David Weeks and family papers, 1782-1957 (bulk 1830-1957).

ArchivalResource

David Weeks and family papers, 1782-1957 (bulk 1830-1957).

Papers of David Weeks and family consist of personal and business papers of the Weeks, Moore, Conrad, and Gibson families of New Iberia, La., and southern Louisiana. A sizable portion of the papers document the life and work of William Weeks Hall, David Weeks' great-grandson, an artist, preservationist, and horticulturist who restored Shadows on the Teche and its gardens. Early papers in the collection, largely consisting of business papers and personal correspondence of the Weeks and Conrad families dating from the 1820s and 1830s, concern the operation of sugar and cotton plantations, relations with merchants and cotton factors, the sale of slaves, and the education of the Weeks children, many of whose letters are included. The papers also include a number of letters written from Evergreen Plantation near St. Francisville by Rachel Weeks O'Connor, David Weeks' sister. They concern business and family affairs, local news, slave conditions, and difficulties with overseers. Among the other papers from this period are letters by U.S. Senator Charles M. Conrad and by John Merriman, overseer of Grand Côte Plantation; reports of New Orleans factors John Linton and Lambeth and Thompson; and the will of David Weeks, dated 1834, which indicates the disposition of his property among his children. Numerous letters and documents dating from the period following Mary Clara Conrad Weeks' marriage to John Moore trace Moore's political activities as a congressman in the 1840s and 1850s. Included are petitions, letters of introduction, congratulatory messages from friends and colleagues, and letters from A.B. Roman, Joseph Walker, Thomas Curry, W.B. Prescott, W.M. Prescott, John Ray, and others. Another set of personal letters documents the education of Mary Weeks' children in Washington, D.C., and Virginia schools. Among the commercial papers dating from the 1850s are reports of factors Hall and Rodd, Miles Adams and Co., and Darby and Tremoulet. Many of Moore's letters concern the organization and construction of the New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad in 1851, on whose board of directors Moore served. Papers dating from the Civil War, during which several members of the Moore and Weeks families relocated to Texas, include military exemptions of overseers William Lourd and Lewis Moore, petitions for compensation of slaves who were lost or died while serving in the army, and political correspondence of Moore, who served as a member of the Louisiana State Legislature during the period. Among the post-Civil War documents are labor contracts with freedman, letters relating to the destruction of various Louisiana estates, and letters that describe the tribulations and upheavals of the Reconstruction period in Louisiana. Papers of William Weeks Hall consist largely of correspondence with friends and relations in Louisiana and colleagues in the arts. A sizable group of letters are written by Hall's aunt Harriet Weeks Torian ("Aunt Pattie"), who describes social life and family affairs in New Orleans. Another large set of correspondence consists of notes of thanks from friends and relatives for gifts of flowers, paintings, and other items and for Hall's hospitality during their visits to Shadows on the Teche. Other letters concern Hall's finances and investments, inquiries from scholars and sightseers about visiting Shadows on the Teche, painting, the performing arts, and horticulture. Notable correspondents include Henry Miller and James Laughlin, whose letters concern a profile that Miller wrote about Hall; Francis Biddle, attorney general under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; director D.W. Griffith, who filmed The white rose at Shadows on the Teche in 1923; author and playwright Julian Street; Emily Post; Paul Froelich; Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac Hamilton; and Franklin C. Watkins. Much of the later correspondence concerns Hall's efforts to induce a government agency to assume custodianship of Shadows on the Teche. Also included is a receipt for payment of a sum collected at the presidential election polls at New Iberia to aid in the construction of the Washington Monument. The papers additionally include bank statements, canceled checks, and receipts for purchases of building supplies, furniture, groceries, flowers, and other goods; magazines and advertising circulars; greeting cards; numerous photographs of family members, friends, and Shadows on the Teche and its gardens; daybooks, ledgers, and bankbooks; and letters of condolence following Harriet Weeks Torian's death in 1945.

24,660 items.

Related Entities

There are 43 Entities related to this resource.

Laughlin, James, 1914-1997

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68x467r (person)

James Laughlin was an American publisher and poet, and founder of the New Directions press. The son of a steel manufacturer, Laughlin attended Choate School in Connecticut and Harvard University (B.A., 1939). In the mid-1930s Laughlin lived in Italy with Ezra Pound, a major influence on his life and work; returning to the United States, he founded New Directions in 1936. Initially he intended to publish writings by ignored yet influential avant-garde writers of the period; Pound’s The Cantos ...

Prescott, William Hickling, 1796-1859

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6nm453v (person)

William Hickling Prescott, born in Salem, Massachusetts to a prominent family, wrote romantic and highly-regarded works of Spanish and Latin American history. From the guide to the Letters to Richard Bentley, 1837-1858., (Houghton Library, Harvard College Library, Harvard University) ...

Curry, Thomas A.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6n88r9n (person)

Prescott, Willis B.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r515rp (person)

Merriman, John Burton

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65b1hf7 (person)

Lambeth and Thompson (Firm)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p882r (corporateBody)

O'Connor, Rachel Swayze, 1774-1846

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6mw3xwb (person)

Weeks, Francis Sydney, 1820-1856.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65f06r6 (person)

Moore, Lewis B. (Lewis Baxter), 1866-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk1wts (person)

Lewis B. Moore was a United States (U.S.) soldier. He was a private, Medical Corps, on duty at Fort Sam Houston and with the 51st (463rd) Aero Squadron, Camp Hospital 14, and the 8th Aviation Instruction Center. From the description of Lewis B. Moore papers, 1 January 1918-9 June 1919, undated. (US Army, Mil Hist Institute). WorldCat record id: 50140636 ...

Lourd, William.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6sb5m50 (person)

Moore, Mary Clara Conrad Weeks, 1796-1863

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xd1gxm (person)

Weeks, Frederick, 1830-1831.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68h01kh (person)

Weeks, David, 1834-1843.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wd5fh1 (person)

Post, Emily, 1873?-1960

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69p4gkf (person)

Author and radio commentator. Full name: Emily Price Post (Mrs. Edwin M. Post). From the description of Scripts of Emily Post, 1930-1931. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70981978 ...

Walker, Joseph Marshall, 1786-1856

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p85sm8 (person)

Linton, John

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s1857j (person)

John Linton was active as an upholsterer in Charleston, South Carolina and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ca. 1775. From the description of Sofa, 1775-1785. (Winterthur Library). WorldCat record id: 770379418 ...

Ray, John, 1816-1888

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65h8x9s (person)

Conrad family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vr224j (family)

Roman, André Bienvenu, 1795-1866

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66w9vh4 (person)

Governor of Lousiana. From the description of Letter of André Bienvenu Roman, 1839. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 71015397 ...

Moore family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c62kdg (family)

Froelich, Paul, 1897-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tx4vxj (person)

Hall, William Weeks, 1894-1958

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68s55zr (person)

Weeks, Alfred Thruston Conrad, 1826-1864

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cv5z9c (person)

Griffith, D.W. David Wark 1875-1948

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69s2cnc (person)

Motion picture producer. From the description of War : typewritten transcript, circa 1907. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79454336 Pioneer American movie director and producer. Griffith was influential in the development and popularity of American cinema. From the description of Papers [microform] 1872-1969, 1897-1954 (bulk). (Museum of Modern Art (MOMA)). WorldCat record id: 83085079 Pioneer American movie director ...

National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6wx1f39 (corporateBody)

Watkins, Franklin Chenault, 1894-1972

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rv15n7 (person)

Franklin Watkins (1894-1972) was a painter from Philadelphia, Pa. From the description of Oral history interview with Franklin Watkins, 1971 Aug. 18 [sound recording]. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 495596773 Painter; Philadelphia, Pa. From the description of Franklin C. Watkins papers, 1909-1973. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 80156589 From the description of Franklin Watkins interview, 1971 Aug. 18. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 220195954 ...

Weeks, William Frederick, 1825-1895

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b85q7d (person)

Hamilton, Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac, 1878-1961

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6cj9s0p (person)

J.G. de Roulhac Hamilton (1878-1961) was a historian; founder of the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, N.C.; and professor and chair of the History Department at the University of North Carolina. From the description of Joseph Grégoire de Roulhac Hamilton papers, 1895-1961. WorldCat record id: 27190178 Joesph Gregoire de Roulhac Hamilton, son of Daniel Heyward and Frances Gray Roulhac Hamilton, was born in Hillsb...

Torian, Harriet Weeks, 1864-1945

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rb8kks (person)

Moore, J. (John), 1788-1867

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x935rc (person)

Weeks family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61062r3 (family)

Hall and Rodd (Firm)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6j4411j (corporateBody)

Miller, Henry, 1891-1980.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tb16w7 (person)

Novelist. From the description of Papers, 1952-1957. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155457225 Henry Miller (1891-1980) was an American author. He was known for his experimental, surrealist novels, such as Tropic of Cancer, which mixed fiction and autobiography. His writing was controversial for its graphic depictions of sexuality, leading to a 1964 obscenity trial in the United States, Grove Press, Inc. v. Gerstein. From the guide to the Henry Miller Letter, unda...

Weeks, Charles Conrad, 1832-1900.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s19h55 (person)

Darby and Tremoulet (Firm)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6479j66 (corporateBody)

Miles Adams and Co.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66x4jc2 (corporateBody)

New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad Company

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p8919n (corporateBody)

Captain E. A. Morse, Assistant Quartermaster General, Department of the Gulf, was the superintendent of the Opelousas Railroad. From the description of New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western Railroad Company account books, 1863-1865. (Louisiana State University). WorldCat record id: 260090753 ...

Weeks, Harriet Clara, 1824-1894.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6281ppt (person)

Weeks, David, 1786-1834

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rj51h6 (person)

David Weeks was a planter, plantation owner, and sugar manufacturer of New Iberia, La. The son of William Weeks and Rachel Hopkins Swayze, Weeks was born in Feliciana, Spanish West Florida, in 1786. He purchased Parc Perdu Plantation and assumed management of the Weeks family estate upon his father's death in 1819. In 1825 he purchased the site of Shadows on the Teche Plantation in New Iberia but did not move into the completed house until 1834, the year of his death. Weeks owned a ...

Gibson family.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n8426 (family)

Biddle, Francis, 1886-1968

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6q52wk6 (person)

Francis Beverley Biddle (1886-1968) was a graduate of Groton and Harvard. After Harvard Law School he served for one year as secretary to Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. A practicing attorney in Philadelphia for twenty-five years, Biddle was named the first chairman of the National Labor Relations Board in 1934, filling the post for one year. In 1939, Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him judge of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. In 1940, he was appointed Solicitor General of the U...

Street, Julian, 1879-1947

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6m043qk (person)

Julian Street (1879-1947) was an American author, journalist, enologist, gastronome. From the guide to the Julian Street Papers, 1899-1966, 1910-1947, (Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections) Newspaperman and author. From the description of Papers, 1926-1950. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 30803372 Julian Leonard Street, American author and playwright, was born in Chicago, Ill. He moved to Manhattan, th...

Conrad, Charles Magill, 1804-1878

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v1337f (person)

U.S. secretary of war, U.S. senator and representative of Louisiana, and Confederate army officer. From the description of Charles Magill Conrad appointment, 1850. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79456101 Lawyer; member of U.S. Congress; Secretary of War under President Fillmore. From the description of Letters, 1848-1853. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 32878741 American lawyer and statesman; Secretary of War. From the descript...