Search

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.

This collection is made up of correspondence and other materials related to James H. Miller and his wife, Mary E. Waggener, who lived in Missouri and Kansas in the mid- to late 19th century. The Millers received letters from Elizabeth Miller, James's mother, who discussed her life in LaRue County, Kentucky, before, during, and after the Civil War. James H. Miller wrote to his wife and children about his experiences with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War.

This collection is made up of correspondence and other materials related to James H. Miller and his wife, Mary E. Waggener, who lived in Missouri and Kansas in the mid- to late 19th century.

The Correspondence series (104 items) consists of incoming letters to James H. and Mary E. Miller from family members in various states, as well as letters from James H. to Mary E. Miller. Approximately 40 letters date from the Civil War years.

Elizabeth Miller, the Millers' most frequent correspondent, wrote to her son and daughter-in-law from Hodgenville, Kentucky, and other LaRue County locales throughout the mid- to late 19th century. Most of Miller's letters refer to her health and to news of family members and friends. She sometimes discussed the hardships she faced during and immediately after the Civil War. She mentioned the draft of September 1864, the Union Army's efforts to enlist African Americans, and tensions between Union and Confederate supporters during and after the war; in her letter of March 31, 1867, she commented on the perception that Reconstruction legislation favored African Americans over whites and noted that whites would object to African Americans testifying against them in court or serving on juries.

James H. Miller wrote letters home to his wife and children while serving with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment in Missouri and Arkansas between 1863 and 1865. Though he missed his family, he felt a sense of duty toward the Union and hoped that his relatives and friends in Kentucky also supported the federal cause; many of his letters are written on stationery with patriotic poems and illustrations. Miller discussed movements between camps and sometimes mentioned encounters with Confederate troops. His letters frequently contain reports on fellow soldiers, including members of the Waggener family, and his responses to news from home (such as his wife's dental problems). Mary E. Miller also received a letter from her brother William during his recuperation from an unknown injury or illness at Washington Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee (July 14, 1864).

The Millers' other correspondents included James's brother Fielding, who lived in Farmerville, Louisiana, in the mid- late 1840s, and one of the executors of Fielding's estate. John G. W. Duffey and his son James, an uncle and cousin, wrote from Hernando, Mississippi, commenting on farming and the progress of their crops. Their letters also contain remarks on the 1852 presidential election and, in one instance, Southern attitudes toward African Americans and the poor (July 8, 1854). Additional postwar items include letters that the Millers received from their children and other relatives in Nebraska, Kentucky, and other locations as late as 1911. The final item is a letter from Bertha Waggener to a cousin regarding the death of her mother (March 29, 1933). The series also contains a religious essay, "The Chariot," that James H. Miller wrote in the mid-1840s.

The Documents and Financial Records series (22 items) includes an employment record of James H. Miller, listing missed days of work in the early 1840s. Many of the remaining items are tax receipts from the Millers' time in Lewis County, Missouri, and Phillips County, Kansas. Other items include a promissory note addressed to Elizabeth Miller (August 28, 1848), copied legal documents, an undated property inventory (partially completed), and a document certifying James H. Miller's election as constable of Highland, Missouri (August 12, 1854).

The Notebook, which belonged to James H. Miller, contains accounts and notes related to Miller's Civil War service, partly related to clothing and supplies. A document about Miller's temporary appointment as head of his class is laid into the volume (May 3, 1844).

The Poetry series (6 items) includes 4 poems that James H. Miller sent to his wife while serving with the 3rd Missouri Cavalry Regiment during the Civil War. His poems concern aspects of soldier's lives, such as their remembrance of loved ones and their duty to the cause. One sheet contains an undated poem about death by David Miller. The final item is an unsigned 1847 poem concerning conflicts between British soldiers in Canada and Yankee troops.

The Recipes series (3 items) contains instructions for making a cure for dropsy, lemon jelly, and soap and blue ink. The final two recipes, written on a single sheet, are attributed to George Wilson (July 26, 1870).

The Genealogy series (7 items) is made up of notes related to the Miller and Bell families, including lists of birthdates, death dates, and marriages. Gilead Ann Miller, the daughter of James H. and Mary E. Miller, married into the Bell family.

The Printed Items series (2 items) consists of a fragment from a reward notice concerning the abduction of a young boy named Charlie Brewster Ross (undated) and a copy of the Christian Banner (2.6, September 1863).

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

The earliest items (1701-1840) largely consist of legal and financial documents, receipts, accounts, and other financial records related to Thomas Lee, his nephew Thomas (ca. 1728-1804), his grandnephew William (1763-1839), and, to a lesser extent, other members of the Lee family. Many pertain to land ownership in New York and New Jersey. Some legal documents, such as Thomas Lee's will (May 16, 1767), concern decedents' estates. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Lee siblings, including Henry, William, Cyrus, and Phebe, began writing personal letters to one another. Cyrus Lee and his wife Emily Fisher received letters from her mother, E. Fisher of Humphreysville, Connecticut. One letter contains teacher Samuel Squier's response to accusations of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior (February 25, 1774). Additional early materials include a contract related to the establishment of a singing school in Boston, Massachusetts (ca. 1745), medicinal recipes (October 31, 1789), poetry (undated), articles of apprenticeship (February 25, 1796), a daybook reflecting construction costs for a school house in Littleton, New Jersey (October 2, 1797-May 1, 1799), records of William and Isaac Lee's labor at a forge (September 5, 1809-October 24, 1914), and a manuscript copy of an act to incorporate part of Derby, Connecticut, as Humphreysville (May [4], 1836).

After 1840, the bulk of the collection is made up of personal letters between members of the Lee family. Incoming correspondence to Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee makes up the largest portion of these letters. Emily's mother wrote about life in Humphreysville, Connecticut, frequently discussing her health and that of other family members. Emily's sister Elizabeth discussed her travels in Indiana and Ohio and her life in Ogden, Indiana. After the mid-1850s, many of the letters pertain to Cyrus and Emily's son Robert. He received letters from his grandmother, aunt, and cousins. He sent letters to his sister Emily while he lived in Ogden, Indiana, in the late 1850s and early 1860s. A cousin, also named Emily, wrote to Robert about African-American and white churches in Princeton, New Jersey, and her work as a schoolteacher (February 15, 1858).

Robert Lee wrote one letter about camp life and his poor dental health while serving in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry Regiment (October 3, 1861), and Emily shared news of Littleton, New Jersey, while he was away. Cyrus's sister Phebe wrote to her brother's family during this period. After the war, Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee continued to receive letters from Emily's mother and sister. Elizabeth Benjamin, living in Lecompton, Kansas, sent letters on January 22, 1871, and March 13, 1871, discussing the death of her son Theodore, who died of a gunshot wound. The final letters, dated as late as 1903, are addressed to Elizabeth M. Lee, likely Cyrus and Emily's daughter. Later items also include a calling cards and a lock of hair.

The collection includes five photographs of unidentified individuals, including cased tintypes of a man and a young child, each with an ornate oval matte and preserver, as well as a third similar tintype portrait of a young boy which no longer has a case. A photograph of a United States soldier is housed in a hard metal frame that includes a fold-out stand; the frame bears the insignia of the United States Army infantry. The final item is a photographic print of a man, woman, and young child posing beside a house.

The collection contains a group of 13 printed and ephemeral items, including sections of the New-Jersey Journal and Political Intelligencer (April 21, 1790), True Democratic Banner (October 9, 1850), and New York Sun (May 9, 1936). Other items of note are a colored drawing of a house (1861 or 1867), printed poems ("Napoleon Is Coming" and "The Lass of Richmond Hill," undated), a price list for the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Hungarian Fund bond, and an advertisement for men's shirts and shorts with attached fabric samples. Three additional items pertain to births, deaths, and marriages in the Lee family.

The Patten family papers contain correspondence, financial records, and other items related to the descendants and relatives of Isaac Patten of Chelmsford and Westford, Massachusetts.

The Correspondence series (134 items) contains personal correspondence between members of the Patten family and their acquaintances. Many of the letters concern the writers' lives in locations such as Ludlow, Massachusetts; Boston, Massachusetts; and Westford, Massachusetts. In the 1850s, Lydia Patten Brown received letters from George Starr and other acquaintances in Mendon, Illinois. The letters pertain to the writers' daily lives, family health and news, finances, religion, and other topics. An extract from a work about the Patten family's heraldic origins with a sketch of the family's coat of arms (April 2, 1800) and numerous poems are also present. Most of the letters are dated 1814-1864.

Documents and Financial Records (98 items) primarily concern the personal financial affairs of Isaac Patten, James P. Patten, and Rufus Patten. Items include receipts, accounts, estate documents, and at least two wills. Some documents pertain to real property. An anonymous author kept a 16-page Weather Journal from June 10, 1832-January 10, 1833. Daily entries record information about the temperature, wind, and precipitation, and the author once briefly referred to I. T. Patten.

The Genealogy series (3 items) has notes about the Patten family. The Miscellaneous series (5 items) has poetry, a fragment of a recipe, and a list of genealogical books.