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Rush family. Papers, 1748-1878.

Title: Papers, 1748-1878.

Included in the papers of Benjamin Rush is extensive correspondence with family members, patients, physicians, and political figures. Major correspondents include Scotsman Anthony Ferguson; Rush's brother-in-law, Richard Stockton (1764-1828); Morgan J. Rhees; and two of Rush's sons, Benjamin and Samuel. Also present are individual letters from John Quincy Adams, Aaron Burr, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Knox, James Madison, James Monroe, and physician Benjamin Waterhouse. Many of these letters discuss America's struggle for independence, Rush's position as Surgeon General of the Continental Army, and his relationship with George Washington. Items pertaining to Rush's medical career include lecture notes, a psychiatric case history, notes on yellow fever, and bills for medical services. Also present are deeds and real estate papers documenting his involvement in land speculation in central Pennsylvania. Of special interest are papers pertaining to "Beula," a religious settlement founded by Morgan J. Rhees on land purchased from Rush. The papers of Julia Stockton Rush include correspondence with family members, a letter from John Adams, and seventeen love letters from Benjamin Rush written shortly before their marriage. Present is extensive correspondence from her sons John, Benjamin, and Samuel. Letters from Benjamin relate details of his travels in the China trade, and letters from John document his descent into mental illness. Also present are letters from Julia's mother, Annis Boudinot Stockton, including a letter in which Annis analyzes Mary Wollstonecraft's controversial feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1791). Included in the papers of Samuel Rush is: correspondence with his children, Julia Williams Rush Biddle (1832-1898) and William Rush (1837-1860); correspondence with Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, who was treating William for a debilitating mental illness; correspondence with his brother Richard concerning his alleged authorship of an attack on Andrew Jackson; the second part of an unpublished biography of his father; and his poetry and essays. Also present in Series I is James Rush's account of how his siblings tried to cheat him out of his inheritance and abolitionist writings by William Rush (1801-1864).

ArchivalResource: 2.9 linear ft.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122525070 View

Rush family papers, 1748-1876

Title: Rush family papers 1748-1876

The Rush Family papers includes material from Benjamin Rush, physician, social activist, educator, writer and patriot; his brother Jacob Rush, lawyer, Supreme Court judge, and patriot; and Benjamin’s son James Rush, physician and Treasurer of the United States Mint. These American men were “strong characters, zealous patriots during the stirring period in which they lived, tenacious of their convictions and of the high standard of individual duty which they set for others, and typified in themselves,” (Richards, page 53). The bulk of the collection is the papers of Dr. Benjamin Rush and his son Dr. James Rush. Judge Jacob, John, Richard and William are represented, but to a much lesser degree. The other Rush family members are represented in a very limited manner. The collection contains correspondence; financial records; medical notes, lectures, and case histories; writings regarding medicine, politics, and the judicial system; and observations on colonial Philadelphia, the formation of the United States, and the new nation.

ArchivalResource: 34.5 Linear feet

http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/pacscl/ead.html?id=PACSCL_LCP_LCPRush View