The binding of this book is made of otterskin, with decorations characteristic of Eastern Woodland Indians. It covers a Hebrew and Chaldean (i.e., Aramaic) dictionary owned by David Brainerd (1718–1747). Brainerd became a missionary after he was expelled from Yale University for making controversial religious statements. He preached for four years among Native Americans in New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey before dying in the home of Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), third president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). Gift of Mrs. William F. H. Edwards. Edwards Collection, Rare Book Division.
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Daniel Gano was a county court clerk in Cincinnati. In 1849, his son Stephen joined the Gold Rush to California. Stephen’s letters to his father describe the perils of the overland crossing and the difficulties and excitement of mining for gold. Daniel saved his son’s letters in this scrapbook, along with newspaper clippings about the Gold Rush and this hand-colored lithograph published by Kellogg & Comstock depicting “California Gold Diggers” at work. Daniel Gano Gold Rush Scrapbook, Manuscripts Division.
The English cartographer Herman Moll produced this map to support British claims to American territories. A message below the map’s title emphasizes the importance of maintaining alliances with neighboring Iroquois and Cherokee Indians to protect Britain’s territories against appropriation by French settlers. Gift of the estate of Noel Bleecker Fox, Class of 1899. Historic Maps Collection.
This influential map of America’s eastern coast by the Dutch cartographer Jan Jansson is one of the first to depict, in print, the English colonies in New England and Dutch colonies along the Hudson River. Gift of the estate of Noel Bleecker Fox, Class of 1899. Historic Maps Collection.
Like many young people today, Anicartha Miller, the daughter of a New York City judge, asked her acquaintances to contribute poems, sketches, and other mementos to fill her friendship album. The artist George Catlin (1796–1872), who would later be celebrated for his depictions of Plains Indians and the American West, gave her two watercolors, including this view of Niagara Falls. Acquired with support from the Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Fund. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 577, Manuscripts Division.
This hand-colored engraving mocks the supporters of the Stamp Act. Published on the same day that the act was repealed, the print became so popular that the publisher could not keep pace with the orders he received, and it became one of the period’s most copied satirical prints. Acquired with support from the Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Fund. British Prints Collection, Graphic Arts Collection.
As transportation improved in the 19th century, America became an increasingly attractive tourist destination. James Glennie was one such tourist, sailing from London on September 24, 1810, to travel through the Atlantic states. He kept this journal in the form of letters to his mother, in which he described visits with President James Madison (1751–1836) and other statesmen, and composed more than sixty drawings, including views of Boston, Charleston, and Washington, D.C. Gift of André de Coppet, Class of 1915. André de Coppet Collection, Manuscripts Division.
In 1839, Henry Walton set up his studio in Ithaca, New York, where he made several lithographs depicting the charms of the rural community. He continued to produce views of upstate New York until he joined the gold rush to California in 1851. Gift of Leonard L. Milberg, Class of 1953. Leonard L. Milberg ’53 Collection, Graphic Arts Collection.
John James Audubon’s nickname was the “American Woodsman,” an image he encouraged by wearing a buckskin coat and oiling his hair with bear grease. equally ambitious project, The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America (1845–1848). The American lithographer John T. Bowen (ca. 1801–1856) drew the plates from watercolors like this one, and the work was produced in Philadelphia, making Quadrupeds a truly American production. Gift of John S. Williams, Class of 1924. John James Audubon Collection, Graphic Arts Collection.
The first permanent English settlement in North America was Jamestown, Virginia, founded in 1607. William Strachey sailed to Jamestown in 1609 and became the Virginia Company’s secretary to the colony. This manuscript is a contemporary scribal copy of Strachey’s eyewitness account of the colony, with his handwritten corrections and signature. It was extra-illustrated with 27 hand-colored engravings made in 1590 by Theodor de Bry (1528–1598). Depicted here is the Algonquian village Secotan. The continent’s Native American population may have numbered in the tens of millions before European settlement. In 1612, Strachey presented the manuscript to Henry Percy (1564–1632), 9th earl of Northumberland, known as the “Wizard Earl” for his interest in science. Gift of Cyrus H. McCormick, Class of 1879. General Manuscripts Bound, no. 1416, Manuscripts Division.