To the William H. Harrison Papers
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THE LIB R :\ R Y () F C () N G R E ~ ~ • PRE ~ IDE ~ T S' PAP E R S I ~ D E X ~ E R I E ~ INDEX TO THE William H. Harrison Papers I I I I I I I I I I I I THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • PRESIDENTS' PAPERS INDEX SERIES INDEX TO THE William H. Harrison Papers MANUSCRIPT DIVISION • REFERENCE DEPARTMENT LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WASHINGTON : 1960 Library of Congress Cat~log Card Number 60-60012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, u.s. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D.C.• Price 20 cents Preface THIS INDEX to the William Henry Harrison Papers is a direct result of the wish of the Congress and the President as expressed by Public Law 85-147 dated August 16, 1957, to inspire inforrr..ed patriotism, to provide greater security for the original manuscripts, and to make the Harrison Papers more accessible and useful to scholars and other interested persons. The law authorizes and directs the Librarian of Congress to arrange, microfilm, and index the Papers of the 23 Presidents whose manuscripts are in the Library. An appropriation to carry out the provisions of the law was approved on July 31, 1958, and actual operations began on August 25. The microfilm of the Harrison Papers became available in the summer of 1959. The microfilm of the Harrison Papers and this index are the third micrcfilm and index to be issued in this series. Positive copies of the microfilm may be purchased from the Chief, Photoduplication Service, Library of Congress, Washington 25, D.C. A positive print is available for interlibrary loan through the Chief, Loan Division, Library of Congress. Contents PAGE Provenance . V Selected Bibliography VI How to Use This Index VI Reel List .. VIII Abbreviations VIII The Index .. Appendices: National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collections Card 7 Description of the Papers 8 Sources of Acquisition. 8 Statement of the Librarian of Congress 10 111 Index to the William H. Harrison Papers Provenance of the twenty-third President, who had begun to deposit her husband's papers three years earlier. "WE LEARN from passengers who ar One of the 11 boxes contained an important group rived by the Ohio and Mississippi of the William Henry Harrison Papers-the core of Railroad, yesterday morning, bet~een the present collection-composed of one of his letter 1 and 2 o'clock, that as the train arrived at North books, a number of drafts of his letters, and letters he Bend the old Log-Cabin was enveloped in flames, and had received. These papers, dated about 1805 to that its destruction was complete. 1841, centered on the period of the War of 1812. "Of course nothing was saved in the way of furni There was also material relating to the 1840 Presi ture or documents, and the probability is that many dential campaign, some of which had been sent to valuable papers left by President Harrison, together Benjamin Harrison by fr·iends and well-wishers. By with articles cherished as relics of the Old Hero, and direction of Mrs. Harrison, the entire shipment, in of the early history of the West, have been destroyed cluding the William Henry Harrison Papers, was to with the building. be treated as part of the Benjamin Harrison collection "Almost everything was lost. A little clothing and and administered under the same conditions. The furniture and a few paintings were saved, but every papers could be consulted only upon written permis thing else was consumed. the public has sus sion from Mrs. Harrison or her daughter, Elizabeth, tained a great loss in the destruction of a mass of and could be withdrawn at the pleasure of either at valuable correspondence and papers reaching from any time.,\ An interesting description of the William Gen. Harrison's first entry into public life till the Henry Harrison segment at about this time was untimely close of his career. These papers were written by Dorothy Burne Goebel, one of the first stored in one of the garrets, and only a basketful or scholars who was permitted to consult the papers.4 two were saved." Two subsequent deposits by Mrs. Harrison also Thus reads a contemporary newspaper account ofthe contained papers of William Henry Harrison. Sev end of the "old Log Cabin" commemorated by a eral of his speeches were received in 1928, and some spate of songs in the campaign of 1840. 1 Although 70 papers of and relating to him, dated b~tween 1735 the report of the fire in July 1858 plainly indicates and 1860, were received in 1932. By this time plans that some items were saved, it was assumed for many were being made to bind the William Henry Harrison years that all of the William Henry Harrison Papers segment as a separate collection, and restrictions. on were destroyed. As late as 1896 President Benjamin the examination of these papers by scholars were Harrison said in a letter to the Rev. Burke A. Hinsdale relaxed. The following year, on June 2, 1933, Mrs. that his "grandfather's papers were all destroyed Harrison presented all of the d(!posited material to when the residence at North Bend was burned. the Library.5 In a separate letter pertaining to the Friends have sent me a good many letters and perhaps William Henry Harrison Papers, she specified only a pretty complete set of campaign publications and that they were to be bound within one year, a condi biographies which have been printed. I have not tion that was promptly fulfilled. found time to arrange or classify them and am not The Library, over the years, has acquired smaller just now in a position to consider the question of numbers of Harrison materials from other sources, 'attempting to write my grandfather's biography." 2 including gifts from two other members of the family, Gaillard Hunt, Chief of the Manuscript Division, William Henry Harrison IX and John Scott Harrison, first inquired about the William Henry Harrison who presented certain original documents and allowed Papers in 1910.3 / But it was not until September 1919 others to be photocopied. The Harrison Papers are that the Library received a shipment of Benjamin now in nine volumes and two other containers. The Harrison Papers from Mary Lord Harrison, widow number of pieces in the collection is 984. I New York Times, July 29, 1858. 4 "Manuscript Collections" in Dorothy B. Goebel, William 2 July 9, 1896, copy (Tibbott transcript) in Benjamin Harrison Henry Harrison, A Political Biography (Indianapolis, 1926), pp. Papers. 383-88. 3 To W. Allen Scott, December 5, 1910. 5 Letter from Mrs. Harrison to Herbert Putnam. v In 1940 the Library began to formulate plans to Other libraries known to possess one or more Wil insure the safety of its unique and particularly valu liam Henry Harrison manuscripts include the William able materials. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, L. Clements Library, the Indiana Historical Society, on December 7, 1941, and the declaration of war on the New Jersey Historical Society, the New-York the United States by Germany four days later, Archi Historical Society, the Southern Historical Collec bald MacLeish, then Librarian of Congress, directed tions of the University of North Carolina; the Histori the evacuation of the specially selected materials cal Society of Pennsylvania, the Virginia Historical according to plan. The Harrison Papers, with other Society, and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin. materials, were evacuated from the Library on Dec The National Union Catalog of Manuscript Collec ember 29, 1941, under the supervision of Alvin W. tions may eventually reveal the whereabouts of other Kremer, Keeper of the Collections, and were stored Harrison manuscripts. in the Alderman Library of the University of Virginia. On August 14, 1944, they were returned to the Li brary. No item was lost or damaged in the vast evacuation program. Fortunately Washington was not attacked, but the Library of Congress was, in 1941, Selected Bibliography prepared for eventualities as it had not been prepared in 1814.6 Annual Report oj the Librarian oj Congress, 1929, p. 50; Since 1944 the Harrison Papers have remained in 1933, p. 27; 1934, p. 3; 1935, p. 3. the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, Garrison, Curtis W., List oj Manuscript Collections in the where they may be consulted under the usual condi Library oj Congress to July 1931 (Washington, 1932), tions which govern the use of manuscripts. Additions pp. 165, 184. unrestricted as to their use which are received after "Manuscript Collections" in Dorothy B. Goebel, the completion of this film will eventually be micro William Henry Harrison, A Political Biography (Indi filmed and indexed as a supplement to the entire anapolis, 1926), pp. 383-88. microfilm reproduction of the Library's Presidential "Manuscripts," Library of Congress Quarterly Journal collections. oj Current Acquisitions, 12 (May 1955), 133. Inasmuch as many of President Harrison's papers Powell, C. Percy, List oj Manuscript Collections Received have been destroyed, searchers may wish to examine in the Library oj Congress, July 1931 to July 7938 the personal papers of his contemporaries in the Li (Washington, 1939), pp. 6, 8. brary of Congress and elsewhere for information about "The Present Status of Presidential Papers," Manu 'him and his times. Personal papers or autograph col scripts, VlII (Fall 1955), 11. lections in the Library of Congress which are listed Rowland, Buford, "The Papers of the Presidents," below contain varying numbers of letters by, to, or American Archivist, XIII (July 1950), 200; reprinted relating to President Harrison: in Autograph Collectors' Journal, III (S~mmer 1951), Clay, Henry Madison, James 46.