Letters and communications from Americans, 1662-1900.

ArchivalResource

Letters and communications from Americans, 1662-1900.

This collection includes letters to and from Americans (including South America and the West Indies) and letters about America selected from the Society's manuscripts (Classified Papers, Letter Books, Letters and Papers, Royal Society Letters, Miscellaneous Correspondence, and other official groups) and from collections of private papers (Sir Charles Blagden, William Buckland, John Canton, Sir John F. W. Herschel, Sir Edward Sabine, and others). The documents range in time and character from John Winthrop, Jr., "A Description of the Artifice & Making of Tarr & Pitch in New England" (1662), to letters from Sir Thomas Edward Thorne to his wife describing the American West, where he was on a surveying party in the 1880s.

10 microfilm reels.

Related Entities

There are 40 Entities related to this resource.

Lee, Arthur, 1740-1792

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kb40wq (person)

Arthur Lee (20 December 1740 – 12 December 1792) was a physician and opponent of slavery in colonial Virginia in North America who served as an American diplomat during the American Revolutionary War. He was educated in medicine and law at the University of Edinburgh and in London, respectively. After passing the bar, he practiced law in London for several years. He stayed in London during the Revolutionary War, representing the colonies to Britain and France and also serving as an American spy ...

Bingham, William, 1752-1804

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6xb33dd (person)

William Bingham (March 8, 1752 – February 7, 1804) was an American statesman from Philadelphia. He was a delegate for Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress from 1786 to 1788 and served in the United States Senate from 1795 to 1801. Bingham was one of the wealthiest men in the United States during his lifetime, and was considered to be the richest person in the United States in 1780. Born in Philadelphia, Bingham graduated from the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania...

Bache, A. D. (Alexander Dallas), 1806-1867

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p08ztd (person)

Alexander Dallas Bache (1806-1867) was an important scientific reformer during the early nineteenth century. From his position as superintendent of the United States Coast Survey, and through leadership roles in the scientific institutions of the time, Bache helped bring American science into alignment with the professional nature of its European counterpart. In addition, Bache fostered the reform of public education in America. On July 19, 1806 Alexander Dalla...

King, Rufus, 1755-1827

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fz80vr (person)

Rufus King (March 24, 1755 – April 29, 1827) was an American lawyer, politician, and diplomat. He was a delegate for Massachusetts to the Continental Congress and the Philadelphia Convention and was one of the signers of the United States Constitution in 1787. After formation of the new Congress he represented New York in the United States Senate. He emerged as a leading member of the Federalist Party, serving as the party's last presidential nominee in the 1816 presidential election. The son...

Walsh, Robert, 1784-1859

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rn3959 (person)

American journalist. From the description of Letters of Robert Walsh [manuscript], 1831-1844. (University of Virginia). WorldCat record id: 647813285 Journalist. From the description of Robert Walsh correspondence, 1818 February 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70981303 From the description of ALS : Baltimore, to George Ticknor, 1815 May 25. (Rosenbach Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122591736 Robert Walsh was a journalist, litterate...

Winthrop, Wait Still, 1643-1717

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6c274kv (person)

Pepperrel, William, Sir, 1696-1759.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hx4s18 (person)

Jones, Hugh, ca. 1670-1760.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zh05cp (person)

Dudley, Paul, 1675-1751

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6446rzc (person)

Paul Dudley was appointed attorney general of Massachusetts (1702); associate justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court (1718) and chief justice of the court (1745). Addington Davenport was clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for Suffolk county and register of deeds; in 1715 he became a judge of the Superior Court of Judicature. From the description of Writ of attachment of the goods of John Bull of Boston, innkeeper, June 1704. (Harvard Law School Library). WorldCat record id: 23435...

Herschel, John F. W. Sir, 1792-1871.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66x3xvh (person)

Blagden, Charles, Sir, 1748-1820

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k07d4h (person)

Sir Charles Blagden (1748-1820), was a physician and secretary of the Royal Society. In 1772, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1776 he became a surgeon in the army and served on a hospital ship during the American Revolutionary War. In 1784 he was elected one of the secretaries of the Royal Society, a post he held till 1797. He died, unmarried and childless, of apoplexy in 1788. From the description of [Diaries], 1776-1788. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702177654 ...

Clayton, John, 1686-1773.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w69x020r (person)

Physician Joseph Carson taught medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The College of Philadelphia's Medical School, founded in 1765, became known as the University of Pennsylvania, Dept. of Medicine In 1779. From the guide to the Joseph Carson letters, 1789-1858, 1789-1858, (American Philosophical Society) John Clayton was born in 1694 in Fulham, Middlesex, and brought up in comparative wealth until 1715 when he emigrated to Virginia joining his father, John Clayton sen...

Grew, Nehemiah, 1641-1712

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6rr2jpk (person)

Epithet: MD British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001089.0x00014b Epithet: MD; Secretary to the Royal Society British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000001089.0x00014d ...

Royal Society (Great Britain)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v15tz9 (corporateBody)

The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge began in 1645 when a group of eminent British thinkers started to meet regularly in London to discuss the new, experimental philosophies of science. Though the English Civil War and the Cromwellian Protectorate interrupted its meetings, the Society was formally constituted in 1660. Two years later King Charles II granted the Society its first charter. A second royal charter was granted in 1663 when the Society was given its official nam...

Catesby, Mark, 1683-1749

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6r49w7b (person)

Naturalist. From the description of Mark Catesby correspondence, 1744. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79452847 ...

Burnett, William, 1688-1729.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60c85rk (person)

Witt, Christopher, 1951-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6f810ft (person)

Loomis, Elias, 1811-1889

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62v2kxz (person)

Charles Babbage was a mathematician and inventor. From the guide to the Charles Babbage selected correspondence, 1827-1871, 1827-1871, (American Philosophical Society) Elias Loomis was an astronomer, meteorologist, teacher, and author of scientific and mathematical texts. He taught at Western Reserve College, New York University, and Yale University. Loomis was also a genealogist and produced a massive compendium of information on the Joseph Loomis family. From t...

Henry, Joseph, 1797-1878

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6x16x2w (person)

Joseph Henry (1797-1878, APS 1835), a physicist, was the first secretary and director of the Smithsonian Institution, a post he retained for over three decades. Henry was a leading experimental scientist whose contributions include several discoveries in the field of electromagnetics. He has been credited with the invention of the electromagnet and the telegraph, among other things. Henry was born in 1797 in Albany, New York, the son of William Henry, a teamster, and his wife An...

Brattle, Thomas, 1658-1713

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tq60q6 (person)

Merchant. From the description of Thomas Brattle papers, 1681-1708. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 79451303 Distinguished merchant of Boston. From the description of ANS : Boston, to Samuel Gray, 1788 Oct. 20. (Boston Public Library). WorldCat record id: 37766601 ...

Banister, Thomas.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d88x1z (person)

Fulton, Robert, 1765-1815

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6qn651p (person)

Civil engineer, artist, and inventor. From the description of Letter : New York, to Edward P. Livingston, Clermont, [N.Y.], 1814 February 11. (New York State Library). WorldCat record id: 50631960 Inventor, engineer, and artist. From the description of Papers, 1812-1815. (New York State Library). WorldCat record id: 50799372 Inventor. From the description of Robert Fulton papers, 1809-1838. (Columbia University In the City of New York). World...

Mather, Cotton, 1663-1728

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z0372f (person)

Mather was an American Puritan clergyman and writer. Mather attended Harvard (A.B. 1678, M.A. 1681) and served as minister at the Second Church in Boston from 1685 until his death. His advice was sought during the Salem witch trials. During his lifetime Mather wrote more than 450 books. ...

Merry, Andrew.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tf9hdr (person)

Bond, George Phillips, 1825-1865

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hx1g90 (person)

Bond (Harvard, Class of 1845) was director of the Harvard College Observatory. From the description of Papers of George Phillips Bond, 1851-1865 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 76972763 ...

Lewis, Richard, 1935-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ft8xxf (person)

Sabine, Edward, Sir, 1788-1883

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6d79df5 (person)

Edward Sabine was born in 1788 and joined the Royal Artillery in 1803. While stationed on the Niagara frontier of Canada he began his studies into natural history, which were eventually to encompass ornithology, meteorology and the study of terrestrial magnetism. The latter study was his particular specialism and led to his attachment to the Arctic expeditions of John Ross (1777-1856) in the Isabella (1818) and Edward Parry (1790-1855) in the Hecla (1819-1820). During his long career he rose to ...

Wilkes, Charles, 1798-1877

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zk5jd8 (person)

Wilkes was a career U.S. naval officer who, as captain of the San Jacinto, provoked the Trent Affair in 1861. From the description of Letter, November 1861. (Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library). WorldCat record id: 61770003 Charles Wilkes, American naval officer and explorer, was born on April 3, 1798 in New York, NY. He surveyed Narragansett Bay in 1832-1833, which led to his appointment to a depot of charts and instruments, which later became the Naval Observatory. In 18...

Buckland, William, 1784-1856

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65144j2 (person)

William Buckland was an English cleric, geologist, and vertebrate paleontologist. He was the first Reader of Geology, University of Oxford (from 1819). Buckland is most noted as the scientific discoverer of dinosaurs. From the description of Letters, 1817-1848. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122689446 English cleric William Buckland worked as a geologist and vertebrate paleontologist. The first Reader of Geology, University of Oxford (from 1819...

Collinson, Peter, 1694-1768

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6td9zxh (person)

John Bartram was the first native American botanist and made many journeys through the southern frontier, collecting seeds and bulbs for transplanting. From the guide to the John Bartram correspondence, 1735-1775, 1735-1775, (American Philosophical Society) Peter Collinson was a London merchant and naturalist. From the description of Letters, [ca. 1740]-1770. (American Philosophical Society Library). WorldCat record id: 122489517 From the description of ...

Thorne, Thomas Edward.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6dr6832 (person)

Greenwood, Isaac, 1702-1745

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zw1mp8 (person)

Thompson, Benjamin, Count Rumford, 1753-1814.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6w12k8m (person)

Middleton, Christopher, -1770

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6z641z2 (person)

Nicholson, Francis, 1655-1728

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6g15zzj (person)

Francis Nicholson was a member of the Council for the Dominion of New England and in 1688 was commissioned lieutenant governor of the Dominion. Served as lieutenant governor of New York (1688), lieutenant governor of Virginia (1690-1692), governor of Maryland (1694-1698), governor of Virginia (1698-1705) governor of Nova Scotia (1713-1717), and governor of South Carolina (1721-1725. He was a fellow of the Royal Society. From the guide to the Papers, Addition One, 1695-1765., (John D....

Churchman, John, 1753-1805

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6862vpf (person)

John Churchman was a Quaker surveyor from Nottingham, Pennsylvania, eldest son of George and Hannah James Churchman. From the description of Papers, 1778-1804. (Swarthmore College). WorldCat record id: 19298369 ...

Canton, John, 1718-1772

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hh96rd (person)

Epithet: of London British Library Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue : Person : Description : ark:/81055/vdc_100000000843.0x0001ce ...

Smallwood, Charles, 1812-1873

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6jm5px8 (person)

Moray, Alexander.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6hz0zrk (person)

Robie, Thomas, 1689-1729

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61v5dz5 (person)

Thomas Robie (1688/89-1729) of Boston, Mass., was a 1708 Harvard graduate. A man of varied talents, Robie pursued several callings, including almanac-maker, Harvard library-keeper, preacher, mathematics and astronomy tutor, and physician. From the description of Diary, 1710. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 207167061 ...