1800-1819

The collection includes bills, receipts, letters, and account books of Josiah Albertson's lime and lumber business in Plymouth, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, which he later held in partnership with his brothers, Jacob and Benjamin. Also included are papers relating to the Plymouth Railroad Company (1831-1844), the Gwynyd Friends Meeting, and family correspondence.

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 consists of correspondence and miscellaneous materials relating to Andrew Blair (1789-1861), a layman and founding member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Carlisle. In 1833, Blair successfully petitioned the Presbyterian Church in favor of founding a second church; he had become disenchanted with the current minister, George Duffield. Some of the correspondence relates to Blair's attempts to downplay the scandal that followed. Most of it, however, is written by Blair to his son-in-law, Rev. J.A. Murray, discussing both personal and church-related topics. The miscellaneous materials of the collection consist mainly of newspaper clippings, including obituaries for Blair, as well as items relating to town matters.

The papers of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College, 1783-1833, include correspondence, reports, financial statements, printed materials, and legal documents, and have been arranged into seven series.

Series 1 – Membership contains correspondence regarding membership on the Board of Trustees, as well as a membership list, c1826.
Series 2 – Reports of the President consists of reports made to the Board by Presidents Nisbet, Davidson, and How.
Series 3 – General Business contains materials such as correspondence between trustees, mandamus to the faculty, and committee reports.
Series 4 – College Personnel includes correspondence to and from faculty members, including presidents.
Series 5 – Physical Plant contains land deeds and construction and service bills for the campus buildings.
Series 6 – Financial Affairs contains reports of the treasurer, subscription lists, and other financial materials.
Series 7– Publications contains printed materials such as college catalogues.

A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.

Thomas Emerson Bond, Sr., was a well-known Methodist Episcopal minister and author who served as a trustee of Dickinson College from 1833 until 1835. The collection includes correspondence to and from Bond dating mostly from 1840-1848, as well as journals and records of the Methodist ministry of John Wesley Bond from 1814-1818. Also included are documents of several Methodist Conferences.

The collection contains materials relating to family life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Ohio. The central figure is Daniel Bowdle (1796-1876), who as a young man moved to Cincinnati and became the successful business man of his family, with real estate and other interests. He aided his less fortunate kin in Talbot County, MD, including making provisions for the old age of James Lloyd, a beloved slave. The letters of William James Bowdle (1834-1876; Class of 1854) reflect student life at Dickinson College; letters of numerous other relatives are supplemented by genealogical notes on the Bowdle Family. Also included are papers on the settlement of the estate of Capt. Patrick Dickey, dated 1806-1841, which involve lands in Ohio and in Mason Co., VA.

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."

Moncure Daniel Conway was born into a southern aristocratic family, but ultimately became one of the nation's leading abolitionists and humanitarians. Conway was a graduate of Dickinson College in 1849 and was trained for the ministry at Harvard Divinity School. The collection consists mainly of correspondence relating to all phases of Conway's career; his student days at Dickinson and at Harvard, his anti-slavery witness, and his pastorate at South Place Chapel in London. His letters reflect his wide acquaintance with leading intellectual and political figures of his day; some of his correspondents include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dr. Annie Besant.

The journal in this collection has been digitized and is available for reading online (see the link for related entries below).

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.

This collection is comprised of correspondence and legal papers reflecting the legal and political career of John Dickinson, statesman and president of the Supreme Executive Council of Delaware and Pennsylvania. The majority of the collection is comprised of correspondence from Dickinson to such prominent individuals as James Wilson, Caesar Rodney, and Benjamin Rush. The collection also contains financial papers and papers related to Dickinson's public duties, particularly to his duties as president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania.

The collection consists primarily of travel journals of Thomas and Jabez Fisher, sons of Joshua Fisher, a businessman in Philadelphia shipping prior to the Revolutionary War. The journals offer detailed accounts of travel to Europe in the 1760s and 1770s. In addition, a small amount of business account information is included, along with three personal journals of Sarah Logan Fisher Wister, granddaughter of Thomas Fisher.

This collection includes correspondence of the Gale family including Reverend Wakefield Gale, a Congregational clergyman educated at Dartmouth and Andover Theological Seminary, his wife Mary Louise Bigelow Gale, John A. Gale, and Joseph Gale. Subjects covered include life in New York City (1825-1852) and church work.

The collection consists of the diaries of Zenanah Gilbert and Dora Gilbert Tompkins; very little else is known about either woman. Gilbert was born in Rome, New York on January 31, 1784; her family ran a guest house in town. Tompkins was born in Knoxville, Illinois, and was a schoolteacher. Gilbert's diary is dated 1805-1809 and describes the typical life of a young woman in the early part of the nineteenth century: household chores, social events, the simple joys of friendship, the depression of being alone. The diary has been written in a code created by Gilbert but has been deciphered and transcribed.

The diary of Tompkins contrasts that of Gilbert, describing her studies as well as her lessons prepared for her students; however, she too enjoyed the simple joys derived from friendship and bike riding. Tompkins mentions the explosion aboard the U.S.S. Maine on February 25, 1898 and is fearful that war is imminent. Miscellaneous items in the collection include a sample of Henry S. Chaffer's handwriting and fragments of the Gilbert family pedigree.

Isaac Grier (c.1763-1814) was a member of the class of 1788 of Dickinson College; he studied theology under Charles Nisbet and later served as principal of the grammar school at the college from 1788 until 1790. The core of the collection consists of bound manuscripts of forty sermons given by him between 1796 and 1813. Additional items in the collection are a fragmented two-page letter addressed simply to Betty, no date given, and a fragmented two-page manuscript of a "Sermon on the Gospel Theme."

Francis Gurney (1738-1815) was a veteran of the French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, and the Whiskey Rebellion. A prominent Philadelphia merchant, Gurney held several political offices such as city Alderman and representative and senator to the state legislature. Gurney also served as a trustee of Dickinson College from 1798 until his death in 1815; the majority of the collection reflects his service to the College, particularly in soliciting funds in Philadelphia under the direction of Treasurer John Montgomery.

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.

This collection primarily provides evidence of the personal and professional life of Charles Francis Himes, student, photographer, scientist, teacher, administrator, amateur historian and father. Also found in this collection is evidence of the lives of family members including, most notably, C. F. Himes' wife Mary and her father Joseph A. Murray. Information on Dickinson College is featured prominently throughout this collection through the close association of C. F. Himes with the institution during most of his life. Beyond family and institutional history, this collection offers information on a number of social, political, economic, and historic topics. Some of these broader topics include post-secondary education in the latter half of the nineteenth century, south central Pennsylvania society, the history of photography, and nineteenth century travel.

This collection contains the papers of William Irvine, a physician during the American Revolution, and his family; the papers are housed in one document box and have been arranged into two sections: Correspondence, and Legal and Financial Papers.

The Correspondence section contains letters and notes divided into four sections: Anne Callendar (Mrs. William Irvine), Robert Callendar, Callendar Irvine, and William Irvine. Of note within the Correspondence section are letters to General John Armstrong, General Wilkins, and a set of General Orders to Carlisle. The Legal and Financial Papers section contains two legal contracts, one proposed contract, a folder of receipts and two pages of accounts. One of the account pages is for Robert Gilmore, a student at Dickinson College, under the care of Colonel Henry Lee.

The collection consists of correspondence, genealogical materials, legal materials, printed and scrapbook materials relating to George Burt Lincoln. Correspondents include Abner Doubleday, Horace Greeley, Julia Ward Howe, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Of particular note is a letter from Julia Ward Howe discussing women's study clubs.

George Armstrong Lyon was a Carlisle lawyer, bank president, Presbyterian elder, and a trustee of Dickinson College. Church affairs are the central concern of these papers, which include accounts of Lyon's hostile view of the Rev. George Duffield's theology and of Lyon's part in the founding of the Second Presbyterian Church in Carlisle in 1832. The collection consists primarily of correspondence, notes, and other documents pertaining to the governmental and financial affairs of Carlisle's First and Second Presbyterian Churches. The collection also contains some items related to Lyon's position as a Dickinson College trustee, specifically in regard to his role in a conflict between College President Samuel Blanchard How, Rev. George Duffield, and Professor Alexander McFarlane.

These images were taken from a number of books housed in the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections.

The sources include:

Thomas Pennant's History of Quadrupeds. Vols. 1 and 2 (1793)
William P. C. Barton's Vegetable Materia Medica of the United States or Medical Botany. Vols. 1 and 2 (1825)
Sir William Jardine's The Natural History of Monkeys (1833)
M. C. Cooke's Our Reptiles: A Plain and Easy Account of the Lizards, Snakes, Newts, Toads, Frogs, and Tortoises Indigenous to Great Britain (1865)
W. B. Tegetmeier's Pigeons: Their Structure, Varieties, Habits, and Management (1868)
Joseph B. Holder's Animate Creation; Popular Edition of “Our Living World,” A Natural History. Vols. 1 - 6 (1898)
J. Delarue's Galerie des Mammiferes. (18??)