Search

Back to top

Search Constraints

Start Over You searched for: Names Smithsonian Institution. Remove constraint Names: Smithsonian Institution.
Number of results to display per page
View results as:

Search Results

Collection

Davis E. Castle journals, 1864-1865

2 volumes

Davis Castle's journals provide information on his service in the Signal Corps of the Army of the Potomac.

Davis Castle's journal provides limited information on his service in the Signal Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The document is made up of brief entries, at times illegible handwriting, and empty pages. Castle tended to report second hand information rather than his own experiences.

On the first "Memoranda" page following December 31, 1865, is a list of births in Davis Castle's immediate family. The pages dated November 1, 1864 and August 25, 1865 contain coded passages.

Collection

Henry Stevens papers, 1812-1935

2 linear feet

This collection is made up of correspondence, letter books, and transcriptions by rare book dealer and bibliographer Henry Stevens. The material primarily concerns his work obtaining books for prominent private collectors and libraries in the United States in the mid-19th century.

This collection is made up of correspondence, letter books, and transcriptions by rare book dealer and bibliographer Henry Stevens and his company. The material primarily concerns his work obtaining books for prominent private collectors and libraries in the United States in the mid-19th century.

The Correspondence and Documents series primarily consists of incoming letters to Henry Stevens about his book business. The correspondence concerns book catalogues, purchases, exhibitions, and other professional matters. Letters and documents from prominent individuals include materials from John Carter Brown (71 items), Obadiah Rich (26 items), and others. A small group of personal letters between members of the Stevens family, notes and drafts by Henry Stevens, and financial documents are also present. See the contributor list below for a partial list of letter-writers.

Seven items in this series pertain to Stevens's American Historical Nuggets, including manuscript and printed mock-ups of the title page and first page of the introduction. The papers also contain a manuscript of "Who Spoils our new English Books."

A group of 16 Letter and Account Books comprises the bulk of the collection. The volumes primarily contain outgoing business correspondence of Henry Stevens, related to his work as a bookseller and bibliographer in London, England. Recipients included John Carter Brown, Samuel Drake, William Deane, Charles B. Norton, and members of the Stevens family. The volumes also contain financial records.

The series pertains to the acquisition of materials for the libraries and individuals, including the following:
  • A. Asher & Co.
  • American Antiquarian Society
  • American Europe Express Company
  • Amherst College Library
  • Astor Library
  • Bodleian Library
  • British Museum.
  • Edinburgh University Library
  • Fry, Francis
  • Harvard College Library
  • Irving & Willey
  • Lawrence, Abbott.
  • Lenox, James.
  • Mercantile Library Association of the City of New-York
  • New York State Library
  • Pennsylvania State Library
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • United States Patent Office
  • University of Vermont Library
  • Vermont State Library
  • Virginia State Library
  • Yale College Library

The Henry Stevens Transcriptions and Notes series contains five transcriptions that Henry Stevens (1819-1886) made in the mid-19th century. The documents concern the years prior to the American Revolution, the New Hampshire Grants, Arthur St. Clair's defeat, and the Sullivan Rail Road.

The series contains the following items:
  • "Dr. Stiles' Account of the False Alarm in 1774" (By Ezra Stiles)
  • "Observations on the Right of Jurisdiction Claimed by the States of New York and New Hampshire, over the New Hampshire Grants (So Called) Lying on Both Sides of Connecticut River, in a Letter to the Inhabitants of those Grants" (Originally printed by E. Russel in Danvers, Massachusetts, 1778)
  • "A Public Defence of the Right of the New Hampshire Grants (So Called)..." (Originally printed by Alden Spooner, 1779)
  • "Lieut. Michl. McDonoughs Letter to His Brother. Dated at Fort Washington, Nov. 10, 1791"
  • "A Sermon Preached at Charlestown, N. H., on the First Sunday after the Opening of the Sullivan Rail Road, by J. Crosby" (By Jaazaniah Crosby, ca. 1849)
Collection

Robin Hough Collection, 1964, 2006, 2014, and undated (majority within 2006)

1.5 cubic foot (in 1 box, 9 Oversized folders)

The collection (mostly copies) consists mostly of Professor Robin Hough’s Subject Files, notes, study guides and tests (blanks) on Africans and related topics, African Americans and related topics, and Native Americans and related topics.

The collection (mostly copies) consists mostly of Professor Robin Hough’s Subject Files, notes, study guides and tests (blanks) on Africans and related topics, African Americans and related topics, and Native Americans and related topics. There is a small amount of material on the Caribbean and “colored people” of Canada. The main focus of these topics is music from Africa, how it evolved through slave culture into the modern period and its social, political, and religious impact. A small amount of material at the front of the box includes Hough Materials: papers, correspondence, conference materials, tests, quizzes, study guides and examples Robin used in his various classes, mostly Religion 342/501. There are also a few issues of some publications which are not duplicated in the CMU libraries’ collections, including newsletters, catalogs, and journals. Most of the copies were made between 1983 and 2006, with a few preservation copies made by the archivist in 2014. The collection is organized by series and size.

Of particular note are manuscripts (copies) documenting the American Freedmen’s Inquiry Commission which investigated the condition of slaves and freedmen, and ideas about what to do with them (send them north, to Alabama, or to Honduras) during the American Civil War. There is a small amount of material documenting similar investigations and reports from the Provincial Association for the Elevation and Education for Colored Persons and the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada. These provide a lot of detailed information by white men who interacted with the freed men and women. The reports are strongly affected by what they witnessed and cultural perceptions. There is also a mostly statistical report on the Colored Convicts in Canada, 1863.

Processing Note: Approximately ten cubic feet of the original donation was returned to Professor Hough’s friends, as per their request. This material including various formats on peripheral and general topics, such as general religion or folklore topics, miscellaneous or unidentifiable materials and notes, personal copies of recorded televised shows, resumes, job descriptions, generic correspondence, and related materials of other people, students’ papers, quizzes and exams, duplicates, professionally made and purchased slides, and personal recordings of speakers without documentation of their permission to be recorded. Class lists of students with their social security numbers were immediately shredded by the archivist. Really bad copies of microfilmed newspapers, manuscripts, and acidic notes were photocopied in 2014 by the archivist, and the originals were then withdrawn from the collection. The collection was stored in the department’s storage area following Prof. Hough’s demise in 2006, until it was donated to the Clarke in 2014. Six academic publications were cataloged and added to the collections of the Clarke.