Europe. Wright discussed the trade of rice, salt, and hemp; he was also concerned with debts incurred during the French and Indian War between Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, from1754 to 1758. Of note is a petition to the British treasury, in which Wright described South Carolina's interactions with the Cherokee, Creeks, and Chickasaws, all of whom expected expensive presents in order to maintain peaceful relations (pages 5 verso-6 verso).

Charles Garth is the letterbook's primary author, contributing letters spanning from May 19, 1762, (when he was appointed South Carolina agent) to March 10, 1766. As agent, Garth's primary focus was on commercial matters, particularly concerning trade between South Carolina, England, and Europe. He communicated frequently with the British parliament, the commissioners of the treasury, the Commons House of Assembly of South Carolina, as well as other colonial agents and independent merchants.

Garth discussed commercial matters in depth, including regulations for imports and exports, such as exporting rice and indigo to England, and importing salt from Spain and Portugal. He also discussed taxes and financial matters: he debated the share of taxes that South Carolina needed to pay for the war with France, and, particularly in 1764, he debated questions concerning paper money value manipulation and South Carolina’s right to control its monetary policies. Garth repeatedly attempted, without success, to secure public funds from the Grenville administration. Other important matters include ongoing border disputes with Georgia and North Carolina, and efforts to attract immigration from Ireland, England, Scotland, and Hamburg to the province.

Many of the entries from 1764 and 1765 concern the decision to enact the rights and privileges of the colonies. Garth argued against the burden of internal taxes, imposed by England on South Carolina, such as the Stamp Act. In one petition to Parliament, Garth listed the South Carolinian's many disadvantages: "Their situation is dangerous & at the same time weak, surrounded by numerous Tribes of Indians from without, & exposed & lyable to the Insurrection of their own Slaves from within, their climate hot & unhealthy, such inclement seasons to Struggle withal..." (pages 150 verso-151). He constantly advocated for colonial rights over parliament’s control over financial matters.

• A "Report on Petition relating to the Exportation of Rice from Carolina" with testimonies from James Crockatt, William Middleton (a planter), James Gordon, and Georgia agent William Knox, arguing that Carolina should be able to trade rice freely with Madeira. The report states that "the general Exports are Rice, Indigo, Deer Skins, Naval Stores, & some slaves: the Deer Skins are purchased from the Indians" (56-57 verso). This entry is followed with a copy of an act that encouraged Carolina's production of indigo, and indigo export accounts for 1756-1762 (pages 58-59).
• A lengthy plea to the Earl of Egremont to let South Carolina, not Georgia, annex land south of the Altamaha River, July 5, 1763 (pages 64 verso to 67 verso).
• Communications with Baron Jeffery Amherst, including a return of troops per colony that were furnished with pay and clothes, and the actual number of troops raised per colony in 1761 (page 69).
• Premiums for exporting wine, olive trees, raisins, sarsaparilla, barilla, hemp, silk, cinnamon trees, cochineal (red dye), and sturgeon to England (pages 89-90 verso).
• An itemized account of the monies "received and disbursed" by Garth in 1763 and 1764 (pages 138-141 verso).
• A report To the Committee of Correspondence: Against the sugar act, February 17, 1765 (pages 149 verso-150).

The Haiti collection contains approximately 132 items related to the social, military, and economic history of Haiti from the mid-18th century through the 19th century. The collection includes correspondence, documents, and a scrapbook. The scrapbook, compiled by Victor Advielle, chronicles the history of the island from 1803, during the last stages of its revolution, through the 1890s.

The Haiti collection contains approximately 130 items related to the social, military, and economic history of Haiti from the mid-18th century through the 19th century. The collection includes correspondence, documents, visual material, and a scrapbook. The scrapbook, compiled by Victor Advielle, chronicles the history of the island from 1803, during the last stages of its revolution, through the 1890s.

• Therese Douault ALS to Martin Douault et Duberne, 1771 May 30; Légoâne, [Saint Domingue]. 2 pages. In French. Replying to the letter he wrote in April. Defends herself against claims she has mistreated his enslaved workers. Notes that Augustin, Eole, Mousingas, and Mercure were bedridden and one other individual died. N.B. Therese Douault was a formerly enslaved woman who married plantation and slave-owner Pierre Douault and was left in charge of the property in his absence.
• Bonneau et Avril DS, Journal des travaux..., September 1780. La Grande Plaine, [St. Domingue]. Beginning with a list of enslaved persons by profession/type of labor or other details (six women, for example, are indicated as free per the will of M. Baugé). The journal follows, indicating plantation events and the distribution of enslaved workers at different labor or at the hospital. With content related to mill work, sugar production, placing persons in irons, and more.
• Lory, Plombard & Co. ALS to Mr. Guillaumier; November 6, 1783. Cap. News of his brother, finances, and matters relating to enslaved persons (including their health).
• [Jean-Baptiste] Arnaudeau ALS to Madame Veuve Fleuriau, January 26, 1788; Bellevue, [Saint Domingue]. To his aunt, offering condolences on the death of her husband. Recommends buying the Fortin land as it is good for cultivating sugar cane. Purchase of enslaved persons for a good price (10 men and 2 women). Production of sugar and land on the Fleuriau plantation.
• Legal document from 1790 relating to the complicated distribution of Pierre Douault's estate, including the coffee plantation he owned in Saint Domingue.
• Delaire, Painparay & La Maiguere ALS to M. Peyrac, 1791 December 24; Nantes, [France]. 2 pages. Has received news from Port-au-Prince about the ratification of the treaty between "les Blancs & les Gens de couleur." Comments on how the gens de couleur have dictated the law, which is harsh against whites, but upholding it supports peace and protects property holders.
• [Pierre-César-Charles, marquis de] Sercey Partially Printed DS to "l'enseigne St. Prix," 1793 September 1; [New York, New York], 1 page. In French. Written near the New York harbor aboard theÉole . Orders from Commander of the Leeward Islands, "Le Commandant de la Station des Iles de L'Amérique Sous Le Vent," to embark on the frigate Surveillante to continue the ship's service. On illustrated letterhead with a decorative header; the portion featuring three fleurs-de-lis is inked out. N.B. Sercey commanded a fleet of ships carrying colonists fleeing from St. Domingue during the Haitian Revolution to New York and then on to France.
• British officer L. Dichter letter, describing Haiti as the "Devil's own Country"; July 4, 1796.
• An autographed letter by Toussaint L'Ouverture, written on his personal stationery; [1796].
• Citoyen Dodge Gorham and Dodge Gorham et Compagnie partially printed certificates (2) and manuscript document (1) pertinent to the shipment of goods, including beef, on the ship Zéphir (Zephyr) September 12, 1797. Le Cap.
• A deposition providing a firsthand account of revolutionary activity in 1793; October 25, 1799.
• Lovise Munroe manuscript protest, 14 Fructidor [September 1, 1800]; Môle Saint-Nicolas, Saint Domingue. 6 pages. Official notary copy of the protest of Lovise Munroe, captain of the Schooner Two Brothers of Boston, which sailed out of Philadelphia bound with goods consigned to merchant John Lewis at Cap Français. Was forced into the port at Môle Saint-Nicolas, "having been Contraried by the Winds & Weather." General Hyacinthe Moïse ordered that Munroe would "be so good to land All the Articles Useful to the State, such as, Tar, Pitch, Gun-Powder, Muskets, Swords, Pistols, Lead, Bunting, Tin and Flints, these articles will be deposited in the Arsenal in the Manner Order'd and Citn. [Mansey] Colin charged with the sale of the Surplus of the Cargo, will take the Arrangements he shall think most suitable with General Moyse, for the reimbursement of these Articles and the best of his Interest." After the goods were sold, Lewis claimed that he did not receive any compensation for the long sojourn in Môle Saint-Nicolas, but instead needed money to pay for flour, cloth, and cordage for the vessel's use.
• Donatien Marie Joseph de Vimeure letter to Charles-Emmanuel Leclerc, [circa 1802]. [Church of Limounade]. Marched yesterday and made the enemy fall back to the woods of in advance of Limonade; the 200 men of the 79th defeated them, killed many, and bivouac in the woods of L'anse. Seriziac arrived at Roseau Dominique. On Rochambeau's printed "Armée de St.-Domingue" stationery, "Liberté. Égalité. Au Quartier-Général d . . . le . . . l' an dix de la République française. De ROCHAMBEAU. Général de Division,"
• Robert McTaggart letter to Philadelphia merchants [John Reed, Standish Forde, and Samuel Israel]; January 18, 1804. Cap Français. Respecting trade issues, stagnant markets, spoiled produce, government restrictions on coffee purchases. Reference to ships at harbor and difficulties with French privateers.
• Letter to Martin[-Pierre] Foache, April 6, 1804. Au Cap. Describes persecution of white residents preceding the massacre ordered by Jean-Jacques Dessalines.
• A ca. 1815 legal summary of a case regarding the difficulties of collecting bills in post-revolutionary Saint Domingue. References the inability of the French merchant Reveliere to establish a trading house in Saint Domingue around 1802, which forced him to sell his cargo with a military contractor, but payment was later suspended by a governmental decree. Notes the impact on third-party bearers of the bills.
• B[elfast] Burton [draft letters?] to [Richard Allen?], [1825]; Semana, Haiti. 2 pages. Two letters on opposite sides of a single sheet. Discussion of issues with Pierre Joseph Marie Granville (Jonathas Granville), governance, authority, "there is nothing equal to truth & honesty and industry..." Politics, meddling of Alexander, support but apprehensions regarding President Jean-Pierre Boyer, and the campaign to promote African American immigration to the Republic of Haiti.
• Eugène-Léopold-François Pesnel DS petition to Faustin Soulouque, [1856?]; Cherbourg, [France]. 14 pages. Petition by Pesnel, requesting Empereur Soulouque to grant compensation to Marie Jeanne Pesnel, his mother, for property and proceeds lost as a result of the Haitian Revolution. Marie's father Thomas de Launay owned dwellings north of Cap Français and in Borgne. He had lived in Saint Domingue for 45 years before his death in 1781. The properties, including a cafeterie, had an annual profit of around 300,000 francs. The capital was 6,000,000 francs, which would have increased considerably in the hands of merchant de Launay and his descendants. Pesnel's request include a lengthy affirmation of his Republican sentiments, love of freedom, and dislike of slavery. The last page of the petition includes a transcription of a baptismal record of Marie Jeanne de Launay.

Other items are two photographs, a copy of L'Écho de la Timbrologie that traces the history of Haiti (January 31, 1954), a Carte de l'Isle de Saint Domingue ([1759], housed in the Map Division), a 1788 postmark from "Cap Haitien," and a newletter about French colonial postmarks.

Victor Advielle compiled the scrapbook, entitled Notes sur Haiti, in Paris in 1895. In addition to newspaper clippings, speeches, correspondence, and government documents, the volume has a piece of music entitled "Les paroles sont de Mr. de la Soriniere danjou, Et la Musique de Mr. Boran de St. Domingue." The scrapbook pertains to Haiti's 19th-century history. The section entitled "Ma Correspondence avec Légitime" contains personal correspondence between Victor Advielle and François Denys Légitime, who later became president of Haiti (1888-1889). The material within the scrapbook is in French.

This volume contains manuscript copies of legal documents pertaining to roads and property in Pennsylvania from 1804-1816, written in an 1801 edition of Collinson Read's Precedents in the Office of a Justice of Peace....

This volume (around 125 pages) contains manuscript copies of legal documents (60 pages), written in an 1801 edition of Precedents in the Office of a Justice of Peace..., by Collison Read (around 100 pages). The documents, dated 1804-1816, are comprised of deeds, indentures, and similar agreements respecting Pennsylvania real estate, particularly in Lancaster County. A few records from 1815 concern George and Frederick Rapp, the founders of the Harmony Society, who sold Harmony, Pennsylvania, land in Butler County before the sect relocated to Indiana. The author also copied petitions related to road construction and notes about proper forms of address for United States government officials (1 page) and algebraic mathematical equations (2 pages).

The remainder of the volume is a second edition copy of Collinson Read's Precedents in the Office of a Justice of Peace. To Which is Added a Short System of Conveyancing, in a Method Entirely New, with an Appendix, Containing a Variety of the Most Useful Forms (1801), originally published in 1794. The 63-page tract and 36-page appendix provide examples of legal records. The final page of Read's Precedents contains additional notes.