Search

The Brearley-Pingree collection consists of approximately 166 autographed photographs of notable individuals that were originally compiled by Detroit-based newspaperman William H. Brearley and later added to by Detroit mayor and Governor of Michigan Hazen S. Pingree. In addition to the photographic materials, 36 manuscript items and two bound volumes are also included in the collection.

The Brearley-Pingree collection consists of approximately 166 autographed photographs of notable individuals that were originally compiled by Detroit-based newspaperman William H. Brearley and later added to by Detroit mayor and Governor of Michigan Hazen S. Pingree. An additional 36 manuscript items and 2 bound volumes are also included in the collection.

The collection appears to have been first started by Brearley during the mid-1860s, possibly during or immediately after his Civil War service. He seems to have solicited the autographs of a variety of famous individuals (including authors, performers, musicians, scientists, spiritual leaders, politicians, foreign rulers, and military officers) primarily by mailing them photographs of themselves and requesting their signatures. Possession of the collection appears to have been transferred to Pingree at some point, and he continued to make further contributions. Pingree’s daughter Hazel retained possession of the collection after her father’s death before eventually donating it to the Clements Library. All components of the collection are stored together in one box.

While most portraits in the collection are original studio photographs taken by a variety of photographers including Mathew Brady and Napoleon Sarony, a relatively small number of photographic reproductions of non-photographic portraits are also present (including depictions of James Monroe, Stonewall Jackson, and Henry and Clara Ford).

Volume 1: Brearley collection reproduction souvenir album

This album (16.5 x 15 cm) has green leather covers with lines of poetry from Henry W. Longfellow’s A Psalm of Life stamped in gold on the front. An index included at the beginning lists the names of 96 individuals represented across the album’s 24 pages. After the index, a passage written by William H. Brearley and dated August 1st 1874 explains that he created a limited number of facsimile copies of his original autographed portrait collection at the “urgent solicitation” of many interested friends. Brearley also explains that he acquired the original photographs and autographs in his collection “by long and patient effort, & tending over a period of ten years, and involving an expense of several Hundred dollars.” Subsequent album pages each contain four individually pasted 5.5 x 4 cm albumen print photographic reproductions of original portraits found in Brearley’s collection. This item was acquired from a separate source and was not part of the original collection of materials donated to the Clements Library by Hazel Hope Pingree Mills.

Volume 2: Brearley-Pingree collection original album

This album (30 x 26 cm) has brown leather covers and the words “Portraits. Autographs” and “Brearley” stamped in gold on the spine. The original autographed portraits of the Brearley-Pingree collection were once housed in this album before Clements Library staff removed the original photographs and substituted them with photocopies in 2010 for conservation and preservation purposes. Manuscript captions were also added by Clements Library staff. The original photographs are housed separately in smaller boxes and have been arranged according to size/format and ordered alphabetically by subject surname. See below for a complete list of photographic subjects contained in each box.

Of additional interest are three manuscript items, including the clipped signature of Hyacinthe Loyson and an October 15th 1873 letter from Henry W. Longfellow containing the same lines of poetry from A Psalm of Life that appear on the cover of the Brearley collection souvenir album. Also present is a letter from Buckingham Palace sent to Brearley in 1873 by Sir Thomas Biddulph explaining that the “enclosed Photograph” of Queen Victoria is being returned but that “The Queen’s Autograph is never given away.” Three wax seals are also included in the volume including an “Imperial Chancellor’s seal” (associated with a portrait of Otto von Bismarck); “the Napoleon Seal” (associated with a portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte); and a Great Seal of the Realm attached to the 1873 letter from Buckingham Palace.

Box 1.1: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, A-E

This box contains 47 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

• Adams, Charles Francis, 1807-1886.
• Agassiz, Louis, 1807-1873.
• Alcott, Louisa May, 1832-1888.
• Anderson, Richard Heron, 1821-1879.
• Anderson, Robert, 1805-1871.
• Anthony, Susan B. (Susan Brownell), 1820-1906.
• Bancroft, George, 1800-1891.
• Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891.
• Barrett, Lawrence, 1838-1891.
• Beauregard, G. T. (Gustave Toutant), 1818-1893.
• Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-1887.
• Billings, Josh, 1818-1885. [Henry Wheeler Shaw]
• Birney, David Bell, 1825-1864.
• Bishop, Anna, 1810-1884. [Anna Riviere Schultz]
• Bismarck, Otto, Fürst von, 1815-1898.
• Bonaparte, Jérôme, King of Westphalia, 1784-1860.
• Bonner, Robert, 1824-1899.
• Booth, Edwin, 1833-1893.
• Breckinridge, John C. (John Cabell), 1821-1875.
• Bright, John, 1811-1889.
• Bryant, William Cullen, 1794-1878.
• Buchanan, James, 1791-1868.
• Bülow, Hans von, 1830-1894.
• Bunker, Chang, 1811-1874. [in portrait with Eng Bunker]
• Bunker, Eng, 1811-1874. [in portrait with Chang Bunker]
• Burnside, Ambrose Everett, 1824-1881. [two portraits included]
• Butler, Benjamin F. (Benjamin Franklin), 1818-1893.
• Carleton, Will, 1845-1912.
• Chapin, E. H. (Edwin Hubbell), 1814-1880.
• Clem, John Lincoln, 1851-1937.
• Clough, J. E. (John Everett), 1836-1910.
• Coan, Titus, 1801-1882.
• Colfax, Schuyler, 1823-1885.
• Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889.
• Cook, Eliza, 1818-1889.
• Coombs, Jane, 1842- .
• Curtis, George William, 1824-1892.
• Cushman, Charlotte, 1816-1876.
• Dana, Charles A. (Charles Anderson), 1819-1897.
• Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
• Davis, Jefferson, 1808-1889.
• Dickinson, Anna E. (Anna Elizabeth), 1842-1932.
• Dix, John A. (John Adams), 1798-1879.
• Doré, Gustave, 1832-1883.
• Doubleday, Abner, 1819-1893.
• Douglass, Frederick, 1818-1895.
• Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
• Emory, William H. (William Hemsley), 1811-1887.

Box 1.2: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, F-N

This box contains 46 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

• Farragut, David Glasgow, 1801-1870.
• Ferrero, Edward, 1831-1899.
• Field, Cyrus W. (Cyrus West), 1819-1892.
• Field, Kate, 1838-1896. [Mary Katherine Keemle Field]
• Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874.
• Forrest, Nathan Bedford, 1821-1877.
• Fowler, O. S. (Orson Squire), 1809-1887.
• Garrison, William Lloyd, 1805-1879.
• Gladstone, W. E. (William Ewart), 1809-1898.
• Grant, Ulysses S. (Ulysses Simpson), 1822-1885.
• Greeley, Horace, 1811-1872.
• Greenwood, Grace, 1823-1904. [Sarah Jane Clarke Lippincott]
• Hall, John, 1829-1898.
• Halleck, H. W. (Henry Wager), 1815-1872.
• Hancock, Winfield Scott, 1824-1886.
• Hay, John, 1838-1905.
• Heintzelman, Samuel Peter, 1805-1880.
• Hoar, E. R. (Ebenezer Rockwood), 1816-1895.
• Holland, J. G. (Josiah Gilbert), 1819-1881.
• Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894.
• Hooker, Joseph, 1814-1879.
• Howard, O. O. (Oliver Otis), 1830-1909.
• Hugo, Victor, 1802-1885.
• Jackson, Stonewall, 1824-1863.
• Johnson, Andrew, 1808-1875.
• Kirby-Smith, Edmund, 1824-1893.
• Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905.
• Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
• Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
• Locke, David Ross, 1833-1888. [Petroleum V. Nasby]
• Logan, John Alexander, 1826-1886.
• Longstreet, James, 1821-1904.
• Loring, Charles G. (Charles Greely), 1794-1867.
• Loyson, Hyacinthe, 1827-1912.
• Lucca, Pauline, 1841-1908.
• Mario, Giovanni, 1810-1883. [Mario, T.]
• McClellan, George Brinton, 1826-1885.
• Mitchell, Maggie, 1837-1918.
• Moltke, Helmuth, Graf von, 1800-1891.
• Monroe, James, 1758-1831.
• Morse, Edward Sylvester, 1838-1925.
• Motley, John Lothrop, 1814-1877.
• Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh, Shah of Iran, 1831-1896.
• Nast, Thomas, 1840-1902.
• Nilsson, Christine, 1843-1921.
• Nutt, Commodore, 1848-1881. [group portrait with Minnie Warren]

Box 1.3: Brearley-Pingree collection cartes de visite, O-Z

This box contains 36 cartes de visite. Represented individuals include the following:

• Ord, Edward Otho Cresap, 1818-1883.
• Parepa-Rosa, Euphrosyne, 1836-1874.
• Patti, Adelina, 1843-1919.
• Phillipps, Adelaide, 1833-1882.
• Porter, David D. (David Dixon), 1813-1891.
• Rogers, Randolph, 1825-1892.
• Salvini, Tommaso, 1829-1915.
• Saxe, John Godfrey, 1816-1887.
• Schurz, Carl, 1829-1906.
• Scott-Siddons, Mary Frances, 1844-1896.
• Sheridan, Philip Henry, 1831-1888.
• Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891.
• Sothern, Edward Askew, 1826-1881.
• Spinner, Francis Elias, 1802-1890.
• Spurgeon, C. H. (Charles Haddon), 1834-1892.
• Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904.
• Stephens, Alexander H. (Alexander Hamilton), 1812-1883.
• Strakosch, Max, 1835-1892.
• Sumner, Charles, 1811-1874.
• Tennyson, Alfred Tennyson, Baron, 1809-1892.
• Terry, Alfred Howe, 1827-1890.
• Thiers, Adolphe, 1797-1877.
• Thomas, George H. (George Henry), 1816-1870.
• Thomas, Theodore, 1835-1905.
• Thumb, Tom, 1838-1883. [Charles Sherwood Stratton; group portrait with Lavinia Warren]
• Twain, Mark, 1835-1910. [Samuel L. Clemens; both names signed on photograph]
• Vanderbilt, Cornelius, 1794-1877.
• Waite, Morrison R. (Morrison Remick), 1816-1888.
• Warren, G. K. (Gouverneur Kemble), 1830-1882.
• Welles, Gideon, 1802-1878.
• Willcox, Orlando B.
• Wilson, Henry, 1812-1875.
• Woodhull, Victoria C. (Victoria Claflin), 1838-1927.
• Wright, Horatio Gouverneur, 1820-1899.
• Yates, Edmund, 1831-1894.
• Young, Brigham, 1801-1877.

Box 2: Brearley-Pingree collection cabinet cards

This box contains 27 cabinet cards. Represented individuals include the following:

• Andrade, Ignacio, 1836-1925.
• Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886.
• Bernhardt, Sarah, 1844-1923.
• Booth-Tucker, Emma, 1860-1903.
• Booth-Tucker, Frederick St. George de Lautour, 1853-1929.
• Bull, Ole, 1810-1880.
• Cable, George Washington, 1844-1925.
• Chamberlain, Joseph, 1836-1914.
• Dickinson, Donald McDonald, 1846-1917.
• Garfield, James A. (James Abram), 1831-1881.
• Garfield, Lucretia Rudolph, 1832-1918.
• Hayes, Rutherford B., 1822-1893.
• Janauschek, Francesca Romana Magdalena, 1830-1904.
• Kellogg, Clara Louisa, 1842-1916.
• Kennan, George, 1845-1924.
• Kruger, Paul, 1825-1904.
• Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, 1807-1882.
• Phillips, Wendell, 1811-1884.
• Ranavalona III, Queen of Madagascar, 1861-1917.
• Reed, Thomas B. (Thomas Brackett), 1839-1902.
• Stead, W. T. (William Thomas), 1849-1912. [three portraits included]
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher, 1811-1896.
• Urso, Camilla, 1842-1902.
• Victoria, Queen of Britain, 1819-1901.
• Whittier, John Greenleaf, 1807-1892.

Box 3: Brearley-Pingree collection large photographs and manuscript materials

This box contains 9 large format mounted photographs and 33 manuscript items. Represented individuals among the photographs include the following:

• Cleveland, Frances Folsom, 1864-1947.
• Cleveland, Grover, 1837-1908.
• Ford, Clara Bryant, 1866-1950.
• Ford, Henry, 1863-1947.
• Gibbons, James, 1834-1921.
• Guzmán Blanco, Antonio, 1828-1899.
• Mace, Aurelia Gay, 1835-1910.
• Milles, Carl, 1875-1955.
• Wilder, Marshall P.

Manuscript materials of interest include a number of letters dating to the mid-1870s from various individuals (including John A. Dix, C. H. Spurgeon, H. W. Longfellow, and Lucretia R. Garfield) possibly sent to William H. Brearley in response to autograph solicitations and other requests; and numerous letters addressed to Hazen S. Pingree from various individuals (inlcuding William Thomas Stead, Ignacio Andrade, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, and William McKinley) dating to the 1890s. Other items of interest include a copy of "Special Order No. 166 'Extract' Head Quarters 2d Brigade 3d Div 2d A.I." dated June 15th 1865 stating that the 1st Mass Heavy Artillery had been ordered by Brig. Gen. Franklin Pierce to repost to General Hancock; calling cards for "Sixto Sanchez Director General de Coreeos - Postmaster" as well as "The Admiral of the Navy" George Dewey from "when he called on Gov. Pingree in Detroit"; a clipped signature of "Louis Botha Commandant General"; an undated note to poet Louise Chandler Moulton; a document dated August 1st 1892 detailing financial investment information related to the Michigan-Peninsular Car Company with pasted clippings of wealthy politicians and their net worths as well as annotations by Pingree; a letter dated Feb 19th 1892 from Don M. Dickinson to Pingree regarding the prospective visit of Grover Clevland to Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the University of Michigan; a letter dated March 9th 1949 from Hazel Hope Pingree Mills to Director of the William L. Clements Library Randolph G. Adams regarding progress being made on research regarding the life of William H. Brearley; and an undated typed copy of a short essay titled "Brearley - Man of Action, Started Many Important Detroit Activities" by historian George B. Catlin.

The Delmar Lepper Civilian Conservation Corps photograph albums consist of two volumes containing 59 photographs, 15 postcards, and two letters documenting the daily life and experiences of a young man in the Civilian Conservation Corps in California and Idaho.

The Delmar Lepper Civilian Conservation Corps photograph albums consist of two volumes containing 59 photographs, 15 postcards, and two letters documenting the daily life and experiences of a young man in the Civilian Conservation Corps in California and Idaho.

Volume one (14 x 21 cm) has leather covers with a stereotypical design of a Native American man wearing a war bonnet and the words "Snap Shots/Co. 544/ Delmar Lepper" stamped on the front cover. This album contains approximately 40 snapshots and 15 half tone color postcards. Images of note include a picture of a bear being fed by a man outside of a car and postcards featuring Californian scenery. One of the postcards was sent to Lepper’s brother Albert in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Volume two (19.5 x 26.5 cm) has red pressed paper covers with a hawk and the word "Photographs" stamped on the front in silver. The album contains 19 snapshots as well as two letters written by Lepper in 1935 addressed to his brother Albert. One letter discusses Lepper's recommitment to the C.C.C. and his anxiety about doing so while the other letter describes a trip to a ship in the Pacific Ocean as well as his weight gain. The photographs appear to have been previously moved around in the album as many are loose.

The Delmar Lepper Civilian Conservation Corps photograph albums consist of two volumes containing 59 photographs, 15 postcards, and two letters documenting the daily life and experiences of a young man in the Civilian Conservation Corps in California and Idaho.

The Delmar Lepper Civilian Conservation Corps photograph albums consist of two volumes containing 59 photographs, 15 postcards, and two letters documenting the daily life and experiences of a young man in the Civilian Conservation Corps in California and Idaho.

Volume one (14 x 21 cm) has leather covers with a stereotypical design of a Native American man wearing a war bonnet and the words "Snap Shots/Co. 544/ Delmar Lepper" stamped on the front cover. This album contains approximately 40 snapshots and 15 half tone color postcards. Images of note include a picture of a bear being fed by a man outside of a car and postcards featuring Californian scenery. One of the postcards was sent to Lepper’s brother Albert in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Volume two (19.5 x 26.5 cm) has red pressed paper covers with a hawk and the word "Photographs" stamped on the front in silver. The album contains 19 snapshots as well as two letters written by Lepper in 1935 addressed to his brother Albert. One letter discusses Lepper's recommitment to the C.C.C. and his anxiety about doing so while the other letter describes a trip to a ship in the Pacific Ocean as well as his weight gain. The photographs appear to have been previously moved around in the album as many are loose.

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The James Galloway Antioch College photograph album is a memorial book for the Antioch College Class of 1860 containing 37 photographs including views of campus, co-educational classes, and individual portraits of class members.

The album (28 x 23.5 cm) has moiré fabric covers with "James S. Galloway" stamped on the front. The title page lists the photographer as J. W. Winder. The majority of images are studio portraits of members of the Class of 1860, most of which include the subjects’ signatures and hometowns. Of note is a portrait of suffragist Olympia Brown (1835-1926), the first woman to both graduate from theological school and become a full-time ordained minister. Also present is an image of the Antioch College campus, three photographs of co-educational classes, and a letter from one of Galloway's classmates describing the Class of 1860’s 50th reunion in 1910 which Galloway did not attend.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers consist of documents generated by the society as well as correspondence to and from various members of the society about slavery, the conditions of freemen, and other progressive issues.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers contain only a small portion of what must at one time have been a much larger collection. As a society devoted to the immediate abolition of slavery, the antislavery movement forms the context of most of the correspondence in the collection, but the members of the society were individually and collectively involved in the education of freedmen and in other movements, including women's rights. As a result, the collection offers a broad perspective on the mentality and activity of a small group of progressive northern women involved in the reform of what they saw as the worst inequities in American society.

The Society maintained contact with several national-level leaders of the antislavery movements, and provided important financial support to Frederick Douglass, in particular. The nine letters from Douglass in the collection all relate to the assistance provided for publication of his newspaper or are requests from him for direct aid to fugitive slaves en route to Canada. A particularly affecting letter is one that he wrote from England in 1860, while on an antislavery tour. Harriet Tubman, Beriah Green, Lewis Tappan, George B. Cheever, and Gerrit Smith also appear in the collection, either as correspondents or subjects of letters. Among the more interesting of these letters is one from John Stewart, probably a free black man, addressed to Harriet Tubman; a letter from Moses Anderson, also African-American, writing about the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin in shaping his political consciousness; Jacob Gibb's letter of introduction for a fugitive slave; and William Watkins' report on the number of fugitive slaves that have passed through Rochester into Canada in the year 1857.

British support for the Society was crucial in keeping it viable in the late 1850s, and is documented through the letters of Julia Griffiths Crofts (Leeds, England); Sarah Plummer (Dalkeith, Scotland), and Maria Webb (Dublin, Ireland). The fund-raising efforts of the society can be tracked partly through the list of goods donated for a Festival (1:77), a small collection of ephemera relating to British antislavery societies (1:82), and a list of donations from those British societies (1:28). The most significant item for tracking finances, however, is the account book for the Society (2:20), which covers its entire history. The secretaries of the Society recorded the complete finances of the organization, and provided lists of speakers at their annual events, and carefully delineated money remitted to individual fugitive slaves. Included at the end of the collection are a set of photocopies of the manuscripts (2:21) and supplemental information about the Society and its members, provided by the University of Rochester (2:22).

Freedmen's education was a major concern of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and is discussed extensively by several correspondents. The single most frequent correspondent in the collection is Julia A. Wilbur, writing while working with freedmen in Alexandria, Va., 1862-1865. Wilbur writes long and vivid letters describing the miserable living conditions found among the freedmen, their want of clothing and shelter, and she describes several individual cases. Wilbur also met and became familiar with the renowned ex-slave and author, Harriet Jacobs. The situation that Wilbur describes in Virginia verges on the chaotic, with corruption at the highest levels, dissension among those in charge of contraband matters, and many in the military reluctant or unwilling to take any responsibility. She was a perceptive observer of the progress of the war, Southern citizenry, and of the destruction that the war had inflicted upon Virginia. Her official reports to the Society, which are more general and less pointed than her private correspondence, were published in the Society's published annual reports (2:1-13).

In addition to Wilbur's letters, there are six other items pertaining to freedmen's education. Three letters from G. W. Gardiner and one document signed by Lewis Overton, 1862-63, relate to the work of the Colored School, founded for freedmen at Leavenworth, Kansas, and both letters from Daniel Breed, 1863-64, include discussions of the Rochester School for Freedmen in Washington, D.C., named for the Society whose money founded it.

The printed items in the collection include fourteen of the seventeen known annual reports of the Society, a report from the Toronto Ladies' Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored fugitives (2:14), and circulars from two British societies (2:15-16). Three issues of Frederick Douglass' Paper (October 2, 1851, February 19 1858, and July 1, 1859) and one issue of The North Star (April 14, 1848) are included in Oversize Manuscripts. An issue of the Christian Inquirer (New York, July 24, 1858), having no direct relation to the Rochester Society, was transferred to the Newspapers Division. Finally, in two letters written in 1859 and 1861, Rebecca Bailey discusses her father William Bailey's newspaper, The Free South.

The Rowland Stephenson scrapbook contains numerous clippings, engravings, illustrations, notes, and ephemera primarily related to British banking and finance, the Royal Family, and prominent political and historical figures.

The Rowland Stephenson scrapbook contains numerous clippings, engravings, illustrations, notes, and ephemera primarily related to British banking and finance, the Royal Family, and prominent political and historical figures.

The scrapbook (23 x 18 cm) has brown board covers, is lacking a spine, and contains 184 pages in total. While it is unlikely that Stephenson himself created the scrapbook, it does appear that it may have been compiled by a close associate or relative of Stephenson's. Dated contents range from ca. 1767 to 1840 and generally speaking include numerous engraved portraits of various individuals (mainly royal personages, aristocrats, politicians, military and religious leaders, writers, artists, doctors, scientists, athletes, eccentrics, criminals, and historic figures), engravings and illustrations of buildings and other scenes, handwritten notes and ephemeral materials related to various subjects including royal finances and banking, multiple pasted in signatures, and newspaper clippings regarding various subjects including a reward notice for information on Stephenson's whereabouts after his disappearance following his embezzlement scandal. A number of engravings appear to have been clipped from European Magazine as well as R. S. Kirby’s Wonderful and Eccentric Museum; Or, Magazine of Remarkable Characters. Many undated engravings of pre-18th century historic figures were likely produced prior to 1767.

• Pressed plant life remnants of a “Willow from the grave of Buonaparte at St. Helena. 1838” (pg. 1)
• Engraved portraits of King George III, Aleksandr Suvorov, and the Duke of Wellington (pgs. 2-4)
• Handwritten list of debts held by Prince Regent George IV coupled with a newspaper clipping expressing caution about how to deal with being in debt (pg. 7)
• Engraved portrait of Prince Regent George IV with handwritten notes summarizing "Debts of this King paid by Parliament"; includes juxtaposed clipped engraving of a man with hand-drawn sight lines drawing attention to the total debt amount of £3,113,061 (pg. 8)
• Handwritten list of expenses for the coronation of King George IV, July 19, 1821 (pg. 9)
• Invitation to the coronation of King George IV (pg. 10)
• Printed poem about death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, November 6, 1817 (pg. 13)
• Handwritten list detailing pensions paid to certain dukes, duchesses, princes, and princesses (pg. 15)
• Two engravings showing portraits of Queen Victoria (ca. 1837) and the 1st Earl of Munster (ca. 1834) encircled by statistical references regarding “The Population of the British Empire according to the last census” (pgs. 16 & 48)
• Handwritten list showing stats related to the “Total personal charge of a King of England, on the scale of the reign of George the Third” (pg. 17)
• Engraved portrait of surgeon Charles Aldis (pg. 19)
• Engraved view of the comet of 1811 (between pgs. 19 and 20)
• Clipped handwritten cookery list dated December 29, 1767 (pg. 20)
• Engraved portrait of “Her late Most Excellent Majesty Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain,” dated December 1818 (pg. 23)
• Engraved view of “Frogmore, the favorite residence of Her late Majesty” coupled with smaller engraving of people ice skating (pg. 24)
• Handwritten notes detailing the history and operations of the Bank of England (pgs. 25, 27, 29, & 31)
• Three Bank of England checks dated February 14, 1826, Dec 10, 1818, and March 6, 1818, all marked with “Forged” stamps, accompanied by handwritten notes (pgs. 26, 28, & 30)
• Two unfilled stock certificates for £1 and £10 from the Hibernian Bank, Dublin, illustrated with vignettes (pg. 32)
• Handwritten statement detailing the Bank of England’s net profits from 1797 to 1816; includes tipped-in engraved portrait from 1803 of Abraham Newland, Chief Cashier for the Bank of England (pgs. 33-35)
• Handwritten note about scented “love letter paper” made in New Jersey alongside an engraved portrait of Raphael (pg. 37)
• Engravings including depictions of four honorary medals and views of “The Car on which the Remains of Lord Nelson were conveyed to St. Paul’s Jany. 9, 1806,” the "Palaquin presented by the Marquis Cornwall to Prince Abdul Calic, Eldest Son of Tippoo Sultaun…Sepr. 1796," and "A West View of the Iron Bridge over the Wear near Sunderland" (pgs. 39-41)
• Handwritten notes detailing the history of the Rothschild Family (pgs. 43 & 44)
• Engravings of Thomas Coram and the Foundling Hospital as well as a funding solicitation notice seeking contributions for the Foundling Hospital (pgs. 45 & 46)
• Tickets and other ephemera related to various lotteries (pgs. 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, & 58)
• Engraved view of the Globe Theater (pg. 53)
• Clipping regarding election anecdote related to Lord Chief Justice John Holt accompanied by a tipped-in engraved portrait of Holt (pg. 62)
• Handwritten notes on the "Character of a Good Woman" (pg. 63)
• Handwritten notes on Freemasonry (pg. 64)
• Hand-drawn view of the comet of 1811 (pg. 65)
• Engraved portraits of Benjamin Thompson, the Count Rumford; John Elwes; Joanna Southcott; Thomas Paine; Rev. Thomas Raffles; Richard Carlile; Sir Richard "Dick" Wittington and his cat; Joseph Priestley; Prince Albert; engraver John Rowe; and London eccentric Ann Siggs (pgs. 74-85)
• Engraved depiction of a sleeping woman named Elizabeth Perkins of Morley, Norfolk, accompanied by handwritten notes detailing her sudden and mysterious entrance into a coma in 1788 (pg. 86)
• Ca. 1839 advertisement for a showing of Brother Jonathan, the mammoth ox from America (pg. 87)
• Engraved portraits of boxer James Belcher, eccentric dentist Martin van Butchell, and Madame de Staël Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker (pgs. 88-90)
• Plan of the King’s Theatre (pg. 94)
• Engraving showing the three defendants in the 1823 Radlett Murder: John Thurtell, Joseph Hunt, and William Probert (pg. 101)
• Handwritten copy of a letter sent from Rotterdam, Netherlands, dated August 18, 1817, instructing Stephenson’s firm to pay £100 to someone who was purpsoefully injured by one of their clients (pg. 103)
• Engraved portraits of Thomas Hobson accompanied by a printed poem, Henry Jenkins of Ellerton in Yorkshire “who lived to the Surpizing Age of 169,” and Thomas “Old Tom” Parr (pgs. 110-112)
• Engraved view of London and the observatory erected over the cross of St. Paul's Cathedral that was used by Thomas Hornor to create his panoramic view of London accompanied by a handwritten note about an individual nearly falling to their death after slipping on top of the cathedral's dome (pgs. 115 & 116)
• Engraved portraits of Lady Morgan Sydney Owenson and Charlemagne (pg. 117)
• Ca. 1840 advertisement for London-based rubbish collector John Allford attached to French cologne advertisement (between pgs. 117 & 118)
• Clipping regarding Edmund Burke's description of the Bible, an engraved portrait of Burke and an engraving of two Biblical-era priests preparing sacrifices (pgs. 123 & 124)
• Engraved portraits of Rev. Rowland Hill and George Savile, Marquis of Halifax (pgs. 125 & 128)
• Cut and pasted signatures of various individuals (pgs. 129-168)
• Engraved portraits of Governor Joseph Wall, Sir Francis Burdett, Lord Brougham and Vaux, Lord Durham, John Bellingham, T. S. Duncombe, Colonel George De Lacy Evans, Lord Thomas Erskine, George Canning, Granville Sharp, Henry Hunt, Richard Watson, Joseph Hume, William Cobbett, Daniel O'Connell, Charles Lennox the Duke of Richmond, Lord Palmerston, Thomas Spring-Rice, William Henry the Duke of Portland, Sir James Shaw, Lord Bexley Nicholas Vansittart, Sir Matthew Wood, Robert Waithman, W. T. Raynal, Sir Richard Birnie, Joliot de Crebillon, John Gully, Sir John Oglander, John Soane, Sir Nicholas Conyngham Tindal, Hippocrates, Josiah Ricraft, Dr. Herman Boerhaave, Henry Hastings, Marie and Catherine de Médicis, James Cook, Rev. Obadiah Sedgwick, Lord Burghley, King William IV, and Queen Victoria (pgs. 133-183)
• Hand-colored engraved portrait of Stephenson accompanied by his own clipped signature as well as a newspaper clipping of a reward notice offering £1000 pounds for Stephenson's apprehension following his alleged embezzlement and flight from London (pg. 171)
• Four tipped-in manuscript items including an undated note from Stephenson quoting "Lev: 12: Blair" about choosing one's path in life; a letter dated January 9, 1804, from B. Pratt to Stephenson regarding the importance of being careful with money; a letter dated August 29, 1827, from “Rody Moroney” to Stephenson thanking the latter for favors; and a letter dated March 23, 1822, from "the Independent Inhabitation of West Looe" to innkeeper Robert Reath inquiring about the whereabouts of Stephenson's friends and remarking on business matters impacted in the wake of a contested election (between pgs. 171 & 172)
• Clipping of a poem dated January 10, 1829, regarding Stephenson's alleged embezzlement and lamenting the volume of negative newspaper coverage devoted to Stephenson as well as to the Duke of Wellington (pg. 173)
• Loose letter dated March 19, 1828, from Michael Meredith to Stephenson expressing the former's willingness to work for Stephenson again in Leominster "if it should happen that your Honour should call on me again at any future Election" (between pgs. 173 & 174)
• Handwritten notes regarding the "Expenses of the Coronation of Queen Victoria" accompanied by a clipping that details the approximate value of the jewels found in Her Majesty's Crown (pg. 184)
• Engraved view of the passenger steamboat SS British Queen (pasted inside back cover)

The Samuel May photograph album contains approximately 208 photographs as well as letters and ephemera compiled by U.S. Army soldier Samuel May from his time stationed in London, France, and Germany during World War II.

The Samuel May photograph album contains approximately 208 photographs as well as letters and ephemera compiled by U.S. Army soldier Samuel May from his time stationed in London, France, and Germany during World War II.

The album was originally housed in a vinyl binder but has since been moved to a separate binder where images and ephemera have been housed in plastic sleeves. In addition to photographs the album also contains a set of tourist postcards, five tickets, one drawing, one newspaper clipping, four magazine clippings, one event advertisement, two miscellaneous documents, one newspaper, and three letters home. All of the photographs have information written on their backs.

Images of note include pictures of leisure activities taken while May was stationed in France including views of Rheims, Marseille, and Paris; the destroyed German War Office and the 1936 Olympic Stadium in Berlin; the city of Aachen in ruins; and young men sporting Adolf Hitler-style mustaches as a joke captioned "This is just in case we lose." Also of interest is a drawing of Samuel May on American Red Cross stationery as well as letters home that were likely written while May was waiting to return home following the war’s conclusion.

The Sumner H. Cater collection contains materials related to a University of Illinois student's employment as a stereoview salesman during the summer of 1913.

The Sumner H. Cater collection contains materials related to a University of Illinois student's employment as a stereoview salesman during the summer of 1913.

The collection includes the original salesman case used by Sumner H. Cater which contains 1 stereoviewer, 24 sample stereographs (3 by Keystone View Company and 21 by Underwood & Underwood), and 3 explanation cards that help demonstrate how stereographs work. Photographic content includes 4 foreign views showing "Picking lemons" at an orchard in Sicily, "The Japanese hillside trenches," "A hospitable home in old Ireland," and "Concrete Arches" at the Panama Canal; 4 domestic views showing "A mountain of petrified water" and "'Old Faithful' geyser in action at Yellowstone National Park, the "Famous trotting ostrich 'Oliver W.'" in Jacksonville, Florida, and "Feeding the Chickens" on a New Jersey farm; and 16 views from the Underwood & Underwood "Holy Land" series mainly showing scenes from Jerusalem.

• “Keystone World Tours” by J. Paul Goode, Keystone View Company, Portland, Oregon (1 item)
• “A Pilgrimage Through Palestine,” Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1907 (1 item)
• “The Stereoscope, The Stereograph, Sun-Painting” Sun-Sculpture” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1910 (1 item)
• “The Underwood Travel System,” Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1913 (1 item)
• “Manual of Instruction,” Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1908 (1 item)
• “Old Mother Earth’s Babies,” Keystone View Company, New York 1907 (1 item)
• “Key to 72 Travel-Tour of the World Through Stereoscope” by J. Paul Goode, Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania (1 item)
• “Keystone Cabinets and cases,” Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1905 (1 item)
• Underwood & Underwood stereoview listings (2 items)
• Two editions of "The Underwood Travel System Newsletter" listing totals from completed sales by various salesmen as well as best practices regarding sales strategies, announcements, and new photographic subjects in stock (2 items)
• Two editions of "U.T.S. [Underwood Travel System] Selling Aids" (2 items)
• Unused envelopes addressed to Keystone View Company and Prof. Ira O. Baker (5 items)
• Contract between Sumner H. Cater and Keystone View Company agreeing to terms of employment between June 10th and September 10th 1913 (1 item)
• Unused "Salesman's Weekly Report to Keystone View Company" template forms (3 items)
• Letter from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater dated April 2nd 1913 notifying Cater that a duplicate of his contract with Keystone is attached, insisting that Keystone will assist him in making the “largest amount possible from your vacation work,” and urging him to study the products on offer (1 item)
• Letter from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater dated April 19th 1913 notifying Cater that Keystone had received his "Letter of Credit" and that they were sending stereographs his way, with Panama Canal views emphasized as products he should try especially hard to sell during his pending window of employment (1 item)
• Letters from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater (originally addressed to Princeton, Illinois, but remarked for general delivery in Garrison, Iowa) dated June 16th and 17th 1913 notifying Cater that records indicate they have not yet heard from him despite his window of employment having officially begun while also positing to Cater that this summer will prove to be the "best season that Keystone college men have ever known," before listing off names of other salesmen alongside how many hours they have worked and how many orders they have successfully procured (2 items)
• Letter from Underwood & Underwood to Sumner H. Cater dated June 14th 1913 and addressed to Benton, Iowa, notifying Cater that the Benton area has been reserved for himself and "Mr. Hey" and encouraging him to work thoroughly in such a large area (1 item)
• Letter from Underwood & Underwood to Sumner H. Cater dated June 16th 1913 and addressed to Garrison, Iowa, notifying Cater that they have sent him an outfit and a "Canvass and Delivery Instruction" booklet (1 item)
• Letter from the treasurer of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Y.M.C.A. to Sumner H. Cater indicating that while he made a subscription payment of $2.00 the previous fall there was still a remaining unpaid balance of $1.50 (1 item)

The United States War with Mexico Collection contains miscellaneous letters and documents related to the war between the United States and Mexico, 1846-1848. Topics covered by the collection include army strategy and logistics; the battles of Buena Vista, National Bridge, Vera Cruz, and Cerro Gordo; guerilla warfare; efforts to restore peace; American impressions of Mexico and its inhabitants; and many others.

The United States War with Mexico Ccollection spans March 19, 1845, to [after 1894], with the bulk concentrated around 1846 to 1848. Topics covered by the collection include army strategy and logistics; the battles of Buena Vista, National Bridge, Vera Cruz, and Cerro Gordo; guerilla warfare; efforts to restore peace; and American impressions of Mexico and its inhabitants. See the "Detailed Box and Folder Listing" for an item-level inventory of the collection.

The William H. Lee papers are primarily comprised of correspondence and documents relating to Lee’s service with the 8th Missouri Cavalry and the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry, Union Army. A few items document his family life and career after the war.

The William Lee papers contain 57 items spanning from 1862 to 1955, including 49 letters and 8 documents. The earliest items in the collection are 16 letters written by Lee to family members during his service in the 8th Missouri Cavalry and the 3rd Arkansas Cavalry. In his letters of this period, Lee gave detailed accounts of marches, battles, and skirmishes and shared his opinions on several political subjects. His letter of December 7, 1862, contains an account of the Battle of Prairie Grove: “…we marched up on the right wing of our army & in two hours after our artillery commenced firing the day was ours. This is given up by all to be the hardest fought battle of the west & the most decisive.” Lee’s descriptions were frequently accompanied by numerical counts of forces and casualties.

Also of interest is Lee’s perspective on the conflict between North and South, which he expressed in several letters to his mother. Despite residing in Arkansas at the outbreak of the war, Lee strongly identified with the North, and his sentiments seemed to deepen over the course of the war. He expressed deep anger at Southerners (April 22, 1863) stating, “…if every one of them were today occupying a tract of land 6 by 3 feet under the sod I think they would have their Southern Rights…” He also cheered the changes to the Arkansas Constitution forbidding slavery and Confederate “brushwacking” (January 30, 1864). After his February 4, 1865, honorable discharge, the theme of Lee’s letters quickly turned to the courtship of his future wife, Mary, whom he calls “Mollie.” Included in the collection are six invitations to from Lee to “Miss Mollie,” and a letter written on the morning of their wedding day, April 18, 1865, expressing his wish for “a quiet family thing of it.”

Later letters document Lee’s business travels and family life. A letter from Mary to her mother (January 26, 1876) gives substantial information on the Lee children, the adjustment to living in Tennessee (“the society is not of the best”), and the difficulty of finding a school. The 20th-century letters mainly document efforts to put up a new gravestone for Abner Lee, William Lee’s grandfather.

The “Documents” series contains a variety of materials, including Lee’s army discharge papers, a brief autobiography with clippings on William and Mary Lee, and three photos, one of which may portray Lee as an elderly man.