The collection contains papers of the Reverend Daniel Saunders Whitney, Massachusetts abolitionist (1810-1894), including a Civil War era diary (1865-1866), correspondence to his wife Sophia and daughters (ca. 1864-1865), an engraved portrait of Whitney, and a page of the Banner of Freedom (printed by the 25th Ohio Vet. Vol. Infantry, Sumter, South Carolina, Apr. 10, 1865). Also included are carbons of a letter from a granddaughter of Whitney, to Richard M. Nixon, 1962, describing Whitney's meeting with Gen. Grant and Pres. Lincoln, and how "The Parson's Cane" came to be known as "The Lincoln Mascot," as well as a biographical sketch of Whitney by Mrs. C.R. Pomeroy, 1977. Several of the letters are written from the Colored Hospital, City Point, VA, then the Base Hospital Army of the James Point of Rocks, VA, where the U.S. Sanitary Commission had stationed Whitney, and where he attended to the spiritual, as well as dietary, needs of the patients. The diary also contains numerous entries describing medical conditions, patients, and surgeons in the hospital wards.
