Guide to the Reuben T. Durrett Collection of James Wilkinson Papers 1784-1882


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Table of Contents

• Descriptive Summary
• Information on Use
• Access
• Citation
• Acquisition Information
• Biographical Note
• Scope Note
• Related Resources
• Subject Headings
• INVENTORY

Descriptive Summary

Information on Use

Access

The collection is open for research.

Citation

When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Durrett, Reuben T. Collection. James Wilkinson Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library.

Acquisition Information

The existence of the Durrett library first came to the attention of the University of Chicago through William E. Dodd, a professor of American history at the University who had consulted the library as a student. Like other faculty members of the Division of the Social Sciences early in the century, Dodd was concerned about the University's lack of extensive research materials for history and related subjects, and since he was aware of Durrett's advanced age, he persuaded A. C. McLaughlin, also of the history department, to accompany him to Louisville in June, 1910, to see the collection and to make discreet inquiries about plans for its disposition. The two found Durrett himself uncertain about his plans, but learned that the Durrett family opposed making a donation of the collection, and that they were in communication with Princeton University and the University of Illinois about selling the library.

Dodd himself was very enthusiastic about the research potential which Durrett's library represented, and won the support of many of his colleagues on the social science faculties in his efforts to persuade President Judson to consider the purchase by the University of the entire library, numbering some 30,000 volumes. Convinced that the collection would be a valuable addition to the University's holdings, but wary of the expense involved, Judson agreed cautiously to investigate the idea. Although Dodd and his colleagues were anxious to conclude the agreement quickly, fearing competition from other would-be purchasers or the dispersal of the collection upon Durrett's apparently imminent death, the task of deciding upon a fair offer was made difficult by the fact that the collection had never been adequately catalogued.

Durrett's own suggestion made in December, 1912 of $45,000 seemed high, so in February 1913, the University engaged Walter Lichtenstein, a Northwestern University librarian who had previously acted as purchasing agent for the University of Chicago libraries, to assess the value of the Durrett collection. Lichtenstein's report was submitted to President Judson on February 21, 1913, following a trip to Louisville to sample the collection.

The assessment, made on terms of commercial market value rather than scholarly significance, divided Durrett's library into four parts. Some 20,000 bound volumes (including 500 volumes of Kentuckiana) he estimated at $7,200. Two hundred fifty file folders of pamphlet material had no apparent commercial value. Numerous manuscripts and newspapers were difficult to assess but Lichtenstein thought they could be fairly purchased for $15,000. A collection of maps was estimated to have a value around $50. Lichtenstein's estimate, therefore, totaled $22,000-$22,500, considerably less than Durrett's own. When the University authorized Lichtenstein to make this offer to the Durrett family, however, they accepted it, apparently favoring Chicago as the repository of their collection. The purchase sum, which was too high to be taken from the University's ordinary budget, was raised among outside donors, and under Lichtenstein's supervision, the library was dismantled and shipped to Chicago by early May. It filled 287 large packing crates. Its arrival provoked considerable comment in the Louisville and Chicago press, and almost immediately the University began to receive research inquiries from scholars and requests from several libraries for copies of some of the Durrett material to add to their own collections.

In his report Lichtenstein had warned President Judson that considerable effort and expense would be required to process the collection once it was at the University. His warning proved to be justified. Aside from the massive undertaking of unpacking, sorting, and cataloguing the collection, much of the material was found to be in poor condition, requiring cleaning, repair, and binding or rebinding. To facilitate the efficient processing of the Durrett acquisition, the entire operation was assigned to Edward A. Henry of the library staff, who, with the help of his assistants, was to devote most of his attention to the Durrett project for some seven years. It was decided that duplicates should be disposed of, that a number of Filson Club possessions in Durrett's library should be returned to the Club, and that most of the non-manuscript material in the collection would be distributed according to subject matter among the University's various departmental libraries. On several occasions between 1913 and 1937, items of an official character were returned to Kentucky upon request, including records of Jefferson County, journals of Kentucky constitutional conventions, and certain manuscripts and photographs of the Filson Club identified by the club's president, R. C. Ballard Thurston. Most of Henry's time seems to have been devoted to preparing the material for this dispersal. His assignment was expanded in 1914 when the University purchased a collection totaling 436 volumes of Kentucky newspapers and miscellaneous books from Mrs. Joel R. Lyle, sister of Robert C. Boggs of Lexington, Kentucky. It was deemed appropriate to merge the Boggs-Lyle acquisition with the Durrett, and the two were processed together.

By the end of the 1915-16 academic year, about 9,000 of the Durrett and Boggs-Lyle volumes had been processed and distributed to the departmental libraries. It was then that Henry and his staff turned some of their attention to the manuscripts--that is, to the material comprising the Durrett Collection as described in this guide. At that time the Durrett manuscripts were apparently divided into four large groups--the Joel Tanner Hart Papers, the Joshua Lacy Wilson Papers, miscellaneous manuscripts, and miscellaneous separately bound items--either mounted in scrapbooks or bound together. A card catalog was compiled for at least the first three of these groups.

The Durrett Collection remained in this state until the mid-1950s. By then it had been incorporated within the holdings of the Department of Special Collections (1951), and it became clear that reorganization of the manuscripts was necessary. Paul Angle, a member of the staff of the Chicago Historical Society, who had surveyed the University of Chicago's manuscript collection as a consultant in 1944, had pointed out that the Durrett miscellaneous bound manuscripts in particular were of little use to scholars as they were then arranged and described. Moreover, the Special Collections staff had observed that the mountings and bindings done by Henry's staff were detrimental to the lives of the manuscripts, and that the existing catalog and descriptions provided inadequate access to the documents. The manuscripts, therefore, were removed from their bindings and divided into smaller and more coherent sub-collections.

In the 1970s, an effort was undertaken to edit the 1956 guide, to enhance the descriptions of the Durrett codices for greater detail and accuracy, and to differentiate between transcripts and original manuscript material bound together in the codices. Manuscript material also received conservation treatment. In 1983, another attempt was made to write a comprehensive guide to the entire collection. This guide remained in use until 2015. The current guide was completed in 2016.

Biographical Note

James Wilkinson was born in Maryland in 1757. His father, Joseph Wilkinson, had inherited Stoakley Manor, a small plantation in Calvert County. Following his death in 1764 much of the estate was sold to cover debts. James was educated by a private tutor and later studied medicine at the University of Philadelphia. He abandoned these studies in 1775 to serve in the Pennsylvania rifle battalion and was commissioned a captain in the Continental Army that same year.

He had a distinguished early military career, and by 1776 he was serving as an aide to General Horatio Gates. He was appointed Brigadier General in 1777, despite his youth. He served under General Washington in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, and held a position as secretary to the Board of War in 1778. The following year he was appointed clothier general for the Continental forces, but resigned after only a few months, due to accusations of irregularities in his accounts.

During the closing years of the Revolutionary War Wilkinson served two terms in the Pennsylvania Assembly, before selling his properties and moving to Kentucky in early 1784. It was at this point that he became involved in the affairs of Spain. He persuaded the Spanish authorities that there was a plot to occupy Spanish territories in Louisiana and Florida and, in return for a monopoly of Spanish trade routes on the Mississippi River, he took an oath of allegiance to the Spanish monarchy. This monopoly was revoked by 1791 and Wilkinson returned to military life as a Brigadier General in the American army. He continued to receive payments from Spain until at least 1796, for information on troop movements and plans.

In late 1804, James Wilkinson met Aaron Burr, then Vice President to Thomas Jefferson. At this point, Wilkinson was Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Army at New Orleans and Governor of the Louisiana Territory. Burr was charged, though acquitted, of treason in 1807, and Wilkinson was implicated in the conspiracy. While Wilkinson openly distanced himself from Burr and proclaimed allegiance to Jefferson, he was court-martialed in 1811, and only narrowly escaped indictment. Although he was acquitted, the rumors surrounding both the Burr Conspiracy and his Spanish connections were too great and he was forced to resign from his military offices.

His personal life was less controversial. He married his first wife, Ann Biddle, in 1778 and they had four sons. Following her death in 1807 he married Celestine Laveau Trudeau, the daughter of New Orleans’ politician Charles Laveau Trudea, with whom he had a further three children, two girls and a boy, one of whom died in early childhood. Wilkinson spent his final years as U.S. Envoy to Mexico and passed away on December 28, 1825 in Mexico City.

Scope Note

The collection spans the years 1784-1882, with the bulk of the material dated before 1823. Materials are arranged chronologically.

Correspondents of note include John Marshall, Henry Knox, Juan Ventura Morales, and Henry Dearborn.

Topics covered by this collection include Wilkinson’s personal debts and financial obligations, army affairs in Louisiana and interactions with the War Department, the activities of Aaron Burr and the Burr Conspiracy, and Wilkinson’s resulting 1811 court martial.

The collection also contains a small number of receipts and financial agreements, and a bound volume of transcriptions of manuscript materials.

Related Resources

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Subject Headings

• Durrett, Reuben T. (Reuben Thomas), 1824-1913
• Wilkinson, James, 1757-1825
• United States. Army
• Burr Conspiracy, 1805-1807
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783
• United States--History--Constitutional period, 1789-1809
• United States--History--War of 1812
• Generals--United States--19th century
• Kentucky--History--18th century

INVENTORY