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This collection consists of letters, postcards, and photographs related to Private Arthur E. Welch of the United States Army, who served with the 1st Regiment, Company L, in and around Nogales, Arizona, between July and October 1916. Welch discussed everyday life along the United States-Mexico border, his work in a military ice house, and developments in the region's military conflicts.

This collection consists of 100 letters, 2 postcards, and several photographs related to Private Arthur E. Welch of the United States Army, who served with the 1st Regiment, Company L, in and around Nogales, Arizona, between July and October 1916. Welch wrote his first 2 letters to his mother, Mrs. M. J. Welch of Willimantic, Connecticut, while in training at Niantic, Connecticut, about his life in camp. His next 5 letters recount his journey to Nogales, Arizona, and describe the scenery in Ohio, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico.

The bulk of the collection consists of Welch's daily letters to his mother from July 4, 1916-October 2, 1916, about his experiences while stationed in Nogales, Arizona. He reported news of recent military developments, commented on his accommodations in camp, and discussed several aspects of his life in the army, including his training, his work in an ice house, and his attendance at Catholic religious services. He also described the area and discussed a lengthy march his unit made to Fort Huachuca, Arizona, where he remained for much of August. Welch occasionally mentioned relations with the Mexicans and their independence celebrations on September 16, as well as the actions of Pancho Villa. One of his friends, Ed Ryan, wrote a letter to Mrs. Welch about his experiences after being wounded in the arm; he also mentioned Arthur's work in the ice house (September 21, 1916). By early October 1916, Welch began to anticipate his return to the East Coast. Two photographic postcards depict Arthur E. Welch in uniform and in a pair of overalls.

The non-correspondence items are 1 photograph of a group of soldiers, as well as 3 scrapbook pages containing 31 photographs of Nogales, Arizona, and United States soldiers in uniform and at leisure.

The Bartlett family papers contain correspondence, documents, photographs, and a scrapbook related to Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett of the United States Navy and to his descendants, including his granddaughter, author Lina Bartlett Ditson.

The Bartlett family papers contain correspondence, documents, photographs, and a scrapbook related to Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett of the United States Navy and to his descendants, including author Lina Bartlett Ditson, his granddaughter.

The Correspondence series contains letters written to various members of the Bartlett family. The earliest items concern Washington A. Bartlett's naval career, including several letters between Bartlett and his wife Ruth. In a letter from May-June 1845, Washington Bartlett discussed political and military conflicts between the United States and Mexico. Much of his other correspondence is contained in a letter book, which covers the years 1835-1862.

Other items in the series are incoming personal and business letters to George L. Ditson, Bartlett's son-in-law. Some of these pertain to his appointment as United States Consul in Nuevitas, Cuba, a few of which are in Spanish. Later material includes a letter from Ronald Lodge to his mother, Oralie Ditson Lodge (Washington A. Bartlett's granddaughter) about his successful fitness examination for the United States Navy, enclosing a photograph of Lodge in uniform (April 17, 1917), and a letter on stationery from the White Star Line ocean liner Olympic (November 14, 1928).

The Documents and Financial Papers relate to several generations of the Bartlett family. Of note are a certificate about Washington A. Bartlett's qualification as a United States Navy midshipmen, signed by Martin Van Buren (November 20, 1839), and an authorized copy of Washington A. Bartlett and Ruth Budd Bloom's marriage certificate (June 17, 1861). The series also contains receipts and accounts.

The Writings series primarily contains typed copies of poems and stories composed by Lina Bartlett Ditson. Included are 8 poems, 1 group of poetry "Fragments," and 7 short stories. Two items, which may not be by Ditson, are in French, including an acrostic poem based on Ruth Budd Bartlett's name.

The collection's 8 Calling Cards and Invitations include manuscript and printed visiting cards for "Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett" and an invitation to the home of William H. and Frances Seward.

A single Illustration, dated August 1833, depicts the brig Mermaid at sea. A map of a portion of Albany, New York, shows the location of B. Lodge & Company.

The Photographs series has mounted and loose portraits, several cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards, a glass-plate positive of a young girl, and numerous snapshots. Early portraits depict Oralie Ditson Lodge and Lina Bartlett Ditson (occasionally in costume), and 130 20th-century snapshots were taken during a family vacation Eagle Lake in New York.

The Lena Bartlett Ditson Scrapbook contains newspaper articles, programs, and correspondence about Lina Bartlett Ditson, assembled by her sister Oralie after Lina's death. Most items pertain to Lina's artistic pursuits, such as vocal performances and published novels. Incoming correspondence to Lina and condolence letters to her family following her death are also present.

The Printed Items series is made up of postcards, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other items. Newspaper Clippings pertain to numerous topics, such as William S. Lodge's political career, interstate commerce legislation, labor news, and members of the Bartlett family.

• Defence of Washington A. Bartlett, Ex-Lieutenant, United States Navy: Read and admitted to Record, by Naval Court of Inquiry... New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857.
• International Association for the Total Suppression of Vivisection. "The Woman" and the Age: A Letter Addressed to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury. London: E. W. Allen, 1881.
• Olcott, Henry S. The Spirit of the Zoroastrian Religion. Bombay: 1882.

Other printed material includes poems by Barrington Lodge; engravings of Washington A. Bartlett; a colored print showing a woman in a dress that Ruth Budd Bartlett wore during a royal reception; and a campaign poster for William S. Lodge's mayoral campaign in Albany, New York.

The Genealogy series contains information about Washington A. Bartlett's descendants and allied families, particularly the Lodge family.

This collection is made up of letters that Private First Class Earl Seitzinger wrote to his mother while serving with the United States Army's 8th Infantry Regiment in El Paso, Texas, from July 1916-January 1917. He wrote about border tensions between the United States and Mexico, military activities at Camp Stewart, and leisure activities.

This collection is primarily made up of 28 letters that Private First Class Earl Seitzinger wrote to his mother while serving with the United States Army's 8th Infantry Regiment in El Paso, Texas, from July 21, 1916-January 6, 1917. The remaining items are a photographic portrait of an unidentified soldier, housed in a folded paper frame, and a real photo postcard showing bodies being burned on a Veracruz street.

Seitzinger wrote most frequently about his daily experiences in Texas, including military and leisure activities. The soldiers drilled, built roads, and went on hikes, such as a 4-day trek that Seitzinger described in his letter of September 29, 1916. He occasionally commented on political tensions between the United States and Mexico, reporting on exchanges of fire and his belief that the United States soldiers could easily overpower Mexican troops. Seitzinger enjoyed the warm weather and considered the possibility of moving west permanently to work on a railroad, though he intended to return to Pennsylvania to be near his mother. He and other soldiers frequently encountered rattlesnakes and other Texas wildlife. Seitzinger's letter of January 1, 1917, regards New Year's celebrations at Fort Bliss, which included firing the fort's guns. Some of the letters were written on stationery from the Young Men's Christian Association; one was written on the back of a printed advertisement for El Paso.

The John S. Cripps collection contains correspondence and documents related to Cripps, who was the secretary of legation for the United States in Mexico during the mid-19th century. Many items pertain to transnational law concerning both private individuals and corporations.

The John S. Cripps collection (147 items) contains correspondence and documents related to Cripps, who was the secretary of legation for the United States in Mexico during the mid-19th century.

The Correspondence series (98 items) contains personal and professional letters to John S. Cripps, many of which concern his service in Mexico; some are written in Spanish. The incoming correspondence pertains to legal disputes involving United States citizens and companies, who requested assistance with matters such as property ownership and the receipt of compensation for seized goods. Cripps's correspondents in Washington, D.C., included General Carlos Butterfield, who had appealed unsuccessfully to the Grant administration to institute a steamship line between the United States and Mexico, and other writers sometimes commented on political issues. Cripps exchanged a series of letters with his mother in the late 1850s and also received letters from family and friends, particularly his nieces and nephews.

The Documents series (46 items) is comprised of legal and financial records, most of which pertain to John S. Cripps's legal career in Mexico; many are written in Spanish. Cripps represented both American and Mexican clients, and the series includes contracts, powers of attorney, a will, and financial records such as payment notices and accounts. One power of attorney relates to claims that residents of the United States made against the Republic of Mexico for property destroyed in Texas (August 11, 1869). The series also contains documents concerning the will of Esther Monk, Cripps's mother; an 1870 passport for John S. Cripps; and an investigation of George T. Ingraham, an American diplomat in Mexico.

The Ephemera series contains 2 newspaper articles and 1 note containing the address of a New York lawyer. One of the articles concerns U.S. Senate deliberations, including a pending Mexican treaty and the deferral of a bill proposing the Butterfield Gulf Mail Steamship Line.

The Jonas P. Levy papers are made up of manuscript and printed items primarily related to merchant and ship captain Levy's claims against the United States government for property losses sustained during the Mexican War. The letters are professional, and provide insight into legal proceedings surrounding claims in the mid-nineteenth century.

This collection is made up of a 106-page memoir and approximately 290 letters, documents, and printed items related to businessman and ship captain Jonas P. Levy's claims against the United States government for property losses sustained during the Mexican War. The collection consists primarily of Levy's retained copies of written requests and petitions to and from various Mexican and American government officials, as well as printed reports on his various claims against the United States government. The materials encompass Levy's personal losses while in business with his brother Morton, as well as losses sustained by the Pedrigal Mining Company after its expulsion from Mexico. The letters are overwhelmingly professional in nature, and provide insight into legal proceedings surrounding claims in the mid-nineteenth century.

Correspondence and documents series (approximately 245 items, 1823-1907). The content of Levy's correspondence and documents outlines the specifics of his five legal claims and his involvement in the claims of the Pedrigal Mining Company. His first claim was for $6,000 for duties on shipped goods aboard the Sea Bird, illegally imposed by Laguna port collector Lewis Vargas. The second claim was for $1,600 worth of commissions commandeered by the Mexican Army in Laguna, as well as a $200 unpaid bond for additional goods owed to him. Third, Levy claimed that the Mexican government collected $3,000 worth of forced contributions during his residence in Laguna. Levy also claimed that the Mexican army sank $30,000.00 worth of iron houses and machinery, left in San Juan in care of Lobach & Co., in the river Tabasco. The iron houses had remained unassembled in a lot in Tabasco, brought from New Orleans. After the war between the U.S. and Mexico began, Mexican authorities required Americans in Mexico to move inland or leave the country, and Levy was unable to take these items with him. The Mexican military used the iron house materials to construct a dyke in the Tabasco River to hold off Commodore Perry. The final claim against the United States totaled $50,000 for personal wrongs, injuries, and losses of business by illegal expulsion from his house at the outbreak of the United States war with Mexico. The courts rejected the entirety of Levy's memorial, with the exception of $3,690 for repayment of the loss of his iron frames. The claims commission primarily rejected each claim because of Levy's inability to sufficiently provide evidence that his claimed losses matched what he originally listed on ship manifests and bills of lading; the iron frames were valued at only $690 when leaving port in New Orleans, and the Sea Bird's logs listed Levy's items at a value much less than the $6,000 he claimed.

The earliest document in the collection is a certificate rendered by the Port of Philadelphia in 1823 proclaiming Levy's American citizenship. The earliest document related to his claims is Levy's personal copy of a letter to Secretary of State John Spencer, 1845; Spencer may never have received this letter as he retired from federal politics in 1844. Other early items (approximately 25 items) include affidavits, character testimonies, and letters of appreciation from such persons as General W. Worth, F. M. Dimond (Consulate at Veracruz), and Col. J. H. Wright. The collection also contains a full copy of Rebecca P. Levy's testimony to her family's treatment in Mexico, dated 1851. Jonas saved a deposition signed by the passengers and crewmembers of the American schooner Bonita, which the Mexican government stopped on June 25, 1851. The deposition attests that the Mexicans took Jonas P. Levy on shore and detained him under the false pretense of owing them money.

Correspondence and documents from the 1850s to the 1870s illustrate disagreements between Levy and comptroller of the Treasury, Elisha Whittlesey. Levy accused Whittlesey of willfully suppressing documents that would prove his claims to be truthful and just, and called for a full investigation into his conduct. The correspondence of Levy and Whittlesey contains requests for duplicate copies of evidential documents used in Levy's claims, and updates on the claims' standings. Levy's later correspondence with the Secretary of State and the Treasury Department often addresses his displeasure at the apparent loss of primary evidential documents that he wanted to use as evidence in the retrials of his claims. The collection holds correspondence between Levy and the State Department requesting the re-opening of his failed claim and the return of documents originally surrendered to the Mexican Mixed Claims Commission. The State Department reportedly refused to relinquish control of documents submitted to them, claiming that they were not allowed to release primary documents used in Levy's cases. Jonas's claims ended in May 1873, at which point the legal documents primarily consist of inquiries into the status of the Pedrigal Mining Company case.

The collection includes a small number of letters between George Edward Burr and John A. Davenport discussing the Pedrigal Mining Company, beginning with a letter from Davenport in 1832, condemning Burr for his wasteful use of monetary resources -- including his overinflated salary, the hire of a costly and ineffective superintendent, and the failed implementation of a mining procedure. Materials related to Burr include a document attesting to the sale of shares in the mine in Taxco, Mexico, to purchase a steam engine and other mining equipment (November 21, 1850), and John Davenport's appointment of Burr as power of attorney, especially related to his Pedrigal Mine interests (June 11, 1851). Levy kept various letters between himself and Matilda and Nicholas Rappleye, owners of the Pedrigal Mining Company; requests for information from the U.S. government; and various newspaper clippings and reports regarding the Pedrigal mines. In a document dated March 3, 1872, Matilda Rappleye officially transferred her power of attorney in regards to the Pedrigal Mines to Levy, who had been looking into their case since the mid-1850s. In this same correspondence, Matilda Rappleye accused George Burr of illegally stealing the official ownership papers of the Pedrigal mines from her husband. In another letter dated April 22, 1872, she told Levy that she had no papers to give him to help with the claim because Burr stole them all. The Pedrigal Mining Company claimed that the Mexican government forced them off their rightful land, which led to the loss of expensive machinery and the ownership of the silver mines. Ultimately, the United States rejected the Pedrigal claim due to insufficient evidence showing the Rappleyes as the rightful owners.

The collection contains a small number of additional letters, petitions, and accounting items related to Levy's store in Wilmington, North Carolina, at the end of the Civil War. Levy claimed that a group of New York Volunteers entered his store and took cordage as well as other provisions without paying. Included among the documents are leases between Levy and the U.S. Army for the use of Levy's store as headquarters of the Camp Jackson Hospital at the end of the war. Letters from 1879 and 1880 illustrate Jonas’s attempts to petition for an act of Congress to grant a pension and three months extra pay for seamen that served on transport ships during the Mexican War. However, the proposed bill was unsuccessful.

The collection includes Levy's 106-page, handwritten memoir beginning with his birth in 1807 and concluding in 1877, the year of its writing. In this memoir, Levy principally concerns himself with his life as a sailor. He gave a detailed account of an attack on his ship by Tierra Del Fuego Indians, and described driving them away with cannons, which Levy believed was the Indian's first experience with such technology. The memoir also contains an extensive description of Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate, then owned by Levy's brother Uriah. The author provided a brief history of the house and how it came to be in his family's possession. The memoir also provides a description of the surrender of San Juan Ulca and Veracruz to the United States military. Levy wrote about his experiences working as a ship captain in Peru during the mid-1830s, and about the honor of receiving Peruvian citizenship without having to relinquish his American citizenship. Levy rarely mentioned his court cases; his account of his experiences during the Civil War is brief.

Printed items and ephemera series (46 items, 1846-1882). This series is made up of printed reports, memorials, congressional acts, claims, public letters, newspaper clippings, and advertising cards directly related to Jonas P. Levy's claims against the U.S. and Mexican governments.

The Marmaduke Burrough papers contain business and personal correspondence and documents, primarily related to Marmaduke Burrough’s time as United States Consul at Lima, Peru; Calcutta, India; and Vera Cruz, Mexico.

The Marmaduke Burrough papers is comprised of 495 letters, 51 essays and personal papers, 5 drawings, 418 financial records, 20 documents, and 4 items of printed material.

The Correspondence series holds Burrough's business, official, and personal items. The letters are mostly to Burrough though some are copies and drafts of letters by him. Many letters contain routine material on provisioning U.S. naval ships at Vera Cruz or requests from U.S. citizens for assistance, while others are from fellow consuls in Mexico. These describe tensions between U.S. and Mexico over the question of Texas annexation and express opinions on Washington politics. Other notable topics include the arrests of U.S. citizens by the Mexican Navy for being "Texas Pirates," the discussion of an assassination attempt on President Jackson, and the expected election of Martin Van Buren. A few letters are in Spanish and French.

The Essays, Drawings, Personal Papers, and Notes series holds many interesting items, such as a bundle of poems; medicine lists and prescriptions with notes; sketches of the island of Borneo and a beautiful detailed drawing of an Indian man riding a rhinoceros (undated); and a number of essays including travel notes and observations on leprosy.

The Financial Records series consists of bundles of ship provisions and medical inventories, travel notes, receipts, legal documents, accounting sheets, and a subseries of loose receipts and accounts.

The Documents series contains contracts, investment memoranda, an official appointment as consul, debt settlements, partnership agreements, insurance documents, and a deposition of witness for the seizure of an American ship by the Mexican government for importing counterfeit coins into Mexico.

The Printed Materials series holds a booklet called Friends' Miscellany (1831) and three formal invitations.

The William L. Clements Library acquired two newspaper cuttings separately from the Marmaduke Burrough Papers, which have been placed with the collection for their possible relation to the rhinoceroses imported by Marmaduke Burrough, and for ease of research. They include illustrated advertisements for the traveling Menagerie and Aviary, Zoological Institute, New York (at Bridgeport, Connecticut, and Newport, Rhode Island). The Library is currently unclear about whether or not the Zoological Institute rhinoceros is the same as one of the rhinos imported by Burrough.

The United States War with Mexico Collection contains miscellaneous letters and documents related to the war between the United States and Mexico, 1846-1848. Topics covered by the collection include army strategy and logistics; the battles of Buena Vista, National Bridge, Vera Cruz, and Cerro Gordo; guerilla warfare; efforts to restore peace; American impressions of Mexico and its inhabitants; and many others.

The United States War with Mexico Ccollection spans March 19, 1845, to [after 1894], with the bulk concentrated around 1846 to 1848. Topics covered by the collection include army strategy and logistics; the battles of Buena Vista, National Bridge, Vera Cruz, and Cerro Gordo; guerilla warfare; efforts to restore peace; and American impressions of Mexico and its inhabitants. See the "Detailed Box and Folder Listing" for an item-level inventory of the collection.