HENRY CLAY REED
PAPERS

 

1833 – 1979

 

(bulk dates 1915 – 1972)

 

 

Manuscript Collection Number 499

 

Accessioned:  Gift of Marion Bjornson Reed, 1978, with additions 1980

 

Extent:  7 linear feet (5 record center cartons and nine card boxes)

 

Content:  Birth certificate, broadsides, cards, checks, correspondence, ephemera, grade report cards, letters, marriage certificate, manuscripts, microfilm, newspapers, news clippings, notes, pamphlets, photographs, postcards, radio scripts, ration book, property title

 

Access:  The collection is open for research.

 

Processed:  January – March 2005 by Colleen E. Lemke

Biographical Note

 

            Henry Clay Reed, historian and University of Delaware professor, was born 15 May 1899, in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. He served the University of Delaware for forty years, researching, teaching, writing, and editing numerous articles and books. He helped create and guide the American Studies program at the University, serving as the first chairman of the program and helping to improve the climate for interdisciplinary study. He was also involved with a number of library, historical, and fraternal projects and organizations.

            Henry Clay Reed grew up in Pennsylvania, graduating from Lock Haven High School in 1916. He later registered and began training for the United States Army, serving briefly before being honorably discharged in December 1918, with the termination of hostilities. He enrolled in Bucknell University, earning a Bachelor’s degree in 1922, and a provisional teaching certificate in English, Spanish, Mathematics, and History. He taught high school in various districts in Pennsylvania while enrolling in graduate courses. In 1924, Reed moved to Newark, Delaware, and began instructing for the University of Delaware, becoming a full professor of History in 1947, chairing the History Department from 1944 – 1952, and retiring in 1964. Henry Clay Reed was ultimately recognized as Professor Emeritus of the History Department, and was awarded the honor of having the chaired professorship of the department bear his name.

            On 2 April 1927, he married Marion L. Bjornson. She was a classmate at Pennsylvania State College, where Reed was pursuing graduate study. They both earned Master’s degrees in History; husband and wife would later collaborate on several scholarly works, including A Bibliography of Delaware through 1960 (Newark, 1966). In 1931, Reed was accepted as a fellow in American History at Princeton University and awarded a stipend to complete his Doctoral degree. He completed his PhD in 1939 with the submission of a dissertation containing chapters on the history of crime and punishment in New Jersey. Topics in the history of crime and punishment continued to interest him throughout his academic career; he pursued research in this area for over thirty years.

            Henry Clay Reed edited The Burlington Court Book (Washington, 1944), Delaware: A History of the First State (New York, 1947), and Readings in Delaware History: Economic Development (Newark, 1934). He wrote Delaware A Colony (New York, 1970), a book for school children and popular audiences about Delaware history, and numerous scholarly articles. Reed also collaborated in editing and translating Charles de Lannoy’s History of Swedish Colonial Expansion (Newark, 1938). He devoted many research hours to two projects which never came to full fruition: a complete history of crime and punishment in New Jersey from the early Colonial Period to the Civil War, and a history of counterfeiting in the United States.

            From 1927 to 1930, Reed was an employee of the Delaware State Archives Commission. His concern with libraries, archives, and historical repositories spanned his career; his role in expanding and improving the University of Delaware Library, as well as other regional repositories, is notable. In 1937, he became an involved and influential member of the Delaware Tercentenary Commission, helping to plan the festivities in 1938. He served as Director to the President of the Historical Society of Delaware, and also served as a member of the American Historical Association, the American Society of Church History, the American Association for State and Local History, the Middle States Council for Social Studies, the Archaeological Society of Delaware, the New Jersey Historical Society, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and Phi Kappa Phi. Henry Clay Reed died rather suddenly in June of 1972, from complications arising from his diabetes.

Sources: Biographical information was drawn from the collection.

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Scope and Content Note

            The Henry Clay Reed Papers, spanning the dates from 1915 – 1974, contains legal documents, photographs, microfilm, correspondence, research notes, manuscripts, publications, and ephemera from the historian and University of Delaware professor. The collection was a gift of Marion (Bjornson) Reed in 1978, with an additional gift in 1980. Because Reed’s research interests spanned his career and many items are difficult to date, items have been arranged utilizing both chronology and consideration of subject matter. In addition, where possible, Henry Clay or Marion Reed’s organization of materials has been maintained.

            The collection will perhaps be most useful to scholars who share Henry Clay Reed’s research interests. Many of his extensive notes, transcripts, and manuscript pages consider aspects of crime or punishment both in the secular legal system and in various Christian denominations in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. Topics with extensive documentation in the proposed history of Crime and Punishment in New Jersey include animal cruelty, church discipline, domestic violence, infanticide, theft, the legal system in relation to servants, apprentices, children, and slaves, and other topics. In addition to dissertation material, this collection preserves Reed’s original research notes, annotations to the dissertation, and later revisions. It could serve as an entry point for researchers into colonial history sources, or assist a researcher in placing Christian denominational differences of the Colonial period in comparative perspective. Reed’s papers also include a considerable amount of academic research on the history of counterfeiting in the United States, and on the history of crime and punishment in Delaware. He taught advanced-level seminars on the history of crime and punishment and on the history of church discipline; teaching notes, research, and student papers in the collection reflect the content of these courses. Another topic in Delaware’s history of punishment which interested Reed was “Red Hannah,” or, the whipping post. Researchers interested in the history of this punishment in Delaware will find Reed’s notes, clippings, and correspondence useful.

            Reed’s research interests also included the history of African Americans in Delaware. Amongst his papers is a manuscript article on the Underground Railroad in Delaware, with a collection of letters from the 1920-1930s that contain personal recollections from the niece and grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe, regarding Stowe’s contacts with Thomas Garrett, a stationmaster on the Wilmington Underground Railroad. In addition, a large collection of newspaper clippings documents the Civil Rights movement and the history of integration in Delaware. Researchers may also be interested in Reed’s correspondence with Pauline Young (F67), who wrote the chapter on the history of African Americans in Delaware for Delaware: a History of the First State.

            Reed’s correspondence with other chapter contributors is equally interesting. Mary de Vou kept up a substantial exchange with Reed as she made progress on her history of the Delaware Equal Suffrage Association for her chapter on women in Delaware. De Vou forwarded a letter from Carrie Chapman Catt, in which Catt recalled her unsuccessful visit to the Delaware Assembly to lobby for suffrage. A series of letters between Reed and Emalea Pusey Warner, and letters with local reminiscences about Julia Ward Howe and others punctuate this file (F66, F68).

            Researchers interested in collecting activities or philately will also find items of interest in the Henry Clay Reed Papers. For example, Reed began collecting stamps at age six, and much of the correspondence in the collection reflects his interest: he frequently requested that the postage stamps he had sent out be returned to him, and this is acknowledged in several letters. Another indication of his deep interest in stamps is his instigation, in 1932, of a letter writing campaign to convince the United States Postal Service to issue a commemorative stamp of William Penn. His arguments in favor of the stamp, the progress of the campaign, and other participants can all be traced in the collection. The Postal Service initially refused to issue a stamp, but after increasing pressure was brought on the Postmaster General, Walter F. Brown, by Senator John Townsend of Delaware, Brown acceded to the request, and the Postal Service issued a three cent Penn stamp. The stamp was first sold at the post office in New Castle, Delaware – Penn’s original landing site. Reed’s efforts with this stamp will likely also interest scholars concerned with historical memory and the public.

            Scholars interested in historical memory and public celebrations, colonial revivals, or the attention given to European cultural influences in America, will also find evidence of Reed’s efforts to revive public interest in historic events. Academically, these topics relate to Reed’s efforts in translating the works of Charles de Lannoy, a French scholar concerned with European Colonial expansion, and his active involvement in the Swedish Colonial Society, the Tercentenary Celebrations in Delaware, and his activities with the Civil War Centennial Commission and the Wilmington Civil War Round Table group. The collection contains correspondence, ephemera, and printed materials about these activities which are supplemented by other sources in the Special Collections department.

            Those interested in the history of libraries, especially the development and acquisition of books in the University of Delaware Library, may be interested in Reed’s "Library Committee Papers," and his correspondence with librarians and archivists. He advised the Delaware State Archives Commission about activities, organization, and steps needed to preserve collections in the 1930s. Collection correspondence shows Reed participated in collecting activities for several libraries, as well as shaping area museum development. For example, the collection contains papers about consulting work Reed completed for the Winterthur Museum, the Dickinson Mansion, and the University of Delaware Museum.

            A historian interested in the material culture of death and the social and cultural courtesies surrounding death and literary memory may also be interested in the collection. It contains over a hundred condolence cards and letters. In addition, it contains letters about the will and last wishes of Wilbur Owen Sypherd. Sypherd, a University of Delaware professor and administrator, directed in his Last Will and Testament that Henry Clay Reed evaluate his unpublished literary remains (see also MSS 232 Wilbur Owen Sypherd Papers).

            Scholars interested in academic or encyclopedia publishing may find correspondence, draft submissions, and manuscript notes of interest. Those researching faculty lives at public universities will find Reed’s correspondence with colleagues and administrators interesting. Reed’s housing documents also contain papers highlighting the University of Delaware’s efforts to assist faculty in securing mortgages.

            The Henry Clay Reed Papers also contain a number of items which will excite Delaware historians, particularly those interested in the history of Newark. Reed saved campaign materials for many local elections, and collected cultural and recreational ephemera from the town. Local historians may especially enjoy the item An Historical Note Upon the Retirement of Henry Clay Reed by Carl J. Rees, a reminiscence of life in Newark in 1925 when Reed, Rees, and other boarders shared an apartment in Angie Perkins’ home. Finally, those interested in how Delaware history is taught may be interested in the exam questions used by Reed to access student knowledge of Delaware history in undergraduate classes. The collection also contains letters from Leon deValinger, Harold Hancock, John Munroe, Winifred Robinson, and C.A. Weslager.

 

Related Collections:

            The University of Delaware’s collection of Society for the Propagation of the Gospel Transcripts, MSS 462, which dates from 1703 to 1782 (bulk dates 1703-1776), was given to the University of Delaware Library in 1964 by Henry Clay Reed.  These transcripts were likely compiled in the conduct of his research.

            MSS 98 Folder 149, the John C. Hull letters to John Thomson, is small manuscript collection related to a prominent Newark family that was purchased by Henry Clay Reed and donated to the University of Delaware Library.

            Collections of other University professors and Delaware historians in Special Collections include the papers of John Munroe, Leon de Valinger, Wilbur Owen Sypherd, and Winifred J. Robinson.

            The University Archives also contains some records pertaining to the career of Henry Clay Reed.

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Series List

I.          Personal Papers, 1915 – 1976

II.         Academic Research, Manuscripts, and Works – New Jersey Subjects, 1931 – 1966

III        Academic Research – Delaware Subjects, 1925 – 1972

IV.       University of Delaware Papers, 1925 – 1970

V.        Publications, Manuscripts, and Related Materials, 1931 – 1971

VI.       Professional Activities, Interests, and Associations

            1. Activities and Organizations, 1937 – 1972

            2. Swedish Heritage and Tercentenary Celebrations, 1937 – 1979

            3. Additional Research and Materials, 1833 – 1970

            4. Academic Papers of Marion Bjornson Reed

 

Box Summary of Research Card Files

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Contents List

Box -- Folder -- Contents

                        Series I.          Personal Papers, 1915 – 1976

                                    Biographical and legal papers, materials relating to the life of Henry Clay Reed. Where possible the original grouping of items has been retained. See also Series VI.1

 

1          F1        General Documents, 1915 – 1972

                        Includes three unidentified photographs, a Lock Haven High School Varsity Letter Certificate in Football, 1915; Lock Haven High School reunion letter, 1956; Selective Service Registration Certificate, 1918; Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky, Inspection Certificate for the 52d Training Battery, and letter of leave, 1918; Honorable Discharge from the United States Army, 1918; letter of vaccination, 1925; copy of birth certificate of Marion Bjornson; marriage certificate, 1927; letter of withdrawal from Masonic lodge, La Fayette Lodge, No. 199, Lock Haven, PA, 1928; Social Security Card and correspondence from the Social Security Administration; 1939 "Operator's License" for Delaware Automobiles, 1940’s ration book, ration card envelop, and certificate “The Office of Price Administration Voluntary Service Award” to “Mrs. H. C. Reed;” registration card with the Selective Service, 1943; permit for Henry Clay Reed to leave the United States, 1945; letters from Priscilla White, M.D., about “NPH-50 insulin” trials; schedule, broadside, and tickets to the Scenic Spring Rail Ramble to Reading, PA, via the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 4 April 1954; certification of birth date; jury summons, 1963; parking ticket, Mercer County, 1971; copy of death certificate, 29 July 1972, obituaries, State of Delaware letter regarding transfer of pension funds, 1972.

 

            F2        Education – Bucknell University, 1916 – 1921

                        Includes grade reports, letters of recommendation, correspondence, and a Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction, Provisional College Certificate authorizing Henry Clay Reed to teach English, Spanish, mathematics, and history, 1921.

 

            F3        Early Teaching Career, 1919 – 1924 (6 items)

                        Includes a letter regarding his election to the Principalship of Turbotville High School, Turbotville, PA, with salary information, 1919; a letter from J.C. Weirick, Principal of Arlington High School in Arlington, PA; a letter of recommendation from Frank H. Painter, superintendent of schools at Jersey Shore, PA, 1923; two contracts between H. Clay Reed, “teacher,” and Clairton Public Schools, Clairton, PA, for 1923-1924, and 1924-1925, and a letter accepting his resignation from high school teaching, Clairton, PA, 1924.

 

            F4        Education – Graduate Studies, 1922 – 1939

                        Course lists and transcripts; University of Pennsylvania Matriculation Cards; card acknowledging admission to University of Pittsburgh Graduate School, 1924; grade reports, University of Pittsburgh, 1923-1924; grade reports, Pennsylvania State College, summer sessions 1922-1924; graduate studies correspondence and recommendations; Princeton University correspondence (see also Series II, F19)

                        Series I.          Personal Papers, 1915 – 1976 (continued)

 

1          F5        Personal and General Correspondence, 1930 – 1976

                        Includes general correspondence, thank you cards, letters from former students, letters about conferences and publications, references to his personal library, a letter from the treasury discussing two-dollar bills, social invitations, letters about his selection as director to the president of the Historical Society of Delaware, letters about the will and literary manuscripts of Doctor Wilbur Owen Sypherd, and an oversize envelope from the Works Progress Administration, postmarked 1940.

 

            F6        Philately and the William Penn Commemorative Stamp Campaign, 1932 - 1958

                        Includes a postcard of the William Penn Statue, Philadelphia, a letter to President H. Hoover, handwritten notes, letters from the White House and the Office of the Postmaster General, letters from other interested historical societies and universities, and several letters from Senator John Townsend (DE). Also contains news clippings and a 1958 letter about a Reed gift of commemorative stamps.

 

            F7        Political Correspondence and Ephemera, 1932 – 1971 (40 items)

                        Includes a TLS from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Executive Mansion, New York, 1932, acknowledging receipt of a letter from H. Clay Reed; two ticket stubs for the Democratic National Convention, 1936, a white “Vandenberg” pinback badge with a red ribbon, from the campaign of Senator Arthur Vandenberg (MI) for the Republican presidential nomination (1940), two ticket stubs for the Republican National Convention of 1948, ticket stub and tickets for the Democratic National Convention of 1948, a 1948 letter from Senator Milton Young (ND) to Marion Reed about the conventions, an admittance card to the United States Senate Chamber in 1954, letters from Senator John Williams (DE), Senator J. Allen Frear, ballots and vote count for the 1952 Delaware State elections, 1971 letters from Delaware State Senator Everette Hale and Representative Jack Billingsley about shared opposition to “Parochiaid” legislation which would share states funds with private schools; miscellany. Also includes Time Magazine March 25, 1940 that printed a letter from Henry Clay Reed about retiring Presidents of the United States and letters to him about this political opinion.

 

            F8        Housing Documents, 1945 – 1950 (15 items)

                        Includes a Farmers’ Trust Company of Newark letter regarding a title, a letter from J. Rankin Davis, attorney, regarding a deed search, property records, “Memorandum to University Personnel” about obtaining Mortgage loans from University of Delaware funds, mortgage and loan documents. Reed at one time lived at 157 W. Main Street, Newark, Delaware.

 

 

                        Series I.          Personal Papers, 1915 – 1974 (continued)

 

1          F9        Retirement, 1964 (9 items)

                        Includes invitations and letters written to Henry Clay Reed after his retirement announcement in 1964 and a University of Delaware faculty club certificate awarding “Honorary Lifetime Membership.” Also includes the five page document An Historical Note Upon the Retirement of Henry Clay Reed by Carl J. Rees, a reminiscence of life in Newark in 1925 when Reed, Rees, and other boarders shared an apartment in Angie Perkins’ home.

 

                        Condolences, 1972 – 1974

                        After Henry Clay Reed’s death in 1972, his wife Marion Reed kept over a hundred condolence cards, notes, and letters, ultimately sorting them into three categories, as divided below. The folders contain dozens of cards acknowledging donations to the Delaware Diabetes Association.

 

            F10      Condolences from friends

 

            F11      Condolences from students

 

            F12      Condolences from faculty

 

            F13      News clippings about Henry Clay Reed (19 items)

                        Several articles which mention Reed or his works, primarily local newspapers.

 

 

                        Series II.         Academic Research, Manuscripts, and Works – New Jersey Subjects

                                    The nature of Reed’s dissertation work and a subsequent effort to turn the dissertation into a book led him to conduct extensive research in early New Jersey history. New Jersey church discipline, legal codes, and criminal justice are all subjects which appear throughout this series. The series also includes a conference paper, reviews, and correspondence about his publication The Burlington Court Book (1944).

 

                        New Jersey Research, Correspondence, Notes, and Ephemera

 

            F14      Research – Notes, Sources, Printed Materials, and Ephemera

                        Includes Reed’s research notes, list of books and pamphlets, transcriptions including The Plain Dealer, 1776, printed materials and ephemera, postcards, programs, A Brochure of Old Tennent, 1931 with The Remarkable Trance of Rev. William Tennent and an offprint, Historical Notes on Cape May by Robert C. Alexander, 1960. Also includes hundreds of note cards which have been removed to card boxes 5 – 8.

 

 

 

                        Series II. Research, Manuscripts, Works – New Jersey Subjects (cont’d)

 

1          F15      Research – Transcriptions and Copies

                        Includes photo static copies of Blood Will Out, the trial, confession, and execution of Thomas Lutherland, executed at Salem, New Jersey, 1692; The Last Confession & Dying Words of Conrad Englehart, and The German Petition to the Common Council of the City of Newark to repeal the laws against “Sabbath Tippling” and “Sabbath Desecration.” Also includes negative copies from microfilm of New Jersey newspapers and pamphlets with some notations, such as the Newark Daily Advertiser, 1846, The History of the Newark Female Charitable Society, 1903, and others. See also Series III, folder 36.

 

            F16      Bibliographic Notes, New Jersey

                        Additional hand written notes about research, containing research lists for New Jersey materials

 

            F17      Research Correspondence, 1932 – 1939

                        Postcards and letters about Reed’s research for his dissertation, especially his chapter on early church discipline. Many of the letters are from contemporary repositories of various church records that had a congregation in New Jersey prior to the Civil War.

 

            F18      Research Correspondence, 1940 – 1957

                        Additional research correspondence about the projected volume on the history of crime and punishment in New Jersey.

 

            F19      Letters from Princeton, 1936 – 1966

                        Primarily from Thomas J. Wertenbaker, Reed’s advisor, these discuss Reed’s dissertation and subsequent plans to publish an expanded volume on the history of crime and punishment in New Jersey.

 

                        Manuscript Chapters in A History of Crime and Punishment in New Jersey

                        Reed submitted chapters of his work for dissertation credit in 1939. He continued to work on the manuscript and planned to publish it as a book in the Princeton Series of the History of New Jersey. Therefore, multiple versions of some manuscript chapters exist; some have notations, and some are possible to date to 1941 or after.

 

            F20      Dissertation chapters

                        Chapter I “The Peopling of New Jersey”

                        Chapter II “Agencies of Social Control – The Courts”

 

            F21      Dissertation chapter

                        Chapter III “Agencies of Social Control – The Church”

 

                        Series II. Research, Manuscripts, Works – New Jersey Subjects (cont’d)

 

1          F22      Dissertation chapter

                        Chapter IV and additional fragments

 

            F23      Dissertation chapters

                        Chapter V: “Offenses against the Person”

                        Chapter VI: “Offenses against Property”

 

            F24      Dissertation chapter

                        Chapter VII: “Sexual Irregularities”

 

            F25      Annotated Chapters I – III (n.d., after 1941)

 

                        Chapter Fragments

            F26      “The Decline of Capital Punishment”

 

            F27      “Wife beating”

 

            F28      “The Prison System”

 

            F29      “Private Executions”

 

            F30      “Reform of the Criminal Law of 1796”

 

2          F31      “Servants,” “Apprentices,” and “Capital Punishment in the Schools”

 

            F32      “Cruelty to Animals”

 

            F33      Miscellaneous pages with notes

 

Works

            F34      “Forced Labor as a Factor in Early New Jersey Penology” 1934 (2 items)

                        Fifteen-page conference paper with corrections and notes, and program fragments for the Second Annual New Jersey Historical Congress, April 5-8, 1934

 

            F35      New Jersey. Courts.

                        The Burlington court book : a record of Quaker jurisprudence in west New Jersey, 1680-1709 / edited by H. Clay Reed and George J. Miller. Washington, D.C. : American Historical Association, 1944. [Book available in Special Collections, Delaware Collection.] Includes microfilm copy of The Court Booke, 1681, the original of which is held by the New Jersey State Archives. Also includes correspondence and reviews of Reed’s work. Note: microfilm of the Burlington Advertiser (an important source used by Reed for this project) is available on microfilm in the University of Delaware Library.

 

                        Series III.       Academic Research – Delaware Subjects

                                    The majority of Reed’s publications and his teaching career centered on Delaware history. This series contains many of the notes, transcriptions and source references he used writing and teaching about Delaware. Many of Reed's notes have been transferred to card boxes 9 - 12.

 

2          F36      State of New Jersey vs. State of Delaware, Complainants Exhibits, Volume II

                        Bound typed transcripts of court proceedings between the States, regarding fishing rights, boundary disputes, etc. Dates of cases range from approximately 1721 to 1904.

 

            F37      Research – Notes, Sources, Transcriptions, and Copies

                        Hundreds of notes, many removed to card boxes 9 – 10, typed transcriptions including Rules to Govern the time of Work in Shop of L.V. Aspril; James Logan’s Letter on the Separation of Delaware; and many excerpts from eighteenth and early nineteenth century travelogues and memoirs containing reflections on Delaware, Wilmington, and the Chesapeake. Includes copies of the letters of Francis Allison, 1766 – 1773, that relate to the founding of Newark Academy, and a series of letters from Confederate prisoners held at Fort Delaware.

 

            F38      Research – Items about Delaware from The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1728 – 1776

                        Handwritten transcriptions and notes.

 

            F39      Research – Items from The Delaware Gazette, 1846 – 1863

                        Handwritten transcriptions and notes

 

            F40      Research – Transcriptions and Notes, Letters to Dover, 1702 – 1776

                        Also includes Stories from Dover's Court House Records by George Valentine Massey, 1955.

 

            F41      Research – Transcriptions and Notes, Kent County Sources, 1727 - 1771

 

            F42      Research – Transcriptions, Notes, and Photograph

                        Wilmington and New Castle County, 1702 -1851. Includes a photographic reproduction of an engraving of a Red Lion Camp Meeting.

 

            F43      Research – Capital Punishment and the Prison System

                        Includes letters, editorials, reports, and articles discussing these issues, also includes a list of the male convicts of New Castle County from 1840 to 1880. See also Series VI folder 103 for more news clippings on capital punishment

 

            F44      Research – “Red Hannah,” or the history of the whipping post in Delaware

                        Includes a four page typed manuscript fragment, articles, clippings, and a postcard. See also series IV folder 54, for notes on a Delaware whipping.

 

           

 

                        Series III.       Academic Research – Delaware Subjects (cont’d)

 

            F45      Electoral College and Electoral College Reform

                        Includes articles, offprints, a copy of the original motion in State of Delaware vs. State of New York, 1966 and responses, Delaware’s test case seeking Electoral College reform, Congressional records and letters about the Electoral College, a copy of a petition written by “the People of Delaware,” 1967, and other items.

 

            F46A   Research – Notes on Delaware’s electoral history and other Delaware topics

 

            F46B   Research and Correspondence - Delaware's Canning Industry

 

            F47A   Bibliographic Sources

                        Handwritten and typed notes about sources for Delaware history, includes hundreds of alphabetized cards, removed to card boxes 11 – 12.

 

            F47B   "A Syllabus of a Proposed Course of Study of the History of Delaware for High

                         Schools of Delaware prepared by Rosalie R. Martin."

 

            F48      Research Correspondence, Delaware Related, 1927 – 1970

                        Includes letters from the Department of the Interior about college student migration, a letter from Ellen Samworth, the Work Progress Administration writer preparing a “History of Education in Delaware,” for the Federal Writer’s Project; letters from Richard S. Rodney, including one about public tours of private houses in historic New Castle; a letter from the Delaware State Board of Pharmacy, including a typed list of pharmacists registered in Delaware in July 1883; letters from the Delaware Society of the Sons of the American Revolution; photographs, letter, and map from Orville H. Peets about archaeological evidence uncovered during a dig to lay a water main in Wilmington, 1957; a letter from C. A. Weslager about discovering Caesar Rodney’s journal from the Stamp Act Congress, and others.

 

                        Series IV.       University of Delaware Papers, 1924 – 1970

                                    Reed’s career at University of Delaware spanned forty years; in that time he generated and collected a number of papers relating to his career and the University. This series includes correspondence, printed materials, teaching files, (with original organization maintained), outlines, test questions, and information about student activities

 

3          F49A   University of Delaware Correspondence, 1924 – 1966

                        Includes a letter acknowledging Reed’s acceptance as instructor, 1924, and numerous letters from students, parents, administrators, faculty, colleagues, and Reed himself about various topics, and Reed’s letter of recommendation for John Munroe. Also includes news clippings and a theater program for the “E 52 University Theatre” production of The Crucible.

 

                        Series IV.       University of Delaware Papers, 1924 – 1970 (cont’d)        

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            F49B   History Department Materials, 1927 - 1949

                        Includes minutes from committee meetings, University materials, course assignments, and correspondence

 

            F49C   History Department Materials, 1950 - 1964

                        Includes minutes from committee meetings, University materials, course assignments, and correspondence

 

            F49D   Committee of Faculty Publications, 1945 - 1950

                        Includes committee meeting minutes, correspondence and ephemera from academic publishers. Also includes materials about the publication and distribution of William Owen Sypherd's book Jephtah and His Daughter, 1948

 

            F49E    Committee of Faculty Publications, 1950 - 1953

                        Includes committee meeting minutes, correspondence and ephemera from academic publishers

 

            F49F    Faculty Lists and Committees

                        Additional papers relating to Reed's professional responsibilities at the University of Delaware

 

            F49G   Library Committee, 1934, 1942 - 1947

                        Includes committee meeting minutes, correspondence, and information about the burgeoning library

 

            F49H   Library Committee, 1948 - 1950, 1966 - 1967

                        Includes committee meeting minutes, correspondence, information about the burgeoning library, and library ephemera such as a Library Associates newsletter, 1966, program, 1967, and booklet about Morris Library entitled “To use the Library...”

 

            F49I     Library Committee - Gifts and Friends of the Library

                        Includes procedures for the library's acceptance of gifts, solicitations, and correspondence

 

            F49J    Library Committee - Book Budget

                        Contains committee information about how the library spends acquisition funds, meeting records, and correspondence

 

            F50      Letters from John and Dorothy Munroe, 1942 – 1952

                        Letters and postcards from History Department colleague John Munroe and his wife “Dot,” to Henry Clay and Marion Reed.

                                   

 

                        Series IV.       University of Delaware Papers, 1924 – 1970 (cont’d)

 

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            F51      Printed Materials, News Clips, and Ephemera

                        Includes a 1938 commencement program, a 1968 program for A Concert of Indian Dance, promotional material for the College of Education, an edition of The Review from 1 November, 1940, and news clips about fireworks and integration of the University. See also Series VI F99

 

            F52      Course Outlines and Lecture Notes

                        Handwritten and typed outlines for courses and lectures in Delaware history, notes, and quotations about the meaning and definition of history and the role of historians. Additional note cards for lectures removed to Card Box 10.

 

            F53      Test Questions and Exam Papers, 1926 – 1941

                        Courses include History 103, 104, 203, and 205. The notes and questions varied somewhat over time, but many questions are on the history of Delaware

 

            F54      Seminar Folder – “History 503: Crime and Punishment” 1948 – 1963

                        This folder contains letters, notes, bibliographic references, research, lecture outlines, and other materials related to Reed’s course on the history of crime and punishment. Of some interest is Reed’s letters to the Sussex County Prison requesting permission for his class to witness the whipping of a prisoner in 1950, and his notes on the experience. The file retains Reed’s original groupings of items. It also includes papers and assignments submitted by students in the course.

 

            F55A   Student Papers

                        Includes student works from History 504: Church Discipline, reports on Dorothea Dix, and student outlines. Also includes work from History 333, such as family histories and economic genealogies.

 

            F55B   Student Papers - Thesis, 1948

                        Includes materials relating to "The German Element in Wilmington from 1850 - 1914" a thesis written by J. Emil Abeles and directed by H. Clay Reed

 

            F55C   Student Papers - Thesis, 1951

                        Includes materials relating to a thesis on Delaware libraries written by Katherine Kienle and directed by H. Clay Reed

 

           

 

                        Series V.         Publications, Manuscripts, and Related Materials

                                    This series contains a variety of correspondence, notes, manuscripts, proofs, and off-prints about or for many of Henry Clay Reeds work’s, both edited and authored. Notes from this series are also contained in card box 13.

3

            F56A   Early works - The Underground Railroad in Delaware

                        Includes an un-signed manuscript fragment and research notes. Also includes correspondence with personal recollections, and letters from Annie Beecher Seoville and Lyman Beecher Stowe, the niece and grandson of Harriet Beecher Stowe; both discuss a letter between Stowe and Thomas Garrett.

 

            F56B   Early works - "The Ratification of the Federal Constitution by PA," 1930

                        Manuscript copy of a paper written by Henry Clay Reed

 

            F56C   Early works - “The Delaware Constitution of 1776,” 1930

                        Letters, research notes, and a news clipping

 

                        Translations of Charles deLannoy, 1936 – 1958

3

            F57      A History of Swedish Colonial Expansion

                        Henry Clay Reed assisted in translating and editing the work of French Scholar Charles deLannoy. Includes a copy of the work as published in translation by the University of Delaware Press, 1938; correspondence between deLannoy and Reed, and a French off-print of a deLannoy article on colonialism in the Congo

 

            F58      Handwritten translation Colonial Expansion of the Netherlands

4

            F59      Typed manuscript of Colonial Expansion of the Netherlands and Denmark

                        Includes preface (338 pages)

 

            F60      Typed manuscript of Denmark at the Beginning of Its Colonial Expansion

 

            F61      Encyclopedia Articles and Correspondence, 1943 – 1972

                        Letters between Reed and Encyclopedia Britannica, Britannica Junior, The Grolier Society, two articles, and a certificate from Encyclopedia Britannica naming Reed as a “Distinguished Contributor”

 

                        Delaware: A History of the First State, 1944 – 1948

 

            F62      Delaware: A History of the First State promotional material

                        Lewis Historical Publishing Company book, includes list of advisory board, introduction and biographical sketch of Henry Clay Reed, table of contents, and a series of black and white photographic reproductions of scenes in Delaware which were featured in the history

                        Series V.         Publications, Manuscripts, and Related Materials (cont’d)

4

            F63      Correspondence with Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1945 – 1952

                        Includes original contract and correspondence about the planning, writing, publishing, sale, and distribution of the history. Also includes references to Reed’s stamp collecting.

 

            F64      General Correspondence about the work, 1944 – 1946

                        Includes letters from potential contributors, correspondence with writers who began a section but did not complete it before publication, letters from Reed to his board of advisors, and letters about ordering or acquiring the history

 

            F65      Correspondence with contributors, Volume I, Chapters 1 – 10

                        Includes cancelled checks, original letters to Henry Clay Reed, copies of letters from Reed, and various notes. Includes correspondence with Harold Hancock.

 

            F66      Correspondence with contributors, Volume I, Chapters 11 – 25

                        Includes cancelled checks, original letters to Henry Clay Reed, copies of letters from Reed, and various notes. Includes a letter from Carrie Chapman Catt to Mary de Vou about a suffrage speech Catt delivered in Delaware

 

            F67      Correspondence with contributors, Volume II, Chapter 26 – 41

                        Includes cancelled checks, original letters to Henry Clay Reed, copies of letters from Reed, and various notes. Includes correspondence with Pauline A. Young about “The Negro in Delaware,” and with Winifred Robinson about the history of the Women’s College at the University of Delaware

 

            F68      Correspondence with contributors, Volume II, Chapters 42 – 52

                        Includes cancelled checks, original letters to Henry Clay Reed, copies of letters from Reed, and various notes. Includes correspondence with Emalea P. Warner about women’s clubs in Delaware

 

            F69      Reviews, critiques, and correspondence after publication

 

            F70      Annotated Manuscript Fragment

                        “Counterfeiting in the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War” (41 p)

 

            F71      History of counterfeiting

                        Includes correspondence, notes, and news clippings; also includes research cards removed to card box 13.

 

            F72      Mason-Dixon Line

                        Annotated Manuscript Fragment “Mason-Dixon Line,” (7 p.), 1951, with notes, research, and correspondence about the Line boundaries in Delaware. Includes several off-prints about Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon by Thomas Cope, and a 1950 road map of Delaware with notes from Cope about Mason's route.

                        Series V.         Publications, Manuscripts, and Related Materials (cont’d)

4         

            F73      Swedish Colonial Society Publication, 1956 – 1961

                        Reed arranged the publication of Crane Hook on the Delaware 1667 – 1699: An Early Swedish Lutheran Church and Community by Jeannette Eckman. The folder includes orders, correspondence about the publication, and reviews. See also Series VI, F90

 

            F74      A Bibliography of Delaware through 1960, 1955 – 1966

                        Correspondence, receipts, and research notes. Includes a “Recreation Promotion and Service Directory,” 1959.

 

            F75      The Delaware Colony, correspondence, 1967 – 1970

                        Includes correspondence with publisher, sample book jacket, cards, news clippings, and reviews

 

            F76      The Delaware Colony

                        Includes “Education,” an annotated chapter and notes

 

            F77      “Presidential Electors in Delaware, 1789 – 1829”

                        Offprint from Delaware History, April, 1970, and correspondence

 

            F78      “Justices of the Peace in Early Delaware”

                        Offprint from Delaware History, October, 1971, notes, news clippings, and letters

 

 

                        Series VI.       Prof. and Historical Activities, Interests, and Associations

                        VI.1.    Activities and Organizations

 

4          F79      Delaware State Archives, 1927 – 1930, 1967

                        Reed was seasonally employed by the State Archives Commission as special assistant to Henry C. Conrad, head archivist in those years. This folder includes a report Reed wrote during his employment on the conditions of the archives with recommendations, news clippings, and correspondence.

 

            F80      Library Correspondence, 1932 – 1968

                        Includes correspondence with public and academic libraries and historical societies about material duplication, book purchases, gifts, and extent of collections

 

            F81      Personal and Professional Collecting Activities, 1937 – 1961

                        Reed also seems to have built his own collections of books, manuscripts, stamps, and other materials. These papers reference auctions, sales, or personal materials.

 

 

 

                        Series VI.       Prof. Activities, Interests, and Associations (cont’d)

                        VI.1.    Activities and Organizations (cont’d)

4         

            F82A   American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)

                        Reed was influential in bringing a conference of the AASLH to Delaware in 1951; folder includes program and lists of delegates and printed materials from the AASLH

 

            F82B   Civil War Centennial Committee and Round Table Papers, 1958 – 1967

                        First Annual Report of the Civil War Centennial Commission, Offprint of the Joint Resolution (85-305, 253) recognizing the centennial; minutes and bulletins of the Delaware Civil War Centennial Commission; correspondence, newsletters and papers from the Civil War Round Table of Wilmington, Delaware.

           

            F83      Delaware Folklore Society, 1951 – 1958, correspondence

 

            F84A   Museum work

                        The Henry Francis DuPont Winterthur Museum, 1955 – 1957, 1973 – 1974

                        Correspondence, notes and outlines of his consulting work in the use of money and coins in the gallery spaces, and a letter of recommendation from Marion Reed for a student applying to the program in Early American Culture.

 

            F84B   Museum work

                        The Dickinson Mansion, 1956 - 1978

                        Includes correspondence, ephemera, invitations, and a series: "A News Letter from The Friends of the John Dickinson Mansion, Incorporated." Issues from volumes 1-10, 12, 16, and 17.

 

            F85      City of Newark Planning Commission, Citizen's Committee, 1961 - 1963

                        Reed was a member of the committee during this period; this folder contains minutes, reports, and documents relating to the committee     

 

 

                        VI. 2.   Swedish Heritage Activities and Tercentenary Celebrations

 

14        F86      Delaware Tercentenary Bulletin and tercentenary ephemera, 1937 – 1963

                        Includes nine issues of the Tercentenary Bulletin, a commemorative matchbook cover, subscription applications for the Delaware Swedish Tercentenary Commemorative Half Dollar, tickets and parking passes to the Fort Christiana presentation 27 June 1938, Swedish flags, maps of Sweden, and printed materials

 

            F87      Tercentenary Events and Programs, 1931, 1938

                        Includes printed materials, programs, and invitations, such as programs from the Lewes Tercentenary Celebration, the Longwood Garden Tercentenary Celebration, correspondence from Sweden with commemorative stamps, and invitations to numerous celebrations.

                        Series VI.       Professional Activities, Interests, and Associations (cont’d)

                        VI. 2.   Swedish Heritage and Tercentenary Celebrations (cont’d)

 

14        F88      Tercentenary Radio Programs, 1928 – 1938

                        Wilmington’s Tercentenary, a ten minute radio talk by John Nields, 28 July 1928,

Du Pont presents The Cavalcade of America, 22 June 1938 – Radio Script: “The Swedes Land in Delaware,” and “Address of George H. Earle, Governor of Pennsylvania... over nation – wide radio network,” 23 March 1938

 

            F89      The American Swedish Historical Museum, 1938 – 1939

                        Correspondence and ephemera

 

            F90      The Delaware Swedish Colonial Society, 1948 – 1961

                        Bylaws, events, and invitations

 

            F91      The Delaware Swedish Colonial Society, 1948 – 1968

                        Correspondence and ephemera

 

            F92      The Delaware Swedish Colonial Society, 1959 – 1970

                        Newsletters

 

            F93      New Castle Tercentary, 1951

                        Cards, programs, newsletter

 

            F94      Wilmington’s 325 Anniversary Celebration, 1963

                        Program for the “325th Anniversary Celebration of New Sweden,” 1963; invitations, printed material, commemorative buttons

 

            F95      Swedish Heritage and Tercentenary Publications, 1937 – 1979

                        Includes The American Scandinavian Review, Spring 1938; “Delaware Tercentenary: Official Program of the Celebration,” 1938; Allan Kastrup’s Digest of Sweden; “Swedish Council News,” Summer 1979; “Delaware Tercentenary 1638 – 1938, Committee of Drama, Music and Arts;” The American Swedish Monthly, March 1937; and The American Swedish Monthly, June, 1938

 

            F96      Swedish heritage and Tercentenary news clippings

 

                        VI. 3.   Additional Research and Materials

 

14        F97      American Currency – Research and notes

                        Includes a three dollar paper currency note from “The Drovers Bank, Leavenworth City, Kansas,” dated 1856; photo-static examples of other American currency, research receipts, a news clipping, and research transcripts such as a letter from “Judge Sherwood to Jas. Bayard,” 1868, on currency questions

 

 

                        Series VI.       Professional Activities, Interests, and Associations (cont’d)

                        VI. 3.   Additional Research and Materials (cont’d)

 

14        F98      Documents from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 1870 – 1905

                        Includes notarized letters, affidavits, depositions, powers of attorney, correspondence, handwritten claims, and complaints of “Indian depredation” from Oregon, Nevada, the Territory of New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, and California. Also contains a reprint of Congressional Committee report S. 163, report 3185, about reimbursing persons who “expended moneys... in repelling invasions and suppressing Indian hostilities” in Nevada

 

            F99      African Americans and Civil Rights – Research and materials

                        Includes bibliographical citations and notes, an annotated copy of an essay, “A Princeton President on the Negro Problem,” (versos of several sheets contain directions to “Grow a Garden for Victory this Year” ca.1943) reprintings of “The Origins of Negro Craftsmanship in Colonial America,” Journal of Negro History,” October, 1947; Negroes in the United States: Their Employment and Economic Status, Bulletin No. 1119, Department of Labor, 1952; “Northern Prejudice and Negro Suffrage, 1865 – 1870,” Journal of Negro History, January 1954, and clippings about desegregation, interracial marriage, and other topics

 

            F100    Journal of Captain John Montresor, and other transcripts and photostats

                        Typed transcriptions of entries from 1777- 1778 with scattered notations (62 pp), also includes Relation of Virginia by Henry Spelman, 1609; a photo-stat of The Advice of Evan Ellis, late of Chester County, deceased to his Daughter, when at Sea, 1740, and others

 

            F101A Printed Materials and Ephemera – Newark, Delaware - Politics

                        Includes numerous campaign mailings and ephemera, a flyer “Welcome to Major General J. W. O’Daniel by the Citizens of Newark,” and materials relating to the 1950 “Sunday Movie Controversy”

 

            F101B Printed Materials and Ephemera - Newark, Delaware, Culture and Recreation

                        Includes store advertisements, recreation schedules, cultural event notices and other ephemera

 

            F101C Printed Material and Ephemera - Wilmington, Delaware

                        Skating Club News, Wilmington, October 1963; The Westminster Chimes, Wilmington, 1964; pamphlet Wilmington Millionaire Ring forces liquor on the State of Delaware, Jefferson D. Chalfant concert, Wilmington Society of the Fine Arts, 1959; and other local items

 

                        Series VI.       Professional Activities, Interests, and Associations (cont’d)

                        VI. 3.   Additional Research and Materials

 

14

            F101D Printed Materials and Ephemera - State and Federal Politics

                        Includes other Delaware and New Jersey materials such as letters and political ephemera for a variety of candidates. Also includes political propaganda received by Reed, warning of communist and Zionist  plots surrounding integration in Delaware.

                       

            F101E  Printed Materials and Ephemera – Delaware Related

                        Includes newsletters such as Saturday Evening Post, 1949, with a cover story on Dover, Delaware, Red Feather Facter[sic], October 1959, Diamond State Bulletin, December1962, Middletown’s First Presbyterian Church address, programs for The Delaware Highland Gathering, 1967; The Delaware Flower Show at the University, 1961; and reports for Eleutherian Mills – Hagley Museum

 

            F102A Printed Materials, Newsletters, and Ephemera

                        Materials from historic sites Reed visited in the Mid Atlantic and other items

 

            F102B Printed Materials and Ephemera related to Religion

                        Contains tracts against Free Masons and other secret societies

 

            F103    Additional Newspapers and Clippings

                        Numerous articles of local and national interest, including some original clippings with Newark photographs.

 

            F104    Miscellaneous research and notes

                        Includes “List exhibits the Result of every claim... under the late treaty with Denmark... May 1833,” Department of State holograph document, 7 May 1833. Printed document: alphabetical list of marine vessels and parties claiming damage, a map: "Chester as William Penn Knew it, 1701," typed manuscript pages "Racial Elements in Mexico," and other items

 

 

                        IV. 4. Papers of Marion J. Bjornson (Reed)

 

            F105    Papers of Marion Bjornson

                        Includes "The First Constitution of Delaware" and "The Adoption of the Federal Constitution by Maryland"

 

Summary of Card Boxes

 

 

                        New Jersey Topics

5                      Crime and punishment notes

 

6                      Crime and punishment notes

 

7                      Includes church discipline, background, and bibliography notes

 

8                      Includes newspaper notes, and township and court records

 

 

 

                        Delaware Topics

9                      Various notes

 

10                    Various notes, includes lecture notes from Reed’s courses

 

11                    Bibliographic Note Cards, A – G

 

12                    Bibliographic Note Cards, H – Z

 

 

 

                        Counterfeiting

13                    Notes on the history of counterfeiting