Attorney Samuel Duncan sends this printed legal notice to Charles Nisbet, informing Nisbet that the house and lot he occupies are the property of John and Richard Penn.
Benjamin Rush writes and signs this legal document, which transfers a deed to Joseph Priestley, Jr. Transcript included.
Alexander Biddle, the patriarch of the collection, was born on April 29, 1819 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas A. Biddle and Christine Williams Biddle. A member of a prominent and wealthy Philadelphia family, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and became a successful lawyer—a profession that ran in his family and would continue in later generations. He married Julia Williams Rush in 1855—the granddaughter of Founding Father Benjamin Rush—which allows for both the Williams and Rush families to be well represented in this collection. It is Alexander, his wife Julia, and his seven children—Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford, that make up a majority of this collection.
The Biddle Family Collection is housed in 11 document boxes. This collection consists primarily of correspondence between both friends and members of the Biddle Family as well as business associates. The collection is centered around Alexander Biddle (April 29, 1819—May 2, 1899), starting with him and progressing into an emphasis on his wife and children (Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford) as well as other family members. The Rush family, via Alexander marrying into it, is also well represented.
These materials are arranged into the following 9 categories: Correspondence, Financial Materials, Legal Materials, Clubs/Societies, Invitations, Animal Business, Ephemera, Miscellaneous, and Photographs. This collection was generously donated by Samuel and Anna D. Moyerman.
The collection contains legal and financial materials related to the settlement of the estates of Ricardo Maria Bell of Santiago, Cuba and Ana Maria Bell de Becerra. Also included are an account ledger of former trustee Robert Ewing, wills, correspondence, and checks.
James Buchanan was a graduate of Dickinson College, Class of 1809, who went on to become the fifteenth president of the United States. The majority of this collection is comprised of correspondence between Buchanan and his business and political associates; over four hundred letters penned by Buchanan are included in the collection. Drafts of speeches, printed pamphlets, and various memorabilia are also represented.
The collection includes business letters and legal papers of the Burd family, early deeds and patents, settlement of the Edward Shippen Burd estate 1848-1870, and correspondence concerning bequests for St. Stephen's Church, Philadelphia, the Burd memorial there, and the "Burd Orphan Asylum."
The Edwin K. Charles collection consists of the various papers, government documents, newsletters, transcripts, and publications collected by Charles in the years following the accident at Three Mile Island. Edwin K. Charles, a resident of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, became heavily involved with the public-awareness group, Three Mile Island Alert, directly following the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979. Over the years, he collected various materials concerning the legal struggles between the NRC, GPU, and Three Mile Island Alert.
The collection consists of student notes, correspondence, speeches and commissions related to John A. J. Creswell, Dickinson College class of 1848 and Postmaster General, 1869-1874. The collection also includes an account book kept by Creswell's father, John Creswell.
George Dum (c.1863-1918) served as secretary and treasurer for the Perry County-based Oak Grove Lumber Company. This collection contains materials pertaining to his interest in this venture, as well as his family's legal dealings with the associated Oak Grove and Kennedy's Valley timber tracts after his death. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence, financial and legal documents, and maps.
The collection includes correspondence and manuscripts of William Righter Fisher, a Dickinson alumnus (class of 1870) and professor of modern languages (1874-1876). These papers reflect Fisher's graduate study in Germany, teaching at Dickinson, business and law, and the writings of Mrs. Fisher.
The Thomas Hamilton Collection consists almost exclusively of letters received by James Hamilton from his brother Thomas Hamilton, both of whom were prominent figures in local politics (James in Carlisle, PA and Thomas in Greensburg, PA). The letters range in date from 1789 until 1818 and cover a variety of topics, including financial business and accounts, legal cases, local and national politics, family news and religion. The letters also reflect Thomas and James' activities as land speculators in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.
The Hays family papers include correspondence, deeds, and memorabilia of six generations of this prominent Carlisle, Pa. family whose scions include General Ephraim Blaine (1741-1804), Commissary-General in the American Revolution and charter trustee of Dickinson College, and James G. Blaine (1830-1898), presidential candidate and U. S. Senator from Maine. Ephraim Blaine's account books from his war service, his will, deeds, and other papers are included. John Hays (II), great grandson of Ephraim Blaine, was an 1857 graduate of Dickinson College; many others of his family represented here were also alumni. John Hays' own papers reflect his Civil War service, his veterans' activities, literary interests, genealogy, his interest in the history of Carlisle and Cumberland county, and his varied career as lawyer, bank president, founder of the Carlisle Gas and Water Company and of the Carlisle Frog, Switch and Manufacturing Company. Also included is an exchange of correspondence between Mary Abigail Dodge and John Hays concerning her projected biography of James G. Blaine. In addition, there are significant bodies of 19th century correspondence of lawyers James Hamilton and George Metzger.
The Bevery Hess collection consists of the various papers, newspaper clippings, books, audiotapes and photographs collected by Hess during her most active period of involvement with local anti-nuclear groups. Bevery Hess was a resident of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania prior to the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2. After the accident, Beverly Hess became heavily involved in the local anti-nuclear movement. She was a founding member of the Susquehanna Valley Alliance and the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC). An appendix is included, which lists the books belonging to the Beverly Hess collection.
Horatio Collins King was the son of Postmaster General Horatio King and the nephew of Dickinson College President Charles Collins. A graduate of Dickinson College, class of 1858, King was admitted to the bar in 1861 and saw active service in the Civil War from 1862 until 1865. A songwriter, King composed the Dickinson Alma Mater, among other works. The collection contains King's correspondence, diaries, and copies of his songs. Topics in correspondence and diaries include student life, Civil War, and democratic politics.
The journals in this collection are available for reading online (see links for related entries below).
These records contain materials related to the termination of Dr. Laurent R. LaVallee, assistant professor of economics. In 1956, the Dickinson Board of Trustees voted unanimously to dismiss LaVallee as a result of his failure to answer questions about his alleged participation in Communist activities.
Jacob Simmons Mosher (1834-1883) was a prominent physician and professor of medicine in Albany, New York. Samuel L. Southard (1787-1842) was a lawyer, politician, and cabinet member from New Jersey. These papers contain correspondence and other materials that reflect the professional and personal lives of these two men, as well as genealogical materials regarding their families.
Hiester Henry Muhlenberg (1812-1886) was a member of the distinguished Muhlenberg family of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1829. This collection contains almost 200 letters, most of which were written by members of Muhlenberg's immediate family. These letters reflect American politics, European diplomacy, social life, and the student experience at Dickinson College. The collection also includes photographs and engravings of some members of the Muhlenberg family.
The collection consists of correspondence, legal and financial materials primarily related to Price's law practice, his service in the Pennsylvania State Senate (1854-1856), and as a commissioner for Fairmount Park Association. Also included in the collection are papers concerning the Fisher's Creek Improvement Company and from the files of Eli Kirk Price, Jr., correspondence and applications for the Keene Home for Women, a retirement home in Bristol, Pa.
The Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC) collection consists of the various papers, newsletters, court dockets, and publications which were housed by PIRC in an effort to organize all efforts against the restart of Three Mile Island, following the near-meltdown on March 28, 1979. The PIRC was established as a liaison group between the major anti-nuclear groups formed in Central Pennsylvania, and their goal was to coordinate all efforts against TMI: legal actions, protests, and financial actions.
The collection consists of the correspondence of William Rawle (1759-1836), William Rawle, Jr. (1788-1858), William Henry Rawle (1823-1889), Charles Wallace Brooke, and William Brooke Rawle, primarily concerning legal and financial matters. The collection is arranged alphabetically by recipient. There is also a section of miscellaneous correspondence. Some correspondents with the Rawle family include George W. Biddle, Horace Binney, F. E. Brewster, James Tyndale Mitchell, Francis Wharton, Daniel Webster, George Mifflin Dallas, Tench Coxe, and Jared Ingersoll.
This collection contains the personal and legal papers of John Meredith Read, a Pennsylvania lawyer and state supreme court justice. The collection is housed in one document box and is divided into two categories: Correspondence and Legal and Financial Papers. The correspondence consists of letters sent to or from Read and his son, John M. Read, Jr.
The collection includes essays written by Alexander Sharp while he was a student at Dickinson College. Also included are grammar school essays written by Alexander and his sister Mary.
Roger Brooke Taney graduated from Dickinson College in the class of 1795. He served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, a state senator, Attorney General of both Maryland and the United States, and Secretary of the Treasury before becoming Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court in 1831. Taney is best known for his landmark decision in the Dred Scott case. The collection contains financial and legal papers relating to his law practice in Frederick, Maryland; there are more than 2000 legal documents alone in the collection representing over 700 individual cases. The material ranges in date from 1770 to 1834, with the bulk of its contents being dated between 1800 and 1820.
Note: All of the items in this collection have been digitized. For more information about accessing them, please contact the Archives staff.
Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA) collection consists of the various papers, government documents, legal documents, transcripts, and publications collected and maintained by Three Mile Island Alert, a not-for-profit citizens' organization dedicated to promotion of safe-energy alternatives to nuclear power. The bulk of this collection consists of reports and legal papers pertaining to the accident at Three Mile Island Unit-2, its cleanup, and the restart of TMI Unit-1. Due to the size of the collection, an outline of the collection has been provided to serve as a guide to the full register. The processing of this collection was funded, in part, by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
This collection is comprised of letters written to Isaac Wayne, Dickinson College Class of 1792 and Pennsylvania statesman, on various subjects ranging from biographical information on his father (General Anthony Wayne) to Wayne's service in Congress. Also included are a few letters written by Wayne to others; of note are the letters of 1797 dealing with the settlement of his father's estate. Also included are miscellaneous items pertaining to family matters, including a map of the family estate at Waynesborough.