Stephen Elliott papers

Scope and Contents Contains a printed article, Observations on the genus Glycine, and some of its kindred genera, by Stephen Elliott, read June 23, 1818, and published in the Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia the same year. The last page is copied by hand. There are also two manuscript fragments in an unknown hand, concerning activities of the South Carolina Committee of Correspondence prior to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, differences in European and American culture...

Scope and Contents Contains an undated broadside regarding the formation of the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina in 1814; undated fragments and lists of books, medical texts, scientists, authors, and political figures; and lists of books and invoices, including an undated manuscript list of books belonging to the Literary and Philosophical Society of South Carolina; a bill to the Charleston Library Society from an English merchant, dated April 20, 1818; a list of books ordered from J. H....

Scope and Contents Notebook kept by Stephen Elliott recording the names of enslaved people owned by Elliott and his extended family who were given blankets; lists of tools given to carpenters, enslaved people, and overseers; enslaved people obtained at the settlement of the estate of Elliott’s father, William Elliott, in 1792, and enslaved people purchased in Savannah, Georgia; and lists of enslaved people Elliott owned in Georgia and South Carolina. There are also records of day labor and contracting for...

Scope and Contents Contains undated lists of plants and trees “which would thrive in the mild climate of Charleston,” South Carolina, including cork trees, fig trees from Italy, and lemon and lime trees from Portugal; lists of genera and species under Linnaean classes of plants including Syngenesia, Dodecandria, Monadelphia, Diadelphia, Triandria, and Octandria; a list of Sarracenia rubra; and a list fragment of other plant names and numbers. There are also descriptions of Tetrandria monogynia and Lyonia, and...

Scope and Contents Contains notes on Linnaean classes of plants, including Hexandria and Tetradynamia, and plant specimens; a manuscript, possibly by botanist James MacBride (1784-1817), describing plants local to swamps, pine barrens, sand hills, and other ecoregions; lists of Linnaean names of fishes and reptiles; lists of mollusks and notes on genera including Patella and Helix; a list in French of minerals, with descriptions, locations they were found, and some donor names, in an unknown hand; notes on...

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Manuscript notes on 280 species of plants by Stephen Elliott, with observations dated from 1810 to 1814 that were included in his A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, published from 1816 to 1824. Includes a typed mid-twentieth century document by Arnold Arboretum Librarian Lazella Schwarten, describing the custodial history and content of the manuscript.

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Typed list of plant names from Stephen Elliott botanical manuscript, 1810-1814, and the dates, page numbers, and sometimes his descriptions, probably created by Arnold Arboretum Librarian Lazella Schwarten in circa 1947.

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Printed subscriptions for a future work by Stephen Elliott on plants, dated in 1815, including names of subscribers, places of residence, and numbers of copies they ordered. The document also contains an outline of the content Elliott will include and conditions for publication. The work, entitled A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, was published from 1816 to 1824. Subscribers included the New York Library Society.

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Printed subscriptions for a future work by Stephen Elliott on plants, dated in 1815, including names of subscribers, places of residence, and numbers of copies they ordered. The document also contains an outline of the content Elliott will include and conditions for publication. The work, entitled A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, was published from 1816 to 1824.

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Correspondence from Bulloch County, Georgia, scientific illustrator and entomologist John Abbot (1751-1840) to Elliott concerning drawings he offered to send to Elliott or the Charleston Library Society, dated August 3, 1817. Includes a twentieth century typescript.

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Correspondence from Scottish botanist G. A. Walker (George Arnott Walker) Arnott (1799-1868), dated August 18, 1828, regarding duplicate specimens of plants Arnott had collected in the Pyrenees, which he was sending to Elliott. Arnott notes he has numbered the specimens and included in his letter the localities by number. He also writes of his plans to travel to Russia and his hopes that Elliott will send him some North American plant specimens.

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Correspondence from German entomologist and ornithologist Friedrich Boie (1789-1870) to Elliott in German, dated September 28, 1818. Included is a contemporary manuscript translation of the letter, which mentions Boie’s Scandinavian travels to research birds, his interest in receiving American bird specimens, and his offer to send Elliott some European specimens in return.

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Correspondence from physician Samuel Boykin, of Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1828, concerning plant specimens he was sending to Elliott, politics, and an act by the state legislature to charter the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company.

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Correspondence from Litchfield, Connecticut, educator and writer John Pierce Brace (1793-1872), dated June 4, 1827, thanking Elliott for a box of plant specimens and expressing interest in receiving species of Hedysarum. He also includes a list of 50 species “scattered throughout your book that would be particularly valuable,” referring to Elliott’s A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia. Brace notes he is sending Elliott a box of minerals, as well.

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Letter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, botanist Zaccheus Collins (1764-1831) to Elliott informing him of the death of his friend, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815). Collins also writes he would welcome any extra Southern plant specimens Elliott possesses. Includes a typescript of the correspondence. There is also a list of expenses related to educating poor children addressed to Collins from B.R. Morgan, dated November 9, 1816.

Scope and Contents Correspondence from West Chester, Pennsylvania, botanist, physician, and politician William Darlington (1782-1863) to Elliott, dated August 31, 1827, regarding their exchange of plant specimens. Darlington writes he specifically seeks a specimen of Prunus hyemalis, which Elliott described in A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia. In a letter dated December 14, 1827, Darlington says he is forwarding a box of specimens to Elliott, and responds to his enquiries regarding Caltha...

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Draft correspondence from Elliott to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815), dated approximately 1808-1809, discussing problems Muhlenberg was having with his vision and specimens Elliott had sent him. Elliott also mentions an intermittent fever that was afflicting his children and offers his opinions on a number of plant species.

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Correspondence from French-American vintner Nicholas Herbemont (1771-1839), of Columbia, South Carolina, dated May 20, 1817, concerning additional subscribers to Elliott’s A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, and a sample of cordate leaf he intended to send to Elliott.

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Correspondence from botanist and University of Georgia professor James Jackson (1787-1857), dated June 2, 1814, informing Elliott he will only be able to send a small amount of plant specimens from the Laurens County region due to a drought.

Scope and Contents Correspondence from physician and botanist James MacBride (1784-1817), of Princeville and Charleston, South Carolina, to Elliott, dated 1811 to September 3, 1812. In a letter dated December 24, 1811, MacBride suggests Elliott expand his planned work on botany to include the medicinal uses of plants. He also mentions his difficulties in procuring a copy of Thomas Walter’s (1740?-1789) Flora caroliniana. MacBride thanks Elliott for offering to send him a copy in a letter dated February 10,...

Scope and Contents Correspondence from physician and botanist James MacBride (1784-1817) of Princeville and Charleston, South Carolina, to Elliott, dated from October 7, 1812 to March 8, 1814. Topics include medicinal plants, including Vernonia angustifolia, which MacBride claims has cured syphilis in enslaved people; collection, preservation, and exchange of botanical specimens; the cardiovascular system of the alligator; a recipe for a headache Elliott was suffering; observations of local plants; and...

Scope and Contents Correspondence from physician and botanist James MacBride (1784-1817) of Princeville and Charleston, South Carolina, to Elliott, dated April 4, 1814 to 1817, and undated. Topics include classification, collection, and exchange of plant specimens and a voyage with his family to the mountains, where he hoped to but did not meet naturalist John Eatton Le Conte (1784-1860). MacBride describes meeting with a two Moravian clergymen and plant collectors, Jacob Van Vleck (1751-1831) and Lewis David...

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Correspondence to physician and botanist James MacBride (1784-1817) of Princeville and Charleston, South Carolina, from A.W. Garden, F.W. Gilmer, and William W. Anderson regarding subscriptions to Stephen Elliot’s proposed A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, 1816 and undated.

Scope and Contents Correspondence from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815), dated from 1808 to March 30, 1810, concerning the classification and exchange of plant specimens with Elliott and other botanists, including John Lyon (1765-1814), Muhlenberg’s observations on different plant specimens he received from Elliott, and progress on Muhlenberg’s catalog of North American phanerogamic (seed) plants. Included is a list of plant specimens, in Elliott’s hand, that he was sending to...

Scope and Contents Correspondence from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815), dated from July 2, 1810 to November 11, 1812, concerning the classification and exchange of plant specimens with Elliott, Muhlenberg’s observations on different plant specimens he received from Elliott, the study of lichens and fungi, news regarding their botanical colleagues, Muhlenberg’s garden and herbarium, and publications of their botanical colleagues. Other topics include plants he received from...