American records

Documents relating to the USA and the colonies from which it was formed

Documents are grouped by century

1600 to 1700

  • Heads of bill to convert Negroes in America, c17th century.(44M69/G2/144)
  • Grants by “Treasurer and Company of Adventurers and Planters of the City of London for the First Colony in Virginia” to Henry, Earl of Southampton: acquittance for his time as treasurer of the Company (1620-1623), and grant of 20 shares of land, 1623.(5M53/226 and 312)
  • The earliest “coffer book” (city account book) for the city of Winchester, recording payment made towards clothes for some poor boys who left for Virginia in 1625.(W/E6/1)
  • Proclamation for prohibition of importation of tobacco which is not of the growth of Virginia or the Summer Islands, 1625.(W/B6/3/14)
  • Probate inventory of Richard Andros of Virginia, 1628.(1628AD/003)
  • Register of the Overseers of the Poor for Odiham parish, c1780, recording the apprenticeship of a parish child to a planter from Maryland, Virginia, 1662.(47M81/PO2)
  • Articles of agreement between the Lords Proprietors and Treasurer for financing the supply and development of South Carolina, 1674 (signed by Duke of Albemarle and the Earls of Shaftesbury and of Craven, among others, and witnessed by the philosopher John Locke and others), together with agreements for the employment by Lord Shaftesbury of Andrew Percival as agent, 1674-1680, and sale of stock on St Giles Plantation by Lord Shaftesbury’s trustees to Percival, 1685.(7M54/233)   

1701 to 1800

  • Letters from Dr Bray to Thomas Jervoise concerning Maryland, 1702.(44M69/F6/8/13)
  • Letter urging the appointment of Caleb Heathcote as Collector for the province of New York, 1702.(63M84/251)
  • Will of Samuel Burst of New England, 1703 (the Record Office also holds 11 other wills of 18th-century testators from New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, mainly mariners.(1703P/019)
  • Letter from William Burnet, New York, to James Harris of Salisbury, 1721, describing New York and his life there.(9M73/G15/19)
  • Agreement, preserved among the Brockenhurst parish records, between Charles Rede of Southampton, who had arranged to purchase some land in Carolina and to send over tradesmen and labourers to “build on, cleanse, manure dress and improve the same”, and Richard Webb of Beaulieu or Brockenhurst, who undertook to go out and work on the estate for four years, 1713; includes condition that if Webb catches any “Bears, Wolves, Foxes and other Savage & ravenous Beasts & Creatures not good to Eat” outside his working hours and with his own powder and shot, he may keep the skins himself.(4M81/PO32)
  • Society of Friends: request for certificate for brother in Pennsylvania, found in records of the Alton, Southampton and Poole Monthly Meeting, 1739.(24M54/277)
  • Letter written from Charlestown, Carolina, recounting the experiences of Major Louis Simon Ourry as quartermaster with Lord Loudoun, 1757.(4M52/15)
  • Abstract of Act of Parliament about making of indigo in plantations, 1763.(44M69/G2/287)
  • Letters from Captain Ambrose Serle to James Harris esq, father of the first Earl of Malmesbury, some written from America and some from the Plantation Office in Whitehall (where he was an under-secretary of state for the colonies). Includes references to an affray at Newport, Rhode Island, 1769, list of sinecure offices, 1772, and the progress of the war, 1777 (“Rebellion is certainly sinking very fast in America; and the ensuing Campaign, it cannot reasonably be doubted, will perfectly determine it”).(9M73/G570)
  • Order for removal of wife of James Pink who was serving in the 59th Regiment of Foot in America, 1775.(25M60/PO50/30)
  • Newspaper extract (London Evening Post, 4 Feb 1775), recording a debate in the House of Lords in which the Earl of Chatham supported the cause of America and criticised the British Government; in the same issue of the newspaper is a copy of a petition from the Congressmen of the twelve united colonies.(44M69/G2/288)
  • Letter from Lord Rockingham, probably to Thomas, 3rd Earl of Effingham, concerning prospects for the war with the American colonies, 1777, and pages from the Dundee Weekly magazine (1775) relating to Lord Effingham’s refusal to fight against the Americans (these items are found in the Howard of Effingham section of the Baring papers).(92M95 part)
  • Letter to Thomas Holt White, nephew of the naturalist Gilbert White of Selborne, reporting rumours, perhaps concerning the American War of Independence in 1782, including the taking of St Kitts by the French, and explaining the truth, that a landing-force of 8000 Frenchmen was about to capitulate.(16M97/4/5)
  • Copy of letter from Thomas Cooper who had settled in America, concerning his property in North Tidworth, Hampshire, 1784. Refers to his inability to answer an earlier letter “till the Dissersion of Arms”.(2M53/13)
  • Letter from Glasgow concerning curtailment of trade with Virginia on account of War of Independence, c1794.(75M91/A8/3)

1801 to 1900

  • Correspondence and papers of John Dewey who spent some time working as a surgeon in America, c1805-1818, including partnership agreement for practice of physic, surgery, midwifery and retailing medicine, Urbana, Champaign County, Ohio, 1814 (32M77B/B3); and letter about his future in the United States and his property at Charleston, South Carolina, 1815: 'I like America so well that I should hardly like to return to England.' (32M77/F/C30)
  • Letter to George Purefoy Jervoise of Herriard from J N Thompson, Fort Frederick, Virginia, 1817.'Agriculture is in this country at least a century behind the average in England or Scotland.'(44M69/F10/51/8)
  • Photocopy of letter from Col. D J M Cord mentioning condition of slaves in Carolina, 1830.(COPY/499)
  • Letters to Mary Jervoise of Herriard from Emma Marx of Richmond, USA or Canada, 1846.(44M69/F16/9)
  • Letters from Samuel Cunard to Sir Francis T Baring concerning government contract for carrying American mails, 1850-1851.(92M95/F3/2/63-65)
  • Letters from Abbott Laurence in Boston to William Sloane Stanley concerning free trade and politics, 1851-1853.(10M55/68-69)
  • Private correspondence of James Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury, as Foreign Secretary, relating to North and South America, 1852, 1859, and memorandum on state of business in United States, 1852.(9M73/4, 18-19, 431/5)
  • Letters from F Warre to Edward Herbert concerning canoe expedition in New York State, c1857. 'We came across several hunters and backwoodsmen. They are the finest set of men I ever saw, nothing like our common ideas of an American... You frequently find a labouring man here better educated than a gentleman farmer in England.'(75M91/G2/26-29)
  • Diary of Thomas Stopher, including references to Civil War, 1862.(21M85W/1)
  • Letters to Fanny King of Winchester from her brother Frederick, Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1873.(110M88W/29)
  • Letter from General W G Sherman, US Army, to Lord Northbrook,Viceroy of India, introducing General Upton, 1875.(92M95/F5/2/65)
  • Journal of American tour by member of the Bonham Carter family, probably John Bonham Carter III, including detailed record of visits to the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition, and references to Pennsylvania University, and to places of interest in Washington, including the Treasury Department, Capitol, Smithsonian, Army Medical Museum, G Street Church, Potomac River, Survey Office, Corcoran Art Gallery and Washington Monument, 1876.(110M92/12)
  • Photographs of Native American settlement, perhaps in Wyoming, 19th century.(15M84/F131)
  • Letters concerning commemoration of Lady Harriet Acland by Saratoga Monument Association, 1883-1886.(75M91/R10/31-33 and R37/18)
  • Letters concerning candidacies of Grover Cleveland, Mr Blaine and Mr Butler for US Presidency, 1884.(75M91/R11/29-30)

1901 to 1999

  • Letters and papers concerning visits to America (including Virginia) by Richard Arthur Austen-Leigh, 1903-1920.(23M93/97/2)
  • Photograph of interior of St Saviour’s Church, Hanford, King’s County, California, c1904.(130M82/59/7)
  • Correspondence of Camper and Nicholson of Gosport, yacht builders, about America’s Cup, 1913-1920.(38M98/2)
  • Correspondence with the Arnold Arboretum, Harvard, Massachusetts, 1916-1926.(136M82/59)
  • Correspondence concerning body of American passenger on SS Motano washed ashore at Milford, 1917.(31M67/PB12)
  • Papers concerning burial of US soldiers in Magdalen Hill Cemetery, Winchester, and subsequent reburial in the USA or Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey, 1918-1929.(W/C1/5/394-395)
  • Papers concerning links between Winchester, England, and Winchester, Virginia, 1918-1975.(W/C1/6/24, W/C1/5/370,857, W/C2/5/38/3/5-14 and W/C2/6/29-30,68,72,81)
  • Correspondence concerning sending of stone from Eversley Church to Calvary Church and Kingsley Settlement House, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1926-1927.(6M77/PW24-PW27)
  • Journal of Ralph Dutton (of Hinton Ampner) and Hugh Cholmondeley describing travels to New York and New Orleans, 1926-1927.(63M48/F/1/1)
  • Cinefilm of unveiling of memorial window to King George V in Winchester Cathedral by US Ambassador Joseph P Kennedy, 1938.(AV105/16/V2)
  • Cine films of British Power-Boat Company’s activities in the USA, 1930s-1940s.(AV374)
  • Papers concerning links between Winchester, England, and Winchester, Massachusetts, including photographs of presentation of ambulance by Winchester MA (in 1941), 1939-1941.(W/C2/5/13-14)
  • Papers concerning Winchester’s involvement with the Namesake Towns Committee, 1940-1950.(W/C2/2/47-48)
  • Correspondence of Miss J Walsh, including many letters from the USA, 1940-1972.(65M90W/111, 113-127)
  • Photographs of American Section-Hospital in Britain, 1941.(279M87/F2/14-24)
  • Correspondence about proposed requisitioning of Mottisfont Abbey as convalescent home for American flying officers, 1940s.(13M63/428)
  • Letters and photographs (1980s-1990s) of Mrs “Mickey” Gilberg, stationed as a nurse at St Swithun’s School in Winchester during its use as 38th Station Hospital in 1943.(40M95W/L1/5)
  • Files concerning visit of American midshipmen to Winchester, 1947-1949.(W/C2/2/21-22)
  • Papers relating to Constance Applebee, teacher at Bryn Mawr College, and Camp Tegawitha, Pennsylvania, 1953-1983.(110M89/260-288)
  • Cunard films, 1950s-1980s, including films concerning cruise liners used for American routes.(AV422)
  • Pamphlet commemorating bicentenary of Winchester, Connecticut, 1971.(W/C2/6/72)
  • Correspondence concerning Capt John Wallop and Wallop Island, Virginia, 1971-1981.(141M83/96)
  • Papers concerning exchange visits between King Alfred’s College, Winchester, and the Universities of Maine, Southern Maine, and Wisconsin-Eau-Claire, 1972-1984.(47M91W/H5/2-7)
  • Pamphlet about towns called Andover in England and America, 1976.(TOP10/1/41)
  • Recording of interview with Mrs Pearl Pleydell-Bouverie, formerly Lady Montagu of Beaulieu, by Radio New Braunfels, Texas, 1984.(AV110/2/S1) 
 

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