Presented by Mrs. Helen Taylor Currier and Dr. Edward Teitelman and accessioned, 1969 (1969 27ms).
Marmaduke Burrough (1797-1844) was born in Camden, New Jersey, to Jehu Burrough and Ann[a] Hollinshead. He trained as a physician in Philadelphia but spent most of his life in consular service, including appointments as U.S. Consul to Lima, Peru; Calcutta, India; and Vera Cruz, Mexico. In 1830, Burrough brought the first two rhinoceroses to America from Calcutta and sold them to a traveling exhibitor.
Marmaduke Burrough was a physician who served as U.S. Consul to Calcutta in 1828 and then Vera Cruz from 1835-1838. This collection contains a range of receipts relating to Burrough's expenses as consul in both Calcutta and Vera Cruz. The Calcutta receipts begin in 1829 and end in 1830. These loose leaf receipts capture a range of Burrough's activity, including bills from physicians, expenses for entertaining, and one for the passage of "a living rhinoceros" to Philadelphia onboard the
The Vera Cruz records are in a bound journal entitled "duplicate bills" and record many of the same consul activities, minus the purchase and export of a live rhinoceros.
There is one letter in the collection. The letter from Prosper Wetmore, a prominent New York businessman, in is long and contains some retrospectives on his life.
The consular records provide insight on the growth of U.S. interests abroad and can offer insight into the activities of U.S. diplomats on these assignments.