Manuscripts
Alexander Spotswood letter to William Augustine Washington, Heywood
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Alexander Spotswood letter to the Council of Trade
Manuscripts
Report to the Council of Trade contains accounts of a massacre committed by a troup of Tuscarora Indians upon Enlgish, Swiss, and Palatine settlers of North Carolina and complaints about pacifist Quakers refusing to work on fortifications.
mssHM 59962
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William Wirt, Washington, D.C., letter to Henry Thompson, Baltimore, Maryland
Manuscripts
William Wirt writes to his friend Henry Thompson requesting to purchase two cows from him to provide milk and butter for his family. Wirt also discusses seeking a buyer for his horses and gives a history of them. Autograph letter signed.
mssHM 55657
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George W. Goethals letter to William R. Scott
Manuscripts
Typed letter signed on Isthmian Canal Commission letterhead and marked "Personal" from George W. Goethals, chief engineer of the Panama Canal to William R. Scott, author of the soon to be published, Americans in Panama. The letter discusses the time table for the first ship to pass through the canal and what must be accomplished such as the completion of lock gates and the state of the Culebra Cut (also known as the Gaillard Cut). He estimates the approximate date for first passage as late September, 1913. Goethals goes on to run through the construction, labor and associated costs. He is still uncertain as to how far under the $375,000,000 estimate the Canal will ultimately cost as certain costs were not figured into the original estimates. The letter concludes with cost figures and estimates on excavation for the Culebra Cut. According to Goethals, the original estimate of 196,000,000 cubic yards to be removed will probably increase by 25,000,000 cubic yards.
mssHM 16528
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William Lawrence Austin letter to Joseph Burn Austin
Manuscripts
William Lawrence Austin wrote this letter to his father, Joseph Burn Austin, in the midst of the Leadville silver boom. Leadville had been founded only two years earlier, but not all is well. Lawrie writes to his father in South America from a smelting works in Leadville, Colorado, seeking financial help. "My dear Papa, Can't you borrow the money to keep Cecil at Yale under a guarantee from me to pay it back with interest? It is really too bad for me to be taking all these chances...I am overworked, under paid, & tied up in such a way, than a human being can't be expected to stand it." One of his co-workers, Abarci, left some time ago and two more are going to leave the smelting works soon. He suggests, "Now I'll give you the boys' plan & you can see what a temptation it is to me. They intend to start an assay office up town, then add on a store, to consist of simply miner supplies, then do a general professional business besides. We will be working for ourselves..." He is confident that "...we will make the strongest team in the country." Lawrie is in despair because he must endure the dangers of the smelting works and shortchange his own future by attending to his brother's needs first, a brother who spends his time reading novels and his money on "pleasure seeking." He states, "You don't know how interesting life has been becoming for me, & I must stay in the poisonous fumes of furnaces, & give up every thing...I have to look far enough into the future, anyhow, in order to see a blue sky, but to think that I must give up my Leadville, & start again at some future day, possibly in some camp, & certainly without one cent to back me is very hard Papa." He concludes, "You must pay some attention to my case, as well at Cecil's. You could not keep one man in a hundred as you are keeping me, & there will be a final blow up, if you keep on, & that I want to avoid if possible." The letter is simply signed "Lawrie."
mssHM 80808
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Robert E. (Robert Edwin) Peary letter to George Rockwood
Manuscripts
In this letter, written to New York City photographer, George Rockwood, Peary is paying for and asking about photographs of himself (that Rockwood took and sent to him) that he had received yet. Peary also promises to send Rockwood a copy of his "Arctic narrative" (his book Northward over the "great ice," published in 1898). The letter may be written by another person, but Peary signed it. There is also a note, possibly by Rockwood, "Have ordered 1dz" on page two.
mssHM 79890
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John Muir letter to Katharine Putnam Hooker
Manuscripts
In this letter to his friend Katherine Hooker, John Muir describes a pleasant voyage to "The River." He describes approaching Para (Belém) and the sight of a "glorious view of fifty miles or so of forest on the right bank of the river." He explains that the experience of that alone is "noble compensation" for waiting all these years for the Amazon journey. He expects to start for Manaus in a day or two and spend at least a month on the river engaged in tough, but lovely work. He hopes Katherine is in the mountains with Marian and promises to tell her about the forest when he gets back.
mssHM 31153