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 and document descriptions contain a representative image and a summary of the contents.
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Secretary of State James Buchanan writes to Mr. Osna regarding Peru's request that US Navy ships "abstain from entering the ports and harbors of Peru not open to foreign commerce." Mr. Osna is Peru's representative in the United States....
Location: MC 1998.10, B2, F17
Subject: International Affairs, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: 
Letter from James Buchanan to Mr. Osna
Secretary of State James Buchanan writes to former Representative Jacob S. Yost regarding Pennsylvania politics and Yost's visit to Washington DC. "Luzerne is, I think, one of the few counties in the State which is hostile to me," as Buchanan...
Location: MC 1998.10, B2, F17
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to Jacob S. Yost
Spencer F. Baird (Class of 1840), the Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, publishes "General Directions for Collection and Preserving Objects of Natural History" in 1848. Baird, who is responsible for the Natural History...
Location: I-Friends-1975-18
Subject: Science and Technology
Format: Letters/Correspondence, Reports
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: "General Directions for Collecting and Preserving Objects of Natural History" by Spencer Baird
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to James Mason Campbell regarding the financial troubles of a family member. As Taney's brother "had drawn on me," Taney sends Campbell "the above to pay my brother's draft on me." Taney...
Location: I-SpahrB-1967-1
Subject: Economics and Finance, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
Representative David Wilmot, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, writes to Reah Frazer and asks for certain information that could be used to discredit Secretary of State James Buchanan politically. "Your letter shall be confidential if you desire,"...
Location: I-Purchase-1958-26
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from David Wilmot to Reah Frazer
The report for John L. Harding, a member of the Class of 1849, includes an account of his expenses, notes on his "attention to study" and absences from classes while at Dickinson College in January 1848. Harding is taking Moral Philosophy, Mental...
Location: I-DavidsonR-1975-1
Subject: Dickinson College Administration, Dickinson College Student Life, Economics and Finance, Education
Format: Reports
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Dickinson College Report for John Harding
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court John McLean, who is also a Trustee at Dickinson College, writes to N. Sargent regarding the death of former President John Quincy Adams on February 23, 1848 in Washington, DC.
Location: I-Friends-1976-3
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from John McLean to N. Sargent
Secretary of State James Buchanan writes Asbury Dickins, Secretary of the United States Senate, and requests access to several letters held by the Senate. "To enable [President James K. Polk] to answer the call of the House [of Representatives...
Location: MC 1998.10, B2, F18
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to Asbury Dickins
Samuel Henry Reynolds, a member of the Class of 1850, writes to his Mother about his health, conditions in Carlisle, and asks that his father send money for medicine. Despite "not feel[ing] very well," Reynolds notes that "I have considerable of...
Location: I-Original-1848-6
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Health and Medicine
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Samuel Reynolds to His Mother
Christian Humrich writes to Samuel K. Davis regarding his experience during his freshman year at Dickinson College. Humrich mentions his Latin class and discusses the differences between Professors Otis Tiffany and George Crooks. In addition,...
Location: I-Original-undated-15
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Christian Humrich to Samuel Davis (Draft)
Richard Rush, United States Minister to France, informs a Mr. Corbin that the continued siege of Paris means that he is unfortunately "forced to forgo the pleasure of receiving my friends at dinner tomorrow." Rush also comments on and returns the...
Location: I-Friends-1976-11
Subject: International Affairs, Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Richard Rush to Mr. Corbin
John Andrew Jackson Creswell prepared this oration, entitled “Italy Under Pius IX," for the commencement ceremonies held July 13, 1848. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time...
Location: Orations-1848-C923i
Subject: Politics and Government, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: "Italy under Pius IX," by John Andrew Jackson Creswell
James Biddle Gordon (Class of 1845) receives his Master of Arts Diploma from Dickinson College on July 13, 1848.
Location: Diploma Collection
Subject: Education
Format: Certificates and Diplomas
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Master of Arts Diploma - James Gordon
This copy of the printed program for the commencement exercises held on July 13, 1848 shows the members of the graduating class and the speeches that they were scheduled to deliver.
Location: Dickinsoniana Programs
Subject: Dickinson College Events
Format: Memorabilia and Ephemera
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: 1848 Commencement Program
General Zachary Taylor writes to Roger Jones, the Adjutant General of the Army, regarding "Indian troubles on frontiers of Texas" and suggesting that the investigation into the Texas frontier "be made under the direction of the officer assigned...
Location: I-SpahrB-1958-17
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Native Americans
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Zachary Taylor to Roger Jones
Secretary of State James Buchanan writes to Representative John Dickey regarding inviting the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation over to dinner. "It is good I think that Pennsylvanians should occasionally meet in social intercourse without...
Location: MC 1998.10, B2, F19
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to John Dickey
James Andrew McCauley, a member of the Class of 1847, receives his license to preach in the Methodist Episcopal Church on October 15, 1848.
Location: I-Original-1848-5
Subject: Religion and Spirituality
Format: Miscellaneous
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: License to Preach for James McCauley
John L. Harding's (Class of 1849) report from Dickinson College in December 1848 includes details about his financial account, his grades, and a message from President Jesse T. Peck. Thomas E Sudler, who serves as Harding's patron, signed the...
Location: I-Friends-1993-1
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Economics and Finance, Education
Format: Reports
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Dickinson College Report for John Harding
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Roger Brooke Taney writes to J. Mason Campbell (Class of 1827) about issues related to several financial matters. In addition, Taney also asks after his grandson.
Location: I-SpahrB-1965-10
Subject: Economics and Finance, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to his wife, Anne Key Taney, about his health and his daughters' unexpected visit. "I was quite surprised when the girls walked into my room," as Taney notes. However, as there is not enough...
Location: I-SpahrB-1965-5
Subject: Health and Medicine, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Roger B. Taney to Anne Taney
James Buchanan writes three letters to Nahum Capen regarding the publication of President Thomas Jefferson's papers, the collapse of national political parties like the Whigs, the Compromise of 1850, the Senatorial election in Massachusetts,...
Location: MC 1998.10
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letters from James Buchanan to Nahum Capen
The first issue of the Collegian, Dickinson College's first monthly literary publication. Includes "Nationality," "Machine for Grinding Poetry," "Love in College," "Translation of Cleanthe's Hymn to Jupiter," and "The Spartan Youth."...
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Student Life, Literary Pursuits
Format: Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Collegian (Vol. 1, No. 1)
The second issue of the Collegian, Dickinson College's first monthly literary publication. Includes "The Tyrol," "Love and Scholarship," "Communings with the Departed," "The Song of the Wind," "War," and "Ernest Maltravers."
The...
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Student Life, Literary Pursuits
Format: Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Collegian (Vol. 1, No. 2)
Former Secretary of State James Buchanan writes Samuel L. Gouverneur to discuss political matters and includes something for him that "may prove serviceable." Buchanan states that this item "is not directed to General Z. Taylor; because under the...
Location: MC 1998.10, B2, F22
Subject: Legal Affairs, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to Samuel L. Gouverneur
The third issue of the Collegian, Dickinson College's first monthly literary publication. Includes "Reflections on the Coats-of-Arms of the States," "The Indian Maiden," "Philosophy of Fashion," "Epidemic Sympathy," "Last Verses of...
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Student Life, Literary Pursuits
Format: Newspapers and Magazines
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Collegian (Vol. 1, No. 3)