Manuscripts
Autobiographical Sketch
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Langston Hughes: [autobiographical sketch]
Manuscripts
An authobiographical sketch donated by Langston Hughes to a special poetry file, at the request of fellow poet Beulah May.
mssHM 63817
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Jefferson Martenet pocket letter book
Manuscripts
This "Gregory's Pocket Letter Book" contains two letters written by "Jefferson," probably Jefferson Martenet. The first is a 19-page letter to "Dear Mother," dated 1853, December 14. Jefferson wrote his entries from Harbaugh Camp. In the book, Jefferson details a lost love and reflects on his change of heart with regard to marriage and courtship. The writer also discusses a severed business partnership and plans for moving to a new camp, then ends with words of affection for friends and family at home. The last 19 pages of the notebook is a letter by Jefferson to "Dear Bill," also dated 1853, December 14, and signed "Jeff."
mssHM 83420
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Christopher Towill, Teingmouth, Devon, letter to Thomas Jefferson, Washington, D.C
Manuscripts
Autograph letter signed, with addressed cover; endorsed by Jefferson. Encloses watercolor sketch of his "Hope" lifeboat. (4 pages)
HM 5990
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Sketches of Panama and California
Manuscripts
A collection of the personal and professional papers of Edward Davis Townsend. Included in the collection are official and private correspondence, chiefly letters addressed to him, military records, journals, memoirs, and a few photographs. Two journals cover the 2nd Seminole War from 1837 to 1838, and his service in California from 1851 to 1856. The latter was incorporated into a memoir entitled "A Trip to California;" both accounts are accompanied by pencil sketches. An unfinished memoir covers Townsend's life and career until the beginning of the Mexican War. The collection also contains a group of personal and political correspondence of Elbridge Gerry, including pieces related to his diplomatic and political career from 1772 to 1814, and the correspondence of Ann Thompson Gerry and Eliza Gerry Townsend. Also included are a copy of Samuel Auchmuty's 1761 sermon on 1 John 5:7, and contemporary copies of Jefferson Davis's letters to his wife Varina Howell Davis from 1861 to 1865. The collection also includes a spool of thread with a hidden note in it, 1861 February 10, and a cotton ball from the steamer Emma, which was loaded with cotton when its crew burned it at Fort Pulaski on August 31, 1862, to prevent its capture by the Union forces under the command of William B. Barton.
mssHM 41705
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Jefferson Davis papers
Manuscripts
Includes correspondence, clippings, ephemera, and Confederate currency. Items are bound together with portraits of Davis.
mssHM 20996-21003
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Account book of the estate of Peter Jefferson, (bulk 1743-1758)
Manuscripts
The accounts of Peter Jefferson's estate compiled ca. 1759 by an executor of Peter Jefferson's estate, probably John Harvie (1706-1767). The book covers the period from 1743 to 1758 and consists of the accounts with the estates of Col. William Randolph, Peter Jefferson's father, Thomas Jefferson (1679-1731), (these accounts cover the period from 1728 to 1732 and include a record of the sale of a "Negro woman Call'd Phillis & 2 children Call'd Dinah & Goliath, purchased of Capt. Henry Wood at Publick sale"), and Joshua Fry. Also included are accounts with "Messrs. Thomas Chamberlayne & Co," John Bisnell, College of William and Mary, Albemarle County, Doctor Thomas Walker, and others. More detailed accounts of Col. William Randolph's estate include lists of vouchers of payments made by Peter Jefferson, "An Account of Tobacco made at Col. Randolph's Quarters," "Overseers Accounts," and "Sundry payments made to the Sheriffs of Goochland & Cumberland on Account of Col. Randolph's Estate" (ff. 28v -- 32 v.). Also included are records of Peter Jefferson's surveyor's fees (ff. 34 v. - 38), and alphabetical index (ff. 45 v. - 46 v.)
mssHM 911