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Series III. William M. Darlington Papers, 1837-1889
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Scope and Content Notes: William M. Darlington (1815-1889), was born to Benjamin Darlington and Agnes McCullough in Pittsburgh. William was educated in private schools as a child and young adult, and then went on to study at Jefferson College, now known as Washington & Jefferson College, in Pennsylvania. He began his law career under the tutelage of Richard Biddle.
William was a devout Presbyterian, a well-respected attorney, member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association for fifty years, and Vice President of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. During the last eight years of his life, he was also a trustee of his alma mater, Jefferson College, and the Western University of Pennsylvania, now the University of Pittsburgh. William amassed an extensive collection of books, manuscripts and maps related to western Pennsylvania’s colonial and revolutionary history. This library was supplemented by his wife and three eldest children.
This series is organized into three topical subseries. Subseries 1 contains materials related to William’s collecting activities, including documentation of book purchases, correspondence with booksellers and fellow collectors, historical research notes, receipts, and membership certificates to historical societies. Subseries 2 contains William’s personal papers, including correspondence and diaries. Subseries 3 encompasses financial and estate papers.
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Subseries 1. Collection Activities and Research
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Scope and Content Notes: Materials in this subseries document William's collecting and lending activities, the library at Guyasuta, and his personal research and writing. William collected books and manuscripts from vendors such as the Hakluyt Society, as well as individual booksellers. Correspondence with Richard S. Edes, James Veech and Joseph Albree are examples of William's contacts in the field of rare books. Also, seventeen receipts document the purchase of books from the law offices of Baldwin & Ford, J. Munsel, and Burns & Son, among others. A bound volume of book orders, demonstrates William's meticulous documentation of the books he ordered between November 30, 1847 and January 14, 1867, including the Audubon volumes. William's correspondence with A. Eaton, John Newton, J.M. Read, J. R. Lambdin, and W.C. Reichel all highlight his role as a consultant for other researchers, to whom he sometimes lent or sold books.
The great strength of this subseries is the documentation of volumes in the library at Guyasuta. The
Classification of Books consists of three successive versions of a list of books in the library at Guyasuta. Mary used these three volumes to alphabetically catalog the books in the Darlington family library according to topic, including history, travels, horticulture and natural history, and poetry, drama and tales; sections also list magazines, newspapers, and maps. In addition to these larger volumes, this subseries includes a partial catalog and a partial inventory of books at Guyasuta; these smaller lists most likely repeat titles already listed in the
Classification of Books. Additionally, design diagrams for library bookcases shed light on the original physical arrangement of the Guyasuta library.
William was deeply interested in historical research, as was his professional mentor, Richard Biddle, and this subseries contains bound volumes of William's notes and writings about various topics. His
Commonplace Book and
Research Notes discuss a variety of topics, including: the Ohio Company; Forts Pitt, Duquesne, Shippen and Kittanning; Guyasuta; the Allegheny River and the city of Pittsburgh; Old Westmoreland and Indiana Counties; the Montour family; the Shawnee (Shananese) and Seneca Indians; George Croghan and Henry Alexander; and shipbuilding and theater. The
Historical Biographical Notes include William's thoughts on such diverse topics as the Californian coal mountains, British nobility, the Darlington family crest, American Indian rituals, and the papers of British officer Henry Bouquet (1719-1765). This subseries contains transcriptions of the Bouquet Papers, which William commissioned from the British Museum. The transcribed letters document communication between Colonel Bouquet and other British officers during the French and Indian War from locations throughout Pennsylvania, his military campaign to drive the French out of Fort Duquesne, and the battle with Indians at Bushy Run. William was profoundly interested in the Ohio Company, and collected many papers relating to this eighteenth century land-development and trading consortium, including copies of the journals of Christopher Gist, who was hired by the company to negotiate terms with the Indians. William published
Christopher Gist's Journals posthumously in 1893, possibly using transcriptions in this subseries. The drafts of his publication are located in the collection number dar192514.
William's
Western Pennsylvania Historical Notes concerns legal events in Allegheny County, and include brief biographical notes on newly appointed judges. William also recorded information on proceedings and treaties brokered with the American Indians by early frontiersmen. Another section of this volume includes financial records concerning rent paid for several properties leased by the Darlington family. There are many loose pages within the journal and several pages are written entirely in French. For more information on this collection, please refer to Box 25, with oversized materials
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William M. Darlington to A. Eaton, January, 1838
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Historical Society of Pennsylvania to William M. Darlington, July 1, 1855
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33 |
Certificate from State Historical Society of Wisconsin, September 12, 1872
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J. M. Read, Jr., to William M. Darlington, September 5, 1866
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35 |
Charles Whittlesey to William M. Darlington, 1870-1872
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36 |
Statement by John Pennington, April 25, 1866
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37 |
Envelopes to William M. Darlington, ca. 1870-1885
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38 |
Isaac Samuel to William M. Darlington, February 8, 1871
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39 |
Letter to William M. Darlington from J. R. Lambdin, March 10, 1871
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40 |
W.C. Reichel to William M. Darlington, July 8, 1871
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41 |
William White to William M. Darlington, 1872
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42 |
Richard S. Edes to William M. Darlington, March 12, 1873
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43 |
Joseph Albree to William M. Darlington, March 31 1875
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44 |
J. C. Hale to William M. Darlington, March 6, 1876
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45 |
Letter to William M. Darlington from John M. Newton, November 26, 1876
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46 |
James Veech to William M. Darlington, 1877
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47 |
Letter from William M. Darlington to W. B. Hoff, May 1, 1884
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48 |
J. L. Keyes to William M. Darlington, February 8, 1877
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49 |
Boyd Grumrine to William M. Darlington, May 30, 1881
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50 |
Sir to William M. Darlington, May 3, 1883
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51 |
Gilbert Cope to William M. Darlington, June 4, 1884
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52 |
American History Magazine subscriptions and letter from Joseph Sabin, June 3, 1881
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53 |
Robert Clarke to William M. Darlington, December 2, 1884
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54 |
Receipts for Books purchased by William M. Darlington, August 21- December 11, 1885.
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55 |
George P. Smith to William M. Darlington, April 15, 1886
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56 |
George P. Smith to William M. Darlington, March 12, 1868
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57 |
List of Hakluyt Society Publications, undated
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58 |
Topographical Description, undated
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Box 2
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List of Books in William M. Darlington's Library at Guyasuta, undated
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2 |
Catalog, undated
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3 |
Inventory, Hall Bookcase, undated
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4-5 |
History Notes, undated
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6-13 |
Bouquet Papers Transcriptions, 1758-1763
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14-21 |
18C primary source transcriptions, undated
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22 |
Transcripts of Ettwein's diary, undated
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23-36 |
Research notes, undated
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37 |
Darlington Research Notes, undated
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Box 3
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1-10 |
Research notes, undated
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11-22 |
Manuscript drafts, undated
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23 |
Printed ephemera, undated
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3 |
Classification of books in Darlington library at Guyasuta, undated
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4 |
Classification of books in Darlington library at Guyasuta, undated
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5 |
Classification of books in Darlington library at Guyasuta, undated
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6 |
Historical biographical notes, undated
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7 |
Book Orders, November 30, 1847- January 4, 1867
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8 |
Research Notes, undated
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9 |
Financial Records, 1858-1859
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49 |
Memoranda, ca. 1870s-1880s
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50 |
The Improved Commonplace Book, ca. 1870s-1880s
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Subseries 2. Personal Papers
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Scope and Content Notes: This subseries contains personal letters from George P. Smith and Sergeant Winthropy, and a copy of a letter William wrote from Westchester, Pennsylvania, to an unknown correspondent who had requested information on cuttings and seedlings from Guyasuta. In 1862, William wrote to his brother, John, expressing happiness that John joined an Indiana regiment instead of a Pennsylvania regiment, as Indiana regiments were less likely to be sent to war. Also present are William's membership certificates from the Academy of Natural Sciences and the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, as well as a portrait of him at the time. For more information on this topic, please refer to Box 25, which contains oversized materials. The Record-Book included in this subseries appears to contain handwritten copies of Darlington's outgoing correspondence from 1838; it also includes accounts he documented from 1840 to 1844.
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24 |
Sergeant Winthropy to William M. Darlington, August 24, 1855
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25 |
William M. Darlington to Sir, October 22, 1855
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26 |
William M. Darlington to John Darlington, February 7, 1862
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27 |
James Brown to William M. Darlington, July 29, 1885
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28 |
George P. Smith to William M. Darlington, November 20, 1888
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29 |
Norma Derry to William M. Darlington, undated
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30 |
Unknown to William McCullough Darlington, undated
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31 |
George White to William M. Darlington, September 9, 1870
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52 |
William M. Darlington Record-Book, 1838, 1840-1841, 1844
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Subseries 3. Financial and Estate Papers
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Scope and Content Notes: This subseries contains documents relating to William M. Darlington's properties, investments, taxes and profession. Property records include a title to land in Allegheny County, an auction catalog of household goods inscribed to William, and a small notebook dated 1879 that lists bonds and mortgage payments. Additionally, two bound volumes, an account book and a book of financial records, document rent and mortgage payments, including payments from such institutions as the trustees of Jefferson College, and Snyder & Company. William owned stock in the Pittsburgh Manufacturing Company, the Sharpsburg Bridge Company, the Mercantile Library Hall Company, and paid taxes in Allegheny County and O'Hara Township. Also present are documents certifying William to practice law in Allegheny County and the state of Alabama.
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32 |
Land surveys and abstract of title, 1803-1879
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33 |
Stock shares, January 13, 1812
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34 |
State of Alabama to William M. Darlington, January 5, 1838
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35 |
Check written to cash, William M. Darlington, June, 1860
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36 |
Receipt for money paid by William M. Darlington to stockholders of Sharpsburg Bridge Co., September 25, 1865
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37 |
Auction Catalog, February 13, 1871
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38 |
Financial Notes, 1879
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39 |
Agreement, 1881
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40 |
Taxes, 1881, 1916
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41 |
Mercantile Library Hall Company Certificate for William Darlington, March 12, 1869
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Subseries 4. Diaries
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Scope and Content Notes: William M. Darlington used these twenty-nine diaries to make brief notes about court dates, meetings, payments he received, the purchase of stocks, and other personal and professional transactions. The diaries occasionally mention William's health and personal habits. Many of the entries involve mortgage payments he received for various properties in and around Pittsburgh. Throughout the diaries, he describes the weather at Guyasuta, and occasionally notes the height of the Allegheny River. He also briefly mentions if he had received or sent any letters. In addition, William M. Darlington writes about legal cases in which he was engaged. Social events are occasionally mentioned, including parties at the homes of Mr. Lewis Hutchinson and Mr. McKnight in 1847 and 1848. Entries in 1873/4 and 1881/2 describe the Darlington family's travels in Europe. Three undated diaries contain historical research notes, including a list of officers that served at Fort Pitt, and information on various maps and books in the Guyasuta library. Corporate and personal names mentioned in the diaries include: Allegheny Company, Penn Railroad Company, Pleasant Valley Railroad Company, Monongahela Bridge Company, John B. Herron, J. H. Fibson, John Lundy, H. Fellman, Leo Schmidt, Reverend E. McKnight, E. P. Jones, and Dr. Harrison L. Robson.
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Box 4
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Diaries, 1844, 1846-1847
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Diaries, 1847-1848, 1850
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Diaries, 1863-1864, 1869
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4 |
Diaries, 1870-1872
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5 |
Diaries, 1873-1874
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6 |
Diaries, 1875-1876, 1879
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7 |
Diaries, 1880-1882
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8 |
Diaries, 1883-1885
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9 |
Diaries, 1886-1887, 1889
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10 |
Diaries, undated
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