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Collection

Bland family papers, 1665-1912 (majority within 1778-1834)

58 items

The Bland family papers contain correspondence, documents, and genealogical information related to the family of Theodoric Bland, a Continental Army officer, delegate to the Continental Congress, and Virginia politician.

The Bland family papers contain correspondence, documents, and genealogical information related to the family of Theodoric Bland, a Continental Army officer, delegate to the Continental Congress, and Virginia politician. The earliest items in the Correspondence and Documents series are related to his ancestors, including a court document from "James Citty," listing a "Theo. Bland" as a member of the court (October 16, 1665), and a 1720 letter regarding British military affairs. The Theodoric Bland in this collection wrote the majority of items, often copies of his outgoing correspondence related to local and national politics in the latter years of the American Revolution; among these are letters to Benjamin Harrison and to Patrick Henry. Two items concern the Siege of Gibraltar, including a 1778 warrant for John Sweetland and a letter by Thomas Cranfield to his mother and father about his experiences during the siege (September 7, 1783). The collection also holds a muster roll of Lt. Purviss's Company, in a regiment of guards, from 1779. Later legal documents pertain to the career of Maryland judge Theodorick Bland, of another branch of the Virginia Bland family. Later material includes several personal letters to "Mr. and Mrs. Bland" from family and friends dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as responses to genealogical inquiries.

The Genealogy and Images series contains engravings and drawings of several Bland family members, including a detailed pencil drawing of P. E. Bland, who served as a colonel in the Civil War. Other genealogical notes trace branches of the family through the mid-19th and early-20th centuries.

The Bookplates and Printed Items series holds several bookplates, 20th century newspaper clippings, and pages from books.

Collection

Charles Deane collection, 1840-1909 (majority within 1848-1889)

0.25 linear feet

This collection contains correspondence that Charles Deane, a merchant and historian based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, received in the mid-19th century. Deane's correspondents included ministers, historians, and politicians, who discussed American history, contemporary historiography, and the activities of historical societies in the Boston area.

This collection contains correspondence, gift acknowledgements, engraved portraits, and photographs related to Charles Deane, a merchant and historian based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Deane's correspondents included ministers, historians, and politicians, who discussed American history, contemporary historiography, and the activities of Boston-area historical societies.

The Correspondence series (165 items) contains 146 letters to Charles Deane, 5 letters to Robert C. Waterston, 4 letters to Helen Waterston Deane, and 10 letters to Deane's children and other recipients. Charles Deane's correspondents provided news of social events in Boston and Cambridge, particularly related to local historical and antiquarian societies. Many writers offered opinions on Deane's writings, acknowledged the receipt of his publications, or thanked Deane for reviewing their own material. Others discussed topics in American history. One partially printed invitation regards a "Popham Celebration" in honor of the founding of the first English colony in North America (August 10, 1869). Additional items include a condolence letter from Thomas Wentworth to Helen Deane after Charles Deane's death (November 14, 1889).

Charles Deane received 8 Gift Acknowledgements between April 17, 1845, and October 13, 1864, thanking him for contributions to the Harvard University Library (6 items), the Boston Public Library (1 item), and the Boston Athenaeum (1 item). The documents are signed by Josiah Quincy, John Langdon Sibley, and other library affiliates. Two Engraved Portraits depict William Ellery Channing (1780-1842) and Amos Lawrence (1786-1852).

The Photographs series contains 3 carte-de-visite studio portraits depicting William Ellery Channing, Ezra Stiles Gannett, and George Livermore.

Collection

Cole family papers, 1799-1959 (majority within 1821-1931)

2.75 linear feet

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, maps, and ephemera related to the descendants and extended family of Dr. Joseph Cole of Sharon, Connecticut; Auburn, New York; and Albion, New York. Among many represented subjects are the educational and social lives of women in New York during the early 1800s, legal aspects of land ownership and estate administration, and land along Long Pond in Rome, Maine.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal documents, financial records, maps, and ephemera related to the descendants and extended family of Dr. Joseph Cole of Sharon, Connecticut; Auburn, New York; and Albion, New York.

The collection's correspondence includes letters from the children and other descendants of Dr. Joseph Cole of Sharon, Connecticut, and Auburn, New York, between 1817 and 1942. Most of the early letters in the collection are addressed to sisters Laura Altie and Mary Parsons Cole from female friends in New York. Several correspondents, including Mary Ann Kellogg and Chloe Hyde, were students at Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York, in the 1820s and 1830s. Kellogg provided a detailed description of the school before its main building was constructed (June 24, 1821), and Chloe Hyde later shared information about her coursework and the lives of fellow students. Other acquaintances told the sisters of their religious and social lives in different areas of New York, including Lanesborough, Buffalo, and Albany.

Almeron and Dan Cole received letters from friends, family, and business acquaintances, including their brother-in-law, Hiram Foote Mather. These include 7 letters by Frances M. Elliott, who wrote Dan, her future husband, in 1835 and 1836 about her life in Scottsville, New York, and her anticipation of their upcoming marriage. Letters from the 1840s to mid-1860s are most frequently addressed to the Cole brothers and to their brother-in-law, Hiram Foote Mather, about business affairs. Many regard legal matters in Niles and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

After the mid-1860s, much of the correspondence is composed of personal and business letters between David Hyde Mather, his brother-in-law George McClure Welles, and his brothers Joseph and John Mather, who moved out West in the late 1800s. Mather also received many personal letters from his niece, Harriet Prentiss Welles, during her time as postmistress of Great Bend, Kansas, who discussed her personal finances and loans. The papers also contain some of Daniel H. Cole's business correspondence. Other correspondence from this period includes letters between George McClure Welles and Lewis Hunt about Harriet Prentiss Welles's share of Almeron Cole's estate, and personal correspondence addressed to Mary Jane Cole of Albion, New York. She received letters from many female acquaintances and a series from her cousin, D. Williams Patterson, tracing the genealogy of the Hyde family to the mid-18th century.

A selection of letters from the 20th century relate to Marston Taylor Bogert, Morrison McMath, and Lizette Harrison. Between 1912 and the 1920s, Bogert corresponded with several people in Maine, regarding property along Long Pond near Rome, Maine. Other letters relate to the family of Morrison H. McMath, a lawyer from Rochester, New York. A late series of letters by Elizabeth ("Lizette") P. Harrison of Portland, Oregon, to Ada Howe Kent of California, reflects her financial troubles and emotional state during the early years of the Great Depression.

Legal documents include papers relating to the Newton and North Hempstead Plank Road Company; New York Supreme Court Cases heard between 1848 and 1894; estate administration papers; and financial documents and records. The Cole family papers contain documents concerning taxes paid on land holdings in Rome, Maine, in the early 20th century, including property held by Edward F. Bragg in Belgrade, Maine.

Materials relating to education include six checks from the 1860s made out to Phipps' U. Seminary, a 1906 report card for a student at the United States Naval Academy, and an undated "Report Book" containing two essays. An assortment of ephemeral items and manuscript maps of Marston T. Bogert's property along Long Pond in Rome, Maine, also appear in the collection.

The Cole family papers also contain essays, notes, and poetry. Items of note include an 1850s manuscript response of the County of Orleans, New York, to recent actions of slaveholding states, calling for attendance at a Republican Party convention in Syracuse; a 1925 essay entitled "The Beginnings of Modern Spiritualism in and Near Rochester," by Adelbert Cronised; a lengthy typed travelogue of India; and an essay on the history of the Isthmus of Panama and the Panama Canal.

Collection

Daniel Morgan collection, 1764-1951 (majority within 1764-1832)

63 items

The Daniel Morgan collection is made up of financial records, legal documents, correspondence, and other items related to General Daniel Morgan and to Willoughby Morgan, his son.

The Daniel Morgan collection is made up of 63 financial records, legal documents, correspondence, and other items related to General Daniel Morgan and to Willoughby Morgan, his son. The majority of the collection consists of accounts, bonds, promissory notes, and other documents pertaining to Daniel Morgan's financial affairs. Accounts and invoices record Morgan's purchases of clothing, wagon-related equipment and services, and other items. Some of the later items do not concern Morgan directly but have his legal endorsement. Also included are two outgoing letters by Morgan, a 9-page legal document about a lawsuit against Morgan, and a deposition that Morgan gave in a different dispute. Other items are a bond regarding Morgan's marriage to Abigail Curry (March 30, 1773) and Morgan's political address to the citizens of Allegheny County about politics and the militia (January 17, 1795). Three of the documents pertain to enslaved and free African Americans (November 6, 1773; June 13, 1789; and March 28, 1799). Later items mostly pertain to the estate of Willoughby Morgan, Daniel Morgan's son. James Graham wrote two letters to unknown recipients in 1847 and 1856 about his efforts to write Daniel Morgan's biography, which he subsequently published.

Printed items include a map of the surrender of Yorktown (undated), a newspaper article from a Winchester, Virginia, paper about the possible disinterment of Daniel Morgan's remains (August 18, 1951), and printed portraits of Daniel Morgan with manuscript and facsimile autographs.

Collection

Emily Howland papers, 1849-1974 (majority within 1850s-1920s)

3.5 linear feet

This collection consists of letters, documents, writings, bound volumes, printed materials, original art, photographs, ephemera, and other materials related to the life and study of Emily Howland of Sherwood, New York, between 1849 and 1974. Howland worked to advance abolition, African American education, and women's rights and suffrage, and her papers reflect these varied reform movements and her long-standing relationships with leaders in the causes. She was especially active in Freedmen's relief and education in Virginia during and following the Civil War. Her work centering in Northumberland County, Virginia, is documented in the collection, as well as her domestic life in Sherwood following her return there in the late 1860s.

This collection consists of letters, documents, writings, bound volumes, printed materials, original art, photographs, ephemera, and other materials related to the life and study of Emily Howland of Sherwood, New York, between 1849 and 1974. Howland worked to advance abolition, African American education, and women's rights and suffrage, and her papers reflect these varied reform movements and her long-standing relationships with leaders in the causes. She was especially active in Freedmen's relief and education in Virginia during and following the Civil War, and her work centering in Northumberland County, Virginia, is documented in the collection, as well as her domestic life in Sherwood following her return there in the late 1860s.

The Correspondence Series contains letters written to and from Emily Howland from 1849 until her death in 1929, touching on topics like antislavery, African American education, women's rights and suffrage, pacifism, among other social reforms and personal matters. Several items were written to other correspondents within Howland's social circles that were possibly shared with her or others researching her life at a later date. These letters reflect the Howland family's broader social reform networks, including several items written in the 1850s and 1860s to or from David Wright, an Auburn, New York, attorney active in the antislavery and temperance causes, as well as Eliza Wright Osborne, a suffragist, in the late 1890s.

Some of the correspondence from the 1840s and 1850s reflects the Howland family's involvement in antislavery efforts. Circular letters from the New York State Vigilance Committee (March 10, 1849) and the "Provisional Committee, for the Promotion of Education among the Colored People, in such of the Slave States as are, or may be accessible" (October 18, 1849) are present in the series. Hiram Wilson wrote a letter from St. Catharines, Canada, to Susan Marriott, a woman involved in gathering clothing for enslaved people fleeing across the border (October 30, 1851). He noted that Emily Howland alerted him to Marriott's "deep interest" in the work preparing the shipment, indicating Howland's interest in the effort. Similarly, W. O. Dawson wrote to Slocum Howland on November 16, 1853, discussing the travels of William Darsey, a man fleeing from slavery to Canada, and support offered by abolitionists. "He said you told him to have me write you as to his safe arrival at our house," Dawson wrote, confirming the Howland family was active in efforts to assist escape attempts. One writer asked Howland to check in on Catharine M. White, a former resident of the Colored Orphan Asylum, to determine if she was in financial straits, revealing how Howland operated within abolition and benevolence networks (October 26, 1858).

Correspondence in the collection documents Emily Howland's long career supporting education. Several letters between 1857 and 1859 relate to her first foray in teaching, as she taught in the school previously operated by Myrtilla Miner in Washington, D.C. Letters include one dated July 3, 1857, written by Miner noting her failing health and coordinating with Howland for the upcoming school year. A letter Howland wrote while on her initial trip to D.C. is also included, in which she described her voyage to Philadelphia, meeting with Samuel J. May who had promised to raise funds for the school, and picking up a young formerly enslaved girl named Virginia Ayer who was going to attend Miner's school (September 25, 1857). In another early letter home (November 7, 1857), Howland described the climate, flora, teaching 30 students, social visits, and viewing the "Greek Slave" in the art gallery. By February 26, 1858, she was also teaching an evening school and upwards of 40 students in the day school. In May 1858, Howland related a visit she took to the homes of some of her students and speaking with an older enslaved woman. A ca. May 1858 document in the Writings Series, "A visit to Aunt Nella," written by Margaret McAnulty, one of Howland's students, further describes this visit. The final letter written during Howland's tenure at the Miner school is dated March 27, 1859, and reports Myrtilla Miner's return, abrupt dismissal of the teachers, and Howland's hope that one of her students, Susie, might return to New York with her, "the idea of a chance for education overcomes her dread." She noted visiting the student's mother.

Emily Howland was active in contraband camps, Freedmen's relief programs, and African American school efforts during and after the Civil War, and her correspondence reflects these interests. A letter of recommendation written by F. W. Seward endorses Howland's desire to "go to the front to aid in taking care of the wounded," noting how she "has labored very diligently and effectively in the Contraband Camps in this vicinity for the past three years" (May 14, 1864). Letters like the one by Walter L. Clift, a lawyer in Savannah, Georgia, on July 23, 1867, speak directly to struggles experienced by Black Southerners during Reconstruction, commenting on efforts to collect "small claims against their employers who take advantage of their inability to keep accounts to defraud them of their wages" and their political sensibilities and registering to vote.

Howland was instrumental in purchasing land and raising funds for the construction of a school in Heathsville, Virginia, in 1867 and her correspondence reflects her ongoing investment in the project, through discussions of financial issues, building upkeep, and land transfers. On July 13, 1867, L. Edwin Dudley wrote from the Union Republican Congressional Executive Committee office in Washington, D.C., offering support for raising funds for the completion of the school and noting his endorsement of woman suffrage. A detailed letter from F. E. Dow documents the construction of the Howland Chapel School in Northumberland County, Virginia (August 25, 1867), noting African American residents' efforts in the construction and securing government funds. The correspondence also documents the transfer of land ownership from Howland to African American residents in Heathsville and Howland's reasoning to do so as "a great check on the wicked wills of the old slaveocracy, who let no whit of a chance to oppress escape them" (January 16, 1870). On April 17, 1876, Howland wrote while in Heathsville overseeing repairs to the school and managing land sales, including one to a man she "put the screws on" to press him to be more industrious and build a house on the land in order to secure the sale. Other letters indicate ongoing relationships with the Black community in the area, including two letters from Thamsen Taliaferro written when she was 22 years old indicating she was a teacher preparing to leave Heathsville to undertake other educational efforts in Manassas, possibly attending the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth with Howland's financial support (January 6 and 17, 1895). At least two letters were also written by Sidney Taliaferro Boyer (1854-1927), who was taught by Howland and was active in the Heathsville region (August 4, 1903), and Howland references her elsewhere in her correspondence. Several letters between Howland and Anna M. Stanton, who taught at Heathsville, are also present.

Howland frequently corresponded with others involved in contraband relief efforts and African American education, including Cornelia Hancock, who moved to South Carolina in 1866 to work alongside newly emancipated enslaved people and founded the Laing School for Negroes in Mount Pleasant. Letters between Howland and Hancock in the collection span from 1865 to at least 1884, beginning just as Hancock was preparing to begin her post-war labors. In one dated December 20, 1865, Hancock bristled at Philadelphian Quakers' failure to recognize Howland and other women's efforts in the South. Hancock's frustrations with the Society of Friends continued through the month as she tried to prepare a trip south, lamenting on December 31st that "Their extreme timidity seems to rest in a fear that their teachers will not have a feather bed to lie on and hotel fare for diet." She wrote requesting Howland's financial assistance to secure her transportation to South Carolina, "and I know too thee is not fastidious about where the work is done so it is getting done." Putnam directly linked Howland's support as essential to bringing her to the Laing School and reflected on their shared sense of dissatisfaction and restlessness at the close of the Civil War. She enclosed a manuscript map of the Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, region and worked with Howland to secure funds to purchase property on Cat Island to transfer to African American residents (January 14, 1869). She continued to write to Emily and Slocum Howland about land purchases and financial matters relating to her efforts in South Carolina, African American residents working in the area, and the strain the labor placed on her health.

Howland also stayed in regular contact with Caroline F. Putnam who founded the Holley School in Lottsburg, Virginia. She noted a festival endorsing "care and vigilance for the protection of the hitherto enslaved" (April 17, 1871) and reflected on their early ventures ([November 12, 1906?]). Howland wrote frankly to Putnam regarding their shared interests in education and other matters, including financial inducements to encourage African American voters to decline liquor licenses in Heathsville, Virginia (March 20, 1898), the Spanish-American War (February 8, 1899), and Putnam's ongoing work in Virginia (January 14, 1901).

Two letters written by Sallie Holley, a close colleague and partner of Putnam, are in the collection, written in October 1867 while she visited Howland in Sherwood, New York, after the passing of Howland's mother. They touch on the waning of abolitionist sentiment, teaching, Charles Sumner's wife, and Howland's comments about her "Virginia life" and the need for land ownership by the formerly enslaved. One letter from Howland includes a later annotation that it may have been addressed to Holley, but the attribution is unverified (March 11, 1866). A letter written on March 7, 1893, concerning Sally Holley's will acknowledges some of the tension that could arise in the work, as her will allowed Putnam's continued use of the school but not its ownership.

Howland maintained a long-lasting friendship with Harriet Tubman, and several letters in the collection relate to Tubman, including correspondence arranging for her to speak at the National Association of Colored Women's convention in Washington, D.C., in 1896 by figures like Victoria Matthews who was helping to organize the convention (July 8, 1896). These items were not addressed to Howland, instead principally directed to Eliza Wright Osborne, so their presence among her papers is suggestive of them being forwarded to Howland, possibly to aid in working to secure Tubman's presence. Other letters reference discussions of reprinting biographies of Tubman and working to record her oral histories, including by figures like Franklin Benjamin Sanford. While these letters tend to focus on the events and projects, descriptions of Tubman emerge, such as having a limited "ability to speak in public" (July 1, 1896), or that "She is difficult to understand, unless one is familiar with the negro talk; but she can tell her experiences very graphically, and she seems to have a very good memory" (July 4, 1896), or that she would "want her books for Washington" (July 5, 1896).

Others reference Tubman visiting with Howland and include anecdotes about her experiences, such as having surgery and tending to an impoverished widow (September 5, 1897), or her tendency not to eat until after noon on Fridays, "the hour when the Lord descended from the cross" (November 24, 1899; June 22, 1900), or wondering whether Tubman would include the Manassas Industrial School in her will (June 14 and 20, 1900). Howland recounted one encounter with an African American man who claimed to be fleeing from lynching threats in North Carolina and was directed to her by Tubman, which turned out to be a scam, underlining the depth of the two women's relationship and how Tubman's reputation was wielded for unintended purposes (October 21, 1905).

Howland wrote twice to Eliza Wright Osborne (January 11 and 28, 1897) referencing her displeasure with a meeting and financial decisions for the nascent Harriet Tubman Home for Aged and Indigent Negroes, as well as her scathing displeasure with the fundraising efforts of John J. Smallwood for the Temperance, Industrial and Collegiate Institute. She noted her enlistment of Booker T. Washington and William Lloyd Garrison in her opposition, hinting at the complicated politics and interpersonal conflicts present in such efforts. Garrison wrote to her on November 5, 1896, about his work to publish warnings in newspapers, to expose "him by voice & pen for two years" as a "phenomenal liar, forger & sneak" and to work with Booker T. Washington to spread awareness.

Into the twentieth century, Howland continued to financially support educational institutions, including those focused on Black education such as the Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute for Colored Youth in Kowaliga, Alabama; Selma University in Selma, Alabama; the Piney Woods Country Life School for Training Colored Boys and Girls in Christianity, Character, and Service in Braxton, Mississippi; the Manassas Industrial School for Colored Youth in Manassas, Virginia; and the Tuskegee Institute, in Tuskegee, Alabama. Oswald Garrison Villard wrote to Howland on June 18, 1907, with a detailed report of the Manassas Industrial School, its teachers and administrators, plans for construction, and the need for contributions. Other letters reference the building of Howland Hall (December 17, 1910) and the secession of leadership following Oswald Garrison Villard's resignation (November 1 and November 22, 1912). Laurence C. Jones, principal of Piney Woods Country Life School, wrote a letter of thanks for Howland's interest in the institution and described the hardships African American communities were experiencing in Braxton, Mississippi. Howland also was heavily involved in the Sherwood Select School of Sherwood, New York, and letters in the collection reveal her planning, financial support, and frustrations with the school.

Howland also provided financial support for individuals' educational pursuits, and letters of thanks for her generosity (see August 11, 1903) or correspondence describing specific cases (August 6, 1903) are present in the collection. Howland's letter of January 11, 1897, illustrates how she worked her interpersonal networks towards her causes. She wrote to her colleague Mrs. Osborne, about a former African American student from Auburn, New York, Mary Williams, whom she had secured a teaching position for at the Manassas Industrial School and was now in need of someone to fund her salary. Howland noted Williams visiting her and following up on his request for Osborne's support, which is also in the collection (December 7, 1896).

Howland was heavily involved in efforts to secure women's suffrage in New York State, and letters relating to the New York State Woman Suffrage Association are included as well as those detailing efforts to advance women's suffrage during the New York State Constitutional Convention. Correspondence touches on meetings and conventions, distribution of materials, planning events and campaigns, financial concerns, and political outcomes, among other topics. Letters to Howland from various politicians indicate she was writing to them concerning their positions relating to suffrage. In a letter dated November 8, 1917, to her niece Isabel, Howland wrote about celebrating the successful vote for women's suffrage in New York, including getting their photograph taken at the Headquarters, a copy of which is present in the Photographs Series of this collection.

Howland corresponded with those working to advance women's suffrage in other states and at the national level. Her letters include those relating to Wimodaughsis, the National Council of Women of the United States, the National-American Woman Suffrage Association, among others. A November 9, 1893, telegram from Fred E. Smith from Greely, Colorado, announces it to be "the 1st State in the Union to extend Equal Suffrage to Woman," and a letter from her cousin J. H. Allen of Canon City, Colorado, answered questions Howland posed about the impact of women's suffrage in the state (November 4, 1897). Howland also reacted to the 1911 referendum in California that extended suffrage to women (October 21, 1911).

In the course of her work to advance women's suffrage, Howland amassed correspondence with many involved in the effort. The collection includes five letters from Susan B. Anthony, remarking on the tension between women's suffrage and enfranchising formerly enslaved men (February 29, 1892); the New York State Constitutional Convention (December 27, 1893); distribution of The History of Woman Suffrage, including to African American institutes and libraries (November 4, 1895); travel arrangements (April 2, 1899); and directions for sending mail (May 15, 1899). A postcard sent to Howland in August 1903 was addressed to her, care of Susan B. Anthony, suggesting how the two visited and travelled together on occasion. Other correspondents include figures like Harriet B. Laidlaw, Eliza Wright Osborne, Alice Stone Blackwell, Mariana W. Chapman, Harriet May Mills, Anna Howard Shaw, among others.

Several items reflect international efforts, including a manuscript circular letter originally written by Marie Goegg of the Association Internationale Des Femmes, dated March 1870. A June 8, 1889, letter written from Alice Stone Blackwell of the Woman's Journal to Hannah Howland refers to the upcoming Woman's Rights Congress in Paris and their openness to receiving a report on the proceedings. Anna Howard Shaw wrote to Howland on December 4, 1907, about European meetings and getting "in touch with some of the old suffragists again," and wrote from Triberg, Germany, on July 19, 1908, commenting on her international trip, her speech in London, and plans for future events in England. An undated letter from the Central Committee of the National Society for Women's Suffrage in London, England, notes their willingness to send Howland notice of their meetings. Other letters indicate Howland was tracking international news, like her letter dated March 28, 1898, where she noted, "progress since the time of Roman splendor & vileness is not so great as some shallow good folks may flatter themselves, with our lynchings & prisons & the condition of Cuba & Armenia the world is not in sight of the millennium & will not be soon." She elsewhere reflected on the "Philippine question" (May 25, 1902) and the suffering caused by the First World War (November 1, 1914).

Howland met and corresponded with Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati, a noted reformer from India who advocated for the rights of women, widows, and orphans, who visited the United States from 1886 to 1888. Howland wrote of meeting Ramabai and Dr. Rachel Bodley of the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania on August 23, 1886, calling it a "red letter day in my calendar." Howland described Ramabai and their conversation, noting a discussion about religion and missionaries, women in India, opposition to English rule, and some references to Anandibai Joshee. Howland also wrote about introducing Ramabai to Harriet Tubman, and Ramabai inquired after Tubman and sent her regards in subsequent correspondence (December 20, 1886; October 31, 1889). Letters between Ramabai and Howland continue through 1895 and touch on women's rights publications, speaking engagements, introductions to Howland's networks, fundraising, plans for visits, and the school Ramabai ran in India. Ramabai also wrote of the death of Rachel Bodley and confusion about financial affairs, including an order under Howland's name for twenty-four copies of her book The High Caste Hindu Woman (July 27, 1888). She requested at least twice for Howland to write to her about her work with African American causes. In her letter dated January 10, 1890, Howland obliged, describing her personal history, being raised in an abolitionist house and a "station on the Underground Railroad," feeling the constraints of the "bonds of custom" of Quaker tenets, and her entry into teaching at the Miner school. Several pages are missing from her autobiographical letter.

In addition to state and national affairs, Howland appears to have stayed apprised of local politics as well. A letter from the Superintendent of the Board of Education in Auburn, New York, wrote to her on December 19, 1883, in regards to whether women could vote at school meetings. Howland's political activities are also represented in her correspondence, such as her work with the Sherwood Equal Rights Association and the Cayuga County Political Equality Club.

The lines between Howland's work with Freedmen's relief, Black education, and woman's suffrage sometimes blurred, with her letters on behalf of race-based projects written on suffrage letterhead, or correspondence with those she likely met while working on Freedmen's affairs, such as with James Inglish Ferree, touching on women's rights (June 5, 1882). On April 5, 1903, Howland wrote to Caroline Putnam about a trip she was taking in company with Susan B. Anthony to the Tuskegee Normal School and Kowaliga Academic and Industrial Institute. A letter dated February 28, 1913, from the president of the Ohio Woman Suffrage Association, Harriet Taylor Upton, asserts that "the Washington people have decided wisely in regard to the colored question," and in a letter dated May 2, 1913, Howland wrote of Anna Howard Shaw and how "she is blamed because there is no more organizing done in the South but since Southern women will exclude colored women she is not in it."

Howland remained in communication with Margaret Jones Burleigh, an abolitionist and reformer who taught Howland for a period in her youth. Burleigh connected Howland with Edward Strange, a British immigrant who had been incarcerated and whose reform Burleigh took a particular interest in. Letters in the collection reflect on their partnership in this issue, Strange's housing and eventual stay with Howland, his health, care, and diet as he lived with tuberculosis, his thoughts on religion and his personal changes, broader interest in his case, concerns for his spiritual state, and his eventual death in March 1872. Howland referred to Strange in childlike terms and admitted to a sense of motherly affection inspired by him (March 15, 1872), and compared her grief to "some bereft mothers to whom I have listened who never knew when to stop talking of the departed" (April 11, 1872). Additional items relating to Edward Strange can be found in the Documents Series (a document penned by Strange authorizing Howland to tend to his personal property), in the Writing Series (Howland's retrospective of her full encounter dated April 3, 1872), and in her Diary.

Later in her life, Emily Howland became more active in pacifist efforts. Alfred H. Love, president of the Universal Peace Union, wrote to Howland on July 8, 1909, to discuss the organization's business and publications and seek her continued support. Five undated postcards from the American Relief Administration reflect her involvement with the program during World War I, seemingly for food packages, and in a letter to Caroline F. Putnam on November 1, 1914, she lamented the consequences of World War I, including her belief in the "crime against animals" by using horses in battle.

Miscellaneous correspondence with family members and friends from the Sherwood, New York, region document Howland's everyday life. Some letters suggest her family's broader interests or awareness of what would intrigue her, such as her nephew Herbert Howland describing his visit to Jamaica, Mexico, and South America, commenting on race and armed conflicts (January 21, 1903). Howland corresponded with friends over decades, and in her later years she reflected on aging and historical memory. For example, she wrote on March 17, 1914, "I find that I must keep out of the Past, as it makes the Present so poor, and summons a yearning feeling to follow."

The Documents Series spans from 1840 to 1928, the earliest being a manuscript copy of the rules for the Nine Partners Boarding School. Other materials reflect Howland's work supporting African American education. Three items relate to Myrtilla Miner's school in Washington, D.C.: a "List of scholars during April 1858," a bill of lading for apples and butter sent to Howland while teaching there, and "Questions in history prepared & written by Mrs. Seward.... When teaching Miss Miner's school in 1858 & 9." A copy of the 1869 "Deed of Bargain & Sale" that transferred ownership of the property in Northumberland County, Virginia, from Emily Howland to Benjamin and Beverly Taliaferro, Robert Walker, and Maurice Moore is also present, with the condition that "a school shall be established and maintained thereon, wherein no person shall be excluded on account of race, color or sex."

One document signed by Edward Strange on December 11, 1871, empowers Howland to dispose of his property upon his death.

The following items (in the Documents Series) relate to women's suffrage:
  • A typescript of resolutions passed by the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Cayuga County Political Equality Club opposing the refusal to allow women to vote for school commissioners in New York, ca. 1892
  • "Signers of the Anti Suffrage Petition from Aurora," ca. 1890s
  • A typed notice announcing that The Woman's Journal was "no longer the official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage Association," ca. 1912
  • A tally of Auburn, New York, votes for and against the 1915 suffrage referendum
  • An undated copy of legal articles concerning voting in public school meetings
  • An undated, blank form for a constitution for a branch of the Men's League for Woman Suffrage
  • An undated typed copy of the "Plan to be Submitted to the State Committee" regarding organizing for an upcoming vote on a suffrage amendment
  • An undated delegation certificate for John T. Hughes
  • A blank subscription form for the National Society for Women's Suffrage
  • A New York State Woman Suffrage Party pledge in support of women's suffrage
  • An undated "Twenty-Five Greatest Women Guessing Contest of New York State Suffrage Association" entry form filled out by Emily Howland

Other items pertain to the Political Equality Club, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the Emily Howland High School in Aurora, New York.

The Writings Series includes miscellaneous written works, such as essays, poems, drafts, speeches, and obituaries. Several of the poems are political in nature, including one reflecting on women's political positions. A poem written by W. Darwin Wooden in June 1856, consists of acrostics for Charles Sumner and Stephen A. Douglass, focusing on their political positions relative to slavery, and another undated poem by A. H. Reynolds of Auburn, New York, is entitled "Tribute to Susan B. Anthony." Others are more sentimental in nature, but at least one undated poem was copied on a fragment of a letter from Harriet May Mills, providing insight into the intermingling of Howland's literary and political worlds.

Other items in the series reflect Howland's longstanding interest in suffrage. Howland wrote a draft for a speech to the Political Equality Club of Cayuga County ca. 1897 about women voting in school meetings. Typed lyrics to the song "Help Us Win the Vote" by Deborah Knox Livingston are noted as being sung to the tune of the "Battle Hymn of the Republic." A copy of Howland's October 26, 1915, letter to the editor of the Advertiser Journal refuting an anti-suffrage address is also present, as is an undated draft of an article for the Advertiser relating to suffrage. Undated draft notes in Howland's hand for a letter to George Allen Davis, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, appeal for his support to strike the word "male" from the New York constitution.

Materials documenting Howland's efforts with educational projects are also well represented in the series. Margaret McAnulty, an African American student at Myrtilla Miner's school, wrote an essay ca. May 1858, "A visit to Aunt Nella," describing a trip Emily Howard took with students to visit their families and an older enslaved woman. This corresponds to a May 23, 1858, letter written by Howland in the Correspondence Series. Two other sheets of draft notes reflect on the history of Myrtilla Miner's school near Washington, D.C., one written on the back of a partially printed circular sent in March 1868 by Jerusha M. Skinner to former patrons of the School for Colored Deaf, Dumb and Blind Children.

Two copies of a circular appealing for financial support of the Holley School appear in Howland's hand, ca. March 23, 1901, with notes about Mr. Chadwick plagiarizing her writing. An undated essay entitled "The Story in Brief" regarding the Holley School in Lottsburg, Virginia, was possibly written by Sarah Thomas Miller.

Another undated piece provides personal opinions about higher education for African Americans and that "we must discriminate and choose the proper education for the individual."

Typescript copies include a piece entitled "A Virginia School" from the February 1899 Friends' Intelligencer regarding the history of the Heathsville school. Typescripts detailing Cornelia Hancock's work during and after the Civil War are also present, along with an envelope annotated by Howland, "A letter from Cornelia Hancock and a M.S. account of her life in the army at various places and times beginning at Gettysburg." It is unclear whether the typescripts are the contents Howland refers to or were added to the envelope at a later date. The series also contains typed and manuscript notes for commencement addresses by Emily Howland and others for the Sherwood Select School in the 1920s.

Several items in the series relate to Howland's pacifist beliefs. Between 1919 and 1924, Howland copied three of her reports for the Women's Christian Temperance Union concerning peace. These sentiments are further echoed in a ca. 1919 draft responding to anti-suffrage sentiments and advocating pacifism which was written by Howland on miscellaneous scrap paper, including letters from the First Congregational Church in Little Rock and the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, a brochure of the closing exercises of Centreville Industrial Institute, and a circular for the National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Another undated draft responds to a piece in Harper's Weekly about foreign policy and war, and is written on the verso of printed New York Woman Suffrage Association notices. Two other drafts relate to pacifism, one a resolution deploring "the present belligerent attitude of nations, & the spirit of conquest wh. everywhere prevails" and the other reflecting on how patriotism does not require "a jealous dislike of other nations & peoples." An undated draft of pacifist resolutions opposing "the present belligerent attitude of nations" is also present.

Howland wrote a 23-page retrospective, recounting her experiences with Edward Strange, a British man who had been formerly incarcerated and who spent six months ill with tuberculosis at her house, dated April 3, 1872. She described how they met, his stay with her, and the progression of his disease. She also noted the tumultuous emotions his stay caused, calling it a "whirlpool of feeling - a confusion as great as the mystery he was to me. Mystery then, mystery now and ever!"

Obituaries for Lisette M. Worden, Sarah Thomas Miller, C. de B. Mills, William Howland, and Elizabeth Jacobs are included.

The Bound Volumes Series consists of four items. The first is a handmade blank book wrapped in stenciled wallpaper, inscribed by Emily Howland, "My 1st day school book when a little girl." It includes copies of religious texts and answers to Biblical questions. One page appears to bear the name "Sidney Taliaferos," but additional research is needed to verify whether this was written by Sidney Taliaferro Boyer.

The second volume is a commonplace book kept by Emily Howland's brother, William Howland, ca. 1850s-1860s, in which he compiled quotations and proverbs and pasted in various newspaper clippings relating to recipes, remedies, legal subjects, poems, and miscellaneous topics like whining. Subjects relate to the law, politics and society, education, morality, and more. Some content is suggestive of abolitionist circles, such as quotations from the North Star and Gerrit Smith.

The third volume is Emily Howland's diary dating from January 1, 1871, to March 11, 1873, opening with Howland travelling away from home, likely in Heathsville, Virginia, and in discussion with Theodore Dow about partnering together with the school (January 11, 1871; January 31, 1871). Several entries include quotations written in dialect and Howland noted her reaction to "their strangely inspiring songs" (February 2, 1871), suggesting she was meeting with African American residents, and she recorded visiting the schoolhouse. By March 9, Howland had returned to Sherwood, and her diary entries reflect on the weather, family and social visits, local news, and her emotional state.

The diary skips from August 14, 1871, to March 27, 1872, beginning again with a brief reflection about her sadness over the death of Edward Strange ("Teddy") beginning to lift. The diary records her housekeeping tasks, attending religious services and Sunday School, reading, visits and correspondence, and remembrances of Strange and adjusting to his absence. Her entries reflect displeasure with the demands of domestic labor and a troubled emotional state. Howland expressed some dissatisfaction with the limited recognition she received for her efforts, "A good many times I've been omitted where it seemed to me I belonged, or I've had to see others reap where I had sown. How keenly H Greeley must felt this. One is not anxious to be conspicuous but one likes recognition of ones good intentions or one's services or places" (December 10, 1872).

Some content in the diary reflects Howland's ongoing interest in racial affairs, women's rights, and benevolence. At least two entries reference Native Americans (May 1, 1872; June 6, 1872), and others note making donations to Freedmen's groups (October 18, 1872; January 23, 1873), attending a festival for the Orphan Asylum (August 2, 1872), and reading material such as the Woman's Journal (January 27, 1873) and Eminent Women (July 22, 1872). Throughout the diary Howland made several mentions of Colonel Charles W. Folsom, Sidney (possibly Sidney Taliaferro Boyer), and Caroline Putnam.

The fourth volume is a minute book for the Quaker Picnic Association of Sherwood for 1894-1904. "Resolutions of Respect and Condolence, on the death of Hannah L. Howland" are laid into the volume. The volume documents meeting attendance, committees, discussions, and votes relating to the planning of the Sherwood picnics, in addition to accounts of the picnics themselves. William and Hannah Howland were especially active in the association, and several other members of the family also appear in the minutes.

The Printed Materials Series contains the following pamphlets, brochures, and programs:

  • A Short Account of William Terry, A member of the Masonic Society… (Poughkeepsie, 1820)
  • The Annual Catalogue of the Teachers and Pupils of the Poplar Ridge Seminary (Auburn, 1845)
  • Three copies of Emily Howland, New York State Report for 1891, Presented at the Nineteenth Congress of the Association for the Advancement of Women, by Emily Ward Howland, Vice President (Syracuse, 1892). All three have "Ward" crossed out of Howland's name, and one bears a stamp, "From the Papers of Miss Emily Howland Presented 1934."
  • The Twenty-fifth Annual Convention of the National-American Woman Suffrage Association… January 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1893. (s.l., [1893])
  • Report of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association. 25th Annual Convention (Syracuse, [1893]). Includes names of Emily Howland and Lydia S. M[ains?] on the front cover with the note "Moravia raised $14.30 for Miss Shaw's Meeting June 8." A newspaper clipping about a Political Equality Club meeting and a manuscript list of officers and committees, with Emily Howland as the president, are pasted into the front of the volume.
  • Addresses of His Excellency, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, and Booker T. Washington, Principal of Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee Alabama, Delivered at Carnegie Hall. (New York.) Home Missionary Meeting, March 3, '94, Under the Auspices of the Presbyterian Church, of America. (s.l., [1894])
  • Report of the Annual Meeting of the Ramabai Association Held March 18, 1896 (Boston, 1896)
  • The Fortnightly… Programme, 1897-'98 (s.l., [1897])
  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton To her life-long friend and co-worker Susan B. Anthony on her eightieth birthday (s.l., 1900.
  • Annual Reports, October 1st 1901. Supplement to the Junior Republic Citizen (Freeville, [1902])
  • Mary Jane Howland Taber, "Friends Here and Hereaway Continued," in Old Darthmouth Historical Sketches. No. 12. Inscribed "Mr. Herbert Howland With best wishes for a pleasant Christmas & Happy New Year from the author." (s.l., 1905)
  • Ida Husted Harper, History of the Movement for Woman Suffrage in the United States (New York, 1907)
  • Two copies of The Forty-First Annual Convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (s.l., [1909])
  • Sanitary Laws and Regulations In and For the Town of Scipio, Cayuga County, N.Y. ([Auburn, New York], 1909)
  • The Forty-Third Annual Convention of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (s.l., [1911])
  • Two copies of Lucy Jacobs, A Historical Sketch of Sherwood Select School, 1871-1911 (s.l., [1911]). One with a stamp on the front cover, "From the Papers of Miss Emily Howland Presented April 1934."
  • The American Ramabai Association Report of the Eighteenth Annual Meeting, March 28, 1916 (Boston, 1916)
  • The Westonian: A Monthly Magazine for Friends 21.1 (January 1916). With Emily Howland's name added in manuscript on the cover along with the note, "A Quaker Schoolmistress p. 9."
  • A Brief History of Laing School, Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Covering Sixty Years of Service, 1866-1926. Together with a Picture of its Founder, Cornelia Hancock… (s.l., [1926])
  • Joseph Tallcot, The Acorn. Designed to Promote Oral Instruction and Moral Influence in Common Schools Vol.1, No. 3 (Skaneateles, n.d.)
  • A. F. Beard, Samples and Examples. By A. F. Beard, Corresponding Secretary of the American Missionary Association (s.l., n.d.), with a focus on the Kowalgia School in Alabama.
  • The Charleston Exchange for Woman's Work Cookbook, (Charleston, n.d.)
  • Charles F. Dole, G. S. Dickerman, and Roger F. Etz, Little Journeys to Piney Woods School (s.l., n.d.)
  • Constitution of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association (s.l., n.d.)

A number of broadsides, circulars, and fliers are also in the series relating to topics such as Freedmen's Relief, Reconstruction, women's suffrage, the Political Equality Club, temperance, African American educational institutions, pacifism, and more. These include two "Votes for Women" broadsides featuring maps of the United States color-coded to identify suffrage status, as well as instructions on how to fill out ballots regarding suffrage questions. Oversize materials include two printed broadsides advertising lectures by Harriet May Mills, President of the New York State Woman Suffrage Association, and one printed broadside advertising a lecture by Mrs. Minnie J. Reynolds, who "lived and voted in Colorado for many years and is fairly conversant with the working of suffrage in the hands of woman. She is not one of the window smashing kind, but is noted for her intelligent and womanly methods."

The series also includes newspapers and periodicals. Full papers include editions of the Ulster County Gazette (a later reproduction of the January 4, 1800 edition), with content relating to the death of George Washington; the New-York Weekly Tribune (November 17, 1849); the National Anti-Slavery Standard (August 12, 1852); two volumes of the Evening Auburnian with articles concerning the death of James Garfield (September 20, 1881 and September 24, 1881); the Woman's Tribune (January 13, 1894); The National Bulletin (April 1892); The Peacemaker (October 1902 and April 1905); and Young People (September 23, 1933). Single sheets from an unnamed paper from 1876 reported on the "Soul Stirring Speech" of Col. R. G. Ingersoll to "the Boys in Blue" in Indianapolis about the Democratic Party, and a single sheet from the Advertiser-Journal of April 18, 1918 reports on the passage of prohibition in Auburn, New York, and women's influence in the vote.

Student periodicals include a copy of the Tuskegee Institute's The Student (February 1897); a copy of the The Industrial Student (November 1926) with an article about Emily Howland and her support of the Southern Industrial Institute in Camp Hill, Alabama; two volumes of The Intermountain Institute News (January 1928 and April 1932); and two volumes of The Pine Torch from 1940 relating to the Piney Woods School in Mississippi.

Various newspaper clippings dating between 1894 and 1965 primarily focus on local, state, and national suffragist activities, the Cayuga County Political Equality Club, profiles of Emily Howland and other women's rights activists, and reports on anti-suffrage news and opinions. Several relate to the Sherwood Select School, including a memorial for Hepisbeth C. Hussey (ca. 1908), the Tuskegee Institute, and other topics. A number of the clippings include notations of the newspaper name and date in Emily Howland's hand.

The collection contains several books including educational material, a sammelband (composite volume of multiple publications) of anti-slavery, farming, and temperance almanacs, the six-volume set of History of Woman Suffrage (inscribed by Susan B. Anthony to Isabel Howland), a Bible, and a copy of Harriet: The Moses of Her People (1901). Please see the list in the Additional Descriptive Data section for more information.

The Postcards Series consists of 76 blank postcards produced by companies and photographers like Fred Harvey, Detroit Publishing Company, Karl E. Moon & Co., among others, featuring imagery relating to Native Americans residing in the Southwestern United States, particularly New Mexico and Arizona. One postcard from the sequence can be found in the correspondence series with a postmark of August 6, 1932, suggesting the postcards were likely produced in the 1920s and 1930s. Images include artistic renderings, color printed photographs of portraits of individuals and families, scenes of everyday life and labor, artistic and cultural productions like woven blankets and pottery, buildings and pueblos, and dances and other gatherings. The bulk of the postcards represent individuals from the Hopi tribe, but other tribes and nations include the Dakota, Navajo, Apache, Pueblo, Hualapai, and Havasupai.

Two additional blank picture postcards are also included, one depicting the Sherwood Select School and the other for "Oklahoma Women Want Votes for Women. Let the People Rule Women are People," showing a woman standing at a desk.

The Photographs Series includes cartes-de-visite, tintypes, cabinet cards, a real photo postcard, a cyanotype, photographs, and reproductions, ranging in date from 1863 to the mid-twentieth century. They feature portraits of Emily Howland, women's rights activists, African American schoolrooms and students, and residences and Quaker meeting houses related to the Howland family, among others subjects. Portraits depict individuals such as Emily Howland, Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ward Beecher, Pandita Ramabai Sarasvati, and Anna E. Dickinson, as well as an unidentified man seated in a wheelchair, possibly Edward Strange, a formerly incarcerated man who died of tuberculosis in Howland's home in 1872. Photos of Emily Howland include three of her in regalia, relating to her receiving her honorary doctorate in 1926 and her centennial birthday, and other photos depict her from young adulthood through older age. There is a reproduction of a photo of Emily with her father Slocum Howland, and an original snapshot of her seated with the "Brown children" in 1921. There is also one photo of an unidentified African American man standing before Howland Hall in Statesboro, Georgia.

Group photos are also present in this series. One group portrait is of the National American Woman Suffrage Association's 1891 delegates, with Susan B. Anthony, Anna Shaw, and Emily Howland present, among others. One photo shows thirteen women, a child, and a man inside a Cayuga County suffrage office, decorated with pro-suffrage posters, American flags, and Cayuga County Political Equality Club flags. Emily Howland captioned it: "Nov. 7, 1917 - 'The Morning After' - the victory of Nov. 6," commemorating the passage of woman suffrage in New York State. It may have previously been part of a scrapbook, as it is affixed to a sheet bearing a clipping from the November 11, 1917, Post-Standard newspaper from Syracuse, New York, for "Suffrage Party Leaders and Advocates."

Photographs in the collection reflect Howland's longstanding interest in African American education. Two photos depict the Holley School at Lottsburg, Virginia. One, a reproduction of an 1893 photograph of the interior of the Holley School, is accompanied by a note likely written by Isabel Howland describing a visit to the establishment with Emily Howland. It shows a Christmas tree, bookshelves, portraits, flags, and several African American students. The other is a class photo from 1907 with several rows of students and their teacher(s), with a pencil inscription on the back reading "Miss Putnam's school." A reproduction of a photo taken in 1897 depicts Howland posing in front of a machine, noted on the back as one she "presented . . . to the iron-workers" at the Tuskegee Institute, while another reproduction of a photo taken in 1908 shows a group of people, possibly African American students and residents, standing outside of the "Howland School & Buildings" in Avalon, Virginia. A reproduction of a photo of Emily Howland, two white women, and an African American man and woman is labeled "Principal of Kowaliga School, 1913." A reproduction of a photograph of Emily Howland shows her seated in a chair while wearing a floral crown and two African American girls seated on the floor on either side of her. A pencil note written by a relative identifies it as a photo taken during a visit to Manassas, describing a program in Howland's honor. One mid-twentieth-century photo of a group of African American men, women, and children gathered in a cemetery was identified by the dealer as "likely Heathsville, Virginia" but requires further research to confirm.

Other photos primarily document places. Some of these appear to have been taken or reproduced in relation to Florence W. Hazzard's research on Emily Howland and include materials depicting the interior and exterior of Howland family residences and the Sherwood Select School. Two card photographs, dated 1912 and 1914 respectively, relate to Quaker Meeting Houses. They bear inscriptions on the verso by Emily Howland describing how she attended meeting in one for forty years and how her parents were married in the other. Another card photograph is of the exterior of "Leonard Searing's former house," again with an inscription by Howland with information about individuals captured in the photo.

The Original Art Series consists of five items. An unattributed artist drew three pencil sketches on March 23, 1891, of the exterior of the Holley School at Lottsburg, Virginia, Sallie Holley's residence, and a "Virginia log cabin" with individuals, possibly of African American descent, outside the front door. An unattributed and undated watercolor painting of the "Old Hicksite Meeting House West of Scipioville" is also included, as well as a manuscript map of the western United States with pen and ink and pencil drawings on the verso of buffalo, John Brown, a murderer at the gallows, two bearded men wearing hats, and a box addressed to F. D. Kohler.

The Ephemera Series contains business cards, notices related to the Association for the Advancement of Women and the Cayuga County Political Equality Club, several invitations for Howland during her stay in London during the 1899 International Congress of Women, and a sheet of paper that was previously used to wrap a biscuit "From the Queen's table spread . . . to refresh the members of the Council who went to see her by invitation" during the Congress. A disbound portrait of Slocum Howland and a clipped portrait of Anna Howard Shaw are also present. The series includes a handheld fan encouraging New York voters to vote in favor of woman suffrage in 1917. It features a poem on one side (The rose is red / The violet's blue / We want to vote / As well as you!) and a statement to "Keep Cool and Raise A Breeze for Suffrage!" on the other. An undated bookplate for S. Clayton Sumner and a small remembrance of Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton are also present.

The Research Materials Series includes approximately one linear foot of items relating to the historical study of Emily Howland, principally by historians Florence Woolsey Hazzard, Charles V. Groat, and Phebe King from the 1940s to 1970s. The series contains correspondence to Hazzard and Groat relating to their research, drafts of historical writings and biographical sketches on Howland, research bundles on various topics from Howland's life, photocopies and typescripts of original sources, and miscellaneous notecards and citations.

Collection

Henry Vignaud papers, 1840-1922 (majority within 1860-1915)

3 linear feet

The Henry Vignaud papers are made up of letters, manuscript notes, and published works concerning Vignaud's diplomatic career and scholarly life in Paris during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Letters and notes by his correspondents and fellow “Americanistes” Pierre Margry and Henry Harrisse comprise the bulk of the collection. The following books include manuscript items related to Henry Vignaud, many of which are tipped into or otherwise affixed to the volumes: Inventory of Henry Vignaud manuscripts located in books at the William L. Clements Library.

The Henry Vignaud papers are made up of letters, manuscript notes, and published works concerning Henry Vignaud's diplomatic career and scholarly life in Paris during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The collection is divided into four series: Henry Vignaud, Pierre Margry, Henry Harrisse, and Miscellaneous. Groups of correspondence, writings, printed materials, and biographical portraits are arranged within each series.

The Henry Vignaud series includes incoming and outgoing letters, manuscript notes, and published works related to Henry Vignaud.

The Correspondence subseries mainly consists of letters Vignaud received between 1866 and 1922 regarding his diplomatic work and academic interests. Correspondents, such as Pierre Margry and Henry Harrisse, often discussed articles and other publications about North American history. One 496-page letter book contains copies of Vignaud's outgoing correspondence from February 25, 1876, to June 1, [1888]. Written in both English and French, these letters relate to his appointment as secretary for the United States legation in Paris. The letter book contains a chart comparing the sizes and expenditures of the standing armies of European countries (p. 198) and a floor plan for the United States legation's new offices (p. 343).

The Writings subseries contains notes, speeches, and manuscript books by Henry Vignaud. He compiled notes about topics in American history and composed biographical sketches of Henry Harrisse. He entitled his manuscript books Lettre de Toscanelli à Martins (Texte et Traduction) and Notes de Ximenes sur la Lettre de Toscanelli. Additionally, his papers include the bottom portion of a colored map depicting the French-German border and a description of plans for an arc de triumphe to stand over the "Monument du Gen. Lafayette," accompanied by a photograph of the model of the monument. The second photograph is a of mock-up a statue of George Washington and Lafayette shaking hands; the statue now stands in Moringside Park,New York City. Both photographs are signed by [Frédéric-Auguste] Bartholdi.

The Writings of Ferdinand Denis, a fellow Americaniste and future librarian of the Saint Geneviève Library in Paris, consist of his manuscript notes on topics related to Portuguese exploration and colonies, particularly in South America.

The Printed Materials subseries includes articles that Benjamin Franklin Stevens wrote about unpublished manuscript collections in European archives and specimen pages from his annotated facsimile edition of Christopher Columbus: His Own Book of Privileges 1502…. Additional materials dated between 1895-1896 pertain to a legal case involving the former American consul to Madagascar, John L. Waller.

The Pierre Margry series of letters, writings, and other items relates to Margry's scholarly work on North America. The bulk of the Correspondence subseries comprises 381 incoming letters between June 1839 and October 1889 about his academic interests. Margry also composed Writings on various topics, such as Isle Royale, Canada, and Detroit. François-Edme Rameau de Saint-Père and Gabriel Gravier wrote Biographical Sketches about Pierre Margry shortly after his 1894 death; 4 engraved portraits of Margry accompany the biographies.

The Henry Harrisse series contains materials similar to those in the Pierre Margry series. The Correspondence subseries includes 11 letters, 3 undated and 8 sent between November 1866 and January 1904, Harrisse wrote about his academic work, discussion of publications by his colleagues, and his efforts to locate specific maps. The Writings subseries contains extensive manuscript notes related to his publications about the European discovery and early exploration of North America. This interest continue to be reflected in the Biographical Portraits subseries, which includes notes and proofs for Harrisse’s work on “Americus Vespuccius” and on the sixteenth-century explorers John and Sebastian Cabot, as well as a 1-page account of Harrisse written by John Johnson (June 23, 1891); Henry Vignaud's writings on Harrisse are located in the Henry Vignaud series.

The Miscellaneous series includes 13 additional letters, 3 postcards, 2 funeral invitations for Sigismond-Joseph-Marie-Louise de Pourcet, baron de Sahune and Antoinette Helin, an invitation to a ceremony honoring the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase on December 18-20, 1903, and other miscellaneous notes.

Collection

Horatio Nelson collection, 1781-1805 (majority within 1801-1805)

117 items

The Horatio Nelson collection consists of two bound volumes of Nelson’s incoming and outgoing correspondence, and chronologically arranged box of letters and documents, primarily related to the Royal Navy and British international relations during the early 19th century.

The Horatio Nelson collection (117 items) consists of two bound volumes of Nelson’s incoming and outgoing correspondence, and one chronologically arranged box of letters and documents, primarily related to the Royal Navy and British international relations during the early 19th century.

Volume I, "Lord Nelson and the Battle of Copenhagen" (35 items, April 4, 1801-July 30, 1801), contains 20 letters between Nelson and Hans Lindholm concerning the battle and diplomatic relations between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Russia, including efforts to secure peace between Great Britain and Denmark. Letters to Nelson from other writers about the Royal Navy and Nelson's military career are also present.

Volume II, "Letters of Horatio Lord Nelson to Captain S. Sutton, R. N. with Memorabilia of the Battle of Trafalgar" (30 items, October 28, 1773; October 22, 1801-September 25, 1805), contains Nelson's letters to Sutton (18 items), as well as additional correspondence and documents related to the Battle of Trafalgar and Nelson's death. In his letters to Sutton, Nelson discussed various naval issues, such as ship movements, the possibility of treaty between Great Britain and France in 1801, and tensions with France in 1805. Other items include engravings of Nelson, "Bacchante," and Nelson's column; Cuthbert Collingwood's orders for Nelson to sail to Cadiz and spy on the enemy fleet (August 24, 1805); Samuel Sutton's admission ticket for Nelson's funeral; and illustrated manuscripts about Royal Navy night signals, its order of battle, and Nelson's final flag-based signal to the fleet ("England expects every man will do his D U T Y").

A chronological series of manuscripts (52 items, 1781-1805) covers Horatio Nelson’s naval career in the West Indies, Mediterranean, and Baltic. A 46-page manuscript describes Horatio Nelson’s attempts in the British West Indies to curtail illegal trade with the United States of America from June 1784 through July 1786. Several letters relate to Nelson’s diplomatic and naval efforts in Italy in the late 1790s. Others detail Nelson’s involvement in and opinion of European political and military affairs, including relations with France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Egypt, Turkey, Algeria, Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. The collection also includes series of correspondence with William Hamilton, Robert Barlow, and John Hookham Frere. For additional information about each individual item, see the Detailed Box and Folder Listing.

Collection

John Barbour papers, 1840-1899 (majority within 1883-1899)

1.25 linear feet

Online
This collection consists primarily of incoming personal and professional correspondence received by John Barbour, an Episcopal minister and professor at Berkeley Divinity School, concerning religious life in Connecticut in the late 1800s.

This collection consists primarily of approximately 1,150 incoming personal and professional letters received by John Barbour, an Episcopal minister and professor at Berkeley Divinity School, concerning religious life in Connecticut in the late 1800s. The papers also include 5 photographs, 4 printed portraits, and a small group of additional printed items.

The Correspondence series spans most of Barbour's career. The bulk is comprised primarily of letters John Barbour received between 1883 and 1899, reflecting the everyday lives of clergy in Connecticut and New England, as well as Barbour's work with the Episcopal Church and at Berkeley Divinity School. Many of the letters contain professional inquiries and reports of the writers' daily lives and work with local churches. Several relate to Barbour's role as the librarian of the Berkeley Divinity School, including factual questions and inquiries about specific volumes. Other letters request his services as a minister, including several from the Connecticut Hospital for the Insane in Middletown, Connecticut, and from other clergy requesting substitutes. Additionally, many of the letters concern religious education and mention prominent bishops and others in the Episcopal Church.

Two early items relate to John Barbour's father, Henry S. Barbour, and to administrative affairs of the town of Torrington, Connecticut, in 1852 and 1857. The series also includes a timetable for trains between Hartford, Connecticut, and New York City, and a manuscript complaint from attorney John R. Wittig to the Rt. Rev. Bishop Williams, issued against John Barbour, claiming that Barbour colluded with Wittig's wife in a conspiracy to "get rid" of him and seize his property (March 17, 1885).

The Photographs and portraits series holds 5 carte-de-visite photographs of members of the Barbour family, including Henry S., Sylvester, Herman H., Julia, and Joseph L. Barbour, as well as 4 printed portraits of Episcopal clergy.

The Printed items series contains biographical sketches of bishops, Episcopal clergy, and other figures, removed from published books and newspapers. Among those represented are Bishop John Williams and librarian Melvil Dewey. The series also includes approximately 20 invitations, programs, circular letters, and advertisements. One advertising card for the Fannie C. Paddock Memorial Hospital of Tacoma, Washington Territory, bears an engraved image of the facility.

Collection

John E. Boos collection, 1860-1988, 2005

Approximately 1,200 manuscripts (3.25 linear feet)

The John E. Boos collection consists of over 1,200 personal manuscript recollections or brief notes by persons who met or saw Abraham Lincoln and by persons who experienced the Civil War. John Boos, of Albany, New York, solicited and compiled most of these reminiscences in the early 20th century. In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created a comprehensive writer index, which identifies each contributor to the collection: John E. Boos Collection Writer Index.

The John E. Boos collection consists of over 1,200 personal manuscript recollections or brief notes by persons who met or saw Abraham Lincoln and by persons who experienced the Civil War. John Boos solicited and compiled most of these reminiscences in the early 20th century. The collection is arranged in four series: Bound Volumes (compiled by and bound for John Boos), Unbound Volumes (binders apparently compiled by John Boos, but never bound), Loose Items, and one Book.

Boos collected autographs and reminiscences on uniquely sized 6.5'' by 9'' paper, and he instructed those he was soliciting to leave a wide 1.5'' left margin for binding. All but one volume in Series I are bound collections of this Boos-standard paper and most contributors in Series II and III contributed a note or autograph on the same size paper.

John Boos's interviewees related an almost uniform admiration or reverence to the President and his memory. Within the first binder of Series II, for example, William Strover (who was not a Civil War veteran, and who never met Lincoln) remarked: "I consider him the greatest man that has come upon the earth since Jesus Christ, and surely the greatest American that lived." Such high praise is featured throughout the entire collection. One example expressing disdain for Abraham Lincoln is a November 24, 1930, letter by Confederate and Presbyterian minister Milton B. Lambdin, who was skeptical about Boos' intent in contacting him. He suspected that Boos made the connection on account of a multi-issue article Lambdin produced for the Confederate Veteran (1929) titled "A Boy of the Old Dominion..."

Series I: Bound Volumes, 1931-1970

Eight of the nine volumes contained in this series are letters and reminiscences compiled by Boos. The volumes revolve around individual persons or themes, including the Lincoln-Douglas debates; Lincoln's assassination; Lincoln's guards; General George H. Thomas, a leading figure in the Western theater of the Civil War who retired to Troy, New York; Johnson Brigham, a fellow Lincoln enthusiast who met the President on several occasions; and the story of Confederate General George Pickett as told by his wife, La Salle Corbell Pickett; and a selection of "Mr. Lincoln's Soldiers."

Boos interspersed the manuscript and typed accounts with ephemeral items and his own narratives of relevant events. He frequently provided an overall account of the volume's theme (usually with lengthy quotations from his correspondents) before presenting the reminiscences and a brief biography of each contributor. In his introductions to these personal accounts, Boos sometimes included a narrative of how he had met and interviewed the individual or linked the person's memories of Lincoln to similar ones. Most of the volumes include a title page, dedication, illustrations, and an index.

The accounts in these bound volumes differ in length, tone, and detail, but they provide insight into how a variety of individuals remembered the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln more than a half-century after the fact. Many of his contributors were Union Army veterans, but he also tracked down individuals who witnessed the Lincoln-Douglas debates as children, Mrs. M. O. Smith who saw Lincoln at Gettysburg,a Confederate soldier, several of Lincoln's personal guards, an actress who had performed in Our American Cousin the night Lincoln was shot (Jeannie Gourley), a man who was in the same Ford's Theater box as Lincoln and who was stabbed by John Wilkes Booth (Henry Rathbone), and the man who recorded the testimony of witnesses to the assassination (James Tanner). The accounts address subjects ranging from the President's dress and style of speaking to the contributors' reflections on his legacy and greatness.

One bound volume, inscribed to John E. Boos by its creator Bernhardt Wall, contains etchings of locations in New York State visited by Lincoln. Three letters from Wall to Boos are enclosed in this 1938 volume.

Series II: Unbound Volumes (extracted from binders), 1905-1941

Series II includes the contents of 13 binders, arranged roughly into thematic categories, apparently by Boos himself (likely with the intention of binding them as he did with the letters in Series I). The order of pages within the binders has been maintained in its present housing.

Boos placed each incoming letter, reminiscence, or autograph into a top-loading page protector with related materials. In some volumes, for example, Boos matched each manuscript with his own typed or handwritten notes, which variously included the veteran's name, where they saw Lincoln, regimental information, where Boos met the veteran, and Boos's impressions of the individual. Boos wrote many of these notes on the back of scrap paper, such as advertising mail received by Boos or sample primary election ballots (some of the scrap paper contains illustrated letterheads).

Binders 1-3: Lincoln's Soldiers (3 binders, 1905-1927). Lincoln's Soldiers largely consists of letters sent to Boos, many with their envelopes still attached. Most contributors utilized Boos-provided paper, though some utilized their own stationery. Despite its title, "Lincoln's Soldiers" is comprised of letters by civilians and soldiers alike. Many contributors had met President Lincoln, and Boos collected as much information as possible about those encounters. Others were unable to meet Lincoln, but shared vivid memories of their times in Andersonville Prison, or interactions with other famous leaders, such as General Sherman (W. H. Jennings) and General Grant (J. E. Parmelee). Some documented their efforts to preserve Lincoln's memory or their involvement in Veteran's organizations.

Binders 4-7: I Saw Lincoln (4 binders, 1911-1928). The bulk of the contributors to I Saw Lincoln met or saw Lincoln during his presidency; a smaller portion interacted with him prior to the presidency; and others saw him while lying in state or en route to Illinois in 1865. The I Saw Lincoln group includes Boos's incoming correspondence and autographs he personally collected while traveling. Glowing praise of Lincoln continues throughout these binders, including an anecdote by Daniel Webster (of Salem, Oregon), in which he described how he was "near being mobbed" in Arkansas in 1871 for calling Lincoln "the brightest star in the galaxy of American statesmen and patriots."

Binder 8: Antietam (1 binder, 1912-1937). The soldiers represented in Antietam were present at the battle; some provided descriptions of the confrontation, though the writers do not all focus on the event. Antietam is notable for having the longest continuous example (in the unbound portion of the collection) of prose by Boos, in which he described the battle and his meetings with the veterans.

Binders 9-11: Lincoln's Soldiers and Where They Saw Him (3 binders, 1911-1933). contains accounts from soldiers who saw Lincoln and soldiers who did not. This group includes a significant number of contributions by soldiers who guarded the President's remains.

Binder 12: Autographs of Abe Lincoln's Soldiers (1 binder, 1910-1917). This binder contains signatures of soldiers, with very brief notes on each veteran. Boos apparently revisited the binder at a later dated and added death dates.

[Unnumbered Binder]: [Additional Lincoln's Soldiers] (1 binder, 1911-1937). This binder includes accounts similar to those found in binders 9-11.

Series III: Loose Items, 1904-1949

This series is comprised of nearly 200 loose letters, disbound book pages, and notes. Many of these items were either part of one of the Clements Library's pre-2015 accessions, or were included with the Dow collection in unarranged binders. The bulk of the series is letters to Boos containing memories of Lincoln. The accounts provided by these eye witnesses include memories of the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's assassination, hospital visits by the President, his 1860 Cooper Union speech, the Lincoln-Douglas debates, and general memories of the Civil War period. The contributors include veterans, Ford's Theater attendees on the night Lincoln was shot, the daughter of Mary Todd Lincoln's personal nurse (Ealine Fay), and a woman who sang in the choir for the ceremony at which Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address (M. O. Smith). This series contains letters by Jennie Gourlay Struthers and James Tanner, who are also represented in the Then a Nation Stood Still volume in Series I.

The series includes writings and other materials that shed light on John E. Boos's collecting practices and editing processes and a 1924 letter from Congregational minister William E. Barton to Walt Whitman expert Emory Holloway, with comments on the growing cult of memory surrounding Lincoln.

A folder of manuscripts and photocopies pertain to Grace Bedell, who is credited with convincing Lincoln to grow his whiskers. These items include photocopies of letters Bedell exchanged with Boos, original letters between Boos and Bedell's heirs, and letters between Boos and Congressman George Dondero, who at one point owned Bedell's original letter to Lincoln.

The Loose Items series also contains correspondence of Donald P. Dow, photocopies of Boos materials offered for sale, and photocopies of letters not present in the Clements Library's collection.

Series IV: Book. A publication containing 103 John Boos letters has been added to the collection: Rare Personal Accounts of Abraham Lincoln, ed. By William R. Feeheley and Bill Snack (Cadillac, Mich.: Rail Splitter Pub., 2005).

In addition to this finding aid, the Clements Library has created a comprehensive writer index, which identifies each contributor to the collection: John E. Boos Collection Writer Index.

Collection

Lewis Cass papers, 1774-1924

3 linear feet

The Lewis Cass papers contain the political and governmental letters and writings of Lewis Cass, American army officer in the War of 1812, governor and senator from Michigan, American diplomat to France, secretary of war in the Andrew Jackson administration, secretary of state under James Buchanan, and Democratic candidate for President. These papers span Cass' entire career and include letters, speeches, financial documents, memoranda, literary manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and a travel diary. In addition to documenting his political and governmental career, the collection contains material concerning relations between the United States and Native Americans, and Cass' role in presidential politics.

The Lewis Cass papers (approximately 1195 items) contain the political and governmental letters and writings of Lewis Cass, American army officer in the War of 1812, governor and senator from Michigan, American diplomat to France, secretary of war to Andrew Jackson, secretary of state to James Buchanan, and Democratic candidate for President. Included are letters, speeches, financial documents, memoranda, literary manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and a travel diary. In addition to documenting his official and governmental activities, the collection contains material related to Cass' influence on Native American policy and his role in presidential politics.

The Correspondence series (approximately 990 items) contains the professional and political letters of Lewis Cass. These reveal details of Cass' entire career and involve many of the most important political topics of the day. Within the series are communications with many prominent American politicians and military officers, including John Adams (2 items), Thomas Hart Benton (4 items), James Buchanan (20 items), John C. Calhoun (3 items), Henry Clay (1 item), Jefferson Davis (3 items), Stephen Douglas (2 items), Secretary of State John Forsyth (5 items), Albert Gallatin (2 items), William Henry Harrison (3 items), Samuel Houston (1 item), Andrew Jackson (23 items), Thomas Jefferson (1 item), Francis Scott Key (3 items), Alexander Macomb (4 items), James Monroe (1 item), Samuel F. B. Morse (2 items), Franklin Pierce (1 item), James K. Polk (8 items), Richard Rush (6 items), William Seward (3 items), Winfield Scott (3 items), Zachery Taylor (2 items), John Tyler (2 items), Martin Van Buren (8 items), Daniel Webster (4 items), and many others. This series also contains a small number of personal letters, including communications with Cass' siblings, his nephew Henry Brockholst Ledyard, and his friends.

The collection's early papers (1777-1811) contain material related to Cass' family, his education, his professional career in Ohio, and relations between the United States government and Native Americans. The earliest item is from Elizabeth Cass' father, Joseph Spencer, relating to his service in the Revolutionary War. Two letters are from John Cass, Lewis' father, concerning business, and five items are from Cass' siblings, written to him at Philips Exeter Academy (1790-1795). His service as an Ohio congressman is represented by a single resolution, drafted by Cass, and submitted by the Ohio Congress to President Jefferson, voicing their commitment to the constitution and the Union (December 26, 1806, with Jefferson's response enclosed). Also present are nine items related to Native American relations, including formal letters to the Chippewa, Delaware, Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes, from Superintendent of Indian Affairs Richard Butler, Northern Territory Governor Arthur St. Clair, and Secretary of War James McHenry. Of particular importance is a signed letter from several tribes to President James Monroe, composed shortly after the Battle of Tippecanoe, stressing the importance of treaties and lobbying to employ John Visger on behalf of the Indians (November 13, 1811). Two miscellaneous items from this period are letters from John Adams: one letter to Charles Guillaume Frederic Dumas requesting permission for Adams to return to America after the Treaty of Paris (March 28, 1783), and one to a group of volunteer troops of light dragoons (July 12, 1798).

Eleven letters deal with Cass' role in the War of 1812. Topics discussed include raising a regiment in Ohio (March 23, 1813), concerns with obtaining food and clothing for troops and British prisoners at Detroit (November 1813), and Cass' thoughts on receiving the governorship of the Michigan Territory (December 29, 1813). Of note is a letter containing William Henry Harrison's impressions on Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry's victory on Lake Erie, sent to Secretary of War John Armstrong (enclosed in September 13, 1813). For more material relating to the War of 1812 see the Manuscript Writing series.

The collection contains 55 letters from Cass' tenure as governor of Michigan Territory (1815-August 1831). These represent a broad range of topics including territorial administration, expeditions throughout the western territory, western expansion, and studies of and treaties with Native Americans. Contacts include travelers from the east coast interested in Michigan and Indian affairs, officials in outposts throughout Michigan, officials from eastern states, and officials from Washington including presidents, their cabinets, and congressmen.

Of note:
  • November 21, 1816, January 11 and February 2, 1817: A discussion between Cass and Henry Clay regarding opening a branch of the United States Bank in Lexington, Kentucky
  • February 12, 1817: A letter concerning troop service under General Hull in the War of 1812
  • August 14 and 25, 1817: Letters between Cass and President James Monroe relating to travel in the Ohio Territory
  • June 10, 1818: Courts martial for depredations against Indians at Detroit
  • October 20, 1818: A letter from Alexander Macomb concerning the purchase of Cass' servant Sally for $300
  • December 9, 1821, October 14, 1823, and April 24, 1824: Three letters from John C. Calhoun about governmental promotions, the vice presidency, and Indian affairs
  • November 14, 1821 and February 16, 1824: two letters discussing or addressed to John C. Calhoun from Cass.
  • March 21, 1830: A letter from Cass to President Jackson requesting the reinstatement of a Major Clark into the army

Cass communicated frequently with David Bates Douglass, an engineer who worked with Cass in Michigan. In his letters, Douglass often mentions their mutual colleague Henry Schoolcraft, and Douglass' mapping areas of Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. Also of interest are five letters to George Wyllys Silliman, a lawyer in Zanesville, Ohio, and nephew of Lewis Cass, from friend William Sibly (November 17, 1827-November 6, 1828) and from cousin Elizabeth Cass (May 1, 1829). Sibly discussed personal and social news and made several comments on women. Elizabeth mentioned a month-long visit from Martin Van Buren and described Detroit as being "in turmoil" because of conflicts between the "Masons & Anti-Masons--Wing men & Biddle men--Sheldonites and Anti Sheldonites . . ."

Cass served as Andrew Jackson's secretary of war from 1831-1836. Most of the approximately 195 items concern Washington politics; department of war administration; affairs of the president and cabinet; and requests for appointments, promotions, and political favors from congressmen and other politicians. Of note are 18 letters and memoranda from Andrew Jackson to Cass and other cabinet members, regarding Indian resettlement (1831-1836), firearms delivered to members of congress (November 3, 1834), and news of generals Samuel Houston and Santa Anna and the war with Mexico (August 31, 1836). Cass was also involved with the administration of West Point; he received news of leadership changes and recommendations for admissions and teaching posts, including one request from author Washington Irving (March 20, 1834). During this period, Cass kept in close contact with Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane.

Of note:
  • August 1, 1831: A letter from General Winfield Scott voicing support for his appointment as secretary of war
  • August 8, 1831: Cass' acceptance of the secretary of war position
  • August 29, 1831: A long letter from William Henry Harrison discussing his loyalty to Cass, Colonel Shelby's personal jealousy and his attempts to replace Harrison in congress, the presidential aspirations of Henry Clay, and the poor state of Harrison's personal fortunes
  • December 31, 1831: A letter from Susan Wheeler Decatur of Georgetown, South Carolina, concerning her declining finances
  • February 24, 1832: A letter from Henry R. Schoolcraft describing the state of the settlement at Sault Ste. Marie and mapmaking at the mouth of the Mississippi River
  • July 26, 1832: A letter from General Alexander Macomb to Cass offering condolences for the loss of his daughter Elizabeth and informing Cass of a cholera epidemic in western forts
  • December 26, 1832: Callender Irvine, United States Army Commissary General of Purchases, to Cass regarding the design and procurement of Army uniforms
  • January 24, 1833: Cass to Richard Smith, United States Bank cashier, with instructions to close the accounts of the war department and Indian Agency
  • A bundle of letters and enclosures, January 1, 1834-March 5, 1834, written by Gorham Parks to Samuel Farrar, including copies of correspondence and a petition regarding the establishment of a military buffer between Maine and British Canada
  • April 3, 1834: A letter from Cass' brother George Cass concerning his family's finances
  • May 12, 1834: Congressman James K. Polk concerning a general appropriations bill and Indian annuity bill that passed the house
  • June 20 and October 20, 1834: Two letters from Benjamin Waterhouse of Harvard University discussing temperance and early American history concerning General Wolfe's attack on Canada and Bunker Hill
  • April 18- December 24, 1835: Seven letters concerning the territorial conflict between Michigan and Ohio over the Toledo Strip
  • February 22, 1836: A letter from John Henry Eaton to Cass describing the state of affairs in Florida and a revolt of Indians in Tampa Bay
  • July 4, 1836: Edgar Allen Poe to Cass concerning contributions to the Southern Literary Messenger

From 1836 to 1842, Cass served as Jackson's minister to France. Many of the 148 items from this period are letters of introduction from Cass' colleagues in Washington, New York, Albany, Boston, Baltimore, and Virginia, for family and friends traveling in France and Europe. Though most of these travelers were well connected young men from prominent families, two letters were for women traveling without their husbands (August 29 and September 27, 1841). In 1842, before Cass returned to America, he communicated with senators and the President's cabinet regarding negotiations with the British for Canadian boundary lines, and other news from the continent. Throughout Cass' time in France, he received updates on his finances and properties in Detroit from Edmund Askin Brush.

Of note:
  • October 4, 1836: President Jackson's acknowledgement of Cass' resignation as secretary of war, and Cass' appointment as minister to France
  • February 5, 1837: Plans for the Cass family's trip to the Mediterranean on the USS Constitution, including the suggestion that the women wear men's clothing in the Holy Land
  • November 3, 1837: Remarks regarding the reaction in Boston to a visit from Sauk Chief Keokuk (Kee-O-Kuk) and a group of Blackhawk Indians
  • September 10-December 14, 1841: Ten letters about a court of inquiry concerning Assistant Surgeon General Dr. Edward Worrell's record keeping for medicine and supplies at the hospital at Fort Niagara
  • March 14, 1842: A letter from Daniel Webster to Cass relating to the abolition of slavery
  • April 25, 1842: A letter from Daniel Webster to Cass regarding the rights of "visit and search, the end of the African slave trade, the 'Creole Case,'" and the Oregon compromise
  • June 29, 1842: A letter from John Tyler reporting on Congress' activities and further negotiations with Lord Ashburton, the Maine boundary and the "Creole Case"

Between 1842 and 1857, Cass served two senate terms representing Michigan, competed for the Democratic nomination for president in 1844 and 1852, and lost the presidency to Zachery Taylor in 1848. Letters from this time period amount to approximately 278 items. In December 1842, when first arriving back in America from France, Cass received a number of welcoming letters from officials in Boston and Philadelphia, including one that suggested he could be chosen as Democratic vice presidential nominee (December 28, 1842). Cass soon returned to Detroit but kept up with news from Washington. As presidential contender and then senator, Cass was concerned with the biggest issues of the day, including relations with England over the Oregon Territory; relations with Mexico; Indian affairs; and the Wilmot Proviso and the spread of the slavery to new states and territories. In addition to discussions of slavery in the South, Cass received reports on slavery in California, Missouri, Utah, Kansas, and Texas. The year 1848 is dominated with material on the presidential election, consisting of letters expressing support and discussing the landscape of the election. Of note are 45 letters, spanning 1844-1859, from Cass to Massachusetts Congressman Aaron Hobart of Boston, which feature both personal and political content.

Of note:
  • July 8, 1843: A letter from Andrew Jackson regarding relations with France and England and the Oregon Bill
  • May 6 and 11, 1844: Letters from Cass discussing his chances to be nominated to run for president at the Baltimore Democratic Convention, and his thoughts on the annexation of Texas and the "Oregon Question"
  • July 1844: A letter from William Berkley Lewis describing the political climate surrounding Andrew Jackson's campaign and assent to the presidency (30 pages)
  • July 30 and 31, 1845: Letters from Lewis Henry Morgan concerning a council of Iroquois at Aurora, New York, and the education of the Indians of western New York
  • December 24, 1845: A letter from Henry Wheaton concerning commerce and communications through the isthmuses at Suez, Egypt, and at Panama
  • March 19, 1846: A letter from Francis Parkman, Jr., regarding the study of the Indians of Michigan's Upper Peninsula
  • August 5, 1846: A letter from Cass concerning Democratic Party politics and the war with Indians in Florida
  • December 26, 1846: A letter from Cass on the state of the Democratic Party and his intention to run for president
  • January 6, 1848: A letter from Cass discussing the Wilmot Proviso
  • April 6, 1748: A letter from Henry Hunt regarding the war in Mexico and General William Worth
  • May 23, 1848: A letter from W. T. Van Zandt who witnessed the French Revolution, and mentioned that two of the King's grandchildren hid in a nearby boarding house
  • June 13, 1848: A letter from Stephen Douglas reassuring Cass that Southerners are "satisfied with your views on the slavery question, as well as all others"
  • August 24 and November 14, 1848 and January 9, 1849: Letters from President Polk concerning the politics of slavery in the senate and the Wilmot proviso
  • October 25, 1851: A letter from relative Sarah Gillman, whose husband is prospecting in California and is in need of a loan
  • August 9, 1852: A letter from Cass to John George
  • August 30, 1853: A letter from Cass to President Franklin Pierce congratulating him on his election and recommending Robert McClelland, regent of the University of Michigan, for the position of secretary of the interior
  • April 1, 1856: W.W. Drummond of Salt Lake City commented on Mormons, polygamy, slavery, the statehood of Nevada, and local support for the Nebraska Bill. Enclosed is a printed bill of sale for a runaway slave
  • June 24, 1856: Cass' explanation that the Democratic party must work to preserve the Union

The series contains 172 letters from Cass' service as James Buchanan's secretary of state from 1857-1861. During his time, he received communications dealing with political unrest in the South over the slavery issue, and concerning foreign relations with Mexico, England, France, Russia, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Of particular interest are ten letters from the Minister to England George Mifflin Dallas who reported on parliamentary and political news in London (April 28, 1857-February 2, 1858). He discussed the British views on slavery in America and about the Oregon border; activities of the British East India Company; England's conflicts in India, West Africa, and China; the planning of the transatlantic telegraph and the first communication between Queen Victoria and President Buchanan; and American relations with France and Russia. Cass also received frequent memoranda from Buchanan concerning foreign relations, focusing on treaties with Mexico. The series contains 10 letters from supporters, reacting to Cass' resignation from Buchanan's administration for failing to use force in South Carolina (December 14, 1860-January 2, 1861). Also present are three personal letters from Cass to his young nephew Henry Brockholst Ledyard.

Of note:
  • March 19, 1857: A letter from Judah Philip Benjamin relating intelligence on the political situation in Mexico, led by Ignacio Comonfort, and urging the United States to make a treaty with Mexico for control of California without delay
  • April 20, 1857: A manuscript copy of a letter from Lewis Cass to Secretary of the Navy Isaac Toucey, concerning the U.S. commercial agent at St. Paul de Loando, Willis, sent dispatches informing them that "the slave trade on this Coast is flourishing" and that five vessels have lately left with enslaved persons. Willis also reported that "The Congo River and its neighborhood have been the head Quarters, and American gold is now quite plenty there, having been brought in vessels which clear from New York."
  • August 3, 1857: A letter from Jefferson Davis discussing issues in Cuba, Panama, Mexico, and England, and offering his thoughts on states' rights and state creation
  • August 5, 1857: A memo from Buchanan inquiring about the United States' relationship with England and political division in the Democratic Party
  • November 17-20, 1857: Sculpture design for decorations on the Capitol building at Cincinnati, Ohio
  • August 30, 1858: A letter from Francis Lieber explaining his poem celebrating the transatlantic telegraph
  • October 27, 1858: A letter from Rebecca P. Clark, General William Hull's daughter, claiming that she had a long-suppressed pamphlet ready to publish that would redeem her father's reputation and prove that the United States did not invade Canada in 1812 in order to maintain the slave state vs, free state balance of power
  • January 27, 1859: A letter from Buchannan expressing his desire to take lower California from Mexico
  • December 6, 1859: A letter from George Wallace Jones regarding the administration's position on the slavery question and the "doctrine of non-interference"
  • December 19, 1859: A letter from Jeremiah Healy, a prospector from San Francisco, requesting a loan to extract silver and lead ore from his mine to compare it to the "Comstock Claim"
  • April 14, 1760: An unofficial letter from Robert M. McClelland concerning peace with Mexico and dealings with Lord John Russell
  • May 29, 1860: A letter from former Governor John B. Floyd regarding a friend who wants to set up a commercial house in Japan
  • December 6, 1860: An unofficial letter from General John Wool concerning South Carolina's secession and troops to protect the fort at Charleston
  • December 17, 1860: A letter of support from Lydia Howard Sigourney for Cass' resignation

The collection contains only 9 letters written after Cass' resignation from the Buchanan administration until his death, though a few of these are from old connections in Washington. One particularly interesting letter is a response from President Lincoln's office concerning Cass' request that he parole two of Elizabeth Cass' nephews who were Confederate officers (June 30, 1864). Going against his standard policy, Lincoln agreed to the parole out of respect for Cass.

Of the 50 letters written after Cass' death (1766-1917), the bulk are addressed to Cass' granddaughter, Elizabeth Cass Goddard of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Cass' grandson, Lewis Cass Ledyard. These primarily relate to family and business matters and are not related to Lewis Cass. Of note are a letter from William Cook to Lewis Cass Ledyard containing copies of four letters from Cass to J. P. Cook in 1856 (September 15, 1909), and a letter to Henry Ledyard concerning Cass family portraits. Other notable contributors from this period include Ulysses S. Grant (August 18, 1868), Congressman James A. Garfield (1871) Julia Ward Howe (written on a circular for a New Orleans exposition, 1885), and Elizabeth Chase on women's suffrage (October 1886).

This series contains 24 undated letters from all phases of Cass' career, including his time in Detroit, Paris, and Washington. Of note is a letter to Cass from William Seward concerning a social engagement, and three letters to Elizabeth Goddard from Varina Davis, in which she voices her opinions on bicycling and offers sympathy for the death of a child.

The Diary series (1 volume) contains a personal journal spanning June 11 to October 5, 1837, just before Cass began his service as diplomat to France. The 407-page volume, entitled "Diary in the East," documents Cass and his family's tour of the Mediterranean and Middle East. Among the places visited were the Aegean Sea, the Dead Sea, Egypt and the Nile, Cyprus, and Lebanon. Entries, which were recorded daily, range from 3 to 20 pages and relate to travel, landmarks, local customs, and the group's daily activities.

The Documents series (116 items) is made up of financial, legal, military, honorary, and official government documents related to Cass and his relatives. Early documents relate to the Revolutionary War service of Dr. Joseph Spencer, the father of Elizabeth Cass and the military discharge of Cass' father Jonathan Cass. War of 1812 items include 16 receipts of payments to soldiers for transporting baggage, a payment of Cass' troops approved by Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin, and a report made up of eyewitness accounts of General Hull's surrender at Detroit (September 11, 1812).

Material related to Native Americans includes a treaty between Anthony Wayne and various tribes (August 3, 1795); the Treaty of St. Mary's with Cass, Duncan McArthur, and the Wyandot Indians; several permission bonds awarded by Governor William Hull to Michigan merchants for Indian trade (1798-1810); and Cass' 48-page report detailing the reduction of Native population in North America (with a population count by region), the agriculture and hunting practices of Native Americans, and the history and future of American Indian relations (July 22, 1829).

Three of the items are official items that mark achievements in Cass' career:
  • March 11, 1826: Cass' oath of office for Governor of the Michigan Territory
  • August 1, 1831: Cass' appointment to Secretary of War by Andrew Jackson.
  • March 6, 1857: Cass' appointment to Secretary of State by James Buchanan.

Cass' personal accounts are documented in three ledgers kept by Edmund Askin Brush's agency, which managed his financial and land interests, including payments on loans, interest, rent, and land sales and purchases (September 1832-March 1843, January 30, 1836, and undated). Honorary documents include memberships in the New York Naval Lyceum, the Rhode Island Historical Society, and the Buffalo Historical Society, and a degree from Harvard.

Of note:
  • 1776: One bill of Massachusetts paper currency
  • January 5, 1795: Power of attorney for Aaron Burr to Benjamin Ledyard
  • December 21, 1816: An item documenting the Bank of the United States opening a branch in Lexington, Kentucky
  • 1836-1841: Twelve items related to the divorce of Mary K. Barton of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, from her violent husband Seth Barton
  • November 11, 1842: A menu for a dinner celebrating Cass at Les Trois Frères Provençaux
  • November 5, 1845: A printed protest from the citizens of Massachusetts who met at Faneuil Hall, Boston, concerning the annexation of Texas as a slave state
  • 1850: Three signup sheets to purchase printed copies of a Cass speech on the Compromise of 1850 and a copy of "Kansas--The Territories"
  • February 27, 1878: Lewis Cass, Jr.'s last will and testament
Images within this series:
  • March 17, 1821: A merchant pass for the Bark Spartan, signed by John Quincy Adams, illustrated with a ship and a harbor with a lighthouse
  • July 19, 1833: A membership document from the Rhode Island Historical Society featuring neoclassical imagery of a woman in front of a city and a shield with an anchor inscribed with the word "Hope"
  • 1837: A bank note picturing Greek gods
  • 1858-1860: Three passports with large state department seals

The Speeches series (17 items) contains 16 items related to Indian affairs spanning 1792-1816, and one undated item concerning agriculture in Michigan. The speeches were delivered by individual Native Americans (Grand Glaize, Painted Tobacco, Maera Walk-in-the-Water, Yealabahcah, Tecumseh, and the Prophet); Indian confederacies to the Commissioners of Indian Affairs; and the Indian commissioners to the Cherokee, Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomie, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes.

Of note:
  • November 29, 1796: A speech from George Washington to the Wyandot, Delaware, Shawnee, Ottawa, Miami, Potawatomi, Kickapoo, Piankeshaw, and Kaskaskia Indians
  • August 18, 1807-1810: Five speeches to and from General William Hull and various Indian tribes, including the Wyandot Chief Maera (Walk-In-The-Water)
  • December 21, 1807-January 31, 1809: Four speeches from President Thomas Jefferson to various Indian tribes
  • 1816: A speech from Shawnee Chief Yealabahcah and the Prophet Tecumseh in a council with Lewis Cass

For additional Indian speeches see the Manuscript Writings series. The Clements Library Book Division has several published versions of Cass' political speeches spanning 1830-1856.

The Manuscript Writings series (41 items) consists of Cass' non-correspondence writings, of which 30 are undated. Though Cass did not pursue a formal higher education after his years at Philips Exeter Academy, he received many honorary degrees and published scholarly works on the history of Native Americans and American political issues. This series contains 13 items that reveal Cass' views on Native Americans, including a 104-page item on Indian treaties, laws, and regulations (1826); notes on the war with the Creek Indians in 1833 (undated); undated notes and articles on the Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Miami tribes and lands; a 23-page review of published works on Indians; two sets of notes with corrections by Cass that were later published in the Northern American Review, and a four-page essay on Indian language.

Two items relate to the War of 1812. The first is a notebook entitled "Extracts from Franklin's Narratives," which contains copies of letters, speeches, and documents relating to Tecumseh and The Prophet, Canadian Governor George Prevost, President Madison's speeches to Congress, and Canadian General Henry Proctor, spanning 1812-1813. The second is an eyewitness account of the siege and battles of Fort Erie in 1814 by Frederick Myers (September 27, 1851). Also present are copied extracts from other writers' works, including Charlevoix's Histories and a work on Indiana by an unidentified author.

Of note:
  • April 9, 1858: A memorandum in regard to an interview with Colonel Thomas Hart Benton on his deathbed
  • Undated: 34 pages of autobiographical writings
  • Undated: 42 pages of notes on the creation of the universe and the theory of evolution
This series also contains nine items written by other authors, including:
  • February 10, 1836: A poem by Andrew Buchanan performed at Mrs. White's party
  • August 30, 1858: "An Ode on the Sub-Atlantic Telegraph," by Dr. Francis Lieber
  • Undated: Two genealogical items related to Elizabeth Cass' ancestors
  • Undated: a draft of a biographical essay on Cass' early years by W. T. Young (eventually published in 1852 as Life and Public Services of General Lewis Cass)

The Printed Items series (14 items) is comprised of printed material written by or related to Cass. Many of the items are contemporary newspaper clippings reporting on Cass' role in government and eulogies assessing his career after his death.

Of note:
  • November 4, 1848: A 4-page Hickory Sprout newspaper with several articles on Cass and his presidential bid. This paper also contains pro-Democrat and pro-Cass poetry set to the tune Oh! Susannah
  • 1848: A political cartoon lampooning Cass after his defeat to Taylor in the presidential election
  • March 25, 1850: An announcement for a ball at Tammany Hall in honor of Cass
  • July 17, 1921: A Detroit Free Press article on the dedication of the Cass Boulder Monument at Sault Ste. Marie
  • Three engraved portraits of Cass
  • Undated: A newspaper clipping with recollections of Lewis Cass as a young boy
  • Undated: An advertisement with a diagram of the Davis Refrigerator.

The Autographs and Miscellaneous series (21 items) contains various autographs of James Buchanan (October 10, 1860), Theodore Roosevelt (August 11, 1901), and author Alice French with an inscription and a sketch (September 29, 1906). This series also contains 19 pages of notes from Cass collector Roscoe O. Bonisteel, who donated many of the items in this collection, and four colored pencil sketches of furniture.