Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: A collection of unrelated papers, linked by the family connections of the major figures. The papers of David Humphreys, a diplomat in the service of the United States, document his activities in Spain, 1789-1808. Also included are personal papers including correspondence with David Bushnell and Ezra Lee about submarines and with James Madison on politics, and some family correspondence. The papers of George William Erving, who was chargé d'affaires in Madrid (1804-1809) during Humphreys' tenure, complement the Humphreys diplomatic papers. 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 4, folder 135: Correspondence from James Madison
• Series I, Box 4, folder 140: Correspondence to Washington

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Papers detail the personal lives and professional careers of several generations and family lines of the Baldwin family. The legal, political, and business activities of family members in Connecticut, New York, and elsewhere are documented. Major topics include: family, women, law, education, Connecticut and New York politics and government, New Haven, Connecticut, and Yale University. Simeon Baldwin (1761-1851) graduated from Yale University in 1781, he served as a tutor from 1783-1786, and began his New Haven law practice in 1787. He served as City Clerk (1789-1800), Clerk of the District and Circuit Courts of the United States for the District of Connecticut (1790-1803), United States Congressman (1803-1805), Clerk of the District Courts (re-appointment) (1805-1806), Associate Judge of the Superior Court (1806-1817), Commissioner of the Farmington Canal (1820-1830), and Mayor of New Haven (1826).

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 9, folder 123: Correspondence of Simeon Baldwin, including letters from James Hillhouse, 1808 January-July.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence during his terms as Attorney General of New Hampshire (1802-1805), as a senator in the United States Senate (1813-1817), and as a representative in the New Hampshire House of Representatives (1820-1824). The correspondence also reflects his activities in private practice and in local issues, such as the Dartmouth College Case (1818-1819). The correspondence, which is largely political, reflects the issues of the times, among them Aaron Burr's activities, the Tripolitan War, the War of 1812, the presidential elections of 1816 and 1824, the embargo and the tariff. 

Collection materials used in class session: ​​​​​​

• Box 1, folder 2: Correspondence, 1814-1815.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence (primarily letters received) and other papers of David Daggett, Connecticut lawyer, jurist, politician, teacher, and author. The papers relate primarily to Daggett's legal and political activities and to Federalist Party politics.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 10, folder 282: Letters to Daggett from John Cotton Smith, 1802-1805.
• Series II, Box 13, folder 1: "To the Federal Freemen of Connecticut,", Circa 1816

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Papers of ten members of the Tracy family, originating in Litchfield, Connecticut. The most prominent figures are Uriah Tracy, Roger Sherman Tracy, Howard Crosby Tracy, and EvartsTracy. The papers of Uriah Tracy include letters to his children written while he was in Congress (1794-1806), letters to others on Congressional business, and his journal of a trip to the West in 1800.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 2: Letters of Uriah Tracy to James McHenry, 1798, 1803-1804.

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, reports, legal records, financial documents and genealogical material of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Included are both family letters and political correspondence. Of special interest are the letters to Governor Jonathan Trumbull on the relationship of Connecticut to the prosecution of the war (1777-1780). Among Sherman's writings are a report from the Constitutional Convention (1787), a note on the proposal for a national bank (1791) and a printed copy of his Almanac for 1760. Genealogical and other papers assembled by Sherman's grandson, George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904) are also in the collection. Major correspondents are Oliver Ellsworth, Samuel Hopkins, Titus Hosmer, Samuel Huntington, Stephen Mix Mitchell and William Williams.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 13: Correspondence, 1790
• Box 2, folder 21: Notes on debate on a national bank, 1791 Feb 4

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The William Jackson Papers consist of approximately 120 items, the majority of which are letters received by Jackson during the years 1782 to 1828. Jackson corresponded with a large number of eminent men, among them George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, William Henry Harrison, Henry Knox, and Charles Pinckney. However, most of the correspondence is routine in nature, e.g., cover letters, acknowledgements, and thank-you notes. Many of the letters, especially those written in 1818 and 1819, relate to efforts by Jackson and the Society of the Cincinnati to obtain the promised half pay of the surviving officers of the Continental Army. The bulk of this correspondence consists of letters acknowledging the receipt of memorials on behalf of the surviving officers and notes from sympathetic congressmen deploring the failure of Congress to act speedily on the matter.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 21: Correspondence, Alexander Garden

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Chiefly letters by Roger Griswold, of which three-fourths were written to his wife, Fanny Rogers Griswold, while he served in Congress, in Philadelphia and Washington, 1794-1805. While the letters to his wife are largely on family and practical matters relating to the family farm in Lyme, Connecticut, his letters to his father, Matthew Griswold, and to his brother, also Matthew, discuss politics briefly. A letter to Secretary of War, William Eustis, discusses the issue of placing the Connecticut militia under federal control. Also in the papers is a printed copy (1799) of the Constitution of the United States with marginalia in Griswold's hand.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1-3: Correspondence

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The papers consist of the research files of Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, an author and history professor. The papers include Phillips's notes and transcripts of historical source materials and the collected papers of several southern families from 1712-1933. The collected papers include correspondence, account books, business records, farm and plantation records, diaries, photographs, and other papers which focus primarily on the years 1790-1865, and the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia and the Piedmont region of Georgia. Phillips's own papers in the collection include a small amount of correspondence, lecture notes, typescript versions of published essays and reviews, transcripts of materials from various sources, his research notes arranged by topic, and related printed matter.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 15, folders 204-209: Moore family, 1794-1865 and undated

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The papers consist of correspondence, account books, financial records, diaries, journals, and other papers relating to the personal lives and professional careers of the Chauncey family of Connecticut. Material relating to the American Revolution and the colonial period includes the correspondence, legal papers, and financial records of Charles Chauncey (1747-1823). The legal papers of Charles Chauncey (1777-1849) document his work in Philadelphia. The European travel diaries for Nathaniel Chauncey (1824-1826) and Durham, Connecticut town records relating to Worthington Gallup Chauncey's municipal duties are also included in the papers.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Series I, Box 3: Correspondence, legal documents, and financial accounts

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: The papers consist of correspondence, writings, legal and financial documents, and other papers of six generations of Bidwell family members. Principal figures include Barnabas Bidwell (1763-1833), lawyer and politician in Massachusetts and Kingston, Ontario; and his son, Marshall Spring Bidwell (1799-1872), lawyer and politician in Kingston and New York City.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 10: Bidwell, Mary Gray (18), 1806 March-April

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Minister and diplomat. Correspondence largely relating to Abbot's service as secretary to Daniel Webster and as an agent of the State Department in England and Canada. Included are 104 letters by Daniel Webster as well as copies of several of his speeches. State Department papers concerning controversies with England (1837-1852), newspaper clippings about Daniel Webster and miscellaneous receipts, inventories and photographs make up the remainder of the papers.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1: Correspondence

Link to the finding aid for this collection in Archives at Yale

Overview: Correspondence, receipts, financial papers, military orders, a diary for the year 1813, and other papers of John Stites Gano, Major-General in the Ohio Militia and a figure in the Western battles of the War of 1812. The papers are chiefly military in nature, though there are some personal items. Included are letters to and from Gov. Return Jonathan Meigs, Stephen Gano, the noted clergyman and brother of J.S. Gano, and letters to General William Henry Harrison.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1: Correspondence