Search

This collection primarily consists of correspondence of U.S. diplomat Christopher Hughes; his twin sister Peggy Hughes Moore; his in-laws the Moore family; his spouse Laura Smith Hughes (1792-1832); their daughter Margaret Smith Hughes Kennedy (1819-1884); and Anthony Kennedy (1810-1892), his son-in-law. The papers largely date between the War of 1812 and the U.S. War with Mexico. Christopher Hughes corresponded with U.S. Presidents, Secretaries of State, and a large circle of friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic. The papers reflect American diplomatic policy in Europe after the War of 1812, particularly in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. They also present the lives and experiences of the social and personal lives of women and children who traveled as part of the duties of an American diplomat.

This collection primarily consists of correspondence of U.S. diplomat Christopher Hughes; his twin sister Peggy Hughes Moore; his in-laws the Moore family; his spouse Laura Smith Hughes (1792-1832); their daughter Margaret Smith Hughes Kennedy (1819-1884); and Anthony Kennedy (1810-1892), his son-in-law. The papers largely date between the War of 1812 and the U.S. War with Mexico. Christopher Hughes corresponded with U.S. Presidents, Secretaries of State, and a large circle of friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic. The papers reflect American diplomatic policy in Europe after the War of 1812, particularly in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. They also present the lives and experiences of the social and personal lives of women and children who traveled as part of the duties of an American chargé d'affaires.

The Correspondence Seriescomprises the bulk of the collection. These letters range from 1801 to 1903 and are divided into three groups: A. Correspondence addressed to Christopher Hughes Jr. (unless noted), arranged by correspondent (from 1801 to the end of 1849, the year in which he died); B. Correspondence from Hughes, arranged by recipient (from 1817 to his death in 1849); and C. Family Correspondence after Hughes’s death, from 1850 to 1903 (all letters addressed to Anthony Kennedy unless noted).

Group A includes all correspondence of a personal, family, financial, and professional nature addressed to Hughes during his lifetime, as well as letters written by one correspondent to someone other than Hughes during the same period. This qualification covers letters from one of his relatives to another, occasional copies of official correspondence that were of special interest to him, and the like. Hughes was proud of his association with famous and politically prominent people, and frequently added his own comments on their letters. He also had a habit of collecting autographs, and correspondents, knowing this, would often send him examples for his collection.

Hughes’s official diplomatic correspondence to his superiors is held by the National Archives, Records of the Department of State, Foreign Posts, in Washington, D.C.. The correspondence by Hughes in Group B was written to family members (his wife, his children, his sister and her husband, and his brother George), to diplomatic and professional colleagues, and to a few others. The main reason why most of the family letters still exist is that his daughter Margaret Hughes and his sister Peggy Moore and her husband Samuel Moore chose to retain them.

Hughes seldom made or kept copies of the letters he himself wrote, but Group B is where the extant ones can be found. They are indicated by “copy” or a similar expression in parentheses following the letter sent, for example:

• John Bell, Secretary of War, 1 letter: 6 April 1841, Stockholm (copy; acknowledges receipt of funds to pay Count Gyldenstolpe for the “Batteries” [of artillery] ordered at the Forge of Finspong)
• James Buchanan, 1 letter: September 1845, Astor House, New York (copy; Hughes announces his arrival back in the United States)
• General De La Sarraz, 1 letter: 23 August 1845, Liverpool (copy; Hughes turns down the honor of knighthood conferred in letter of 24 July because it is against “The Institutions of my Country”)
• Baron Albert Ihre, 1 letter: 6 September 1841 (2), [Stockholm] (in French; invitation to a meeting with the Queen today immediately after meeting with the King; Hughes’s reply, probably a draft, written at end)
• Baron Antoine de Knobelsdorff, 1 letter: 17 May 1845, The Hague (in French; copy of letter giving his official notice; will give up his house on 30 September 1845)
• S. Pleasanton, 1 letter: 2 March 1842, Washington (copy of letter only to a statement of account for salary from 30 September 1838 to 1 October 1841)
• Baron [Vertstoeck] de Soelen, 1 letter: 25 January 1830, The Hague (a draft or copy)
• Daniel Webster, 2 letters: 10 June 1842, Washington (draft or partial copy; acknowledges his letter of appointment as Charge d’affaires to the Netherlands and is about to “repair to my Post”); and 23 June 1842, Baltimore (copy; will go to New York on the 27th; hopes to call on Webster this evening or tomorrow morning in Washington)

Group C contains family correspondence after Christopher Hughes’s death, from 1850 to 1903. Most of it is of a political, professional, or family nature addressed to Anthony Kennedy, along with correspondence to and from Margaret Smith Hughes (later Kennedy) and correspondence between other members of the Kennedy or Hughes families.

The correspondence series contains 2164 separate entries, plus an additional 5 untraced letters following, but the total number of individual items is higher, as the following practices by Hughes and some of his family members indicate. These practices add 37 items, making the total number of letters in the collection approximately 2200.

Occasionally blank pages from received letters were used to write other letters. Christopher Hughes often used blank pages from letters, or the backs of letters (and in one case the actual letter) sent to him, either for copies of letters that he had written or, occasionally, for actual letters written to others; his brother-in-law Samuel Moore also did this, though much less frequently.

• Letter to Samuel Moore, 18 May 1834 (with P.S. and additional note on 19 May); written on the same large sheet of paper on which John Adams wrote to Hughes on 18 May 1834
• Letter to Christopher Hughes from Baron Albert Ihre, 8 September 1841, Stockholm (in French; invitation to meet the Prince and Princess Royal today at 5:45 p.m.; sent on to Baron Brockausen saying, in English, that Hughes will come to dinner with him precisely at 5 p.m.)
• Letter to Louis McLane, 18 August 1845 [London]; written on a blank page of the Marquess de Casa Yongo’s letter to Hughes of the same date along with “N.B. Return this Letter”
• Letter to Henry Rabineau, 31 October 1845, Baltimore; written on the back of the letter from C.A. Stetson to Hughes of 23 October 1845
• Letter to Margaret Hughes, 26 February 1847, Washington; written on the 3 blank pages of a 4-page letter of invitation from Hülsemann to Hughes dated 25 February [1847]
• Letter to Miss M. Patterson, invitation to dinner “today” [8 March 1848] to meet your Anglo-Dutch cousin; written on a letter from Charlotte (Mansfield) de Tuyll to Margaret Hughes of [early March 1848])
• Letters of Samuel Moore to John Tyler, 25 October 1842 (1), no place (draft or copy; this and the next are written on the back of Moore’s letter of 19 October); 25 October 1842 (2), no place (draft or copy)

The Correspondence Series also includes examples where a single letter was addressed to two recipients.

• Margaret Smith Hughes to Peggy Moore (her aunt): 27 August 1842, Havre (pages 1-2 are to Peggy Moore; page 3 addressed to “Dear Polyphemus,” which may be a pet name for her uncle, Samuel Moore, to whom the outside of the letter is addressed)
• Margaret Smith Hughes to Samuel Moore (her uncle): 27 August 1842, Havre (page 3 is addressed to her uncle, Samuel Moore, to whom the outside of the letter is addressed. For pages 1-2 see letter of same date from Margaret Hughes to Peggy Moore, 27 August 1842)
• Nancy Clayton Kennedy to Margaret Hughes Kennedy (her daughter-in-law): 21 March 1852, Martinsburg (beginning of letter to Margaret, but on page 3 she begins a new letter to her granddaughter Agnes)
• Nancy Clayton Kennedy to Agnes Kennedy (her granddaughter): 21 March 1852, Martinsburg (letter begins on page 3 of letter of this date addressed to Margaret Hughes Kennedy)

Some letters were written by two different writers to one single recipient.

• Christopher Hughes to Mary [Hughes] Armstrong (his sister): 8 January 1817 (part 2) [London] (for part 1 see letter from Laura Hughes to Mary Armstrong)
• Laura Smith Hughes to Mary [Hughes] Armstrong (her sister-in-law): 8 January 1817 (part 1), London (for part 2 see letter from Christopher Hughes to Mary Armstrong)
• George A[ugustus] Hughes to Christopher Hughes (his brother): 26 April 1845, Baltimore (he ends about halfway through this 4-page letter and calls in his daughter Sidney to complete it as he is suffering too much)
• Maria Sidney Hughes (Hughes’s niece, daughter of George A. and Mary Pleasants Hughes): 26 April 1845, Baltimore (see George A. Hughes’s letter of same date; Sidney writes the second half and signs the letter)
• Peggy Moore to Christopher Hughes: 10 July 1843, no place (2nd half written by Peggy, 1st half by Samuel Moore)
• Samuel Moore to Christopher Hughes: 10 July 1843, Cumberland (1st half written by Samuel, 2nd half by Peggy Moore)

At other times letters might be written to one recipient but signed by multiple persons.

• Samuel Moore et alii to Andrew Jackson: Undated [but probably early in 1829], no place (a two-page draft, written to President-Elect Jackson advocating Hughes’s appointment as Minister to the Netherlands; notes that Hughes’s current nomination will not be acted upon “before the 4th March next” and that a new nomination will be needed; the names of the signatories are listed at the end, including, in addition to Moore, Carroll of Carrollton, Robert Oliver, Thomas Tenant, Roger B. Taney, Reverdy Johnson, and nine others)
• Fanny H. Hughes Kennedy et alii to Benjamin P. Howell: 20 June 1885, no place (copy; the “alii” are Francis [sic] H. Kennedy, H.W. Howell, Adelaide Carnischall, F.B. Forbes, John M. Forbes Jr., Mrs. Ellen Griswold, Alfred Howell, and Mary Campbell)

One letter may also have been written, but copies of it were sent to multiple recipients.

• Fanny H. Hughes Kennedy to Fanny H. Kennedy (her aunt): 9 July 1885, Ellerslie (copy; she is underage until October, but she will see her attorney and trustee, who will consult with her grandfather and guardian, Anthony Kennedy, about signing a document pertaining to the Howell estate; this letter, along with copies of the two letters from Fanny H. Hughes Kennedy to B.H. Campbell and a copy dated 14 July 1885 of the letter from 20 June 1885 addressed to Benjamin P. Howell with a document that the younger Fanny is to sign, are written consecutively on four pages of legal-sized paper)

The Prose Writings and Poetry Series is sub-divided into A. Prose and B. Poetry. The first seven prose pieces are written in English and are accounts of trips, speeches or drafts of speeches, and formal papers written by specific individuals; the last one is a passage copied by Margaret Hughes from a book of letters in French. The nineteen poems are primarily in English, but some are also in Swedish or French. Included among the poetry are birthday poems, toasting poems, love poems, and an English translation of a passage from Horace’s Odes.

The Photographs and Portraits Seriesincludes pencil sketches of four of the five peace commissioners at the Treaty of Ghent negotiations in Belgium, by Dutch artist P. van Huffel, January 1815. The portraits include John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, and Christopher Hughes (as secretary of the delegation). A lithographed portrait of Christopher Hughes, by Jean Baptiste Madou, from 1829 is also present in the collection's oversize materials, with a lithograph image of "le capitole a Washington" below the portrait of Hughes. It features an autograph presentation from Christopher Hughes to Prince Henry of the Netherlands, July 12, 1845. A group of 24 photographs from the early 1930s depict the grave of Laura Smith Hughes (1795-1832) and the church where she was buried, Bromme Church in Akershof, near Stockholm, Sweden, and a variety of other people and places.

The Documents Serieshas been sub-divided into six groups, A. Land and Property; B. Military Documents; C. Education-Related Documents; D. Personal Documents; E. Inventories and Lists; and F. San Pedro Company Documents. The Land and Property Documents contain surveys, leases, deeds of sale and trust, lists of property bequeathed, and the like. Military Documents contain reports of battles and casualties, charges against officers, prices of cannons, etc. Education-Related Documents contain appointments to and regulations at West Point and announcements from schools. Personal Documents contain diplomatic commissions and appointments for Christopher Hughes, passports, extracts from books of baptisms, acknowledgment of copyright for members of the Hughes family, and various announcements, resolutions, and the like regarding the family and their friends. Most of the Inventories and Lists are in Hughes’s hand and usually refer to goods sent to him in Europe or from him back to the United States.

The San Pedro Company Documents relate to the salvage of the Spanish warship San Pedro de Alcantara, which exploded and sank between the islands of Coche and Cubagua off the northern coast of Venezuela on 24-25 April 1815. Some fifty men were killed in the explosion, and many others were drowned; 800,000 silver pesos were lost, along with munitions, weapons, and cannons. Salvage operations began at once, and the San Pedro Company from Baltimore joined the search in 1843, contracting with Lewis Howell (Christopher Hughes’s nephew) to be the agent for the Company in its attempt to salvage whatever it could of the treasure and cargo on board. The Company carried out two expeditions: one from November 1843 to May 1844 and the other from May 1844 to the beginning of the war with Mexico in May 1846. The documents in this collection include the existing 45 letters between the various parties involved in the two expeditions, as well as ten related documents setting out instructions to Lewis Howell, formal answers to his questions, and the texts of the agreements between parties. The letters (including copies) have been cross-referenced “as letters written by one correspondent to someone other than Hughes” in the Correspondence Series but are not counted in the total number there.

The Financial Papers Series consists of two groups: A. Account Books and B. Individual Items. The account books appear in two formats. The first combines expenses along with other kinds of notes, like Account Book 1. The second type records periodic household and personal expenses or wages paid for various tasks, like Account Books 2 through 8. The Chronological Financial Papers consist of individual bills, receipts, bank accounts, promissory notes, etc., arranged both by family and chronologically, from the first Hughes family receipt in 1825 through 1850, followed by receipts for the combined Hughes and Kennedy families from 1851 through 1908, and ending with undated material. Occasionally notes or letters are attached to these items. Likewise, financial documents are at times also attached to letters written to Hughes in the Correspondence Series. They have been divided between that group and this one according to which component is presumed to be primary.

The Printed Items and Ephemera Series consists of 27 small books, pamphlets, newspapers and clippings or extracts from newspapers, reports, essays, and the like, often represented by more than one copy. Ephemeral items include materials such as Invitations and Wedding Announcements (19 printed items, with 16 in French and 3 in English); Calling Cards (7 items, both handwritten and printed); Advertisements, Concert Programs, etc. (10 items, all printed but the last); Recipes and Prescriptions (11 handwritten items, in English Latin, and French).

Autographs and related memorabilia contains 11 items, of which 7 are autographs. Hughes was a known collector of autographs, and correspondents would often send him examples for his collection (as noted in the Correspondence Series). Hughes acquired the autographs in this group in other ways: from autographs given to him, from letters sent to others, or from empty envelopes addressed to him. In addition, the collection includes part of a ribbon that Napoleon wore “on his escape from Elba & his return to France” in 1827, a bust (reference only) given to Hughes originally by Sir Thomas Coke, a reproduction of the seal of C.J Fox also given to him by Coke, a small drawing of a flag given to Hughes’s daughter by “an old friend” in 1840, and a drawing of a man’s head and torso, with this text inside the torso: “This gentleman represents the Bridge of Sighs. With the compliments of the two great Unknowns” and this line below: “That lofty brow where Thought stands throned.”

Miscellaneous Notes and Fragments consists of 16 items of various kinds. Five are dated notes: (1) notes and jottings in Hughes’s hand, probably from his first stint in Sweden, dated 24 August [ca. 1820s?], mentioning, among other things, the surnames Gibson, Gilmor, and Rehausen; (2) notice of a leave of absence of 10 November 1838 for [Charles John Hughes] “received at Wacissa on or about Dec 5th Left Tallahassee Dec 11th”; (3) a note on the order of toasts to Daniel Webster [on his retirement as Secretary of State] on 18 May 1843; (4) notes in Hughes’s hand of names and addresses in Paris and London dated July and August 1845; and (5) two notes on the reverse of a piece of twentieth-century notepaper of Jesse S. Reeves’s wife referring to Bishop [Philander] Chase’s trip to England in 1823-1824 to raise funds for a new diocese in Ohio and a book catalogue of Henry Stevens dated 18 March 1834 (on the front side of the notepaper are 6 scanned lines in Greek of Ovid’s Fasti). In addition, there are some directions for various activities (e.g., for traveling to places in France); a listing of subjects taught in an elementary school; a page with three Latin quotations from St. Paul’s letters; a series of aphorisms or proverbs; and a few fragments that are without context.

Please see the Christopher Hughes Indices and Notes for an index of letter writers and inventories of non-correspondence materials.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The content of these letters, sermons, documents, and other materials reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich (1903-1996), most prominently subjects pertinent to Christianity, home, and the family.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The manuscripts reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich, most prominently Christianity, home, and the family. Items include sermons from prominent ministers or preachers of different Protestant denominations, documents related to church operations and discipline, letters by prominent and everyday persons respecting their faith and beliefs, correspondence of missionaries, and reflections on religion's role in all manner of human endeavor.

The collection is comprised of over 260 letters, manuscript sermons and hymns, documents, and other items. For a comprehensive inventory and details about each item in the collection, please see the box and folder listing below.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

The childhood observations about death, spirits, and God reflect a religious upbringing and household, including one entry about how Harry "was drawing a picture of a deathbed scene where angels were coming to carry the man's spirit to God in accordance with what he had been told on the subject. He said 'Mama I guess one angel holds the man's mouth open while the other takes his spirit out of him.' " Comments about dogs, toys, and imaginative games speak to youthful entertainment and play, and others are more suggestive about the conditions in the children's environment that caught their attention. Questions like "what color is the moon on the other side," or observations that a dead mouse "is kind of wilted isn't it," provide insights into what the children were seeing and wondering about.

One entry at the back of the volume reads, "J. D. McAuliff (Heals by rubbing) St. Louis, Mo."

This collection consists of eight letters written by Rebecca M. Bradford between 1853 and 1857 while living and working in Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C., and New York and Brooklyn, New York. They document her laboring as a domestic servant, residing in boarding houses while pregnant and caring for a young infant, and travelling with a baby.

This collection consists of eight letters written by Rebecca M. Bradford between 1853 and 1857 while living and working in Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C., and New York and Brooklyn, New York. They document her laboring as a domestic servant, residing in boarding houses while pregnant and caring for a young infant, and travelling with a baby. She references miscarriage and the death of one of her young siblings, symptoms of pregnancy, and boarding house owners and workers helping to assist with infant care, including at least one enslaved woman in Washington, D.C. (see April 3, 1857).