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 1, folder 8: Correspondence from Timothy Pickering, December 5-28, 1797.

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

Overview: The principal figures in this collection are Jedidiah Morse (1761-1826) and his sons Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872) and Richard Cary Morse (1795-1868). More than half of the collection is made up of correspondence (1779-1868) among members of the family. Also included are legal and financial papers, sermons by Jedidiah and Richard Cary Morse, travel journals, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, printed matter, and photographs.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 4, folder 112: Correspondence, August-September 1807.

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

Overview: Correspondence and other papers relating to members of the Burr family of Fairfield, Conn. Principal figures represented in the papers include Aaron Burr (1756-1836), soldier, politician and third vice-president of the United States; and his father, the Reverend Aaron Burr (1716-1757), scholar, clergyman, and second president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton). 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 26: Correspondence of others regarding Aaron Burr, 1806-1807.

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 7, folder 99: Correspondence of Simeon Baldwin, especially letters from Elizur Goodrich and James Hillhouse, 1800 February-March.
• 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 1: Correspondence, 1798-1807

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

Overview: Largely family correspondence of the Brown, Preston and Mason families received by Reverend John Brown of Virginia and his sons, John, Samuel and James. Most important are the eleven letters from John Brown, member of the Continental Congress and senator from Kentucky (1792-1805), which discuss the Constitution, the Missouri Compromise and the episode in Kentucky history known as the "Spanish Conspiracy". Letters from James Brown were written from Paris (1823-1833) when he was United States ambassador to France, while those from Samuel Brown describe events in Mississippi in the 1810s and 1820s. Margaretta (Mason) Brown is represented by a commonplace book, reading list and poems.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 29: Correspondence, 1804.

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 4, folder 138: Letters to Daggett from Chauncey Goodrich, 1800-1815.
• Series I, Box 10, folder 282: Letters to Daggett from John Cotton Smith, 1802-1805.
• Series I, Box 11, folder 310: Letters to Daggett from Lewis Burr Sturges, 1801-1818.

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

Overview: Family and business letters of Daniel Hubbard, and of Bela Hubbard, a New Haven minister and his daughter Elizabeth Hubbard Pitkin, wife of Timothy Pitkin. Daniel Hubbard was a merchant living in New York City and associated in business with his brother, David Greene Hubbard. They appear to have dealt in food and dry goods imported from Europe and Asia. Hubbard’s letters contain frequent references to Napoleon and the effect that the European war was having on business. A Federalist, Hubbard was strongly pro-British and opposed to Jefferson’s embargo against the British going so far as to envision a civil war in which Jefferson was over-thrown and killed and the Democrats crushed (see letters of 1803 Jun-Jul; 1804 Oct 22; 1808 Feb-Mar).

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 7: Letterbook, 1802-1809.

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.
• Box 1, folder 4: Uriah Tracy's journal of a tour from Litchfield, Connecticut, down the Eastern coast and into the Western part of the United States, June-September 1800.

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

Overview: Correspondence, account books, and other material documenting the personal lives and professional careers of members of the Frost family. Correspondence of William Frost details his political activity in the Maine Territory, Jeffersonian politics in Massachusetts, and the Embargo Act. Material relating to Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain's Civil War duties is scarce. His years as Bowdoin College president and his role in the election riot of 1880 are documented more fully. Other material details Chamberlain's business interests.

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 10: Correspondence and other documents, 1810-1813.

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

Overview: Correspondence and other documents of Connecticut lawyer and politician John Cotton Smith and his family. Smith served in the state General Assembly sporadically between 1793-1800, in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1800-1806. He served as governor of Connecticut from 1812-1817. Material relating to Simeon Smith, Cotton Mather Smith, and William Mather Smith is also included. 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 11: Correspondence, including several letters to Smith from John Davenport, 1800-1805..

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

Overview: Papers of five generations of the descendants of John Jay, chief justice of the United States Supreme Court, through his eldest son, Peter Augustus Jay. John Jay is represented by nine letters beginning in 1801 at the time of his retirement. These chiefly discuss his health and family matters. Early legal papers include several documents regarding the manumission and sale of slaves in the possession of the family. The correspondence (1801-1805) of Peter A. Jay, particularly with the political philosopher, Augustus Brevoort Woodward, discusses contemporary politics in the emerging republic. 

Collection materials used in class session:

• Box 1, folder 2: Correspondence, January-June 1801.