Collections

The papers include correspondence, diaries, journals, accounts books, tintypes, prayerbooks, sermons, hymns in Ojibwa, a New Testament in English and Seneca, and photographic images.

Family papers, 1765-1964, and undated, include: correspondence relating to Rev. Bingham's associations with the Baptist Missionary Society, Boston, his ministry at the Tonawanda Indian Mission in New York State, the Baptist Indian Mission at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and his social activities in Grand Rapids, Michigan; diaries of Bingham and his wife, journals, account books, and tintypes. Also included are prayer books and hymns in Ojibwa, Bingham's sermons, in English, and a New Testament in both English and Seneca. Among his correspondents is John Claude Buchanan, his son-in-law, whose letters relate to Buchanan's service with the 8th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War, 1861-1864. Three boxes of photographic images complete the collection.

The collection includes correspondence relating to Bingham’s associations with the Baptist Missionary Society, Boston, his ministry at the Tonawanda Indian Mission in New York State, the Baptist Indian Mission at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and his social activities in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Correspondents include John Claude Buchanan, Bingham’s son-in-law, relating to his service with the 8th Michigan Infantry during the Civil War.

The collection is also available on 19 reels of positive microfilm Acc# 359 (Section 4, 1 reel) and 444 (18 reels). Some letters are available on 2 reels of positive microfilm Acc# 614 of the American Baptists Foreign Mission Society, 1800-1900, American Indians and 1814-1900, France.

Missionary family to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan; correspondence, sermons of Abel Bingham, diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions.

The collection documents the lives of a missionary family to the Ojibwa Indians of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The papers have been arranged into the following series: Correspondence; Abel Bingham ministerial papers; Miscellaneous; and Bound Account Books and Diaries. The collection is of value for the family correspondence, for the sermons of Abel Bingham, and for the diaries of Hannah Bingham reflecting her daily activities and religious convictions (1817-1868). There are also papers concerning Fountain Street Baptist Church in Grand Rapids in the 1850s.

The Abel Hyde account book contains 41 pages of double-entry bookkeeping records for Hyde's carpentry work for, and transactions with, individuals in Lebanon and Franklin, Connecticut, between 1800 and 1822. The volume also includes a 22-page narrative entitled "Chronicles of Agawam," about theological disagreements in Massachusetts among the followers of John Calvin, Roger Williams, and Emanuel Swedenborg.

The Abel Hyde account book contains 41 pages of double-entry bookkeeping records for Hyde's carpentry work for, and transactions with, individuals in Lebanon and Franklin, Connecticut, between 1800 and 1822. The volume also includes a 22-page narrative entitled "Chronicles of Agawam," about theological disagreements in Massachusetts among the followers of John Calvin, Roger Williams, and Emanuel Swedenborg.

Abel Hyde's account book documents his financial affairs throughout the early 19th century, with most records dated between 1800 and 1821. As a wheelwright, he often repaired or made wagon wheels, though he built other wooden items, such as plows and a "cheese press" (p. 41). Hyde also performed manual labor tasks, such as haying and other farm work, and he often traded his services for food items, including potatoes, meal, apples, fish, meats, and alcohol. Two pages of additional financial accounts are laid into the volume. Abel Hyde's accounts appear on facing pages numbered 18-58; the first pages are absent. Three later pages at the back of the volume document Charles Pettis's work on Abel Hyde's barn.

The final 22 pages are comprised of an undated narrative entitled "Chronicles of Agawam," composed in a chapter/verse format. It concerns theological disagreements among Christian sects in Massachusetts during America's colonial period. John Calvin, Roger Williams, and Emanuel Swedenborg feature prominently.

This collection contains correspondence between Abner H. Cheever, an early migrant to Indiana, and his sister, Thankful, and brother-in-law, Captain John Webster, in Vermont. The collection includes letters written during Cheever's trip to Indiana via Kentucky in 1816-17, and contains accounts of the hardships the family faced when settling in Indiana.

The Abner H. Cheever papers are comprised of 19 letters to and from Abner H. Cheever, an early migrant to Indiana, his sister, Thankful, and brother-in-law, Captain John Webster, of Vermont. The collection includes letters written during Cheever's trip to Indiana via Kentucky in 1816-17, and contains accounts of the hardships the family faced when settling in Vernon, Geneva, and Jennings Counties in the southeast corner of the state. Cheever describes various misfortunes, such as family sickness, the death of his wife Polly, and personal vendettas waged against them by relatives. He often writes of God's role in his life; in an undated letter, Cheever writes of the death of his wife Polly: "I feel that God is Chastising me for my disobedience and hope and pray that I might not turn a deaf ear to His call.”

The Abraham Bell papers contain correspondence and financial documents related to Abraham Bell & Co., an early 19th-century New York City shipping firm owned by Abraham Bell.

The Abraham Bell papers contain correspondence and financial documents related to Abraham Bell & Co., an early 19th-century New York City shipping firm owned by Abraham Bell. The majority of material in the Correspondence series is addressed to either Abraham Bell or to his company, and relates to various business affairs, often concerning payment or delivery of goods. Many of the letters originated from European firms, including a letter from Collman, Lambert & Co. in Liverpool, written on stationery that includes a printed list of current prices for cotton and related goods (February 8, 1837).

The Receipts and financial papers series consists of non-correspondence items related to the operation of Abraham Bell & Co. throughout the early and mid-1800s. These include records of payment and lists of cargo carried aboard Bell's ships, as well as several documents relating to loads of street manure in 1839. Several early items within this series pertain to the ship Josephine.

Fifteen Account and receipt books provide information about Bell's financial endeavors throughout the period in explicit detail, covering the years 1840-1868. A letter book contains copies of letters written by Abraham Bell between October 16, 1833, and August 15, 1834.

Miscellaneous items in the collection include an indenture for land in New Jersey belonging to the Budd family (December 25, 1812), and a record of fiscal accounts between Abraham Bell & Co. and [Malionson] Bell & Co. (June 30, 1836).

This account book pertains to Abraham B. Smedes's work as a cooper in Shawangunk, New York, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Additional entries concern education, surveying work, and shoe repair.

This account book (approximately 130 pages) pertains to Abraham B. Smedes's work as a cooper in Shawangunk, New York, in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Additional entries concern education, surveying work, and shoe repair in the early to mid-1800s.

Abraham B. Smedes recorded most of his accounts from 1793-1805 (bulk 1795-1805), documenting his work as a cooper and laborer in Shawangunk, New York. He laid hoops, built or repaired containers such as flour casks, and (occasionally) wrote deeds or other legal documents. One entry concerns the sale of a house to William Hamilton in the spring of 1779 (page 43). Smedes most often received payments in corn, meats, or other foods or goods. He noted that some accounts had been settled "by a course of law." A record with the president and directors of the Ulster & Orange Turnpike Branch Co. concerns surveying work done in 1809 and 1812 (page 95), and Smedes or a later owner of this account book received money for several scholars' tuition in October 1815 (pages 102-121, 124-125).

Later accounts appear on the bottom half of many pages, particularly between pages 7 and 37 and on pages 126-128. These accounts, dated 1821-1842, with the bulk dated 1835-1841, pertain to a cobbler who repaired and made shoes and insoles. Customers paid with foods, goods, and cash. The records on page 128 mention factory labor by Peter, Georgiana, William, Blandina, and Elsie in March 1823. A few additional accounts cover the intervening years between Smedes's entries and the shoemaking records, many pertaining to the sale of vinegar in the 1810s.

The final pages contain financial accounts from 1809-1810 (page 132) and money received from [1801?]-1802 (page 133). The volume includes a 9-page index, organized alphabetically by surname (pages numbered 1-4). Additional pages of accounts are laid into the volume; several pages toward the end have been torn out of the book.

The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865.

The African American and African Diaspora Collection is comprised largely of individual letters, documents, and other manuscript items relating to slavery, abolition movements, and aspects of African American life, largely dating between 1781 and 1865. Topics addressed in the letters and documents include the experiences and work of enslaved persons in the North and South; the buying and selling of enslaved men, women, and children; participation in the French and Indian War, American Revolution, and Civil War of African descended persons; abolitionists and abolition societies; the American Colonization Society; the lives of formerly enslaved persons; African American education; and many other subjects. For details on each document, see the inventory located under "Detailed Box and Folder Listing"

The Albin K. Putnam papers contain the scattered correspondence of an Episcopal priest and his family in New England.

The Albin K. Putnam papers contain the scattered correspondence of an Episcopal priest, documenting a life from its early setbacks in obtaining an education to its early termination in a lingering death. The collection is composed of three main sections. First are letters written by friends and relatives of Dorothy Abbott Putnam, 1821-1830 (29 August 1821-30 March 1830; 10 October [n.d.]), principally on religious topics. Second are letters by Albin K. Putnam from the time of his entry into Dartmouth College in 1834 to his death in 1847 (27 September 1834-3 January 1849). These detail Putnam's years as a student and priest, his illness and death, and his wife's difficult adjustment to widowhood. Interspersed are a few other letters not specifically relating to Albin and Fanny but which provide a more rounded picture of the Putnam family as a whole.

The third series of letters (6 August 1849-5 June 1850) document an intriguing chronicle of an old-age romance, in which William Spaulding, Dorothy Putnam's newly widowed brother-in-law, recalls how forty years earlier, he had wooed Dorothy before marrying her sister. This culminates in a second proposal of marriage, and a second refusal.

The Alexander McMichael account book contains copies of the Pennsylvania merchant's receipts, dated 1770-1800. McMichael purchased rum, molasses, and other goods and services. Some receipts reflect rent payments and estate finances.

The Alexander McMichael account book contains copies of the Pennsylvania merchant's receipts, dated November 23, 1770-January 20, 1800. The accounts, written in multiple hands, pertain to McMichael's purchases of food and services. The volume documents 4 rent payments collected by John Oldden and William Zane on behalf of Mary Zane (July 20, 1782-April 21, 1783), as well as a collection made on behalf of her estate (February 10, 1783). Other individuals who held accounts with McMichael included Philadelphia banker Cadwalader Morris (1741-1795), Caleb and Amos Foulke, Daniel Benezet (1723-1797), and Joseph Whelan.

The Alexander Robinson papers contain military records relating to Fort Greene, which Robinson commanded during the War of 1812, business records relating to international trading, as well as Robinson's personal correspondence.

The Alexander Robinson papers contain 257 documents and records related to Fort Greene, 103 business papers and documents, and 38 pieces of correspondence. The items span 1807-1843, with the bulk centered around 1814-1815.

The Correspondence series comprises primarily personal correspondence, including letters from family members and friends, both incoming and outgoing. Alexander Robinson wrote many of the early letters to his wife Hetty, during his sea voyages, expressing his affection, providing news, and speculating on when he would return. Between 1818 and 1841, William Hicks, a native of Cork, Ireland, wrote approximately 15 letters to Robinson, requesting information about a brother in New York, and providing increasingly grim descriptions of the political and financial situation in Ireland. His letter of November 15, 1821, gives an account of murders and floggings occurring in Cork. Two of the Robinsons' children, Maria Louisa and George, wrote several additional letters, dating from the 1830s and concerning family news.

The Business Papers series spans 1807-1821 and concerns ships that Robinson commanded during those years. Documents are organized by ship, with a few miscellaneous business papers at the end. The series contains records for the Alexander (1809-1813), the Clarendon (1815), the Catherine Ray (1812), the Fulley (1807-1808), the Independence (1815), the Isabella (1813), the Moses Brown (1812-1821), the Nichola (1809-1810), the Quebec (1812-1813), and the Urbana (1812). The items document such information as rolls of crews and their salaries, trading partners and items traded, financial transactions, and repairs made to ships.

The Fort Greene series contains items relating to Fort Greene, 1814-1815. The gunners' reports and morning and evening reports consist of information about which men were present, absent, sick, and at liberty in October and November of 1814. Provision returns, a requisition log, and a receipt book track the purchase and transfer of ordnance and goods. Also present are orders for Fort Greene and Fort Gansevoort, an orderly book for October 19, 1814, to January 11, 1815, and a 26-page journal kept at Fort Greene by Peter H. Schuyler, which described weather conditions, visitors to the fort, general happenings, and how its residents were employed. On December 10, 1814, he recounted a controversy surrounding the smoking of cigars and pipes inside the fort, and several days later reported a dispute between Alexander Robinson and William Cranston and Cranston's subsequent arrest.