Opening Hours
Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Manuscripts
William Blathwayt state papers and letters regarding the siege of Londonderry
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Manuscripts
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Manuscripts
This collection contains correspondence and documents primarily accumulated by English civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) in his capacity as a British government official in such roles as Surveyor and Auditor General of Plantation Revenues and Secretary and member of the Lords of Trade. The bulk of the papers date from 1660 to 1709 and chiefly relate to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies .
BL 416
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Manuscripts
This collection consists of 195 pieces of business, diplomatic, and personal correspondence and accounts primarily accumulated by English civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) during his service as a clerk in The Hague (1668-1672) and his tour of Europe in 1672, with some items dated 1682 and a few pieces relating to British colonies in the East and West Indies. Approximately twenty items are secret diplomatic correspondence and intelligence reports from agents throughout Europe, dating from 1720 to 1734 (after Blathwayt's death). Blathwayt Correspondence, 1668-1682 The correspondence of William Blathwayt primarily pertains to the affairs of the English Embassy in The Hague, international affairs, and the personal affairs and professional duties of Blathwayt, including his acquisition of rare books and antiques, particularly his dealings with Daniel Elzevir. The documents related to the affairs of the English Embassy in The Hague date from 1668 to 1672 and include negotiations about the release of ships and goods seized during the Second Anglo-Dutch War; affairs of English sailors and merchants in the Low Countries; and the salvage of a cargo of tin sunk off the port of Ostend (1666-1669). The documents related to international affairs primarily concern the secret treaty of Dover (1670) and the events leading to the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674); foreign relations with Sweden, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, and Russia, as reflected in letters to Blathwayt from English diplomats and memoranda submitted to King Charles II by the Ambassador of the Holy Roman Empire in London (1682). Among the correspondents represented are Amsterdam lawyer Paulus Buys (18 items); Amsterdam book commissioner and agent J. D. Benoist (3 items); English factotum in Amsterdam Edmond Custis (15 items); Thomas Downton, the 1st secretary of William Temple (8 items); E. Jollyvet (4 items); Tannegui Lefebvre (2 items) Edward Meredith, an English diplomat in Spain (3 items); Sir William Temple (11 items); Count Franz Sigmund von Thun (6 items); Amsterdam merchant Dirck Van Pas (7 items); Sir John Werden (7 items); and Robert Wolseley (3 items). Diplomatic and intelligence reports, 1720-1734 The collection also includes letters and dispatches (including ciphered messages), written between 1720 and 1734 (after Blathwayt's death), from intelligence agents in Berlin, Hamburg, Cambrai, Paris, Port Sainte Marie (Spain), and Madrid addressed to Alexander Hume-Campbell, 2nd Earl of Marchmont, Charles Withworth, Charles Townshend, and Thomas Pelham-Holles, 4th Duke of Newcastle. The documents contain information on affairs in Brandenburg-Prussia, Russia, Spain, France, and Italy. Correspondents include: Giovanni Battista Paretti, Charles du Bourgay, and Sir Cyril Wich, although most dispatches are anonymous.
mssBLA
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Manuscripts
This collection contains correspondence and documents primarily accumulated by English civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) in his capacity as a British government official in such roles as Surveyor and Auditor General of Plantation Revenues and Secretary and member of the Lords of Trade. The bulk of the papers date from 1660 to 1709 and chiefly relate to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies .
BL 297
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Manuscripts
This collection contains correspondence and documents primarily accumulated by English civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) in his capacity as a British government official in such roles as Surveyor and Auditor General of Plantation Revenues and Secretary and member of the Lords of Trade. The bulk of the papers date from 1660 to 1709 and chiefly relate to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies. Papers having to do with the British West Indies primarily concern relations with the Crown (including administration, taxation, and defenses) and local conditions (including orders of governor, council, and assembly; management of blacks; piracy; and trade and shipping). Geographically, the documents concern: Antigua (7 pieces), Bahamas (4), Barbados (48), Bermudas (5), Jamaica (35), Montserrat (1), Nevis (4), St. Christopher's (2), and Tobago (1). Papers having to do with North America pertain to relations with the Crown (including the administration of governments, charter and proprietary; taxation; and defense) and local conditions (including orders of governor, council, and assembly; political corruption; trade, shipping, etc.; Indian affairs; French encroachments; and piracy). Geographically, the documents concern: Canada (14), Newfoundland (4), Rhode Island (3), Massachusetts (43), New Hampshire (19), Connecticut (1), New York (77), Pennsylvania (4), Maryland (26), Virginia (51), Carolinas (2), Florida (3). Within the collection there are also 27 unofficial letters, dating from 1664 to 1668, addressed to Richard Nicolls, the first English governor of the colony of New York, from Sir William Berkeley, Charles Calvert and Philip Calvert, Thomas Ludwell, Nathaniel Utie, and Jerome White. The correspondence deals with trade and shipping, runaway slaves, and tobacco. Correspondents represented by five or more pieces in the collection are: Sir William Beeston (5), Sir William Berkeley (14), William Blathwayt (32), Philip Calvert (7), George Clarke (8), Edward D'Oyley (6), Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury (7), William Lowndes (9), John Nanfan (16), Samuel Penhallow (6), John Povey (8), and Edward Randolph (10). Within the collection, originals predominate slightly. Copies are all contemporary, and most of them are attested and bear Blathwayt's endorsement.
mssBL
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Manuscripts
This group of 34 documents consists of correspondence, reports, and accounts primarily accumulated by British civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) between the mid 1670s and 1712 in his capacity as a British government official in such roles as Surveyor and Auditor General of Plantation Revenues and Secretary and member of the Lords of Trade. The materials consist chiefly of miscellaneous drafts or copies of documents related to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies. Items pertain to taxation, revenue, trade and shipping, and defense, primarily in the Bahamas, Jamaica, St. Kitts, and Nevis. Within the collection, there are six letters from Henry Carpenter, the collector of customs in the Leeward Islands, and eleven documents concerning Colonel John Strode, Sir Charles Wheler, and issues related to the four and a half percent tax.
mssHM 32265-32298
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Manuscripts
This collection contains correspondence and documents primarily accumulated by English civil servant William Blathwayt (1649-1717) in his capacity as a British government official in such roles as Surveyor and Auditor General of Plantation Revenues and Secretary and member of the Lords of Trade. The bulk of the papers date from 1660 to 1709 and chiefly relate to the British colonies in North America and the West Indies .
BL 107