Overview
Papers of American brothers and business partners Joseph and William Whipple.
Dates
- Creation: 1717-1904
- Creation: Majority of material found in 1763-1814
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no restrictions on physical access to this material. Collection is open for research.
Extent
2 linear feet (3 boxes and 1 pf box)Chiefly correspondence of Joseph Whipple, much of it pertaining to his tenure as customs collector from secretaries of the U.S. Dept. of the Treasury and others, together with business correspondence and documents concerning the Whipples' commercial and shipping enterprise (especially in the 1760s), letters from William to Joseph when William was in the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, and a few letters to William on revolutionary regiments. Also contains journals, 1779-1780, 1809, and 1813-1814, kept by Joseph; some correspondence, documents, and notebooks of the Lowell family; diaries, notebooks, logbooks, accounts, and correspondence of other third parties; state and federal documents on militias, taxes, and appointments, etc.; and miscellaneous manuscripts, documents, church minutes, ships' certificates, and printed material.
Biographical / Historical
Joseph and William Whipple were brothers and partners in a mercantile business in Portsmouth, N.H. Joseph was the Collector of Customs as well as the Superintendent of the Lighthouse and the Agent for Fortifications in Portsmouth. William (1730-1785) was a member of the Continental Congress and later the New Hampshire legislature, signer of the Declaration of Independence, soldier in the Revolution, and Associate Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court.
Arrangement
Arranged alphabetically by author.
Physical Location
b
Immediate Source of Acquisition
67M-92. Gift of Edward Sturgis, George P.Sturgis, Howard O. Sturgis, Harriet S. Hollister, and Mrs. J. Sturgis Harris; received: 1967. Mrs. J. Sturgis Harris's first name unknown as of 2021.
Given in memory of Elizabeth Putnam.
Processing Information
Reformatted by: Bonnie B. Salt, 2015
- Title
- Whipple, Joseph, 1738-1816. Joseph Whipple and William Whipple papers, 1717-1904: Guide.
- Author
- Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
- Language of description
- und
- EAD ID
- hou01328
Repository Details
Part of the Houghton Library Repository
Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.
Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.
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