Manuscripts

Manuscripts in the Darlington Collection focus primarily on Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley and mainly date from the 1700s to the first half of the 1800s. There are more than fifty individual collections.

Among the more noteworthy papers are letters written by prominent military figures, political leaders, and businessmen. These include numerous letters written by William Pitt, 1^st Earl of Chatham. Letters written by George Washington include two when he was in Western Pennsylvania in 1754 at the outbreak of the French and Indian War. Another, in 1794, pertains to the Whiskey Rebellion. There is an account book that records transactions at the Indian trading post at Fort Pitt, together with letters and documents relating to the conduct of the business, from 1759 to 1765. The Ohio Company Papers, 1717-1812, includes journals of Christopher Gist, treaties, orders, releases, and correspondence of George Mercer, John Mercer, Adam Stephen, George Mason, and Thomas Cresap.

There are hundreds of other letters associated with persons of importance to the early history of the United States. They include letters from Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Henry Bouquet, and, especially noteworthy, the papers of General James Wilkinson consisting largely of letters addressed between 1804 and 1809 to Major Samuel Smith, an officer of the American Revolution, and relating to Aaron Burr’s conspiracy and trial.