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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Agnes Cuddy writes a letter to her son, John Cuddy, expressing sorrow over his having to fight again but also relief at his upcoming discharge from the Union Army. "I wish you had your discharge now that you could come now for we would be very...
Location: MC 2001.9, B1, F1
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: 
Letter from Agnes Cuddy to John Cuddy
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to Associate Justice Samuel Nelson about various court and other legal matters. As a result of his poor health, Taney asks for details about the procedures Nelson has used for hearing appeals...
Location: I-SpahrB-1965-13
Subject: Legal Affairs, Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Roger B. Taney to Samuel Nelson
Thomas William Dick writes a letter to his sister describing recent events in his experience as a soldier in the Union Army during the Civil War. "We have passed through another campaign of terrible fighting... [and] our losses have been very...
Location: MC 2001.10, B1, F9
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
Former President James Buchanan writes to abolitionist T. Apolian Cheney regarding Henry Darwin Roger's Geological Survey of Pennsylvania, a book Buchanan is struggling to find a copy of.
Location: I-AsbellY-2004-14
Subject: Science and Technology
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier writes to his daughter, Sarah Beck, about his recent travels and health. Grier also inquires about her plans for the summer. Transcript included.
Location: I-SpahrB-undated-53
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Robert Grier to Sarah Beck
Singleton Mercer Ashenfelter prepared this oration, entitled "Capital Punishment," for the Junior Prize (Grigg Prize) contest held on June 27, 1864. Eleven members of the Junior class gave speeches on a variety of subjects.
Location: Orations-1864-A824c
Subject: Politics and Government, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: "Capital Punishment," by Singleton Mercer Ashenfelter
Governor Andrew Curtin writes eight letters to Eli Slifer, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, in which he reflects upon the recent political election in Philadelphia, his state of health, as well as communications with officers in the Union Army...
Location: MC 2003.4, B3, F12
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letters from Andrew Curtin to Eli Slifer, 1864-66
Former Secretary of War Simon Cameron writes President Abraham Lincoln and asks him to find "some place" for John D. Creigh. While "I do not know the young gentleman himself," Cameron explains that he can "vouch for the claims his family has for...
Location: I-Friends-1977-3
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Simon Cameron to Abraham Lincoln
John Linn writes Governor Andrew Curtin to request that he hold off on appointing William Harding of Snyder County as one of the commissioners. Transcript included.
Location: MC 2003.4, B6, F26
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from John Linn to Andrew Curtin
Horatio Collins King, serving as the divisional quartermaster under General Philip Sheridan, describes cavalry activities in the Shenandoah Valley during the final months of the Civil War. In addition, King discusses the adjustments he made in...
Location: MC 1999.9, B3, F2
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life
Format: Diaries and Journals
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Civil War Journal of Horatio Collins King (Transcript)
Governor Andrew Curtin writes William Taylor regarding the law that allows soldiers to vote and mentions that Taylor has been elected as an elector, presumably to the Electoral College. "I have not yet return from all the counties, but have...
Location: MC 2003.4, B3, F12
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Andrew Curtin to William Taylor
Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier writes to his daughter, S. G. Beck, with news of friends in Washington.
Location: I-SpahrB-undated-53
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Robert Grier to Sarah Beck
Associate Supreme Court Justice Robert Cooper Grier writes to his daughter, Sarah Beck, about her safe arrival at her destination, and the finding of room and board for a Mr. Catron, who wrote to her while she was away. Transcript included.
Location: I-SpahrB-undated-53
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Robert Grier to Sarah Beck
The Dickinson College catalog for the 1864-1865 academic year. Through the years, the annual catalog was variously titled "The Bulletin," "Catalogue and Register," "Course Catalog," and similar variants. The catalog typically includes the list of...
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Education
Format: Books and Pamphlets
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item:
Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin writes to James Bruwick[?], Esq. and recommends Mr. Bates "as a reliable, prompt and industrious man of excellent character in all respects."
Location: I-BeachW-1984-11
Subject: Business and Industry, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Andrew Curtin to James Bruwick
Cora E. White thanks Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice John Meredith Read for an "unexpected and most generous present."
Location: I-Friends-1975-23
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Cora White to John Read
Former President James Buchanan writes to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, and declines to send “any explanation, comment or disclaimer' of the acts of my administration during the last six months of its existence." While...
Location: MC 1998.10, B4, F9
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to Horace Greeley
Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Gregg Curtin (Class of 1837) writes to Major General Samuel Wylie Crawford about a flag ceremony at Gettysburg. As Curtin explains, he is not sure "whether we can arrange for the presentation of the flags at...
Location: I-Purchase-1968-5
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Andrew Curtin to Samuel Crawford
Vincent Bierbower prepared this oration, entitled “Our Rebellion - An Epoch in History," for the Junior Prize (Pierson Prize) contest held June 26, 1865. A committee selected the top two orations, based on "the combined merits of Declamation and...
Location: Orations-1865-B588o
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Politics and Government, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: "Our Rebellion - An Epoch in History," by Vincent Bierbower
David B. Herman prepared this oration, entitled “Effect of Climate on Character," for the commencement ceremonies held June 29, 1865. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time....
Location: OrationsX-1865-H551e
Subject: International Affairs, Weather and Climate
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: "Effect of Climate on Character," by David B. Herman
This copy of the printed program for the commencement exercises held on June 29, 1865 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: 1860-1879
View Item: 1865 Commencement Program
Former President James Buchanan writes to a group of Democrats who live around Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and explains his inability to attend their independence day celebration. "On this hollowed Anniversary, let us rejoice, that, through the...
Location: MC 1998.10, B4, F10
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from James Buchanan to Harrisburg Democrats
Benson John Lossing writes Former President James Buchanan with questions about the publication status of "a History of your Administration, prepared under your own eye." Lossing is writing a history of the Civil War and would like his account to...
Location: MC 1998.10, B1, F17
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Benson Lossing to James Buchanan
Naturalist Spencer Fullerton Baird (Class of 1843) writes to Professor Josiah Dwight Whitney, sending his regrets that he will not able to attend a meeting in Northampton the following week "on account of severe strain experienced a few days ago...
Location: I-Friends-1986-4
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879
View Item: Letter from Spencer Baird to Josiah Whitney
Clergyman and abolitionist Moncure Daniel Conway (Class of 1849) writes a letter of sympathy to the parent of an unnamed acquaintance recently deceased: "I had just returned from a tour in Russia to hear of the death of your son, who I might...
Location: I-AsbellY-2002-5
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1860-1879