About Guides to Collections
Collections of college and personal papers, as well as a select number of individual documents, have been briefly described in entries available for browsing and searching on this site. All collection descriptions contain a representative image and a summary of the contents. Collection descriptions also include links to an inventory detailing the contents of the collection.
Search Collection Descriptions
Collection Descriptions
1773-1812
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…
Location: MC 2001.6
Subject: Dickinson College Administration, Economics and Finance
Format: Financial Documents, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1760-1779, 1780-1799, 1800-1819
Collection Inventory: mc2001.06.pdf
1789-1830
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…
Location: MC 2002.6
Subject: Religion and Spirituality, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government, Economics and Finance, Legal Affairs
Format: Financial Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Notes and Notebooks
Time Period: 1780-1799, 1800-1819, 1820-1839
Collection Inventory: mc2002.06.pdf
1899-c.1905
The collection consists of materials relating to Ethelyn Hardesty's student days at Dickinson College, including a scrapbook, 1899-1902, class and lecture notes, grade reports, and a diary. After graduating in 1902, Hardesty taught high school in…
Location: MC 2002.9
Subject: Dickinson College Student Life, Personal and Family Life
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Diaries and Journals, Letters/Correspondence, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Notes and Notebooks, Photographs, Scrapbooks
Time Period: 1880-1899, 1900-1919
Collection Inventory: mc2002.09.pdf
1861-1874
James Hargis, a Dickinson alum (Class of 1870) and trustee, worked in education for several years before becoming a clergyman, earning his doctorate of divinity in 1888. The collection consists of essays and orations written by Hargis and…
Location: MC 2003.2
Subject: Dickinson College Organizations, Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Essays and Dissertations, Letters/Correspondence, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Newspapers and Magazines, Notes and Notebooks, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1860-1879
Collection Inventory: mc2003.02.pdf
1911-1920
The bulk of the diaries is a day by day account of Harnish's life in Carlisle - what he did, whom he saw, etc. Four diaries contain accounts of his years at Dickinson College: accounts of the social life, (Theta Chi fraternity), and academic…
Location: MC 2003.3
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Economics and Finance, Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life, Sport and Recreation
Format: Diaries and Journals, Financial Documents
Time Period: 1900-1919, 1920-1939
Collection Inventory: Walter E. Harnish collection inventory
1926-1949
The collection consists of papers pertaining to Hartigan's military career and to a proposed "Dickinson College School of International Activities." It includes correspondence with Dickinson College, foreign universities, and other institutions…
Location: MC 1999.5
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Education, International Affairs, Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government, Travel and Tourism, Visual and Performing Arts
Format: Letters/Correspondence, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Photographs, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1920-1939, 1940-1959
Collection Inventory: mc1999.05.pdf , pc1999.05-index.pdf
1748-1963
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…
Location: MC 2001.1
Subject: Carlisle Indian School, Genealogy and Family History, Legal Affairs, Literary Pursuits, Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Essays and Dissertations, Financial Documents, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Photographs, Poetry and Lyrics
Time Period: Before 1760, 1760-1779, 1780-1799, 1800-1819, 1820-1839, 1840-1859, 1860-1879, 1880-1899, 1900-1919, 1920-1939, 1940-1959, 1960-1979
Collection Inventory: mc2001.01.pdf
1979-1990
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…
Location: TMI-Hess
Subject: Health and Medicine, Legal Affairs, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government, Science and Technology, Three Mile Island
Format: Audio-Visual Materials, Books and Pamphlets, Essays and Dissertations, Financial Documents, Interviews and Oral Histories, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Newspapers and Magazines, Notes and Notebooks, Photographs, Poetry and Lyrics, Reports, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: TMI-Hess.pdf
1893
These images are a sample of the photographs taken by Charles Francis Himes, a pioneer amateur photographer of the 19th century. Himes took this particular set of photographs while at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
The…
Location: MC 2000.1, B27, F3
Subject: Business and Industry, International Affairs, Personal and Family Life, Travel and Tourism
Format: Photographs
Time Period: 1880-1899
Collection Inventory:
1797-1934
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…
Location: MC 2000.1
Subject: Business and Industry, Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Dickinson College Student Life, Genealogy and Family History, Literary Pursuits, Personal and Family Life, Science and Technology, Travel and Tourism
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Books and Pamphlets, Certificates and Diplomas, Diaries and Journals, Financial Documents, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Newspapers and Magazines, Notes and Notebooks, Photographs, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1780-1799, 1800-1819, 1820-1839, 1840-1859, 1860-1879, 1880-1899, 1900-1919, 1920-1939
Collection Inventory: mc2000.01.pdf
1890
These images are a sample of the photographs taken by Charles Francis Himes, a pioneer amateur photographer of the 19th century. Himes took this particular set of photographs while on a family vacation in Europe in 1890. Most of the photographs…
Location: MC 2000.1, B27, F1-2
Subject: International Affairs, Travel and Tourism
Format: Photographs
Time Period: 1880-1899
Collection Inventory:
1859-1864
John B. Hood was an educator and writer from Mount Airy, Maryland. He graduated from Dickinson College in 1864, and earned a master's degree from that institution in 1867. The John B. Hood Collection is housed in one document box and contains…
Location: MC 2001.8
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Format: Notes and Notebooks, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1840-1859, 1860-1879
Collection Inventory: mc2001.08.pdf
1870
The images in this collection are from Milton’s Paradise Lost. Illustrated by Gustave Doré. Edited, with Notes and a Life of Milton, by Robert Vaughan, D.D. London: Cassell, Petter and Galpin, 1879.
Location: SC-OVER 821 M662p 1879
Subject: Literary Pursuits
Format: Engravings and Illustrations
Time Period: 1860-1879
Collection Inventory:
1968-present
This international society was founded in Europe in 1961 and a North American chapter followed ten years later. Dedicated to the study of civilizations, the ISCSC holds annual meetings, usually in an American university setting, in which papers…
Location: ISCSC
Subject: International Affairs, Literary Pursuits, Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government
Format: Audio-Visual Materials, Essays and Dissertations, Financial Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Newspapers and Magazines, Reports, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: ISCSC Finding Aid
1785-1811
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…
Location: MC 2001.2
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life
Format: Financial Documents, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1780-1799, 1800-1819
Collection Inventory: mc2001.02.pdf
1852-1868
The Herman Merrills Johnson papers consist primarily of financial records, bound and unbound, maintained by Johnson during his tenure as president of Dickinson College. The collection also contains correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and the bill…
Location: MC 2003.9
Subject: Economics and Finance, Literary Pursuits, Personal and Family Life, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Financial Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Poetry and Lyrics, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1840-1859, 1860-1879
Collection Inventory: mc2003.09.pdf
1860-1868
The records contained in the President Herman Merrills Johnson record group pertain only to his time and affairs as president of Dickinson College. As such, no personal papers or papers pertaining to Johnson’s tenure as a faculty member are…
Location: RG 2/6
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Dickinson College Organizations, Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Religion and Spirituality, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Essays and Dissertations, Financial Documents, Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
Collection Inventory: RG 2/6 - Herman Merrills Johnson
c.1860-1890
This Herman Merrills Johnson collection consists of a scrapbook believed to have been kept by the former college president Herman Merrills Johnson throughout his lifetime and continued by his son Theodore. The collection is housed in one document…
Location: MC 2000.9
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Religion and Spirituality, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Newspapers and Magazines, Scrapbooks
Time Period: 1860-1879, 1880-1899
Collection Inventory: mc2000.09.pdf
1979-1984
Julius "Steve" Kassovic taught in the Sociology-Anthropology Department at Dickinson from 1979 to 1984. This collection contains assignments from his popular Introduction to Folklore course, during which students gathered jokes, stories, myths,…
Location: MC 2010.1
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Health and Medicine, International Affairs, Personal and Family Life, Weather and Climate
Format: Miscellaneous, Music, Poetry and Lyrics
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: mc2010.01.pdf
1946-1977
Charles Flint Kellogg was a member of Dickinson's history department from 1946 to 1975. His scholarship focused on the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Kellogg helped to establish black studies courses at the…
Location: MC 2011.1
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Education, Literary Pursuits, Social Reform and Advocacy, Travel and Tourism
Format: Letters/Correspondence, Newspapers and Magazines, Poetry and Lyrics, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1940-1959, 1960-1979
Collection Inventory: mc2011.01.pdf
1963-2012
This collection consists of correspondence, journals, photographs, and other personal papers of Kerry Shawn Keys, poet, editor, translator, and cultural liaison. He has authored more than 40 books of poetry and prose and translated more than a…
Location: Keys - Vault
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Personal and Family Life
Format: Audio-Visual Materials, Books and Pamphlets, Diaries and Journals, Fiction and Drama, Letters/Correspondence, Poetry and Lyrics
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999, 2000-2019
Collection Inventory: Keys Collection Inventory 2024
1854-1933
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…
Location: MC 1999.9
Subject: Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Legal Affairs, Literary Pursuits, Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government, Travel and Tourism, Visual and Performing Arts
Format: Diaries and Journals, Essays and Dissertations, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Memorabilia and Ephemera, Newspapers and Magazines, Poetry and Lyrics, Scrapbooks, Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1840-1859, 1860-1879, 1880-1899, 1900-1919, 1920-1939
Collection Inventory: mc1999.09.pdf
1956-1961
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…
Location: RG 2/13
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Dickinson College History, Education, Legal Affairs, Politics and Government
Format: Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1940-1959, 1960-1979
Collection Inventory: RG 2/13 President William Wilcox Edel and Dr. Laurent R. LaVallee case papers
1972-1988
The Jane Lee collection consists of the various papers, court dockets, government documents, and newspaper clippings collected by Lee in the years following the accident at Three Mile Island. Jane Lee, a farmer from Etters, Pennsylvania, became…
Location: TMI-Lee
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government, Three Mile Island
Format: Diaries and Journals, Interviews and Oral Histories, Legal and Government Documents, Letters/Correspondence, Newspapers and Magazines, Reports
Time Period: 1960-1979, 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: TMI-Lee.pdf
1981-1984
Steven G. Leventhal graduated from Dickinson College in 1984. This collection documents his efforts to gain an honorary degree from Dickinson for Soviet refusenik Dr. Yuri Medvedkov, an effort in which he was not successful. It also contains…
Location: MC 2012.9
Subject: Dickinson College Administration, Dickinson College Student Life
Format: Artifacts and Objects, Books and Pamphlets, Letters/Correspondence, Meeting Minutes, Memorabilia and Ephemera
Time Period: 1980-1999
Collection Inventory: mc2012.09.pdf