Manuscripts
An archive of the Baker family of New Jersey; consisting of family letters, manuscripts, legal documents, genealogical material, photographs, a letter book, two volumes, and ephemera. The correspondence falls predominately into two sections. The first section includes the letters between Looe and Eliza Wardell Baker, beginning with their friendship in 1799, through their courtship and after their 1805 marriage when Looe was absent from home on long business trips. Their loving correspondence covers family and domestic concerns, the cotton industry, and current events. The letters describe life in Natchez, local and national politics, the New Madrid earthquakes, and the War of 1812. The second section, and the bulk of the correspondence, concern William Chapman Baker; these letters include those dealing with his business interests, his many children, siblings, cousins and other extended family members, and his genealogical research both in the United States and England. The manuscripts include memoirs and diaries, poems, political and personal essays, a commonplace book and Eliza Wardell Baker's "Jersey Girl" columns. A large amount of the early letters and manuscripts have some damage, with loss of text, but otherwise the material is in excellent condition.
mssBakerL
