Box 1

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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...

Scope and Contents: Correspondence from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815), dated from December 1, 1812 to 1815, concerning the classification and exchange of plant specimens with Elliott, Muhlenberg’s observations on different plant specimens he received from Elliott, news regarding the travels, activities, and publications of their botanical colleagues, the progress of Muhlenberg’s catalog of North American phanerogamic (seed) plants, printed in 1813, and a visit he made to...

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Correspondence from New York horticulturist William Prince (1766-1842) to Elliott, dated September 29, 1828, regarding specimens he wished to have, including species of Hypericum, and his cultivation of wine grapes, of which he has “400 varieties” including “those kinds which will suit the various climates of the union.”

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Correspondence from entomologist and conchologist Thomas Say (1787-1834), of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, dated August 18, 1822, regarding a box of shells Elliott had sent him, the content of which Say identifies in his letter. Say also includes a list of shells he is sending to Elliott.

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Correspondence from mycologist and botanist Lewis David von Schweinitz (1780-1834), of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to Elliott, dated September 9, 1822, acknowledging a box of plant specimens Elliott had sent him and promising to examine them and offer his observations when he has time. Included is a label in an unknown hand for Solidago altissima.

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Correspondence in German from W.C. Stueve in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Elliott, dated October 20, 1817, accompanied by a list of European plant names.

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Unaddressed correspondence from English ornithologist William Swainson (1789-1855), dated February 10, 1825, containing a request for bird skins from America, for which he writes he will exchange British, Brazilian, or African skins. Swainson’s list is based on Alexander Wilson’s (1766-1813) American Ornithology.

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Unaddressed correspondence in French from a Madame Tesse regarding the procurement and shipment of seeds from France, possibly on behalf of Stephen Elliott.

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Correspondence in French from botanist André Thouin (1746-1824), chair of horticulture at Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris, to Elliott, dated July 5, 1818, regarding the exchange of plant specimens.

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Correspondence from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, wine merchant John Vaughan (1756-1841) to Elliott concerning subscriptions to works of French botanist François André Michaux (1770-1855), dated July 1, 1817. Vaughan also asks Elliott for an update on the publication of A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia.

Scope and Contents: Correspondence from Augusta, Georgia, botanist Thomas Jarram Wray (1781-1851) to Elliot, dated February 7, 1819, concerning transmittal of proceeds from Elliott’s A sketch of the botany of South-Carolina and Georgia, and obtaining additional copies of the work to sell in Augusta and Milledgeville. Wray also asks Elliott for a specimen from the Alisma genus to present to local physicians, “as it has been recommended by various and in my opinion equally insufficient authority as a remedy for...

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Photostats of correspondence from Elliott to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, botanist Henry Muhlenberg (1753-1815), regarding personal matters and the collection, classification, and exchange of plant specimens, dated 1809-1814. Includes lists of plants Elliott sent to Muhlenberg.

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Photostat of unaddressed correspondence of Ambrose-Marie-François-Joseph Palisot de Beauvois (1752-1820), thanking the recipient of the letter, probably Stephen Elliott, for his observations on his work, and requesting American plant specimens.