Collections : [Connecticut Museum of Culture and History]

The collection was received without discernible organization. Papers were folded, tied in packets and stored in boxes. At one time, the collection was partially processed, and several folders containing business investments, estate papers and a typed biography were found in one of the boxes. Papers related to a forge in Enfield and an aqueduct in Springfield were found processed in folders. Several empty leather wallets and billfolds were removed from the collection and offered to the museum.

The collection consists primarily of letters to and from Daniel Burnap’s family and documents relating to his work as a justice of the peace, including court summonses and other legal and financial documents. There are also numerous bills, receipts and accounts, along with deeds, military documents and more. The earliest documents are from the late early 1780s and the latest from the 1850s, after Daniel died. The bulk of the collection dates roughly between 1800 and 1838. The collection has been divided into correspondence, financial records, Justice of the Peace records, and assorted documents and then organized chronologically by year and partially by day and month. Several sets of documents found in labeled wrappers have been preserved separately in the manner Daniel had collected them.

The collection chiefly consists of letters between members of the extended Danielson-Stearns family with some letters from individuals outside the family. There is small group of other document types including three school reports, three school essays, and paid bill for goods, chiefly clothing from 1878

The value in this collection is the depth of information on rural northeastern Connecticut that can be gleaned from the volumes. Not only is the iron industry documented, but the literacy rate, women’s economic role in the community, skilled labor, accounting practices and the lives of free blacks are also part of this record.

The collection is a combination of purchase and gift, both conducted in 1963/64. The materials are organized alphabetically by last and then first name, except for the Pundersons, whose names come first. The Ebenezers are arranged chronologically.

The history of this collection is not known. However, Edgar T. Welles was a member of the Connecticut Historical Society, so it is very possible these came to the library at the time of his death, 1914. The collection consists primarily of letters written to Edgar by such people as Robert Todd Lincoln (1868, 1877-1884), Yung Wing (about shipping four guns to Canton, 1874), Edwin L. Stanton, James R. Hawley, William B. Franklin (1884), Gustavus V. Fox (1867), and Charles R. Hale (1867). They have been arranged chronologically. Most of the missives request letters of introduction or Welles’ help in getting someone a government position or admission to the Naval Academy. Another large portion is requests and thank you notes for information or publications. The letters dated 1858 are largely individuals writing to provide Welles with an autograph. Scattered among these rather routine letters are business correspondence (mostly investments, some handled by Robert Todd Lincoln), correspondence about Navy investigations into discharges and misbehavior, communications from commanders of various Naval vessels in foreign ports and a letter detailing the prize lists of union vessels—Confederate vessels captured by the Union. There is also a letter concerning Welles’ portrait, painted by Matthew Wilson, 1883. In assorted documents are found an 1887 memorial card, a 1900 program, and Welles’ certificate of appointment as a notary public, 1899. John A. Welles’ incoming correspondence is from an individual in the Navy Department. Three letters addressed to Mrs. Welles could be to Edgar’s wife, or to his mother. Isabella Hooker is the author of one undated letter. The collection also includes two free-franked envelopes, one inscribed by Gideon Welles, and a sample of boxwood, identified as having been collected at Mount Vernon in 1868.