Principal figure in the papers is Zalman Wildman, lawyer and congressman who, with his brother, Seymour, were proprietors of Z. & S. Wildman, Hat Manufacturers, and the first manufacturers from Danbury to establish outlets in the South for Danbury hats. The papers consist almost entirely of business records including correspondence, financial and legal papers, and a receipt book. This latter volume (1803-1821) records the commodities shipped from Danbury by the firm to its Charleston, South Carolina store. Included also is a single family letter (1847) from Lucy S. Wildman to her brother, Horatio.
Mainly family correspondence between William H. Bennett, his wife, and father containing news of Hampton, Conn., student life at Yale College (ca. 1860s), and family news from the Bennetts in the Mid-West. There are also photographs and essays on the New York Produce Exchange, as well as photographs of tea cultivation in India and China and of a survey party at the Nicaragua canal.
Correspondence, diaries, notebooks, lectures, articles, essays, genealogical materials, photographs and other papers of William Henry Brewer, scientist, teacher, and writer.The collection spans Brewer's entire career including his student days at the Yale Analytical Laboratory, his work with the California State Geological Survey, his various teaching positions in California, New York and at Yale and all his other many and varied activities. Of special and specific interest are Brewer's letters to members of his family which chronicle his many trips and scientific expeditions, his correspondence with his colleagues, and the methodical and voluminous notes and diaries he kept on virtually everything he did or encountered.
The papers reflect William W. Watson's career as a physicist and include correspondence, subject files, writings, and reports on professional conferences and writings, largely for the years 1950 to 1963. Best documented is his work as science advisor to the Philippine government, his involvement with the McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, and his participation on the Atomic Energy for Connecticut Committee.
Correspondence, financial, legal, and other documents of William W. Starr relating to harbor maintenance and improvements in Bridgeport and Norwalk, Connecticut. Included are contracts with the U.S. Army Engineer's Office for work on the harbors, receipts for material and labor, notes on harbor maintenance, clippings, and printed matter.
Chiefly the letters of William Cowper Wood to his parents written from Washington, D.C. and Joliet, Illinois. Also included is a ledger (1809-1837) kept by his father, Joseph Wood, a judge in New Haven, Connecticut, miscellaneous family letters, and genealogical materials.