Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Rare Books
The king's speech, on the presidential contest : to the people of the United States
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Rare Books
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Manuscripts
Document signed; printed document signed by Jefferson as secretary of state. (1 page)
HM 5636
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Manuscripts
This series contains correspondence and documents dating from 1773 to 1826 and pertaining to various aspects of Thomas Jefferson's political career, family life, and interests. Correspondence includes letters to Jefferson as well as letters from him, which are mostly letterpress and polygraph copies of outgoing letters created by him; some of Jefferson's letters are written in the third person. Also present are financial records such as accounts, estimates, bills, and receipts; and some writings, notes, ships' papers, and a trigonometry exercise. Letters written during Jefferson's tenure as governor of Virginia concern state government and military matters. Correspondence from the periods Jefferson served as U.S. minister to France, secretary of state, and vice president of the U.S. primarily relate to foreign relations; letters written by Jefferson while minister to France also concern instructions to consuls, activities in Europe, and his family, including daughter Mary's journey to France. Correspondence from Jefferson's presidency pertain to political parties, activities in Congress, foreign relations and a trade embargo, naval operations, issues of nationalism and sectionalism, the Burr conspiracy, and requests for appointments, pardons, and assistance. Many letters to him are from senders of gifts, publications and writings, and information on products and inventions. Much of Jefferson's post-presidency correspondence concerns the founding of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville with many letters from the school's first proctor Arthur S. Brockenbrough and librarian John V. Kean, among others. This series contains numerous letters from Jefferson to various family members, especially daughters Martha ("Patsy") Jefferson Randolph and Mary ("Maria," "Polly") Jefferson Eppes and their husbands Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. and John Wayles Eppes; some later letters are to grandchildren Francis Wayles Eppes and Anne Cary Randolph. Letters concern family activities, education, travel plans, and health. Many letters and documents in this series pertain to Jefferson's properties and estates, especially Monticello and Poplar Forest, and concern horticulture, crops and tobacco, and seeds, as well as household accounts, finances, and goods. Items also concern his father Peter Jefferson's estate and Virginia properties given to his daughters and their families, including Pantops. Many letters about operations at Monticello were written to the property's overseer Edmund Bacon during Jefferson's presidency while in Washington, D.C. Several Jefferson letters discuss slavery and enslaved persons, who are usually not referred to by name. These include letters to Francis Eppes (1787 July 30), Mary Jefferson Eppes (1798 December 8), Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. (1798 June 14 and 1802 November 25), William A. Burwell (1805 January 28), and Edmund Bacon (1807 December 8). His letter to daughter Mary mentions Lucy, an enslaved woman who had recently given birth. In his letter to William A. Burwell, Jefferson states "I have long since given up the expectation of any early provision for the extinguishment of slavery among us." A number of items in this series relate to Native Americans including Jefferson's memoranda on Virginia history (approximately 1781), which contains a list of local nations with additional statistics and information on locations and alliances; several items regarding missionary efforts in the Ohio Valley (1804 October); a letter from Jefferson to Dog Soldier, who he identifies as the second chief of the Little Osage (1804 July 16); and a letter to Jefferson from John Wood (1805 November 26) proposing funding the education of an unnamed member of the Sac Nation. Letterpress and polygraph copies of Jefferson's outgoing letters are of autograph letters signed unless noted otherwise. Most letterpress copies have been encapsulated.
mssJefferson
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Manuscripts
A collection of 574 items from 1825 to 1890, which consists of the correspondence of Thomas Lyon Hamer, his political speeches and notes, and some papers relating to the Mexican War; Hamer's presentation sword and an oil portrait of him are included in the collection. The correspondence includes 240 letters by Hamer to his first wife Lydia Bruce Higgins Hamer (-1845), and family and friends, chiefly during his congressional service. The letters discuss family matters and Hamer's professional life and political career. There are also approximately 200 letters addressed to Hamer from his friends and colleagues, discussing his legal practice and business affairs, political views, and state and national politics. Correspondents include Lewis Cass, Thomas Corwin, James Hall, Robert Lucas, John McLean, Wilson Shannon, and others. Also included is Hamer's letter to President Andrew Jackson (February 17, 1837) discussing the United States Exploring Expedition of 1838 to 1842. Materials created by US presidents in this collection include James Buchanan autograph letter signed to Thomas Lyon Hamer, 1842 Janaury 20; Andrew Jackson autograph note signed to Thomas Lyon Hamer, 1837 January 11; James K. Polk autograph letter signed to Thomas Madison Hamer, 1847 May 14; James K. Polk appointment of Thomas Lyon Hamer as Brigadier General, 1846 July 2 (contemporary copy); Martin Van Buren invitation to Thomas Lyon Hamer, approximately 1834 January.
LH 303
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Manuscripts
Letters and documents relating to British and American relations. Includes autograph letters to Townshend from William Pitt, the 1st Earl of Chatham, from 1774 to 1776, and George III, from 1782 to 1784; Henry McCulloh's "Several thoughts. on the Stamp duty," 1765, and Silas Deane's "Observations and proposals relating to a Navigable Canal from Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence," from 1785 to 1787. "A Provisional Act for Settling Troubles in America," 1776 and "Memorandum of a Declaration to Dr. Addington relating to American colonies," 1776, by William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham; the minutes of a cabinet formed in 1782 for the purpose of negotiating peace with the United States and letters from George III to Townshend, 1782 to 1783, are bound in two volumes. The volumes also contain the original portrait of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, by William Hoare, and Thomas Townshend's copies of "An Act to Enable His Majesty to conclude a Peace with the United States of America" (London : Printed at Charles Eyere and William Straham, 1782) and "Provisional articles signed at Paris, the 30th of November, 1782 by the Commissioner of His Britannic Majesty, and the Commissioners of the United States of America" (London : Printed by T. Harrison and S. Brooke, in Warwick-Lane, 1783).
HM 25763