Special Collections & University Archives Search

Charles Taylor (1805-1877) the son of Edward and Sarah Brooks Taylor, was born in Hancock, NH in March of 1805. He married Almira Clafflin and died in her home town of Westboro, MA in 1877. Letter (1833) written by Charles Taylor from Hopkinton, MA to his brother Edward Taylor of Hancock, NH. Charles describes his debts, his family’s ill-health, and asks his brother to send money “as quick as possible for necessity calls loud.”

Eunice Fowler was a single woman and spinster of Kingston, N.H Deposition of Eunice Fowler taken Nov. 26, 1777 by Josiah Bartlett. Fowler stated that Edward Brown, yeoman of Exeter, N.H., “by wheedlings and promises of great kindness” had “carnal knowledge of her body whereby she is now pregnant with a child.”

The Faculty Senate was the successor of the Academic Senate. Composed of elected representatives from the major departments of the University, the Senate assesses, clarifies, and develops the university's academic policies. The collection holds the agendas and minutes of the Senate since 1996.

Edward Fifield was born January 22, 1748 in Kingston NH and died at age 83 on August 19, 1831 in Plainfield NH. He married Dorothy Sleeper circa 1768. He lived in Salisbury NH and then at Meriden. Edward operated a tavern in Plainfield, which son Stephen took over just prior to his death, and son Perkey operated in 1847. The collection consists of eleven ledgers of various dimensions. There are approximately 1200…

Fort Constitution was built in 1632 on the island of New Castle, New Hampshire. Through several centuries, the post served as a trading port, a target of warfare, and a training ground for the military. It was a center of rebellion several months before the battles of Lexington and Concord ushered in the American Revolution. In 1961, the state of New Hampshire regained custody of the site, and in 1973, Fort…

Francis Wainwright (1687-1772) was the son of Col. John Wainwright and Elizabeth Norton, born in Essex MA. He married Mary Dudley in 1713 and died in Boston in 1772. Letter written by Francis Wainwright of Portsmouth, NH to his brother. In the letter, Wainwright notes that he is uneasy about the fact that he was not baptized as an infant, and he asks his brother for money to buy clothes.

George F. Frost was born in New Castle, New Hampshire in 1720. He was a seaman from roughly 1740 until 1760. Frost married “a widow Richards of London” and lived in Rye, New Hampshire. In 1764, following her death, Frost married Margaret Weeks Smith, widow of Ebenezar Smith of Durham, New Hampshire. The Frosts moved to Durham and occupied the Smith Garrison at Lubberland. George Frost, Jr. (1765-1841) was the eldest…

David Lockhart of Tenerife, Portoratava, Canary Islands An April 25, 1740 letter written by David Lockhart of Tenerife, Portoratava, Canary Islands sent to John McCarrick and George Simpson. It instructs the two men how to smuggle Canary wine into Massachusetts. The ship Oratavo set sail from Tenerife, Canary Islands in April 1740. In July, authorities sighted the ship off Cape Cod, Mass., and, due to its suspicious behavior, ordered her in for examination. They discovered that the Oratavo (a.k…

Local historian and genealogist of Newfields, N.H. Fifteen page typescript history of Newfields, N.H. read by Harry K. Torrey at the Newfields town hall in August 1949.

This collection consists of assorted eighteenth, nineteenth, and some twentieth-century New Hampshire newspapers, mostly from Dover, Exeter, and Portsmouth. These are rarely complete runs, and often only individual issues. Also included in the collection are assorted, pre-1820 newspapers from Boston, Massachusetts. Arrangement is alphabetical, first by the name of the New Hampshire town in which they were published…

Margery Sullivan Chapter No. 278 Daughters of the American Revolution Pages 59-83 of Inscriptions from some Homestead Cemeteries and other Burial places in Strafford County in and around Dover, N.H. and a few from the adjoining County of York, ME. compiled and typed by Emma Neal Steuerwald from collections made by members.

John Follett was a cousin of the Follett family of Durham, N.H. He was probably John Follett Jr. of Kittery, 1681-1719. A letter written between 1706 and 1722 by John Follett to James Bunker, regarding the settlement of the estate of William Follett, John Follett’s uncle.

Reverend John Lowell, 1704-1767, was the first pastor of Newburyport, Mass. A one page letter from Reverend Lowell to Joshua Brackett of Portsmouth New Hampshire. In the letter of March 13, 1758 Reverend Lowell describes the late arrival of spring and rumors concerning British troop movements during the French and Indian War. There is a typed transcript that accompanies the letter.

John Sullivan (1740-1795) was a Revolutionary War general, Statesman, and President of New Hampshire 1786-1789. A one page letter dated May 4, 1790 to Nicholas Gilman, [Exeter, N.H.?] in which John Sullivan, governor of New Hampshire, supports the assumption of state debts by the federal government. [Gilman openly opposed it.] Sullivan, who simultaneously served as judge for the U.S. District Court of New Hampshire, also thanks Gilman for expediting his salary payment. Accompanied by a…

John B. Swasey was born in Meredith, New Hampshire in 1782. He married Alice Ladd of Windham, New Hampshire in 1809. The couple had five children and lived in Meredith. Swasey owned and ran a store from which he sold goods like foodstuffs, kettles and dishes, and tools and knives. Swasey died in 1828 at the age of 45. This manuscript is of an inventory completed on the estate of John B. Swasey after Swasey died in…

Joseph Rowlandson was born in England in or around 1631. He served as a Congregational minister, living for a time in both Lancaster and Ipswich, MA, before finally settling in Wethersfield, CT. He was the husband of Mary Rowlandson, whose Indian captivitity narrative made her a famous figure in Colonial America. A 1652 Petition by Joseph Rowlandson pleading the case of a couple in Ipswich, MA who wished to be married despite neglecting the proper courting procedures of the time. A 19th…

Roger Deering (b. 1624 England d. 1718 Kittery, Territory of Maine). Son of Roger Deering and Joan Palmer. Spouse Mary____?. Ebenezer More (b. 1706 York, Territory of Maine, d. 1748 Territory of Maine). Son of John More and Sarah Cutts. Thomas Allen (b. 1700 Maryland, m. Mary Couch 1712 Kittery Point, d. 29 May 1733 Charles, Maryland). Son of John (Capt) Allen and Eleanor Lambert. A 1713 appeal by Roger Deering, Ebenezer More, and Thomas Allen to the “Superior Court of Judicature” arguing a…

During the elections of 1812 and 1814 feelings ran high in Federalist New England on the subject of President James Madison’s imposition of an embargo on American shipping and Congress’s declaration of war against Great Britain. The governors of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts refused to allow the federalization of their state militias in order to fight outside their state borders. Many Congressional…

The NH and Durham Vertical Files were collected over ca. 30 years and contain materials accumulated mostly by subject rather than creator. The New Hampshire and Durham vertical files contain historical information and publications covering a very wide array of New Hampshire's history. Areas include social, racial, women's, academic, agricultural, and governmental history.

The Northam Colonists, named for the original town of Dover, was the historical society of Dover, New Hampshire from 1900 until the organization disbanded in 2008. The mission of the Society was to collect, preserve and exhibit artifacts, information, and documents that shed light on Dover’s local history, provide interesting and educational services to the local community and the public at large, and advance the…

This series contains the agendas with attachments for the President's Staff. The Staff was started in 1990 by President Dale Nitzschke and consists of all the Vice Presidents of the University.

Joseph Seccombe (1706-1760) was a parish minister in Kingston, N.H. A sermon by Rev. Seccombe, titled Business and Diversion inoffensive to God...A Discourse utter’d in Part at Ammauskeeg-Falls, in the Fishing-Season, is the earliest known document pertaining to recreation published during the colonial period of the United States.

Isaac Royall Jr. (1719-1781) of Medford MA was a sugar plantation owner, slaveholder, and early funder of the Harvard Law School. Dr. Simon Tufts Jr. (1726-1786) of Medford MA was one of a prominant family of doctors. Receipt given to Isaac Royall on August 6, 1777 by Simon Tufts for turning in eight pounds in counterfeit New Hampshire bills to the Brooks and Odiorne committee.

The Society of the Cincinnati was founded in 1783 by George Washington, Baron von Steuben, Henry Knox, and other officers of the United States Army. It was a patriotic and charitable “society of friends,” which had a branch in each of the original thirteen states. A letter sent out by the Secretary General of the Society of the Cincinnati, presenting the president of the New Hampshire branch of the society with a…

This collection was primarily assembled by Mary P. Thompson (1825- 1894) and her nephew Lucien Thompson (1859-1924), Durham historians. Their prominent ancestors included “Judge” Ebenezer Thompson (1737-1802), and Benjamin Thompson (1806-1890). This collection consists of manuscript materials dated 1703-1924, which extensively document the Thompson family of Durham and surrounding towns through correspondence,…

Valerie Cunningham, award-winning historic preservationist and Portsmouth native, has spent more than forty years researching and writing about northern New England’s Black history. An energetic community activist, she is the founder of the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail, Inc., and directs the African American Resource Center. Materials from 1984-2010 that show the activites Valerie was involved in: including Blues…

Walter Williams (1711-) was a mariner and owner of a coasting vessel from Hampton Falls, N.H. He married Mary Hilyard in 1747. This Subpoena was served to Walter Williams June 3, 1748 by Justice of the Peace John Paige that requires him to provide testimony.

The Works Project Administration (WPA) was created under President F. D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program in 1935. Designed to provide relief for the Nation’s unemployed, the WPA provided jobs on public work projects. The photographers on the Federal Art Project served both the WPA itself and other units of government. They photographed everything from construction projects to materials for publicity handouts. They also…