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0.25 linear feet

The Lawrence-Bass family papers contain correspondence, writings, documents, and other items related to William Lawrence of Lincoln, Massachusetts; his grandson, Jonathan Bass of Randolph and Braintree, Vermont; and the Bass family. The material concerns family relationships and news, land ownership, and religion.

This collection contains correspondence, writings, documents, and other items related to William Lawrence of Lincoln, Massachusetts; to his grandson, Jonathan Bass of Randolph and Braintree, Vermont; and to the Bass family.

The Correspondence series (65 items) is made up of incoming and outgoing letters related to the Bass family in the early 19th century. Early items include a Revolution-era love letter by Phebe Hammond, who shared her negative opinion of soldiers' behavior (August 29, 1778), and letters that members of the Lawrence and Bass families received during the late 18th century. The bulk of the series is comprised of incoming letters to Jonathan Bass from his siblings, parents, and friends in Randolph, Vermont, while he studied in Cambridge, Massachusetts, between 1800 and 1805, and after he moved to Braintree, Vermont, in 1805. Jonathan's correspondents shared social and personal news and occasionally commented on political issues. Around 1810, he and his family members discussed the life and death of his brother William, who died on September 25, 1810. Later items include letters from Caleb Butler of Groton, Massachusetts, to Henry Bass about the Lawrence family genealogy, written in 1846, and additional Bass family letters.

The Writings series contains essays and other pieces about religion, friendship, love, and other topics. One unattributed 25-page document, written around September 1766, concerns religious issues. The remaining essays and poems are grouped into four bundles, some of which are attributed to William Lawrence during his time at Harvard College around 1740. One of these items is William Lawrence's copy of Ovid's Amores I.5, "Corinnae concubitus."

The Financial Records series contains 3 items. Two accounts pertain to Boston resident Edward Bromfield's financial affairs (November 16, 1754). The third item is a list of subscribers who contributed money to purchase a cloak for "Reverend Mr. Strong" in Randolph, Vermont (March 24, 1812).

Legal and Military Documents (15 items) relate to the Lawrence and Bass families. Indentures concern the Lawrences' land holdings in Massachusetts in the 1700s and the execution of various wills; the earliest item is the will of Jonathan Lawrence, dated 1725. Also included is a set of military orders directed to Lieutenant Henry Bass, who served with the Massachusetts Militia's 1st Division (July 28, 1821).

The Photograph is a portrait of Sarah Bass Putnam. Genealogical Materials (12 items) include copied epitaphs and other notes related to the genealogy of the Lawrence and Bass families. A Diagram shows the layout of pews in an unidentified church. Printed Items are booklets about the history of Randolph and Braintree, Vermont, and about early battles in Massachusetts during the Revolutionary War, as well as 2 printed poems. One poem is decorated with pictures of daisies, and the other is dedicated to the memory of Mary Harvey Buel.

1.75 linear feet

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.

1 result in this collection

3.5 linear feet

The Letters, Documents, and Other Manuscripts of the Duane Norman Diedrich Collection is a selection of individual items compiled by manuscript collector Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018) and the William L. Clements Library. The content of these materials reflect the life and interests of D. N. Diedrich, most prominently subjects pertinent to intellectual, artistic, and social history, education, speech and elocution, the securing of speakers for events, advice from elders to younger persons, and many others.

The Letters, Documents, and Other Manuscripts of the Duane Norman Diedrich Collection is a selection of individual items compiled by manuscript collector Duane Norman Diedrich (1935-2018) and the William L. Clements Library. The content of these materials reflect the life and interests of D. N. Diedrich, most prominently subjects pertinent to intellectual, artistic, and social history, education, speech and elocution, the securing of speakers for events, advice from elders to younger persons, and many others.

For an item-level description of the collection, with information about each manuscript, please see the box and folder listing below.

1.25 linear feet

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The content of these letters, sermons, documents, and other materials reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich (1903-1996), most prominently subjects pertinent to Christianity, home, and the family.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The manuscripts reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich, most prominently Christianity, home, and the family. Items include sermons from prominent ministers or preachers of different Protestant denominations, documents related to church operations and discipline, letters by prominent and everyday persons respecting their faith and beliefs, correspondence of missionaries, and reflections on religion's role in all manner of human endeavor.

The collection is comprised of over 260 letters, manuscript sermons and hymns, documents, and other items. For a comprehensive inventory and details about each item in the collection, please see the box and folder listing below.

68 items

The Lindsley Family papers consist primarily of letters from and relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., and his son-in-law, James Ford, early settlers of Lindley, NY and local politicians.

The Lindsley Family papers consist primarily of letters from and relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., and his son-in-law, James Ford, with much of the collection relating to local politics. Of particular interest are five letters written to Ford by Samuel Wells Morris (1786-1847), who later served in the 25th and 26th congress as a Democrat from Pennsylvania. In these letters Ford discusses the political, social and economic benefits of internal improvement schemes (primarily canals), and includes some interesting comments on the election of 1824 and the strong political tensions between the adjacent counties in New York and Pennsylvania. A few letters contain information on the early political life of Lindley, however these are comparatively scant and do not cover the earliest years of the settlement.

Among other aspects of the collection, the following may be of some interest:
  • Five documents relating to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr.'s appointment as post master, including the certificate of appointment (1804). The certificate of appointment and two letters bearing early post marks from Lindsleytown have been transferred to the Postal History Collection.
  • Six letters written to Eleazer Lindsley's daughters while they were resident at Miss Pierce's School. These contain some information on the education of girls during the period and on family relationships.
  • Two items relating to slavery in New York: a letter from Stephen Ross to Eleazer Lindsley, Jr., 1798 May 7, requesting assistance with a troublesome slave he wishes to sell, and a manumission contract dated 1808 August 1 from Lois Lindsley for her slave, Jack.
  • Six items relating to religious life and revivals. Two of Eleazer Jr.'s daughters, Maria and Jerusha, appear to have been very pious. During the upsurge in revival activity in the 1830's, the family helped form a Bible Study class and the women formed a prayer circle.

4.75 linear feet

Family and business papers of Loammi Baldwin and his son Loammi Baldwin, Jr., engineers of Woburn, Massachusetts.

Family and business papers of Loammi Baldwin and his son Loammi Baldwin, Jr., engineers of Woburn, Massachusetts.

This collection contains family deeds dating to the seventeenth century, but the bulk of the materials lies between 1785 and 1835. The papers include 479 maps and considerable correspondence between members of the Baldwin family. James Fowle Baldwin was superintendent for construction of the Boston and Lowell Railroad and, as a state senator, served on a commission to investigate sources of pure water for Boston. George Rumford Baldwin (b. 1798) constructed the canal between the Alatamaha and Turtle Rivers in Georgia. The correspondence of Loammi Baldwin, Jr., contains letters from Secretaries of the Navy, governors of Massachusetts, Boston officials, and incorporators of the early canals and railroads. Drafts of his replies, reports, engineering estimates, printed materials, and accounts are among the papers.

1 volume

The Louisbourg Siege collection documents the New Hampshire contingent of the Louisbourg expedition led by Sir William Pepperrell and Sir Peter Warren in 1745 and 1746. The collection includes eyewitness accounts of the siege, a contemporaneous copy of the articles of capitulation, and maps of the city and fort at Louisbourg.

The Louisbourg Siege collection (25 items) consists of 19 letters, 2 receipts for goods, 1 memorandum, 1 excerpt from a journal, 2 printed maps, and one engraving. These items all concern the British siege and occupation of Louisbourg from 1745 to 1746. The writers were all part of the New Hampshire contingent of the Louisbourg expedition led by Sir William Pepperrell and Sir Peter Warren. Of note are a series of nine letters, written by Captain Thomas Westbrooke Waldron (d. 1785), to his father, Richard Waldron, of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. These letters form a running narrative of the siege and include a contemporaneous copy of the articles of capitulation. The collection contains two replies from Richard Waldron. Fellow New Hampshire officers and soldiers wrote the remaining letters, including officer Nathaniel Weare, Colonel Samuel Moore, who commanded the New Hampshire troops during the siege, and Colonel William Vaughan.

The maps depict the Harbor of Louisbourg and a plan for the city and fortifications there. The engraving is "A View of the Taking of Louisbourg in North America, by Admiral Boscawen and General Amherst," 1758, printed in London. This represents the second siege of Louisbourg.

Joseph Sabin compiled the collection into a single volume. The final seven pages contain notes on the collection, written by Victor H. Paltsits (1867-1952), the State Archivist of New York and the Chief of the American History Division and Keeper of Manuscripts at the New York Public Library.

1 result in this collection

27 items

This collection is made up of 27 legal documents and financial records pertaining to residents of Marblehead, Massachusetts, between 1730 and 1812.

This collection is made up of 27 partially printed legal documents and financial records pertaining to residents of Marblehead, Massachusetts, between 1730 and 1812. Sixteen items are statements of monthly and annual taxes that individual Marblehead residents owed between 1780 and 1812; most are addressed to Benjamin Lancey (or Lansey). The remaining items pertain to financial agreements, real property ownership and sales, and shipping. Two indentures concern the division of large residential buildings and provide detailed information about the rooms and passages belonging to each owner. One financial document relates to the town's fishing industry, and two relate to the schooner Sally: a bill of sale and an insurance policy.

Additional legal documents include an appointment of guardianship and a plaintiff's bill for legal costs incurred during a case in the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the Middle Circuit.

1 result in this collection

196 items (0.5 linear feet)

In 1679, John Mifflin of Warrington, Wilts., became one of the first English emigrants to Pennsylvania. Like most of the first generation of Anglo-Philadelphians, the Mifflins were members of the Society of Friends, and over the course of the next few decades, his became one of Philadelphia's most prominent commercial families. The Mifflin family papers consist of a large family's business and personal correspondence over several generations. The bulk of the material concerns two branches of the Mifflin family, the children and grandchildren of George Mifflin, son of John (1661-1714) and the children of another of John's sons, John.

The Mifflin family papers consist of the scattered remains of a large family's business and personal correspondence over several generations. The bulk of the material concerns two branches of the Mifflin family, the children and grandchildren of George Mifflin, son of John (1661-1714) and the children of another of John's sons, John. Both branches were affluent, well-educated, and politically involved, and although the collection is somewhat scattered, it is a useful collection for the study of family relations in southeastern Pennsylvania during the late 18th and early 19th century and the history of the Society of Friends. The collection also includes miscellaneous deeds, wills, bills, and other sundry items relating to the Mifflins between their arrival in America in the 1680s and the mid-19th century.

The names George, John, Jonathan, and Joseph were repeatedly used by every branch of the family. As a result, in the cataloging of the Mifflin Family papers, birth and death dates have been applied only when identities seem reasonably certain, and even at that, these should be viewed with caution.

Among the most interesting letters from the descendents of George Mifflin are the several letters of and relating to Charles Mifflin. As a record of a young man struggling against adverse circumstances and seeking to establish himself in life, the letters provide excellent documentation of mid-18th century Quaker attitudes toward the maturation into adulthood, familial responsibilities, and parental expectations. But the highlight of Charles' letters is a fine description of a love feast at the Ephrata cloister, 1769, where Charles had gone to learn German and thereby improve his prospects in the business world.

Four letters include information on the Revolutionary War. Two of Joseph Mifflin's letters (1776 July 14 and 22) provide accounts on the early phases of the war in Reading, Pa., the popular reaction, and the mobilization of troops. In a letter to John Mifflin written on August 24, 1777, Joseph Mayo relays rumors that William Howe is intending to land at the head of the Chesapeake to wage a campaign on Philadelphia, and adds wryly, "I hope that British Savages will be glad to get off with themselves long before it is in their Power to throw once more the Philadelphia Ladies into a disagreeable anxiety about the Fate of their Place of Abode." John Weston's letter of July 7, 1780, includes news that the women of the Baltimore Friends Meeting had agreed to knit stockings for the Continental Army. The post-war attitudes of two old foes are outlined in two letters written in 1784 and 1785 by Richard Hergest, a former seaman in the Royal Navy, to Capt. Henry W. Archer. Hergest and Archer appear simply to have agreed not to discuss politics in order to rekindle their once close friendship.

The most important items in the Mifflin papers are the two letters from Warner Mifflin, which provide important glimpses into the moral universe of the idiosyncratic Delaware abolitionist and reformer. The first of these letters, written by Mifflin to Nicholas Waln in December, 1780, includes an extended account of a dream that Mifflin had in which he saw Waln's corpse rise from the dead to admit that Mifflin had been right after all in his refusal to accept Continental currency or to pay war taxes. Mifflin also expresses serious concern over Waln's spiritual state (a remarkable fact, considering Waln's spotless reputation in the Quaker community), and discusses his famous visit to George Washington's camp to try to dissuade the General from pursuing his war-like ways.

In his second letter, dated 1783 July 16, Mifflin considers the case of the notorious China Clows, condemned to be executed for murder. Although Mifflin considered Clows to be a "bad man," he remained rigidly true to his pacifism in opposing Clows' execution.

John Houston Mifflin's fourteen letters were mostly written while he was working as a semi-itinerant portrait painter in Augusta, Ga., 1835-1839. They provide details on the social and artistic life in Georgia, descriptions of Augusta itself, and a few brief discussions of John's aspirations as an artist and attempts to establish his reputation. The collection includes three rough pencil portraits by Mifflin of his recently deceased brother, James.

Finally, the collection includes one letter of the well-known woman physician, Susannah Wright (Houston), and one letter (from her granddaughter, Deborah Ann) about her. In the letter from Susannah Wright to her husband, John, she describes an ailment she has contracted from drinking warm water and her efforts to treat herself. Three medical receipts, included in a separate folder at the end of the collection, may also have been issued by Susannah Wright.

1 result in this collection

1 linear foot — 1 oversize folder

Williamston, Ingham County, Michigan, family. Financial records, clippings, and correspondence relating to Mullett Farm and John Mullett, surveyor; extract, 1864, from Meridian Township Register Book; letterpress book, journal, and correspondence, 1852-1893, of John H. Forster, surveyor, agent for Pewabic Mining Company, Hancock, Mich., and later owner of Springbrook Farm, Ingham County, Michigan; diary, 1840-1841, of Catherine Hall; and map, 1859, of Mullett Farm; and photographs.

The Mullett family collection contains many useful descriptions of the state, and is a good source of information for some of the state's economic and topographic conditions during the 19th century. The papers, 1825-1936, are broken down into four series.

1 result in this collection