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H gjiiiilll HHRHM1 nun InflfliK^'n." 'n••HHi • '•' §$§i88glgg ; iiiiiii IHHBI RAHY L IOE>F THL UN IVLRSITY Of ILLINOIS A09I 1953 ttt ««T. SUftVfey Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/guidetomanuscripOOwill GUIDE TO THE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS IN THE WILLIAM CLEMENTS LIBRARY L. GUIDE TO THE MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS THE IN WILLIAM CLEMENTS L. LIBRARY Compiled by WILLIAM EWING S. Curator of Manuscripts Second Edition ANN ARBOR: CLEMENTS LIBRARY 1953 PHOTOLITHOPRINTED BY CUSHING -MALLOY, INC. ANNARBOR, MICHIGAN, UNITEDSTATESOFAMERICA 1953 f}0 1 I jjj i«Ut- Preface 4 The aim in gathering historical manuscripts for the Clements Library has always been to acquire collections suitable for research rather than autographs of a miscel- laneous nature. Moreover, whenever possible, collections related to those already here have been obtained, so that the contents of the entire division would have cohesion. Although unlimited by dates, the Division of Manu- scripts contains few records before 1700. The strength and uniqueness of the division lies in its several integrated collections representing the British point of view in the period of the American Revolution. This emphasis was the study of Mr. Clements from the time he presented his library to the University until his death in 1934. He was influenced toward this concentration by the enthusiasm of the late Professor Claude H. Van Tyne, head of the Universi- ty's history department. At the same time, both Mr. Clements and the Library administration pressed the acqui- sition of selected collections in the general field of Americana. The simplest approach to the manuscripts is to con- sider them geographically and in the light of their crea- ky tors1 careers. The collections of British origin, nearly ^ all obtained from family descendants, fall into three Abroad periods. The pre-Revolutionary period is illuminated by the papers of Admiral George Clinton, governor of New York from 1743 to 1753; Sir Peter Warren, naval commander who took Louisburg in 1745; Sir William Mildmay, commissioner of v $5claims growing out of the Treaty of 1748; John Wilkes, liberal friend of the colonies; and George, Marquess Town- %> shend, lord-lieutenant of Ireland, 1767-1772. For the Revolutionary War period, the Library possesses the papers of Lord George Germain, colonial secretary during the American Revolution, and those of his under-secretary, William Knox. Of the four commanders-in-chief of the Brit- ish forces in America during the war, the military correspondence of two of them is here: Lieutenant General Thomas Gage and Lieutenant General Sir Henry Clinton. The ^semi-independent command in the West Indies of Major General Sir John Vaughan may be studied in his papers; while the ex- ploits of the Queen1 s Rangers and the supplying of the Royal Regiment of Artillery in America are chronicled in the correspondence of Lieutenant Colonel John Graves Simcoe and Commissary George Wray, respectively. The fortunate acqui- vi sition of the papers of Baron von Jungkenn, war minister of Hesse-Cassel, salted this British viewpoint with the opinion of the hired Hessian officers. Overthrow of the unsuccessful war cabinet in Great Britain in 1782 brought into power the Earl of Shelburne. As Prime Minister, his first task was to negotiate a peace treaty with the united American colonies. His long concern with American affairs, both before and after the Revolution, is reflected in his extensive papers. The correspondence of his secretary of war, Viscount Sydney, later home secretary, likewise has its American interest. Two of the British peace commissioners were Richard Oswald and David Hartley, whose negotiations with the American commissioners in Paris are set forth in their correspondence. Some of the legal problems provoked by the dispossessed and banished Loyalists were the concern of Alexander Wedderburn, attorney general, and John Lee, solicitor general, whose papers the Library secured. To round out this period on the political side, transcripts of the unpublished papers of King George III were obtained. British politics at the turn of the century and the second war with the United States, 1812-15, may be studied in the papers of the first and second Viscounts Melville, who served as secretary of war and first lord of the admiralty; the Earl of Sheffield, privy councillor; John Wilson Croker, secretary of the admiralty, 1809-1830; Henry Goulburn, one of the British commissioners who negotiated the Treaty of Ghent, 1814; and Baron Brougham, member of Parliament and lord chancellor. As for collections of American origin, the Library possesses the largest collection of Major General Nathanael Greene's papers, recounting his operations in the southern theater of the Revolution. Here also are the papers of Brigadier General Josiah Harmar, first commander of the first United States Army, 1785-1791, when it was posted along the Ohio River frontier. As America expanded engi- neering projects, like canals, railroads, and dry docks, be- came of national importance; they are the substance of the correspondence of the Loammi Baldwins, father and son. The papers of James G. Birney and the Rev. Theodore D. Weld are important collections on the genesis of the anti-slavery movement. Birney was secretary of the Ameri- can Anti-Slavery Society, and he ran for President on the ticket of the Liberty party in 1840 and again in 1844. Weld, with his wife and sister-in-law, Angelina and Sarah Grimke*, helped spread the gospel of slavery's sin and swelled the ranks of Abolitionists in the 1830' s. The Lucius Lyon papers are the correspondence of Michigan's first senator and surveyor general for Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The long and distinguished career of Lewis Cass of Michigan is illustrated in a collection of his private papers. George Brinley' s papers show the busi- ness interests of himself and his father in New England, as well as his extensive collecting of Americana. Mr. Clements'