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Series X. Manuscripts
Scope and Content Note
This series is made up of several separate collections of agriculture-related materials from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries, gathered by USDA historians from a variety of sources. The creators of these materials were farmers, gardeners, scientists, USDA officials, business people and others, and the materials include diaries, letters, receipts, articles, publications, clippings, scrapbooks, pamphlets, record books, ledgers, broadsides, and certificates. The subject matter covers the daily activities, accounts, and records of farming, horticulture, livestock breeding, and other agricultural enterprises.
Collections of note in this series include letters to Humphry Marshall, a botanist and plant dealer who lived near Philadelphia in the late 18th century; approximately 50 years of pocket diaries of Charles Ballard, a Pennsylvania farmer; transcriptions of more than 30 years of diaries of the Loomis family, farmers in Michigan; and articles, booklets, letters and other material relating to Solomon Hoxie, a breeder and promoter of Holstein-Friesian cattle in the United States.
Most of the material is in English and of American origin, although there are a few British, French, and Dutch items.
19 Items
Please note that full-text search is only available for items which have successfully had their text extracted. Due to the nature of the materials, many documents are not OCR-compatible.
- Collection: Series X. Manuscripts
Arbustum Americanum, Title Page and Dedication
Description: The title page and dedication to Humphry Marshall's Arbustum Americanum: The American Grove, 1785, the first American imprint on native trees and shrubs. Marshall published Arbustum with the assistance of Samuel Vaughan, an English planter from…
Creators: Humphry Marshall
Date: 1785 (original); 1967 (copy)
Vaughan to Marshall, May 28, 1785
Description: Samuel Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, May 28, 1785. Vaughan expresses his desire to plant in the State-house square all trees and shrubs that grow in North America, and asks for Marshall's assistance in compiling a list. Also Vaughan urges Marshall to…
Date: 1785-05-28
Vaughan to Marshall, May 14, 1785
Description: Samuel Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, May 14, 1785. Vaughan describes his efforts to get Marshall's work published and his preference for the work to be published in America as opposed to England. He also asks Marshall's advice on trees and shrubs to…
Date: 1785-05-14
Vaughan to Marshall, April 30, 1785
Description: Samuel Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, April 30, 1785. Vaughan says he presented Marshall's Botanical Catalogue before the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture and the Philosophical Society, and describes his inquiries into the cost of getting…
Date: 1785-04-30
Dr. Thomas Parke to Humphry Marshall, October 9, 1792.
Description: Dr. Thomas Parke to Humphry Marshall, October 9, 1792, in which he states that he has obtained a shipment from John Bartram and includes a receipt and container list. This John Bartram (1743-1812) was the son of botanist and explorer John Bartram…
Date: 1792-10-09
Banks to Marshall, May 6, 1789
Description: Sir Joseph Banks to Humphry Marshall, May 6, 1789. Banks reports that the last box of plants was received safely and notes "I have no doubt that as the spring advances we shall find in it several Plants which will enrich our Botanical Knowledge." He…
Date: 1789-05-06
Banks to Marshall, April 5, 1786
Description: Sir Joseph Banks to Humphry Marshall, April 5, 1786, discussing the root of ginseng. The transcription begins on the bottom of page 559 and continues on page 560 of Darlington's Memorials. Marshall's reply to Banks of November 14, 1786 (not included…
Date: 1786-04-05
Banks to Marshall, April 3, 1790
Description: Sir Joseph Banks to Humphry Marshall, April 3, 1790. Page 563 of Darlington's Memorials provides a transcription of the body of the letter, however, the list of plants on page 3 is not included in the printed text.
Date: 1790-04-03
Vaughan to Marshall, May 22, 1786
Description: Samuel Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, May 22, 1786. Vaughan refer to the meteorological research of a professor of "Cambridge College, Massachusetts," and asks if Marshall would be able to assist in this project by making observations on "the times…
Date: 1786-05-22
Vaughan to Marshall, April 13, 1785
Description: Samuel Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, April 13, 1785. Vaughan, writing from Philadelphia, says "I want to send to England a box of plants & seeds as complete as may be. I am uncertain whether the present advanced season would admit of sending them, but…
Date: 1785-04-13
Vaughan, list of trees, ca. 1785
Description: List of trees "Planted in the State-house square," from Samuel Vaughan , ca. 1785.
Date: ca. 1785
Marshall letter, July 20, 1787
Description: William Vaughan to Humphry Marshall, July 20, 1787. William was brother of Samuel Vaughan. In this letter, he thanks Marshall for an order of seeds and plants his brother procured for him through Marshall; he also suggests ways of labeling and…
Date: 1787-07-20
Darlington's Memorials, Marshall's home
Description:
Illustration of Humphry Marshall's home in Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, used in Darlington's book.
The full caption to this illustration of Marshall's home notes that it was "Built with his own hands, A.D. 1773."   The…
Date: 1849
Darlington's Memorials, Title page
Description: Title page for William Darlington's double biography Memorials of John Bartram and Humphry Marshall, 1849.
Date: 1849