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The Christopher Ripley collection is made up of four manuscript notebooks, which include diary entries, financial records, writings, and other entries about many subjects, including Ripley's life in Hartford, Connecticut, and Ogdensburg, New York.

The Christopher Ripley collection is made up of four manuscript notebooks (around 210 pages total) which include diary entries, financial records, writings, and other entries many numerous subjects.

Volume I (106 pages) largely consists of diary and journal entries dated 1802-1808. The earlier entries are predominantly philosophical musings, and later entries consist mostly of brief notes about sermons he heard from "Mr. Flint" in Hartford, Connecticut. The diary is followed by financial accounts, including some made at Ogdensburg, New York, in 1831. The volume has one page of notes about Kenyon College. Volume II (45 pages) is an account book with financial records related to travel in northern New York and personal finances (1841-1845). Volumes III and IV (about 100 pages and 35 pages, respectively) are commonplace books and collections of miscellany, including notes about religion, the California Gold Rush, the Mexican War, U.S. and international politics, steamboats, personal health, and other topics. They also contain poems, recipes for health remedies, genealogical notes, and lecture notes about "Blairs Rhetoric." Several blank sheets of lined and colored paper are enclosed in volume IV.

The Cushing family collection is made up of correspondence, financial records, and other items pertaining to the family and descendants of Boston merchant Hayward P. Cushing.

The Cushing Family collection is made up of correspondence, financial records, and other items pertaining to the family and descendants of Boston merchant Hayward P. Cushing, including his son, Hayward W. Cushing.

The Correspondence series (124 items) is primarily made up of incoming letters to Hayward P. Cushing, Maria Peirce Cushing, and Hayward W. Cushing. The first item is a letter to Betsy Barber in Epping, New Hampshire (May 9, 1790).

Hayward P. Cushing received personal and professional letters from family members and business acquaintances from 1828-1870. His brother Nathaniel wrote of his life in Brooklyn and Grand Island, New York, in the 1830s and 1840s; one letter concerns his journey to Grand Island on the Erie Canal (August 9, 1835). Jane Cushing, Hayward and Nathaniel's sister, discussed her life in Scituate, Massachusetts, in the mid-19th century. Sophia Cushing, Hayward's cousin and his most frequent correspondent, reported on her financial difficulties, thanked him for his assistance, and shared news from Uxbridge, Massachusetts. Hayward P. Cushing received letters from his wife Maria while she vacationed in Maine, and from his daughter Florence. His business correspondence includes a letter about the sale of the brig Ann Tyler (January 23, 1858).

Maria Peirce Cushing's earliest incoming letters are courtship letters from Hayward P. Cushing, her future husband. After the mid-1850s, he wrote to her from Boston, Massachusetts, while she vacationed in Scituate, Massachusetts, and Frankfort, Maine. He provided news about his life and their children. Maria's sister Caroline discussed her life in Bridgeport, Maine, and a cousin named Abby described her life in Boston. In the mid-1870s, the Cushings' daughters Florence and Jenny wrote to their mother about their courses, textbooks, and experiences at Vassar College.

The final group of dated correspondence consists of incoming letters to Hayward Warren Cushing, including news from Massachusetts medical organizations operating in the 1880s and a series of 10 letters by his wife Martha, who described her trip to Europe in 1928. She discussed her transatlantic voyage and Mediterranean cruise on the Canadian Pacific ship SS Empress of Scotland, as well as her experiences in countries including Portugal, Spain, Cyprus, Turkey, Italy, Israel, Egypt, Monaco, France, and England. She enclosed a postcard from Naples, Italy, in one of her letters.

Undated correspondence includes additional letters to members of the Cushing family, as well as picture postcards showing French surgeons, statues, and buildings.

The Journals and Notebooks series consists of 2 items. Florence M. Cushing kept a diary while visiting London from January 2, 1880-January 18, 1880. Her sightseeing excursions included trips to the British Museum, National Gallery, Windsor Castle, and Westminster Abbey. The notebook contains recipes, instructions, and scientific notes compiled by Hayward W. Cushing. Entries about building animal traps and tying knots are accompanied by explanatory illustrations. Other topics include medicinal formulas and chemistry, instructions for making types of ink (including invisible inks), and lists of items used on camping trips.

The Financial papers series is comprised of account books, receipts, and other records related to members of the Cushing and Peirce families.

• An appraisal of Hayward Peirce's estate in Scituate, Massachusetts, recorded in March 1827, with two sections listing the value of his personal property and transactions involving his land.
• H. M. Peirce's record of purchases, primarily of school supplies, from May 1834-April 1835. A printed notice about the estate of Silas Peirce is laid into the volume (May 21, 1920).
• Nathaniel Cushing's account book, pertaining to transactions with Nathan Cushing, from whom he primarily purchased groceries between October 1853 and August 1861.
• Hayward P. Cushing's account book concerns shares that he and Jane Cushing owned in railroad companies and banks (July 1849-July 1855). Additional financial notes relate to the settlement of related financial accounts.
• Account book recording Maria P. Cushing's investments and dividends (October 1870-January 1894); she received income from the estate of Silas Peirce, Sr., among other sources.

The Receipts, Checks, and Accounts (over 300 items) are arranged by person and company; each group of items is arranged chronologically. Nathaniel Cushing materials pertain to board, taxation, food, and other miscellaneous expenses. The Cushing, Hall, and Peirce documents concern financial affairs, including stock and bond investments. The group of items related to Hayward W. Cushing includes a large number of personal checks from many different banks, as well as additional accounts and documents. Among the financial papers related to Hayward P. Cushing is a receipt for Jane Cushing's board at the McLean Asylum for the Insane (December 31, 1869). The series contains additional accounts and financial records.

The Documents series (20 items) is made up of legal and financial contracts related to business partnerships, estates, and land ownership. The final item is an "Apple Pest Survey in Worcester County" for 1929-1931 (April 15, 1932).

The Drawings (3 items) are architectural drawings of methods for dropping masts (February 25, 1888), several floor plans (1919-1931), and an overhead view of an orchard (undated).

The Printed Items and Ephemera series includes 3 newspapers (1800-1864), 2 annual reports of the Boston Lyceum (1838 and 1840); a lecture by Benjamin Scott about the Pilgrims (1866); a reprinted love letter from John Kelly to an unidentified recipient (original 1817; printed in 1892); a group of check tickets from the Pullman Company; a printed calendar for 1870; a facsimile of The New-England Courant from February 1723; calling cards and invitations; and an embroidered piece of cloth.

The Genealogy series (14 items) consists of pamphlets, bulletins, newspaper clippings, and other items related to various members of the Cushing family from the 19th century into the early 20th century.

M. B. Hartzell, a physician working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, maintained this memoranda and account book between 1878 and 1880. He kept notes on poisons and their antidotes, recorded patients' names, addresses, and number of physician visits, and documented charges and payments. He occasionally wrote notes about medical literature to read and what appears to be case notes and medicines prescribed. He tended wounds, abscesses, and burns, treated venereal diseases, performed gynecological and obstetrical services, and gave vaccinations, among other services.

M. B. Hartzell, a physician working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, maintained this memoranda and account book between 1878 and 1880. He kept notes on poisons and their antidotes, recorded patients' names, addresses, and number of physician visits, and documented charges and payments. He occasionally wrote notes about medical literature to read and what appears to be case notes and medicines prescribed. He tended wounds, abscesses, and burns, treated venereal diseases, performed gynecological and obstetrical services, and gave vaccinations, among other services.

At least two entries appear to be related to African American patients (October 9-10, 1878, and August 26-27, 1879). A blank prescription slip is laid into the volume, and notes at the end of the volume list out obstetrical cases, document children to be vaccinated, and provide recipes for prescriptions. A circular diagram is drawn on the rear paste down, with notations of calendar dates and a record of numbers for each month, possibly related to tallying medical cases for the year but further research is needed.

The Perdue family account book and journal contains financial accounts, employment records, and diary entries related to William Folliard Perdue of Wagontown, Pennsylvania. Much of the volume pertains to family news, local travel, and farm work.

The Perdue family account book and journal (152 pages) contains financial accounts, employment records, and diary entries related to William Folliard Perdue of Wagontown, Pennsylvania. The first (unnumbered) page contains a recipe for a rheumatism treatment and instructions for washing clothes. Pages numbered 1-4 contain financial accounts, mostly related to wheat and other crops (1843-1844).

Pages 5-151 contain employment records ("Time Accounts") and irregular diary entries covering the years 1843-1877, the bulk of which are dated from 1845-1876. William F. Perdue maintained records of the number of days or partial days that laborers worked on his farm and wrote diary entries and notes alongside and between these records. He commented on workers, farm work, livestock, and crops such as potatoes, corn, wheat, and oats. Perdue often mentioned visits to or from family members and acquaintances, and sometimes attended religious meetings, political meetings, or other social events. An entry dated January 1, 1848, reports his marriage to Emily Pyle. Page 92 contains list of fruit trees planted in the spring of 1860.

William's daughter Annie signed some entries dated 1861, and the subsequent entries, many of which concern local funerals, visits to or from family members, and other social activities, were written by an author or authors who referred to William F. Perdue as "Papa." Brief letters, a receipt, and recipes are laid into the volume, and newspaper clippings are pasted onto the endpapers.

The collection focuses primarily on John Tailyour, a Scottish merchant who traveled to North America and Jamaica in the 1770s and 1780s to conduct business, before finally returning to his home in Scotland in 1792. His correspondence is heavily business related, centering especially on his trading of slaves, foodstuffs, and sundry goods. It also chronicles the current events in both Jamaica and the Empire. Many of Tailyour's correspondents debate the meaning and merit of the cessation of the slave trade in the late 18th century, as well as the military events of the American and Haitian revolutions, and of the Maroon rebellion of 1795. The papers also include letters between John and his family in Scotland regarding John's mixed-race Jamaican children. He sent three of his children to Britain to be educated, which caused much family concern. Tailyour's account books and financial papers relate both to his Jamaican estate and business, and to his Scottish estate, from which he received added income from rents. The accounts for this estate continue for several decades after Tailyour’s death in 1815. A number of disparate and miscellaneous letters, war records, photographs, and realia that belonged to various members of the extended Tailyour family date mainly from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries.

The collection has three substantial parts. The most comprehensive and cohesive section is the one concerning John Tailyour, until his death in 1815. The second part contains business papers and accounts related to the Tailyour estate. The third part is the least integrated, and consists of a variety of family papers, photographs, military memorabilia, and other miscellanea.

The Tailyour papers date from 1743 to 2003, with the majority of the collection concentrating in the period from 1780 to 1840. Within these bulk dates, are the two largest portions of the collection: the correspondence and accounts of John Tailyour until his death in 1815, and the account records of the Tailyour estate after 1815.

Seven boxes contain John Tailyour's personal and business correspondence of 3757 letters. The letters focus on Tailyour's mercantile activities in the Atlantic market, especially on the slave trade, its profitability, and the threat posed by abolitionists. Tailyour's correspondence also chronicles personal and family matters, including the education and provision for his mixed-race children from Jamaica. In addition, the collection contains four of Tailyour's letter books of 1116 copies of retained letters that cover the period from 1780 to 1810, with the exception of the years 1786-7 and 1793-1803. In these letters, Tailyour's focus is business, particularly as it relates to the slave trade, but he also includes personal messages to his friends and family.

Tailyour's business papers contain 32 loose account records, as well as five account books documenting the years between 1789-90 and 1798-1816. These primarily concern his Kingston and Scottish estates, including the expense accounts and balance sheets for each, as well as the finances of his merchant activities during the period. Finally, 38 documents of probate records for John Tailyour mainly relate to his landed estate.

The latter portion of collection within these bulk years (1815-1840) also contains correspondence and accounts, although the 228 letters are almost entirely concerned with business accounts. These focus on Tailyour's estate after his death, with John's brother Robert as the main correspondent. Additional materials include 1761 business papers that chronicle the finances of the estate, 11 account books, and 6 hunting books. The business letters and account books detail the estate's expense accounts and receipts, as well as the balances for their annual crops, salmon fishing business, and profits derived from the rents collected on their land. The hunting books contain descriptive accounts of the family's hunts and inventories of their hunting dogs.

The third, and final, part of the collection consists of Tailyour family records (bulk post-1815), including 49 letters from various family members in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries and five letterbooks, kept by Alexander Renny Tailyour and Thomas Renny Tailyour. 4 account books are also present kept by Alexander Renny Tailyour and others. Some of the records concern the First World War, including a group of prisoner-of-war records sent from Germany, and journals kept at home that detail news of the war, and daily domestic activities.

The family history documents include 64 genealogical records and 58 probate records. Many of the genealogical items are brief notes on family history, and sketches of the family tree, including a large family tree that spans several hundred years to the present day. The probate records contain one will from the late-nineteenth century, but are otherwise entirely concerned with John Tailyour's estate in the years immediately after his death.

Of the printed records, Memoirs of my Ancestors (1884), by Hardy McCall is a genealogy of the McCall family, and Tailyour's Marykirk and Kirktonhill's estates are described in two printed booklets, one of which is an advertisement for Kirktonhill's sale in the early-twentieth century. Other printed material includes 14 various newspaper clippings concerning the family over the years, and 12 miscellaneous items.

The illustrations, artwork, and poetry comprise 14 fashion engravings, 12 sailing illustrations, a picture of a hunting cabin, two silhouettes, and a royal sketch, all of which date from the early- to mid-nineteenth century. Kenneth R. H. Tailyour's sketches are represented in two sketch books created in his younger years (1917 and 1920). Loose records of poetry, as well as a book of poems from George Taylor, are in this section.

The 221 photographs are of the Tailyour family from the late-nineteenth to the twentieth century, with the majority falling in the early decades of the twentieth century. Most are portraits of the Tailyour family from the early twentieth century, particularly Kenneth R. H. Tailyour.

The 138 pieces of ephemera are, for the most part, postcards of foxhunts during the nineteenth century. These announce the almost-weekly family foxhunts during the middle years of the nineteenth century. The 19 items of realia, include Robert Taylor's quill pen from 1826.

The audio-visual portion of the collection contains three items: a compact disc with an audio interview of John Dann, Director of the Clements Library, on National Public Radio's "The Todd Mundt Show;" a compact disc with photos of the West Indies; and a collection of photographs of the Tailyour papers in their uncatalogued state, and of the festivities surrounding the acquisition of the collection.

Finally, miscellaneous material of 18 pieces includes Robert Taylor's commonplace book of short stories, letters, and poems; the catalogue of Robert Taylor's books; James Tailyour's 1771 style and form book; and a communion book.

This collection is made up of correspondence, military documents, financial records, and other items related to the Van Vechten (also Van Veghten) family of Albany and Catskill, New York, and Detroit, Michigan. Most of the material dates from the mid-1700s to the late 1800s.

This collection is made up of correspondence, military documents, financial records, and other items related to the Van Vechten (also Van Veghten) family of Albany and Catskill, New York, and Detroit, Michigan. Most of the material dates from the mid-1700s to the late 1800s.

Two loose Correspondence items are a letter from Abraham Van Vechten to Harmanus Bleecker regarding news from Albany, New York, and local politics (January 20, 1813) and a letter that Abraham Van Vechten received from an acquaintance (November 10, 1813).

The Scrapbook (37 pages), currently disbound, contains printed and manuscript documents, notes, and other items from the late 1700s and early 1800s. Military records include muster rolls and related registers concerning Samuel Van Vechten's Continental Army company; a muster roll for John Van Vechten's company of the 66th Regiment of New York militia, pertaining to his service in the War of 1812; and military commissions for Samuel and John Van Vechten, signed by Cadwallader Colden and Daniel D. Tompkins. A Revolutionary War parole claim and several additional documents concern Jonathan, Lucas, and other members of the Elmendorff family. Additional items include a land survey conducted by Samuel Van Vechten in 1773, indentures pertaining to lands in the state of New York, a political broadsheet printed by the Albany Argus (October 12, 1824), and a letter from George Clinton to Christopher Tappen dated July 1, 1768.

The Orderly Book (34 pages) pertains to John Van Vechten's service in the New York Milita in the War of 1812. Orders, dated September 14, 1814-November 29, 1814, concern troop movements, drills and parades, and logistical matters. John's son Peter presented the volume to his own son, James, in 1913.

The Financial Records series contains loose and bound items. The Accounts subseries (7 items) contains brief notes and calculations; an undated document by Philip Phelps of the Albany Comptroller's office is also present.

Two Account Books belonged to members of the Van Vechten family in the 18th century. The first (approximately 310 pages) contains records dated from approximately 1672-1752, some of which were written in Dutch. The second half of this volume is an extensive genealogical record of the Van Vechten family and related families, compiled by Peter Van Vechten in the early to mid-1890s. The second account book (approximately 260 pages), which may have belonged to Teunis Van Vechten (1707-1785), contains records pertaining to individuals customers, dated from approximately 1768 to 1787 (bulk 1770s). Most entries pertain to sales of foodstuffs and related services, such as grinding wheat; at least one customer regularly paid for postage. Many of the individuals referenced in the volume were residents of Catskill, New York, including farmers, blacksmiths, and other laborers.

The Maps series includes 3 Loose Maps and a Survey Book. The individual maps include John Van Vechten's manuscript survey of lands along Batavia Kill; a printed map of the "Hollow Land" in the Netherlands, including the area around Amsterdam, showing city locations, the North Sea, and the Zuiderzee; and a blueprint map of lands belonging to Teunis Van Veghte [sic] in September 26, 1770. Samuel Van Vechten's Survey Book (approximately 40 pages) contains instructions for conducting land surveys, with illustrated examples and problems. Some pages bear small sketches of buildings.

The Photographs series (5 items) includes reproduced 19th-century portraits of Charlotte Scott, Harmon William Van Veghten, and Mary Jane Tigert, as well as a 20th-century portrait of John J. Tigert IV. The final item is a photograph of a house that belonged to the Schuyler family.

The undated Recipe Book contains manuscript instructions for making cakes, puddings, custard, blancmange, whipped cream, and other items. Newspaper clippings pasted into the front page include recipes for numerous types of cakes and puddings.

The Genealogy series (13 items) includes manuscript and typed notes about the Van Veghten (or Van Vechten) and Schuneman families, genealogical charts and trees pertaining to the Vanderpool and Van Vechten families, and reproduced images of manuscript notes about the Van Vechten family. Also included is a reproduced image of the Van Vechten family crest. The notes concern persons born as early as the mid-1600s and as late as the mid-1940s. Additional genealogical material may be found in one of the collection's account books (see above).

Miscelleanous material (5 items) includes fragments and an etching of a man and dog in front of a country home.