March 1860

Medill, William, 1802-1865

Letterbook

Title: Letterpress copybook: [from the Treasury Department]

First Comptroller of the Treasury William Medill's letterbook for the month of March 1860. Letters are copied on tissue paper, the originals in various clerical hands, and those signed originally by Medill. Each has been signed by Medill, with the exception of one letter signed by Chief Clerk William Hemphill Jones. An alphabetical index of addressees is bound in to the front of the book. Addressees include: the secretaries of the U.S. Treasury and Interior; various senators and congressmen; U.S. ambassadors and consuls; U.S. marshals and district attorneys; and clerks in various federal…

GLC03519.01

1 June 1865-31 July 1865

Letterbook

Title: [Telegram book from the Treasury Department]

Contains a title page with the initials H. B. written in the bottom left corner. Includes some correspondence handwritten on tissue paper. This correspondence lists the date, name of the recipient(s), body of the message, and name of the sender(s). Other messages are handwritten on stationery of the American Telegraph Company, and are attached to thicker paper, bound within this volume. Company stationery contains the company address, terms and conditions of transmitting messages via telegraph, and the names of Cambridge Livingston as company Secretary, and Edward S. Sanford as company…

GLC03519.02

November 1, 1865 - December 31, 1865

Letterbook

Title: [Telegram book from the Treasury Department]

Includes some correspondence handwritten on tissue paper. This correspondence lists the date, name of the recipient(s), body of the message, and name of the sender(s). Other messages are handwritten on stationery of the American Telegraph Company, and are attached to thicker paper, bound within this volume. Company stationery contains the company address, terms and conditions of transmitting messages via telegraph, and the names of Cambridge Livingston as company Secretary, and Edward S. Sanford as company President. On the stationery, handwritten telegraphs follow the printed portion,…

GLC03519.03

circa 1870

Buttre, John Chester, 1821-1893

Endorsement signed

Title: Engraving of Jeptha H. Wade

One engraving of Jeptha H. Wade circa 1870. Bust portrait of Wade. Based on an ambrotype by Matthew Brady.

GLC08878.0674

circa 1870

Endorsement signed

Title: Engraving of Jeptha H. Wade

One engraving of Jeptha H. Wade circa 1870. Bust portrait of Wade.

GLC08878.0675

circa 1870

Engraving Signed

Title: Engraving of William A. Wheelock

One engraving of Charles Wheatstone dated circa 1870. Bust portrait of Wheatstone.

GLC08878.0772

31 December 1863

Johnston, Joseph Egleston, 1807-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John S. Thrasher

Accepts Thrasher's offer to telegraph him relevant news items and send him a Richmond newspaper daily. Expresses his desire that the state authorities would help find army deserters and "get them back." Also discusses military movements.

GLC03745

10 July 1863

Sherman, William T. (William Tecumseh), 1820-1891

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Henry Hammond

Sherman, commanding an expeditionary Army, writes to Colonel Hammond as his forces approach Jackson, Mississippi. Possibly referring to Generals John Grubb Parke (Union) and Frederick Steele, writes "Your note is received I dont want Parke to keep a line connected with Steele or Pearl River. I want him to move up as close to the parapet as possible and hold it in force with a line of pickets connecting with Steele. All operations to the left to be made by Detachments sent for a special purpose. We must hook up that RRoad & telegraph at once- next operate against the Railroad across the…

GLC03665

25 June 1864

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to George Wood

Thanks Wood for sending a letter written by Secretary of State William H. Seward concerning a petition for government aid in constructing an overland international telegraph line. Remarks upon the rapid progress of the telegraph throughout the world and mentions the first telegraph message, chosen by 18 year old Annie Ellsworth, "What hath God wrought." Comments that although he had predicted the telegraph would go around the world, he did not expect to live to see it happen. Expresses satisfaction that though many have tried to improve upon his system, the "Morse System," is still used…

GLC04080

1843-1848

Moore, John, 1826-1907

Header Record

Title: [Collection of John B. Moore letters] [Decimalized .01- .30]

This collection of letters was written while John B. Moore taught school in Louisiana and Alabama. Eighteen letters are from John to his sister Mary Moore (2-3, 6-7, 9-11, 15-18, 20-22, 25-27, 29); three letters have notes to both Mary and brother Richard Moore on the same letter (2, 16, 18). Other correspondence involves brother Robert E. Moore (2, 4, 8, 12, 13, 14, 23, 28), and father Garrett Moore (19, 24), with two letters from Irish cousins (12, 14). In these letters he quits teaching school to enter medical school; his brother Robert E. Moore begins teaching on John's contract in…

GLC04191

1 January 1844

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph document signed

Title: Statement Showing expenditures on account of Magnetic Telegraph

Details the amount of money drawn from the Treasury, expenditure, and the balance left for the magnetic telegraph. Morse signed as Superintendent of the Electro Magnetic Telegraph. Entire right edge of paper is damaged with paper loss.

GLC04234

13 June 1843

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to John Spencer

Writes to the Secretary of the Treasury about saving $920 in making telegraph wires with colored varnish instead of colored thread. Asks permission to sell the unnecessary colored thread.

GLC04235

12 May 1854

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: to E.H. Sanford

States that Amos Kendall is his agent for the management of his telegraphic business and he cannot answer Sanford's inquiry about the sale of telegraph patent rights in Oregon and California until consulting with Kendall. Comments that he believes that no definite sale has been made yet but advises on Kendall's whereabouts and states he will send Sanford's letter to him.

GLC04236

September 14, 1849

Header Record

Title: Collection of two items related to Samuel F. B. Morse [Decimalized .01-.02]

GLC04480

1844-1870

Header Record

Title: Collection of letters of Samuel F. B. Morse to Edward P. Fry concerning the New York - Philadelphia telegraph [Decimalized .01-.08]

GLC04503

January 17, 1865

Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865

Document signed

Title: [Authority to affix the seal to a treaty with the Shoshonee Goship Indians].

Lincoln authorizes a treaty with the Shoshonee Goship (Goshute) Bands of Indians dated October 12, 1863. The treaty was made at Tuilla Valley, Utah Territory. Brigadier General P. Edward Connor, commander of the military district of Utah, and Commissioner James Duane Doty, governor and acting superintendent of Indian affairs in Utah Territory, represented the United States. A chief named Tabby led several chiefs representing the Goshute Indians. The treaty secured peace, opened Goshute territory to emigrant travel, military posts, rail and telegraph construction, and mineral prospecting. It…

GLC04328

1881-1885

Arthur, Chester Alan, 1829-1886

Header Record

Title: Executive Mansion logbooks of retained telegrams copies: 2 incoming, 2 outgoing

GLC04354

circa 1850-1859

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph note signed

Title: [Telegram message for Samuel Morse's coachman]

Note to be relayed to Morse's coachman informing that he will be arriving on the five o'clock train tonight. Written on stationery of the New York, Albany & Buffalo Telegraph Co. Gold envelope is printed with "Morse's American Telegraph, New-York, Albany and Buffalo Line."

GLC04650.01

14 June 1871

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph letter signed

Title: [Introduction for Mrs. Alfred Vail]

General introduction to "any of my friends with whom she may meet" for the widow of his colleague in telegraph business, Alfred Vail. Mrs. Vail was visiting Europe with her family. Notes Alfred Vail's authorship of an early history of the telegraph and comments, " ... to him belongs the credit of the first attempts to collate the facts bearing upon the invention."

GLC04650.02

31 March 1843 - 8 April 1843

Morse, Samuel Finley Breese, 1791-1872

Autograph document signed

Title: [Expenditures for first telegraph between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore]

Records expenditures for many of the key components for the first telegraph line between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. Entitled "United States in account with Samuel F. B. Morse." Includes traveling expenses, advertising, office supplies, salaries, and wire.

GLC04894

1864-1865 ca.

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph

Title: Maj. Thomas T. Eckert (seated, left) and others of U.S. Military Telegraph Corps, near Petersburg, Va. [1864-1865 ca.]

The image shows seven men with a tent on the left behind them. Three men are seated and the other four stand behind. Eckert is seated last on the left. Fay's stamp in the upper left reads: "From Historic Collection of H.W. Fay, DeKalb, Ill." The name "Thos. T. Eckert" is visible in the lower left of the image. Inscription on verso: "Major Thomas Eckert and group of Telegraphers - in war times. Gen Eckert afterwards Pres. Western Union Telegraph Co."

GLC05111.01.0600

circa 1861-1865

Photograph

Title: Caldwell, Telegrapher, H.Q. A of P[otomac] [ambrotype]

Title from inscription on verso. With brass protector. Full-length portrait, standing in front of tent. Name and title scratched on the lower left hand side of the plate.

GLC05111.01.0492

circa 1861-1865

Photograph

Title: Group of men of the Signal Telegraph Corps. [1861-1865 ca.]

Eighteen men gathered around a wagon that carries a coil of telegraph cable, many holding shovels. Another man poses above the group, clinging to a post. Inscription on verso: "Signal Telegraph Corps."

GLC05111.01.0519

September 1864

Brady, Mathew B., 1823-1896

Photograph

Title: Headquarters U.S. Engineers Battalion Sept. 1864. (Petersburg Campaign)

A print of a photograph taken of a large group of soldiers standing in front of a small house. There are various small tents to the left and right. Two soldiers hold bundles of telegraph wire in the center of the image. The house, presumably the main building of the headquarters, stands shaded by trees in the background. The U.S. Engineers Battalion was attached to the Army of the Potomac and helped breach the fortifications at Petersburg. Title taken from graphite inscription on verso, also inscribed is "XI-II 65." A mounted albumen print.

GLC05111.01.0042

circa 1946

Receipt

Title: Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company Receipt

One receipt for the Southern Bell Telephone and Telegraph Company with a total of $32.44.

GLC09952.042.02