Collections

Includes printed and manuscript material written in Spanish and originating from Spain and Spanish-speaking countries in North America and South America. The collection is currently being processed and new items will be added on an ongoing basis. For this reason, the indicated date range is approximate at this point. This collection has multiple creators, which have not been indexed at this time.

This collection contains correspondence, ephemera, and financial documents related to Edward C. Dyer's business as an auctioneer and importer of cigars (segars) from Havana, Cuba. The majority of the documents are dated between 1853-1865 with the full scope of the collection ranging from 1808-1897. The bulk of the letters were written by John Benjamin Belt, a cigar exporter in Havana, detailing the Cuban import-export cigar trade including suppliers, brands, quality of various tobacco leaves, start-ups, and costs association with the tobacco business. The collection contains letters from Belt to his mother and sister, Elizabeth, Edward C. Dyer's wife. Dyer also had sustained correspondence with Herman Heins and George Dufour, J. Amez, James Harper, Robert Marron, and Reid and Eaton. In addition to the correspondence, there are also numerous ephemera items such as receipts, check stubs, Balance sheets, invoices, property deeds, legal documents, and estate papers. Among the receipts is a receipt for the purchase of a slave by Dyer. Finally, the collection contains several bound account books of Dyer's for various companies with which he did business.

Printed maps, circa 1675-1918, collected by Col. John Womack Wright pertaining to his interest in military events in Europe chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The collection primarily concerns the cartography of areas in France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and Italy. The collection includes examples of the work of Willem Janszoon Blaeu, Guillaume de L'Isle, Johann Baptist Homann, Tobias Conrad Lotter, Placide de Saint Helene, John Senex, George Mattheus Seutter the Older; and Nikolaus Visscher II. Also includes notebook, 1919; and a publication of the American Geographical Society, 1924.

6 page letter from Will to his wife Hattie dated 1864 July 27. He describes the perilous trip in their steamer boat to get to Cuba and the close call the ship had with a larger Spanish ship that seemed certain was trying to ram their bow. He describes Moro Castle and the buildings and landscape of Havana. He also describes at great length the wares of the ladies about town and the dressings adorned on the riders and horses who pull carriages. In one section of his letter, Will laments that because the first hotel they tried was full, he and his father were forced to board at a hotel filled with secesh men.

Photograph album containing 84 pictures of the 8th Massachusetts Infantry. Pictures show men of the regiment in Matanzas, Cuba at Camp Thomas in Chickamauga, Georgia and at Camp Lexington in Lexington, Kentucky. The photographs do not seem to follow a chronological order in their placement in the album, but the description of most of the photographs are clearly annotated to describe the people and/ or locations depicted. One photographs shows members of the regiment boarding a train from Americus, Georgia. While the Infantry was camped in Lexington, the Spanish American War officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in December of 1898. In January of 1899, the 8th Massachusetts set off for Cuba as part of the occupation forces on the island of Matanzas. The pictures document their travel to get to Cuba, including the transport of their horses. It also features the regiment conducting drills and evening parades. There are scenes of the San Juan River and Matanzas Harbor as well as shots of buildings and forts mixed in throughout the album. There are some pictures of local sugar plantation workers in Cuba and the Cuban Cavalry are also featured. The end of the album shows individuals who were in the 8th Massachusetts. They include, Lieutenant Colonel Edwin W.M. Bailey, Lieutenant Colonel Stafford, Adjutant Thomas D. Barroll, Chaplain Geo. Sanders, Major 3rd Battalion Edward H. Eldredge, and Lieutenants F. Young, Jenkins, Stinson, J.C. Nult, T. DeSonna, and Merchwell. TOP: Scenic view of Matanzas Bay, Cuba//BOTTOM: A Cuban family of five standing in a sugar field Spanish controlled Fort of San Serverino. LEFT: "Picket House" fortification structure within the fort//RIGHT: Close up view of the ramparts running along the top of the fort. TOP: Picture of American campground of the 8th Massachusetts Infantry//BOTTOM: The 8th Mass enroute in a train to Savannah, Georgia after having been mustered into action by the Federal Government. TOP: The 8th Mass mail train. Picture depicts two army mail carriers on a wagon pulled by four mules//BOTTOM: A cactus hedge along a Cuban dirt path. These cactus groves can grow upwards to 18-20 feet tall. TOP: The 8th Mass in "daily drill." Picture shows the soldiers in march step with shouldered rifles. Cavalry unit in the background. // BOTTOM: "A typical Southerner." The picture centers on an African American man in a rural setting. He wears a hat and is dressed in jacket with a vest underneath. There are other African Americans standing in the background. Photo taken in either Georgia or Kentucky. TOP: 8th Mass troops lining up for "evening drill" in Matanzas, Cuba. Soldiers are in line behind a mounted officer. Soldiers are also gathered for drill in the background. A beautiful colonial building to the back left. // BOTTOM: 3rd US Volunteers on the Matanzas, Cuba parade ground. Two up-close pictures of the fortification structures for Fort San Serverino. TOP: the "Death Vault" and "Dead Line" for the fort. // BOTTOM: A long shot of the ramparts running along the fort. TOP: The front entrance to Fort San Serverino. Picture shows the bridge leading into the fort along with the fort's bell tower. // BOTTOM: Bell-side view of the fort. The American flag is flying along the ramparts, signaling the American control over the fort. Two pictures of the transport ships loading men and material for the war in Cuba. TOP: Troops standing along the side of the transport ship. A smaller boat hangs off the side of the ship. // BOTTOM: Cuban Stevedores (dock worker) standing in their boat in Matanzas Harbor. Two pictures of the transport ships loading men and material for the war in Cuba. TOP: Men massed for a group picture on board a transport ship in route to Cuba. Men standing and sitting on the ship's boom and mast. // BOTTOM: Unloading horses for the 8th Mass troops. Shows the ship's crane dangling a horse in midair. TOP: 3rd US Volunteer Engineers marching and drilling on the parade ground, Matanzas, Cuba. // 8th Mass troops drilling on the parade ground, Matanzas, Cuba. TOP: 2nd US Cavalry unit drilling in Cuba. Spanish buildings in the background. // BOTTOM: Beautiful picture of the San Juan River running alongside Matanzas. Picturesque Spanish Catholic church perched on a hill in the background. TOP: Lieutenant F. Young posed outside of his tent in the American camp. Handwritten caption reads: Lt. Youngs Quarters in Americus, Ga. BOTTOM: A group of white soldiers stationed in Georgia tosses a black man into the air. Handwritten caption reads: Coon Toss in Americus, Ga TOP: 8th Regiment at rifle practice in Cuba / / BOTTOM: Lieutenant F. Young mounted on guard duty. American camp ground in background. The American flag flies above the horse. TOP: Oceanic view of coastal Florida. A hotel is visible on the horizon. // BOTTOM: River scene of San Juan River. Picture depicts agricultural structures along the riverside where small boats are docked. Cuban countryside in the background.

Handwritten diary by a Hospital Corps man detailing repeated trips to Cuba between December 5, 1898 and May, 1899. He was chosen from a Hospital Corps School in Washington, D.C. (Established in 1898, often called "Old Naval Hospital") to be among twelve sent on a humanitarian mission to Cuba. He sails from New York to Cuba on the Bay State Hospital Ship, which is delayed after an explosion within fifty feet of the diarist. The Bay State Hospital Ship was a project of the Massachusetts Volunteer Aid Association which was organized in 1898 to send medical and humanitarian supplies to benefit U.S. troops overseas and particularly troops and local people in Cuba and Jamaica. While in Cuba, he sees the sunken ships Merrimac and Reina Mercedes in the harbor. Various units and military personnel are mentioned including the 8th Calvary aboard the Minnewaska, the 6th Ohio and the 3rd Engineering Corps. In Cienfuegos, he meets with Lt. Col. Greenleaf and General Breckenridge, the Inspector General of the Army. During a resupply trip to Newport News, Virginia, he visits the dry docks and sees the USS Kentucky and USS Illinois under construction. He notes Spanish gunships loading troops and supplies and trampers overloaded with Spanish civilians heading back to Spain. Mentions disrepair of streets and sidewalks, odd practice of rental of cemetery plots (and result if rent not paid)and a cemetery in Cienfuegos where the remains of the sailors and marines of the Maine are buried. One brief trip to Kingsport, Jamaica.

Two manuscripts and an accompanying letter describing an insurrection in Cuba during the Ten Years' War. The manuscripts give an account of how many insurgents were killed or wounded, name the towns that were ccupied by the insurgents, and give the status of supplies and ammunition. The accompanying letter, from James C. Burnham to Lanman & Kemp of New York, describes the status of the sugar trade in Cuba. Transcripts are included.

Two letters from William James Davidson to his future wife, Margaret "Maggie" May Mericle. One written from Camp Columbia in Havana, the other from Savannah, Georgia. Davidson served as a sergeant in the Iowa Volunteers and his letters cover some of the things he experienced during that time. The Georgia letter contains a description of a violent "blanket-tossing" that resulted in the death of a Black woman at the hands of several Virginia soldiers.