1820-1839

William C. McPherson graduated from Dickinson College in 1829 before beginning a life-long career as a physician. The collection is comprised of two diaries that contain entries dating from his college days, some notes from medical school lectures, and his post-college daily life in Marietta, Pennsylvania.

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.

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??)

The Carlisle and Local Newspaper Collection consists of various newspapers that were produced in south central Pennsylvania, or feature articles which concern local events. The newspapers are arranged alphabetically by title and then chronologically; a description of the contents and donor information for each newspaper are included in this inventory. In order to find newspapers dealing with particular individuals or events, a subject index has been included with the collection.

The Dickinsoniana Newspaper Collection consists of various newspapers acquired by the Library over the years. These items feature articles which concern mainly Dickinson College: happenings on campus, curriculum offerings, and doings of famous alumni such as James Buchanan and Roger Brooke Taney. The newspapers are arranged alphabetically by title and then chronologically; a description of the pertinent article, its location in the paper, and donor information are included in this inventory. In order to find newspapers dealing with particular individuals or events, a subject index has been included with the collection.

The collection consists of the papers of Charles Nisbet, first president of Dickinson College, and his family, particularly his son-in-law, William Turnbull. The majority of these papers is correspondence conducted between Nisbet and his daughter, and also between Nisbet and Lady Leven of Scotland. The business ventures of William Turnbull are reflected through legal, financial, and other miscellaneous documents; the collection's single artifact is Turnbull's leather wallet.

The collection documents several generations of the Poulson family and its role in publishing Poulson's American Daily Advertiser. It includes submissions, woodcuts, and sample issues from the Daily Advertiser; correspondence; genalogical materials; and financial and legal documents. Correspondents include Horace Binney, Benjamin Rush (1811-1877), Samuel Sartain, John Sargeant (1779-1852), and Noah Webster. The genealogical notes address the Poulson, Carlyle, Graham, Gurney, Knorr, and Wood families.

The Presidents 1783-1833 Record Group contains papers related the presidency of the seven men who served at Dickinson from 1783 to 1833. This Record Group corresponds with that of RG 1/1, the Trustees 1783-1833, which also documents the first fifty years of the college. The materials in this record group pertain to the president’s duties in the administration of his office; any papers relating to his employment such as letters of acceptance or resignation and vouchers for salary are housed in RG 1/1. In addition, personal papers of the presidents have been removed to individual collections where applicable. The majority of the papers in this record group are correspondence with individual trustees regarding college business; also included are reports and resolutions from the faculty, as well as drafts of publications dealing with the curriculum. 

Below is a timeline of the presidents of Dickinson College from 1783 to 1833.

1785 – Charles Nisbet
1785-1786 – Robert Davidson (acting)
1786-1804 – Charles Nisbet
1804-1809 – Robert Davidson
1809-1815 – Jeremiah Atwater
1815-1816 – John McKnight
1816-1821 – College closed
1821-1824 – John Mitchell Mason
1824 – Alexander McClelland (acting)
1824-1829 – William Neill
1829-1832 – Samuel Blanchard How
1832-1833 – College closed

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.

This collection includes letters, documents, clippings, pamphlets, and photographs relating to Joseph Priestley and his descendants. It was presented to the college by Mrs. Temple Fay.

This collection includes articles, manuscripts, newspaper clippings, and programs about Joseph Priestley and related topics. Also included in the collection are genealogical materials - correspondence, notes, charts - collected by Priestley family members

Leon Cushing Prince (1878-1937) graduated from Dickinson College in 1898 and received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law and his masters from New York University. Prince returned to Dickinson in 1907 to become a professor of history, where he would teach for thirty years until his death. He was elected a Pennsylvania state senator in 1928 and served for two terms. The collection contains material dated 1898-1937, and includes correspondence, legal documents, literary materials, printed materials, and other memorabilia. The bulk of the collection centers around manuscripts of Prince's research notes, sermons, speeches, and writings. Other materials in the collection include newspaper clippings, correspondence with other professors regarding lecture appearances, and printed material on the Kiwanis Club.

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 William Charles Ford Reed Collection was donated to the college in 1951 by the sons of William C. F. Reed, Class of 1851. The collection contains some of Reed's student writings, notebooks, and his complete set of school books. A subsequent donation in 1956 consisted of a few papers and 37 school books belonging to William's older sister, Ann Reed. The papers are arranged into three series: Notebooks, Writings, and Miscellaneous. There is also a photograph of William C.F. Reed.

In the nineteenth century, the activities pertaining to admissions and student affairs were performed by the President of the College, with some assistance from the other faculty members. Inquiries concerning admissions were generally made directly to the President of the College. Members of the faculty (including the President) supervised students both inside and outside the classroom. Besides taking attendance, delivering lectures, and grading students, faculty members also monitored students’ behavior and managed the financial accounts of underage students. Communications with parents and other day to day affairs were handled directly by faculty members. This state of affairs lasted until the early twentieth century, when the College began establishing separate offices to handle the necessary paperwork for running an institution of higher learning with an ever increasing enrollment. For ease of access, the following Student Affairs/Registrar papers, representing the period prior to the modern college office system, have been assembled into one record group.

The Student Affairs/Registrar 1783-1914 Record Group is organized into seven series:

Series 1 - General Student Affairs
Series 2 - Matriculation/Registrar
Series 3 - Attendance and Deportment
Series 4 - Grades
Series 5 - Student-Patron Accounts
Series 6 - Individual Students
Series 7 - Admissions

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.

The collection consists of the papers of the families of Jacob and Cornelius Vanderbilt, farmers and tax assessors of Newton Township, Cumberland County, Pa. Accounts of the Civil War are included among family correspondence, bills, accounts, and tax lists. Also included in the collection are a Psalm book and a small Civil War photograph.

The collection contains papers of Ferdinand de Wilton Ward (1812-1891) concerning the Central Church in Geneseo, New York, the American Bible Society, and the genealogy of the Ward family. Also in the collection are a journal of Ward's voyage to India in 1837 and a letter book of the Indian mission.

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.

The collection includes correspondence, speeches, essays, notebooks, bills, printed materials, and notes on debates and other such topics as the Light Street Institute and the Washington Temperance Society. The collection spans three main time periods in Zug's life: his enrollment at Dickinson College from 1836 until 1839, his formation of and participation in the Light Street Institute from 1839 until 1840, and his involvement in the Washington Temperance Society from 1840 to 1842. Other time periods are included, but not as extensively. The collection contains no large gaps in documentation. One item of interest is a manuscript entitled "An Old Bachellor's[sic] Mountain Musings." The opening line of the piece, which is not dated, states that the author, presumably Zug, is forty-seven years old. However, this is not possible, as Zug died on September 5, 1843, at the age of twenty-five.