This is a collection of 4000 items that are representative of ordinary handwriting from the 10th to the 20th centuries, written in English, French, Latin, German, and Dutch. The bulk of the items are from the 17th to the 19th centuries. Samples, on paper and vellum, include indentures, letters, receipts, and pages of accounts. There is also a small set of examples of alphabets from many countries; 19th century examples of engraved death and marriage announcements; engraved portraits of writing masters; examples of minute calligraphy; and volumes containing a catalog of Carvalho's book collection. Although the collection contains a number of unrelated documents, there are several concentrations of related papers. For example, among the French materials are papers of the D'Auxy family; among the British papers are a collection of indentures, primarily from Devon; and among the American materials is a batch of letters, deeds, receipts, and agreements from the Philadelphia area (1731-1922) and correspondence received by the Baltimore merchant house of Robert Clinton Wright. The collection also includes a set of papers related to William Darlington, M.D. (1782-1863). These include letters to and from Darlington and drafts of articles on botany.
