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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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August 10, 1856
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to his grandson, [Roger Brooke] Taney Campbell, with family news and provides some advice on horsemanship. Taney provides his grandson with an explanation on why one should learn to ride in the country before riding in a city like Baltimore. In addition, Taney writes of "little Roger" wanting to tell Taney Campbell's sister Amy that he will give her a deer. Yet little Roger "will hardly be able to fulfill his promise" because, as Taney explains, "a live deer would not be a pleasant travelling companion in the cars when we return to Washington." Taney also mentions other family members, including his daughters Ann, Ellen, Sophia, and Maria and his son-in-law J. Mason Campbell.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1965-8
Subject: Health and Medicine, Personal and Family Life
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Roger B. Taney to Taney Campbell
September 5, 1856
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to his granddaughter, Phoebe K. Campbell, about the summer weather as well as reports and comments on various family news. Family members mentioned include Phoebe's aunt Maria and Mr. Allison, her siblings Alice and Taney, her father, her cousin "little Roger", and her aunts Sophia and Ellen.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1965-9
Subject: Health and Medicine, Personal and Family Life, Weather and Climate
Time Period: 1840-1859
September - December 1856
Horatio Collins King's diary during the fall of his third year at Dickinson College. King is a member of the class of 1858. Transcript included.
Format: Diaries and Journals
Location: MC 1999.9, B2, F6
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Editor's Note -- Diary of Horatio Collins King , Diary of Horatio Collins King, Fall 1856 (Transcript)
1857
The Dickinson College catalog for the 1856-1857 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 courses offered, requirements for enrollment, requirements for graduation, tuition and other fees, and campus facilities, college policies, and lists of teaching faculty, college trustees, and various administrators.
Format: Books and Pamphlets
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item:
January - July 1857
Horatio Collins King's diary during the spring of his third year at Dickinson College. King is a member of the class of 1858. Transcript included.
Format: Diaries and Journals
Location: MC 1999.9, B2, F6
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Editor's Note -- Diary of Horatio Collins King , Diary of Horatio Collins King, Spring 1857 (Transcript)
March 7, 1857
Hiram Walbridge writes President James Buchanan to introduce Robert Gamble and recommend him for a political appointment. Walbridge notes that “Gamble is a sound reliable democrat” who “has held responsible public trusts in the City of New York.”
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1952-10
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
April 5, 1857
Supreme Court Chief Justice Roger Brooke Taney writes to D. M. Perine regarding a life insurance policy payment at the Baltimore Life Insurance Company. As he is still in Washington, Taney asks Perine to take the payment to J. J. Donalson. While "I was much broken down in the last two weeks of the Supreme Court," Taney explains that his health is improving and that he "hope[s]... to be in Baltimore on next Monday evening and be ready for court the next day." Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1969-8
Subject: Economics and Finance, Health and Medicine, Legal Affairs, Personal and Family Life
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Roger B. Taney to D. Perine
May 27, 1857
United States Attorney General Jeremiah Sullivan Black provides legal advice to President James Buchanan on whether the Chief Executive can remit part of the sentence of a convict. "I have examined and found that the universal practice of all your predecessors sanctioned by the courts has been to relieve from such portion of the sentence as the President sees proper without affecting others parts," as Black explains. Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: MC 1998.10, B1, F2
Subject: Legal Affairs, Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Jeremiah Black to James Buchanan
June 23, 1857
Thomas Griffith, a member of the Class of 1858, writes to his sister about his semester at Dickinson College. Griffith writes about some of his friends, health, as well as his studies. Griffith also tells his sister about his plans for the remainder of the semester, including his decision to participate in the junior oration contest. In addition, Griffith discusses finances and asks that his father send him five dollars. Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: MC 2005.4, B1, F1
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Student Life, Education, Personal and Family Life
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Thomas M. Griffith to His Sister
July 8, 1857
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Robert Cooper Grier (Class of 1812) writes to his brother, Nelson Grier, and discusses a picnic as well as a trip to the mountains.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-Friends-1981-7
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Travel and Tourism
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Robert Grier to Nelson Grier
July 9, 1857
Conway Phelps Wing receives his Honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology Diploma from Dickinson College on July 9, 1857.
Format: Certificates and Diplomas
Location: Diploma Collection
Subject: Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Honorary Doctor of Sacred Theology Diploma - Conway Wing
July 9, 1857
John Hays (II) receives his Bachelor of Arts Diploma from Dickinson College on July 9, 1857.
Format: Certificates and Diplomas
Location: OC 2001.1, F7
Subject: Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Bachelor of Arts Diploma - John Hays II
July 9, 1857
This copy of the printed program for the commencement exercises held on July 9, 1857 shows the members of the graduating class and the speeches that they were scheduled to deliver.
Format: Memorabilia and Ephemera
Location: Dickinsoniana Programs
Subject: Dickinson College Events
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: 1857 Commencement Program
July 9, 1857
Edwin L. Griffith prepared this oration, entitled “The Student's Dream," for the commencement ceremonies held July 9, 1857. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time. Transcript included.
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Location: Orations-1857-G853s
Subject: Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: "The Student’s Dream," by Edwin L. Griffith
September 13, 1857
First Lady Harriet Lane writes to Lily Macalester about the going ons of Washington D.C., her trip to Pennsylvania, Macalester's trip to West Point, as well as various bits of gossip. Lane also comments on several political figures, including Secretary of War John B. Floyd and Senator Stephen Douglas. "What think you of Douglas' pronunciamento?!!," Lane asks, presumably referring to Douglas' recent remarks regarding the Lecompton Constitution. Lane, who is President James Buchanan's niece, writes this letter from the Soldier's Home in Washington, DC. Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-Friends-2000-8
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government, Travel and Tourism
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Harriet Lane to Lily Macalester
October 5, 1857
Treasury Secretary Howell Cobb writes to David Tompkins and accepts his election to the James Buchanan Literary Association of New Haven, Connecticut.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-Purchase-1966-1
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Howell Cobb to David Tompkins
October 12, 1857
Jacob Frick asks Eli Slifer to write to Pennsylvania Governor William F. Packer "in my behalf for the office of Notary which will become vacant here [in Pottsville] this Fall." Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: MC 2003.4, B4, F17
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Jacob Frick to Eli Slifer
October - December 1857
Horatio Collins King's diary during the fall of his senior year at Dickinson College. King is a member of the class of 1858. Transcript included.
Format: Diaries and Journals
Location: MC 1999.9, B2, F6
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Editor's Note -- Diary of Horatio Collins King , Diary of Horatio Collins King, Fall 1857 (Transcript)
November 7, 1857
Assistant Postmaster General Horatio King writes the Postmaster of Athens, Pennsylvania , to reprimand him for "the negligent and imperfect manner in which the cancellation of postage stamps is... performed in your office."
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1950-6
Subject: Business and Industry, Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Horatio King to the Postmaster in Athens, PA
December 5, 1857
President James Buchanan writes former President Franklin Pierce and encloses "the first copy of the message which has been delivered to any person." The "message" that Buchanan refers to is likely his first State of the Union, which was published on December 8, 1857. Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: MC 1998.10, B3, F25
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
January 9, 1858
United States Senator Simon Cameron writes Samuel D. Ingham, a former United States Secretary of the Treasury, to discuss President James Buchanan and other national political matters. "Our old friend [President James] Buchanan is really in trouble," Cameron explains, "for the first time in his life he has been compelled to take a stand on a doubtful question--and like all cowards he has dropped on the wrongside." Cameron, who concludes that "[Buchanan] has never kept faith with any party or any friend," also criticizes the President's stance on Kansas' Lecompton Constitution.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-1963-1
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Simon Cameron to Samuel Ingham
January 12, 1858
Rufus Choate, a former US Senator from Massachusetts, writes President James Buchanan (Class of 1809) to request the appointment of Edward Riddle as a naval agent in Boston, Massachusetts. "Mr Riddle [is] eminently well suited to perform the duties of the place in question," as Choate explains. Choate's recommendation of Riddle is endorsed by eleven other individuals who also signed the letter.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-AsbellY-1978-1
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letter from Rufus Choate to James Buchanan
January - August 1858
Horatio Collins King's diary during the spring of his senior year at Dickinson College. King is a member of the class of 1858. Transcript included.
Format: Diaries and Journals
Location: MC 1999.9, B2, F6
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Editor's Note -- Diary of Horatio Collins King , Diary of Horatio Collins King, Spring 1858 (Transcript)
February 6, 1858
William Bigler writes to A. Boyd Hamilton and discusses President James Buchanan and several national political issues, including slavery, the Dred Scott decision, and the Lecompton Convention in Kansas. "I should sacrifice much before I would be found in the ranks of those who attempt to strike down and disgrace the first President our State has ever had," as Senator Bigler explains. Bigler, a Democrat, also served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1852 to 1855. Transcript included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: I-SpahrB-undated-3
Subject: Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
1851-1858
James Sellers writes fifteen letters to Eli Slifer concerning help with managing his father's estate, the possibility of his election as Senator as a result of his affiliation with the Whig party, questions about the division of Union County, as well as other political news. Transcripts included.
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Location: MC 2003.4
Subject: Business and Industry, Legal Affairs, Personal and Family Life, Politics and Government
Time Period: 1840-1859
View Item: Letters from James Sellers to Eli Slifer