The Clements Library Manuscripts Division reached a milestone in its efforts to create finding aids for the division’s uncataloged collections. Over 1,000 finding aids are now available on the Library’s EAD web site, thanks to generous grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).
The NEH grant (2009-2012) supported project archivists Philip Heslip, Shannon Wait, and Patrick Galligan for the processing of 416 manuscript collections. The recently completed grant was part of the “We the People” project and it allowed the Library to create detailed finding aids for many of the Library’s most significant collections. Among the NEH-funded finding aids are:
- Henry Clinton papers, 1736-1850, with a separate finding aid for the “Harriot Clinton and Elizabeth Carter diaries” portion of the collection and over 280 pages of supplementary indexes and lists
- Thomas Gage papers, 1754-1807, with a separate finding aid for the “Warrants” portion of the collection and over 380 pages of supplementary indexes and lists
- Nathanael Greene papers, 1762-1852
- Anthony Wayne family papers, 1681-1913
- Weld-Grimké family papers, 1740-1930
The NHPRC grant (2011-2013) currently funds project archivist Megan Hixon, who is writing and encoding over 1,600 finding aids, according to minimal processing techniques. This broad selection of collections will serve researchers with an interest in gender studies, race and ethnicity, education, law, politics, social reform, military history, public policy, religion, health and medicine, travel, business and commerce, naval and maritime history, theater and the arts, handwriting and grammar, and other topics. Among the recently available NHPRC-funded finding aids are:
- Job and Betsey Allen letters, 1814-1835. Letters by a farming family in Fredericktown, Ohio, with content on religious revivals and local Native Americans.
- Priscilla Hunt Cadwallader sermons, 1824 and 1831. Sermons and notes of Quaker minister Priscilla Hunt Cadwallader.
- Harry M. Horton letters, Duane Norman Diedrich collection, 1833-1835. Letters written while Horton attended Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with details about his medical studies, his social and religious life, and the Philadelphia race riots of August 1834.
- William Monson Naval Tracts, Hubert S. Smith Naval collection, [17th century]. Manuscript copies of Monson’s tracts on naval history and theory, including accounts of English voyages around Europe and contemporary assessments of rival navies and of international trade.
- James Silver papers, 1872. Letters written while visiting New Orleans, Louisiana, with 39 ink sketches of people and scenery.
Patrons may view the Clements Library’s finding aids associated with the National Endowment for the Humanities or National Historical Publications and Records Commission by searching the Clements Library Manuscripts Division EAD website for “NEH” or “NHPRC” respectively.