Collections

These papers deal largely with Silas Gilbert Patterson and his family, but materials on other families are also included. His family resided in Cornwall Bridge, Connecticut, but the papers are from other areas of Connecticut as well. The papers consist primarily of personal and business letters, family genealogies, and advertisements from local businesses. Other families and persons with papers in the collection include John L. Andrews family, Bonney family, Lewish Marsh, Morse family, Rouse family, Gilbert family, Elnathan Patterson, and Seth Pierce.

Papers, 1781-1842, of Vicente Sebastian Pintado (1774-1829), alcalde, commandant, and surveyor general of Spanish West Florida from 1799-1817. The bulk of the materials relates to land surveys, land purchases, and deed covering the period 1800-1817. Correspondence includes copies of his outgoing letters as well as letters from Carlos de Grand-Pre, Captain Francisco Rivas, Ira C. Kneeland, Christoval de Armas, Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Carlos Trudeau, Christopher Bolling, Vincent Folch, Manuel Lopez, Antonio Cruzat, and Juan Morales. Includes information on the Nicolls raid in the Apalachicola River area and the Kemper brothers' raids in Louisiana in 1804-1805.

Correspondence, papers, records, journals, cashbooks (or account books), scrapbooks, newspaper articles, passport, currency, manuscripts, books, songs, pictures, stamps, clippings and legal papers. This collection contains a wide variety of materials. The correspondence, papers, records, bookkeeping journals and cash books of Julius Diamond reflect the economic conditions of the time and are good examples of how merchandising business was conducted. The scrapbook, assembled by John W. Trench, contains manuscripts, Civil War letters and clippings, describing events such as the battles of Gettysburg, Bull Run and Vicksburg. There is an original holograph passport issued by Consul General at Marseilles, France, to a native of Italy, taken during the war. Newspaper clippings discuss the price of gold, burial ceremonies, and the sale of enslaved persons. Also included are recipes, poems, songs and jokes written during and about the Civil War, as well as other historical documents not preserved elsewhere.

The Sanibel Island Collection consists of photographs that highlight the geographical, environmental, social, and civic aspects of Sanibel Island. There are also letters, telegrams, and newspaper articles that highlight the social and community life on Sanibel Island. All materials in this collection are prior to the damage caused by Hurricane Ian in 2022.

This collection consists of ten Smith family letters, thirty-three receipted invoices, one bill for tuition, and one diary, all dating between 1782-1864. The letters were chiefly among members of the Smith family and confined to family subjects, but several have educational value in that they represent the thinking of that period, the closeness of family, their religious nature, and in one case a letter by a young lady who moved from Rhode Island to Savannah, Georgia, writes back to her family in Rhode Island and tells of her impressions of the South. One very religious letter by James W. Smith of Thomasville, Georgia, dated 1864, to his uncle, Mr. Remington Smith of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, acknowledges a letter to his father which arrived a week before "his demise."

This collection consists of various examples of stationery used during the mid-1800s. The collection contains samples of embossed stationery from 1850-1860 and Rewards of Merrit related to her grandfather, Isaac Gage, and great, great uncle, Horace Randall, both of Vermont. Other names appearing are: Louise Austin, Master Charles Cleveland, Alba Southard, and Albert Egerton. These materials are good examples of the types of envelopes and embossed stationery in use during this time period, and the Rewards of Merrit are especially unique. Also included in the collection are some 30 courtesy cards and a booklet, entitled "Floral Album and Ladies' Companion." There is an envelope addressed to Mr. James Shores of Vermont, showing post mark West Burke, Vermont, 1895, with a two cents stamp, with a return address of E. A. Smith & Co., Spruce and Hard Wood Lumber, West Burke, Vermont.