Library Guides: Manuscripts of Modern America: Records

Records

What follows is a descriptive list of records and record groups from the North American manuscript holdings dating wholly or primarily from 1865 to the present day.

Some of the descriptions that follow may be linked to finding aids, which will provide readers with fuller information on that particular collection.

Co. A, 24th U.S. Infantry Muster Roll, 31 October-31 December 1874
1 document, partly printed. A muster and pay roll for Capt. Charles C. Hood's Co. A, 24th U. S. Regiment of Infantry, covering November and December of 1874. During this time the company was performing garrison and escort duties at Fort McIntosh on the Rio Grande (Laredo, Webb County, Texas). All the enlisted men in the company were black, either veterans of the United States Colored Troops or freedmen. MSN/MN 2000-1-Oversize.
National Ideal Benefit Society Records, 1912-1964
4 containers; 2.5 cubic feet. A collection of records documenting the activities of the National Ideal Benefit Society (NIBS), an African American insurance cooperative headquartered in Richmond, Virginia. Also present are related papers, including correspondence, of NIBS founder A. W. Holmes. Materials include letters, pamphlets, realia, clippings, death certificates, insurance policies, photographs, meeting minutes, and financial records. MSN/MN 10024. [Finding Aid]
Church of St. Genevieve Census Index, 1916-1921
1 vol., 29 cm., 110 leaves; typescript, with annotations in pencil and ink. The title page of this volume reads: "CHURCH of St. GENEVIEVE / LAS CRUCES, N.M. / Index to / CENSUS / collected / 1916-1921 / by / Rev. M. Vandermaesen / pastor / CONTAINING / names of / MOST of Parishoners / many of their relatives / either dead / or moved from the parish[.]" Fr. Miguel Vandermaesen was pastor at Saint Genevieve Roman Catholic Church in Las Cruces, Doña Ana County, New Mexico from 1909 to 1922. The volume contains upwards of 5000 names, mostly Hispanic. MSN/MN 2001-1.
Thomas Dickason Logbook, 1869-1879 (bulk 1869-1871)
1 volume, 34 cm., 135 leaves, with 259 pages of manuscript. About 140 pages of this volume contain daily log entries for the whaling bark Thomas Dickason of New Bedford, Massachusetts (Valentine Lewis, master), during a voyage of 1869-71. The log was kept by George W. Brown, perhaps the first mate. On leaving New Bedford (2 November 1869) Dickason proceeded around Cape Horn to Hawaii (April 1870) and then to the Arctic Ocean, returning to Hawaii in November. During the winter she hunted the Offshore Grounds before returning to the Arctic in April 1871. In September of that year the ship was trapped in the ice off Point Barrow and abandoned, one of 32 American vessels lost that season in the so-called Whaling Disaster of 1871. Entries are present for most days of the voyage, describing wind and weather, crew activities, the sighting and killing of whales (marked in the log with stamps), off-loading of oil for shipment home, and other matters. The final entry is for 11 September 1871, after the vessel was entrapped but before she was evacuated. Much of the remainder of the volume contains distance and bearing calculations, apparently for later voyages of Brown aboard the vessels Pilgrim and Syren. MSN/MN 2002-1-B to MSN/MN 2002-2.
Humphrey M. Barbour World War I Scrapbooks, 1917-1919
4 volumes, 29 cm., 678 leaves, with typescript, photographs, postcards, maps and other published illustrations, typed and handwritten documents, and drawings tipped and bound in; 3 additional folders; 1 linear foot. From August 1917 to May 1919 Humphrey Mahan Barbour (1894-1983) of Bloomington, Indiana served as an officer in the U.S. Army's 150th Field Artillery Regiment, attached to the 42nd (Rainbow) Division. From February to November 1918 he saw extensive action on the Western Front, fighting at the 2nd Battle of the Marne, at Saint-Mihiel, and in the Meuse-Argonne offensive. On 1 July 1918 he was promoted from 1st lieutenant to captain, and command of the 150th Field Artillery's Battery B. At some point after the war Barbour compiled a detailed four-volume illustrated narrative of his military experiences, entitled "With the 42nd Division, 1917-19." Around 220 typed pages of memoir, drawn by Barbour from wartime letters and perhaps a journal, are interspersed with more than 400 photographic prints, photo postcards, and published halftones relevant to the text. Also present are more than 500 printed, typed, and manuscript documents and bits of ephemera preserved by Barbour: division and regimental orders, memoranda, reports, and plans; handwritten notes from superior officers; fire orders and reports of fire; and drawings of sections of the front. MSN/MN 0506-1-B to MSN/MN 0506-4-B; MSN/MN 0506-5 to MSN/MN 0506-7. [Finding Aid]