Correspondence, diaries, legal and financial records and memorabilia by and about the descendants of Lieutenant Thomas Leffingwell, one of the founders of Norwich, Connecticut. The major groups of papers are those of Christopher Leffingwell (1734-1810), a merchant in Norwich and William Leffingwell (1765-1834), a stockbroker in New York and later a resident of New Haven. These groups contain papers on legal, financial and business transactions. Family correspondence during the Revolutionary War describes civilian life and medical treatment of the period. National politics are discussed all through the nineteenth century. Also of interest are travel diaries kept by Caroline Augusta Foote in Savannah in 1834 and by Frederica Russell Street during a grand tour of Europe, 1843-1847.
Account books and autograph albums kept by various members of the Makepeace family of Connecticut. One, kept by Orlando Porter, relates to the clock manufacturing company of Samuel Harrison and Company. Another, kept by Ward Peck betweeen 1818 and 1842, records his farming activities in Waterbury. The four autograph albums (1827-1885) contain the signatures of such notables as John Burroughs, Leonard Bacon, Timothy Dwight, James A. Garfield, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Wendell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Catherine Beecher, and Horace Greeley. Also in the collection is an account book kept successively by two members of the Burtch family of Stonington, Connecticut. The first part (1773-1787) was kept by Thomas Burtch, a cooper and the second by his grandson, also Thomas Burtch, a day laborer. Their accounts deal largely with work on ships. Diplomas and certificates of Walter D. Makepeace and genealogical material make up the remainder of the collection.
Thirty-one manuscript letters to Nathanael Greene, one photostatic copy and two volumes of typed transcripts of letters and Revolutionary War era documents. The originals of these transcripts were formerly owned by William A. Reed and are now in the Clements Library of the University of Michigan.
Account books, ledgers, a letter book and over 8,000 bills and receipts of Nathaniel Shaw and his brother, Thomas, who succeeded him in managing the family business. Many of the ledgers and accounts are for cargoes in Shaw's ships which were engaged in the West Indies trade. During the American Revolution Nathaniel Shaw was an active partisan of the colonies and his letter books refer to the ongoing situation. From 1776 he was "agent of the Colony [Connecticut] for naval supplies and taking care of sick seamen" and his ledgers document the financial side of these enterprises, including the accounts of privateers and the disposition of prizes taken by American ships during the war.
Correspondence and legal and financial papers reflecting Pendleton's service in the Revolutionary Army as aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene, and his close connection with Alexander Hamilton. The correspondence includes letters from Samuel Finley, Mrs. Nathanael Greene, Alexander von Humboldt and Otho Holland Williams. Legal and financial papers as well as correspondence of Alexander Hamilton are also included since Pendleton was executor of his estate. Also included are legal documents of the Bard family and papers of other members of the Pendleton family, among them Edmund H. Pendleton and Philip C. Pendleton. Other documents in the papers relate to Indian lands in Georgia (1788) and a summary of a treaty between the King of Spain and the Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Cherokee Indians, dated 1793.
The bulk of the collection is made up of correspondence, notebooks, military commissions and other military papers, reflecting his service during the American Revolution. Also in the papers are letters (1802-1804) from his son, mostly relating to pensions for members of the Twenty-first regiment. Other members of the family represented in the collection include his great-great grandfather, Edward Johnson, his father, Obadiah Johnson and his second wife, Lucy Cady Spaulding. Also among the papers are contemporary printed pamphlets and broadsides.
The collection consists of correspondence, writings, and personal papers of the American historian and author Paul Leicester Ford. The correspondence is largely professional and documents Ford's work as an editor, historian, bibliographer, novelist and playwright. Ford's correspondents include John Kendrick Bangs, Samuel L. Clemens, Edward Everett Hale, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Rudyard Kipling, and S. Weir Mitchell; earlier letters written to others by James Fennimore Cooper and Jared Sparks are also present. Writings include notes and research materials, most concerning colonial and Federal-period America; drafts; printed versions of published articles; scripts and music for dramatic productions; and publicity for specific works as well as about Ford generally. The novel Janice Meredith and its dramatic adaptation starring Mary Mannering are partiuclarly well represented in the collection; also present is an unfinished historical novel about Elizabeth Chudleigh, Countess of Bristol, along with contemporary printed documentation concerning her trial for bigamy. The collection also contains examples of Ford's work as an editor/printer on his home press, including his genealogy of Noah Webster; a heavily extra-illustrated copy of Websteriana containing autograph manuscript fragments of Webster's dictionary; a genealogy of Gordon L. Ford; and a pamphlet entitled "1814. New London. Pettypaug Point." Some papers documenting the historical research of Worthington C. Ford are present, as well as ephemera from Gordon L. Ford's participation in events commemorating the centenary of Washington's inauguration. The collection also includes photographs and paintings of Ford, including two miniatures; a miniature of "Janice Meredith"; photographs of his parents and siblings; and portrait paintings of Ford's ancestors Noah Webster (by Samuel F. B. Morse) and Rebecca Greenleaf Webster (by Jared Bradley Flagg).
Papers of several branches of the Peck family in Connecticut. Half of the collection is made up of the papers of the Ambrose Peck family (1691-1911) including correspondence, diaries, account books, legal papers, photographs, and memorabilia. Noteworthy are letters on the Battle of Bunker Hill and the War of 1812, as well as diaries by Abby Ann Hyde Peck from her school days, 1824-1832, and her old age, 1874-1883. Another member of the family represented is Tracy Peck (1785-1862) an important public figure in Bristol, Connecticut, and active in the Congregational Church. The papers of Epaphroditus Peck contain lecture notes taken while he was attending Yale Law School (1903-1908) and family correspondence. Miscellaneous papers (1812-1907) of other members of the family make up the remainder of the collection.
Sermons of Peter Starr, together with the sermons of his predecessor in Kent (now Warren), Connecticut, Sylvanus Osborn, and of two relatives by marriage, John Keep and John Stevens. Three-fourths of the papers are by Peter Starr. During the Revolutionary War Starr shifted his loyalty, and the sermons provide biblical justification on both sides. John Keep was a chaplain during the war and a number of his camp sermons are in the collection.
Connecticut's Archives Online