
David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library
The holdings of the Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library range from ancient papyri to records of modern advertising. There are over 10,000 manuscript collections containing more than 20 million individual manuscript items. Only a portion of these collections and items are discoverable on this site. Others may be found in the library catalog.
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While the bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence, the papers also include Abbot's addresses to schools and the Virginia Educational Society; printed bulletins detailing courses of study and formal statements of the teaching philosophy at Bellevue; and an official letter-book, receipts, financial and legal documents relating to the purchase, expansion and daily administration of the school. Other materials relating to the children of the William and Lucy Abbot include educational addresses by their son, Charles Minor Abbot, who administered Bellevue until it closed (1901-1909), as well as biographical material on Virginia Henderson's authoritative influence on professional nursing.
The Abbot Family papers provide the researcher with numerous vantage points onto public, professional and private life in nineteenth-century Virginia, most particularly through personalized accounts of men and women of the time. While the papers follow the families' colonial past from the early eighteenth century into the mid-twentieth century, the collection is noteworthy for its emphasis on military and private life in the Confederacy and in the Reconstruction South. The collection illuminates the experience of the Civil War through numerous windows onto the private lives of individuals; the professionalization of secondary education during the Reconstruction; the social and epistolary conventions of nineteenth century courtship; and the construction of an inter-generational identity, based on extended familial affections and ties to the institutions of Bellevue and the University of Virginia.
The collection includes a small account book that A. B. (Abel Beach) Nichols used to record financial transactions that occurred in Alabama from 1835 to 1836. Nine pages contain handwriting and several pages near the front and back of the book have been removed. Of particular interest are two pages with the heading, "A list of the sales of negroes in the State of Alabama in 1835 & 1836," followed by a tabular listing of the number of slaves, their names, from whom purchased, cost, date, to whom sold, time, and amount. In all, Nichols bought and sold 42 slaves for a profit of $21,430.58. Headings such as "A list of bonds bought in Alabama ..." and "Bond on ... in Alabama for articles sold" are found on subsequent pages. Also included in the collection are two letters addressed to A. B. Nichols. The 1846 letter, from Pollard Hopkins & Co., describes efforts regarding the sell or hire of Nichols' slave, Henry, and the "writer's" intention to buy Henry a horse and dray, thereby giving him the means to eventually buy his freedom. The 1850 letter, from Henry, respectfully explains arrangements for acquiring the title to himself.
Papers of Adeline E. (Burr) Davis Green (1843-1931) include letters, 1851-1853, from James M. Burr, brother of Adeline (Burr) Davis Green, to his wife describing his life in California searching for gold; James Burr's journal entitled "Journal of a Cruise to California and the Diggins" ; Civil War letters from her second husband and cousin, Wharton Jackson Green (1831-1910), later agriculturist and U.S. congressman, while a prisoner-of-war at Johnson's Island, Ohio; letters, 1882-1885, from her first husband, David Davis (1815-1886), jurist and U. S. senator, describing daily proceedings in the senate, social functions in Washington, D.C., and notable persons; letters from friends of Davis concerning personal and political matters; letters, 1906-1928, from Jessica Randolph Smith and others pertaining to the Daughters of the Confederacy; and letters, 1911-1931, from James Henry Rice, Jr. (1868-1935), ornithologist, naturalist, editor, and literary figure, discussing politics, conservation, South Carolina culture, world affairs, especially relative to Germany and Russia, his rice plantations, and the League of Nations.
The collection consists primarily of family papers in which some naval correspondence is intermingled. The letters of Sir Robert and Lady Julia Barrie are numerous. There are letters by Admiral Gardner, Dorothy (Gardner) Clayton, and various naval officers and members of the family. There are groups of legal papers, biographical sketches, genealogy, financial accounts, and photographs.
Family relationships and associations are extensive and are represented by comment, legal documents, and genealogies. The families include: Clayton, Cornwall, Cracraft, Cririe, Dixon, Fothergill, Gardner, Humphrys, Ingilby, Lyon, Shuttleworth, and Uppleby. A small group of photographs includes Sir Robert Barrie, William Barrie, John and Olivia (Page) Fothergill, John and Kitty (Leadbetter) Uppleby, Leadbetter and Eliza (Barrie) Uppleby, Charles Clotworthy Wood, Swarthdale House, and others.
The papers were still owned by the family as late as the 1950s. On Feb. 28, 1951, Charles John Ormond Barrie wrote about them to James S. Matthews of the Vancouver City Archives. Ten years earlier (Aug. 19, 1941) he listed several series of letters, some of which are no longer in the collection--correspondence from Lord Aylmer, Sir George Cockburn, Sir John Franklin, and George Vancouver. The covers for a few of these letters remain in the collection. The covers for letters by Admiral Gardner and copies of letters by Barrie indicate other absent manuscripts. Some papers may have been destroyed during Barrie's lifetime.
.Admittance, matriculation, and "Order of Lecture" cards are from a number of medical students from 1811-1880 in the University of Pennsylvania, Jefferson Medical College, Long Island College Hospital (Brooklyn, N.Y.), Harvard University Medical School, Philadelphia School of Anatomy, New Hampshire Medical Institution, Berkshire Medical Institution, and St. Bartholomew's Hospital (London, England). They contain the autographs of the most eminent professors of the day: i.e., Samuel Gross, Franklin Bache, Benjamin Rush, Austin Flint, Samuel Jackson, S. Weir Mitchell, J. K. Mitchell, Charles D. and James A Meigs, John Barclay Biddle, et al. The St. Bartholomew's Hospital card is signed by Ludford Harvey, John P. Vicent, and John Abernethy, the latter (1764-1831) being an eminent English surgeon and founder of the Medical School of St Bartholomew's. The "Order of Lecture" cards from Jefferson Medical College and the University of Pennsylvania list curricula, faculty and their residences, schedules of lectures and texts.
Admittance cards, 1850-1853, are for courses at the Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia. They include two matriculation cards for William D. Watson of Chatham County, N. C., dated Nov., 1850, and Oct., 1852, and an examination card Oct., 1852-1853, which is signed by Dr. S. Weir Mitchell as professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology. Dr. Watson returned to Chatham County after his graduation. His house was destroyed during the Civil War. The portion of his medical library saved and stored in a neighboring attic eventually was placed in the historical Collection of the library of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School.
Business records and some personal correspondence of four generations of the Cuningham family, including Robert Cuningham; Alexander Cuningham, and his brother, Richard M. Cuningham; the latter's son, John Wilson Cuningham; and grandson, John Somerville Cuningham, all merchants and planters. The early papers center around Alexander and Richard's success as commission merchants for cotton and tobacco in Petersburg, Va., and the firm's planting interests in Person County, N.C. The collection also contains a few family letters, including some from Alexander Jr. while a student at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and from another son at Leasburg Academy, Caswell County, N.C. The papers of John Somerville Cuningham concern his work as a field agent for the Bureau of Crop Estimates, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, local politics, and family matters.
The collection includes correspondence, bills and receipts, financial papers, legal papers, political papers, clippings and printed material and ranges in date from 1823-1954, with the bulk dated 1823-1883. Due to preservation concerns, some items were copied onto acid-free paper and stamped as preservation copies. The originals were placed in mylar and are located in Box 7. Patrons should consult with Rubenstein Library staff before handling these materials.
The vast majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence, covering the years 1823-1883. Many of the letters in the collection were written to Stephens, although there are letters written in his own hand. Throughout the correspondence are letters written to Stephens by various family members, most notably his brothers John and Linton. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to Stephens' law work, regarding issues such as the settling of estates and the collection of debts. The most prominent topics include family matters, business and legal matters and Stephens' health. Given the expansive amount of correspondence, below is a breakdown by decade of other topics which appear, in an effort to assist the researcher in locating materials of interest:
Correspondence 1823-1839: Topics include States' Rights, slavery, and an Indian war in Florida [possibly the Creek War]. There is a letter from Herschel V. Johnson who sought advice from Stephens in 1839 regarding negotiations with a railroad company.
Correspondence 1840-1849: Topics include local and national politics/views, opinions about President Martin Van Buren, "agricultural politics," Thomas Dorr and the People's Party, the purchasing of slaves, the 1843 Boston visit of President John Tyler and Vice President Daniel Webster, Stephens' nomination to serve in the U. S. Congress, Whigs and Democrats (Stephens was invited to attend several Whig-sponsored barbeques), and the death of Stephens' brother Aaron. There is a letter from United States Representative Marshall Johnson Wellborn which discusses the Judiciary Act (1841). There are also a substantial number of letters written by and to John Bird and letters written to him and Stephens (they were likely law partners). Of note are two letters written in 1844 by [Sarvis] Pearson (presumably a client of Stephens or his firm) to his estranged wife Mary S. Pearson which offer insight into the subject of divorce and marital discord of the time period.
Correspondence 1850-1859: Letters written by Stephens start to appear more frequently. Topics include largely family and legal matters.
Correspondence 1860-1869: Topics include employment inquiries both pre- and post-Civil War, autograph requests, Stephens' book about the Civil War, and the social history of a post-Civil War Georgia. Items of note: There are petitions (1860) by Stephens' district constituents asking him to address them about the presidential election. There are letters asking him for permission to travel into the Union. There are a couple of letters written by Stephens to Jefferson Davis. There is a letter from March 1860 to Pearce Stevons [Stephens] by Rody Jordan, both of whom were not only brothers but slaves as well. The letter is likely written by someone other than Jordan. A letter to Stephens in October 1866 states that his former slave Pearce was charged with murder and asks for Stephens' legal counsel at Pearce's request (he apparently complied based on a letter from 1869).
Correspondence 1870-1879: Topics include requests for employment and financial help, requests for letters of recommendation, Linton Stephens' death, Stephens' paper the Daily and Weekly Sun, the federal government, autograph requests, and Stephens' work with the Committee on Standard Weights and Measures. Item of note: There are documents from 1873 concerning an illegal distilling and corruption case in Georgia.
Correspondence 1880-1883: Topics includes Stephens' opinion of President James A. Garfield, his bid for Governor, requests for financial help and letters of recommendation for men interested in state posts appointed by the Governor, such as Physician of the Georgia Penitentiary. Items of note: There is a letter dated 1883 signed by Secretary of War, Robert Todd Lincoln. There are two letters from 1882 which offer some insight into African-American involvement in Georgia politics.
This collection consists of family letters of Alexander R. Boteler (1815-1892), Virginia political leader, congressman, and Civil War soldier, with sidelights on his career at Princeton College, Princeton, New Jersey, his courtship of Helen Macomb Stockton, whom he later married, his altercations with Charles J. Faulkner, and "Yankee" depredations at his home, "Fountain Rock," during the Civil War; political correspondence, 1855-1870, relating to the election of 1860 and the Constitutional Union Party; letters concerning Boteler's travels about the country in 1882-1884 while a member of the U.S. Tariff Commission; correspondence concerning claims of James Rumsey as inventor of the first steamboat; and legal and personal papers of Helen (Stockton) Boteler's father, Ebenezer S. Stockton, and grandfather, Robert Stockton. Volumes include Boteler's diary, 1845, relative to his farming activities; a scrapbook on the election of 1848; a scrapbook containing clippings, letters, and pictures devoted principally to the activities and interests of Boteler; and a scrapbook containing clippings, letters, and pictures concerning the Pendleton, Digges, and Pope families, especially the life of Dudley Digges Pendleton who married Helen Stockton Boteler.
The collection also contains the correspondence of Alexander R. Boteler's father, Dr. Henry Boteler, for 1776-1837. Among other correspondents are A. R. Boteler, Lewis Cass, Samuel Cooper, John B. Floyd, S. B. French, Wade Hampton, T. J. Jackson, Andrew Johnson, R. E. Lee, John Letcher, W. P. Miles, John Page, Thomas N. Page, Rembrandt Peale, W. N. Pendleton, W. C. Rives, Alexander Robinson, W. H. Seward, J. E. B. Stuart, Jacob Thompson, J. R. Thompson, Dabney C. Wirt.
Alexander Robinson Boteler papers, 1707-1924, bulk 1836-1889 3 Linear Feet — 5 boxes, 1,686 items (incl. 4 vols.)
The collection consists of an extensive, but incomplete, set of account books, remnants of the office file and James Sprunt's correspondence (personal as well as business letters and papers), and pictures. Among the account books there are long series of ledgers, journals, cashbooks, purchase books, and stock inventories that document the company's operations between the 1870s and 1950s. The ledgers date between 1889 and 1952, and there are private ledgers for 1907 through 1931. The volume of minutes covers 1919-1930, but there are a few others among the offices files along with financial statements, 1885-1915, important legal documents of the partnership and corporation, and assorted other papers.
Correspondence and other papers of James Sprunt and the company date between 1884 and 1952, but they are numerous only for 1904, 1906, 1909-1910, and 1919-1921. The letters date mostly to 1904-1910, and 1919-1921, and are largely files of James Sprunt, reflecting his activities in business and interests in secular and theological education, the Presbyterian church in the U.S., and North Carolina history. Notable correspondents and subjects are Alexander Sprunt (1815-1884), Alexander Sprunt (1852-1937), Alexander Sprunt (b. 1898), James Sprunt (1847-1924), Kenneth Mackenzie Murchison, Francis Herman Packer, John Miller Wells, John Campbell White, Edward Jenner Wood, The Laymen's Missionary Movement, and the Presbyterian mission at Kiangyin, China. Account books, minutes, and correspondence are available also for a number of domestic and foreign subsidaries and branch offices, but these are often quite fragmentary. More than thirty pictures, mostly photographs, illustrate the firm's staff, workers, physical plant, and employees as well as other scenes.
Also included are some papers representing various domestic and foreign subsidiaries and branch offices, especially Champion Compress and Warehouse Company, the Wilmington Compress and Warehouse Company, Alexander Sprunt & Son (of Delaware, a holding company), and the company's offices in New York City and Le Havre, France.
Information about the company's history can be found in: James Sprunt's letters of Nov. 6, 1908; Apr. 9, 1909; Jun. 7 and Oct. 22, 1919; an article in Wilmington's Morning Star from Feb. 11, 1921; and Dictionary of American Biography.
The collection reflects Weinmann's extensive research in the history of Viennese music publishing and is a resource for study of publishing firms in Vienna as well as documenting Weinmann's bibliographical research. The Music Series includes title pages and parts of arrangements, focusing on Viennese publishers and composers, including Georg Druschetzky, Joseph Haydn, Johann Baptist Vanhal, Johann Josef Rösler, and Ferdinand Kauer, as well as Johann Sebastian Bach. Included in the Writings and Speeches Series are manuscript drafts of works related to Weinmann's bibliographies (published in the Beiträge zur Geschichte des Alt-Weiner Musikverlages) as well as bio-bibliographical and historical works. The series also documents Weinmann's study of 19th century Viennese publishing firms including Artaria and Company, Giovanni Cappi, Leopold Kozeluch, Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Carlo and Pietro Mechetti, Tranquillo Mollo, Ignaz Sauer, Johann Traeg, and Thaddäus Weigl. Series includes research by Weinmann's brother, Ignaz Weinmann, on Franz Schubert.
The Research Notes Series consists of bibliographic references and citations, information about works and plate numbers; Weinmann's contributions to the Répertoire international des sources musicales; and Wiener Zeitung references. The Series also concerns Weinmann's work as an editor of the sixth edition of the Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts. Anthony van Hoboken, Willi Boskovsky, Franz Giegling, Anton Fietz, and Arthur Fiedler are among primary correspondents in the collection. Weinmann also collected letters (originals and copies) from persons and publishers he studied, including J.P. Gotthard, Johann Strauss, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, and Tobias Haslinger.
Letters, reports, certificates of appointment, receipts, loans, and other documents pertaining to the Civil War and to the Lee family, and collected by Alfred and Elizabeth Brand. The Civil War Papers Series includes battle reports from Bull Run (1861), Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg; Confederate Army General Orders Nos. 9, 64, and 18; letters detailing the operation of the Confederate Army, outcomes of battles, and Confederate opinions about the Civil War and specific officers. Includes a broadside, "Rally Round the Flag, Boys!;" a transcription of an interview with Jefferson Davis by newspaper writer Augustus C. Buell (1876); a draft of the poem "The Conquered Banner" by the Rev. Abram J. Ryan (1865); two engravings (of Grant and Sherman); John H. Miller and M. French's obligation and oath of allegiance to Virginia and to the Confederate States of America (1862); and J. C. Winsmith's oath of allegiance to the USA and pardon from Andrew Johnson and William H. Seward (1865).
Writers and correspondents in this Series are primarily from Virginia (especially Berkeley County) and Kentucky. Named individuals include Pierre Gustave Tonte Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, David Holmes Conrad, Samuel Cooper, Samuel Wylie Crawford, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, J. E. Johnson, I. Nadenbousch, Daniel Ruggles, William T. Sherman, and Edwin M. Stanton.
The Lee Family Papers Series comprises primarily Colonial-era governmental and financial documents pertaining to Francis Lightfoot Lee, "Henry Light Horse Harry" Lee, and Richard Henry Lee, Sr. Documents pertain to slavery and enslaved people; maps and surveys of leased land; and loan indentures. Includes certificates appointing Francis Lightfoot Lee as Justice of the Peace (1757-1768); and a letter from Richard Henry Lee, Sr., to Henry Lee regarding the colonists' agitation for freedom (1770). Ante-bellum and Civil War documents in the Lee family papers include loan indentures; a bill of sale for cotton to the Confederate government; two cartes-de-visite (of Robert E. Lee); letters written by Richard Henry Lee, Jr., discussing the sale of his sister's slaves; and a letter from Robert Edward Lee to Samuel Cooper regarding poorly executed military orders (1865). Several documents throughout the collection include the original rare manuscripts dealer's description.
Family and political correspondence of William Clay Cumming; Thomas Cumming; and Alfred Cumming (1802-1873), participant in the "Mormon War," 1857-1861, with material on Mormon history and frontier and pioneer life. Letters of William Clay Cumming, brother of Alfred Cumming, 1805-1818, contain mention of books read and studied at Princeton College, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1805; description of studies, living arrangements, and teachers in the Litchfield Law School, operated at Litchfield, Connecticut, by Tapping Reeve; accounts of violent opposition to Federalism in New England; description of climate and countryside around Litchfield; participation of William Clay Cumming's brother, Joseph, in disturbances at Princeton College, 1807; his activities in the War of 1812 as commander of a company in Florida, campaigns in New York as a colonel, criticisms of officers, a dispute with General George Izard, adoption of a system of discipline for the infantry; description of a trip in 1815 from New York to New Orleans with accounts of Louisville, Lexington, and the Mammoth Cave in Kentucky, Asheville, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Baton Rouge and New Orleans, Louisiana; a few comments on Brazil and Uruguay, which he visited in 1816; and mention of John McDonogh. A series of letters by Elizabeth Wells (Randall) Cumming to members of her family describes the arduous trip to Utah, scenery, frontier conditions, and Indian troubles. The collection includes hints of discrepancies in Cumming's account with the U.S. government while territorial governor. Included also are nine volumes: journal of an expedition to the Blackfoot Indians with notes and instructions, 1855; two letter books and official proceedings of a commission to hold council with Blackfoot and other Indian tribes, 1855; two letterpress copy books, 1857-1861, 1859-1860, containing copies of letters to government officials, and to James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Howell Cobb, John B. Floyd, A. S. Johnston, and Brigham Young; and four scrapbooks containing news paper clippings and broadsides. Among the correspondents are W. W. Bibb, J. S. Black, James Buchanan, Lewis Cass, Alfred Cumming, J. B. Floyd, Albert Sidney Johnston, William Medill, B. F. Perry, Franklin Pierce, Alexander H. Stephens, G. M. Troup, and Brigham Young.
The Alfred Landon Rives Papers consist primarily Rives's correspondence, relating to his attendance at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées, Paris; his military and civilian careers; family matters and social, political, and economic affairs in Virginia; and the Washington Peace Convention (1861). Includes a diary (1829-1831) of Rives' mother, Judith Page Walker Rives, concerning life in the diplomatic community in Paris, travels on the continent, French social life and customs, the Revolution of 1830, U.S. political developments, and other matters. Also contains three ledgers of Francis E. Rives, U.S. Representative. Correspondents include Francis E. Rives, Julia Page Rives, and Edouard Schwebelé.
Collection includes papers kept by Zalene Allen Angier which include correspondence, 1936-1969, largely letters from her brother George Venable Allen (1903-1970), diplomat, official of the Tobacco Institute, and trustee of Duke University.
Allen's letters describe his diplomatic career and personal matters, including foreign relations and social life in Greece, Egypt, and Iran in the 1930s and 1940s; the royal family of Iran; the Potsdam Conference; and customs of Saudi Arabia. Letters of the 1950s mention celebrities Allen met, such as Yehudi Menuhin and Aristotle Onassis; and relations of the U.S. with India and of Russia with Yugoslavia. Letters of Allen's wife Katherine Martin Allen reflect diplomatic social life.
Clippings relate to Allen's career as diplomat and as director of the United States Information Agency, to his family, and to his death.
Miscellaneous papers include invitations; White House dinner menus; press releases; a report, February 9, 1932, on Japanese-Chinese relations; articles by Allen; and other printed materials.
There are photographs of Allen and many acquaintances, including Marshall Tito, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Amjad All, Abba Eban, Wellington Koo, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John Foster Dulles, and William Fulbright.
Papers, 1945-1970, kept by George and Katherine Allen include letters from Eisenhower and Dulles about Allen's shift from the State Department to the USIA; a report on the political situation in Iran, January 21, 1948; correspondence on Egyptian-U.S. relations in the 1950s and the Henry A. Byroade scandal, the Cold War, the cigarette smoking and health controversy, and on Allen's speeches.
Enclosed with a letter from Allen of May 10, 1970, is a petition against slavery by the Baptist Church of Augusta, Maine, dated August 17, 1843.
There are files of speeches and related correspondence on Russia, propaganda, the space race, foreign policy, peace, the tobacco industry, India, Iran, UNESCO, and other topics.
There is material on the Dulles and Eisenhower oral history projects and on various honors and awards received by Allen.
Two scrapbooks contain clippings about Allen's career and family photographs. There is also a photocopy of his book-length manuscript reminiscence of experiences as Ambassador to Iran in the 1940s and 1950s; a letter from Josephus Daniels, 1940, commenting on Allen's review of Daniels' book, Tar Heel Editor; and a tape recording of Allen's address, 1967, to the Tobaccoland Kiwanis Club on the United States in the world.
This collection contains mostly the correspondence of the law firm of Theodore Medad Pomeroy, William Allen, and Alonzo G. Beardsley, also contains the papers of several combinations of lawyers who preceded this firm. The early papers, beginning about 1800, center on John Porter, judge, state senator, and law partner of New York Governor Enos Thompson Throop. In about 1840 the Porter letters merge into those of William Allen, and for the next fifteen years the correspondence reflects Allen's legal practice and depicts life in Auburn, New York. The letters of Alonzo Beardsley begin about 1842, but it is not until 1855 that he and Allen become partners. During the 1850s the papers also include the letters of Samuel Blatchford, a New York City attorney. For the most part, papers during 1840-1860 concern business and legal practice in New York state and throughout the northeastern United States.
For the Civil War period there are the 1860s papers of Theodore M. Pomeroy from Cayuga County, New York, a U.S. representative. Topics include appointments and promotions, aid to wounded soldiers, defenses on the Great Lakes, the organization of the 5th, 111th, and 138th New York regiments, the Conscription Act of 1863 and its enforcement, and civilian morale and the activities of Southern sympathizers, especially in 1863. Pomeroy's correspondence also concerns patronage, party organization and rivalry, and service to constituents. From 1865 to 1870 there is much family correspondence, particularly letters to Nellie Bisby of Attica, New York. Between 1865 and 1868 many papers appear from Dodge and Stevenson Manufacturing Company, makers of reapers and mowers. After 1870 letters of Alonzo Beardsley relate to miscellaneous subjects, such as gold mining in North Carolina and Alabama, 1872; the Oswego Starch Company; and N. M. Osborne & Company, makers of harvesting machines. Numerous legal papers and documents reflect all phases of the Osborne firm's work. There is a large amount of related printed matter. The collection also included genealogical material on the Van Dorn, Peterson, and Quick families of New York.
Ledgers (hard back and composition book), legal documents, family correspondence, almanacs, advertisements, and pamphlets.
The collection brings to light details of the lives and deaths of enslaved and free Africans and African Americans in the southern United States, primarily in North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky, but also in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, South Carolina, and Tennessee. There are also six albumen studio portrait photographs, mounted on card stock, dating from the second half of the 19th century, along with a copper token from the American Colonization Society, dated 1833.
Items have been foldered individually, with the inventory reflecting their titles, geographic origin, and date (if known).