Benjamin Franklin's annotated copy of the first printing of the Constitution (Philadelphia: Dunlap and Claypoole, 1787).

The Great Law, or, The Body of laws of ye province of Pennsilvania territorys thereunto belonging past at an assembly at Chester als Upland the seaventh day of ye 10th month.

This manuscript is Sir William Keith's copy of the royal charter issued by George I.

These forms apply to York and Franklin counties. They are printed and the blanks filled in by hand.

Jacob Frederico Torlade Pereira de Azambuja was the Portuguese chargé d'affaires in the United States from 1829-1834. His essay on the monetary system of Portugal was presented to the American Philosophical Society in October 1833, and was read at the meeting of Oct. 18. Written in Portuguese, the essay deals with one of the burning issues of the Jacksonian era, the money system, by examining the history of coinage and the money system in Portgual from the earliest times.

This is an alphabetical listing of property owned or occupied in the First Assessment and Sixth Division of York County, Pennsylvania.

Intended as a model of Jacksonian penal reform, the Eastern State Penitentiary operated in the Cherry Hill section of Philadelphia between 1829 and 1970. Designed to promote the moral reform of prisoners by imposing a regimen of silent, solitary self-reflection, the penitentiary became the purest example of the "Pennsylvania plan" of "cellular isolation." The Records of the Eastern State Penitentiary consist of seven bound volumes and a series of miscellaneous records and correspondence that document aspects of life in Jacksonian America's model prison. The collection has been organized into four series: Series I, Bound Volumes; Series II, Miscellaneous Records; Series III, Correspondence of Elizabeth Velora Elwell; and Series IV, Prisoners' Correspondence. The bound volumes contain records of admission for prisoners between 1830 and 1892 (with some gaps), three of which were kept and annotated by the Moral Instructor at the prison, Thomas Larcombe. Larcombe provided interesting comments on the "moral state" of each prisoner, in addition to data on name, age, gender and race, religious affiliation, the charges, sentence, and final disposition. The unbound materials in the collection are diverse, but include an important 70 page manuscript comprising the records of the joint commission charged with investigating management of the prison in 1835, with a partial transcript of testimony, and a series of 29 letters written to or from prisoners at Eastern State, 1845-1871, most unusually the inmate Elizabeth Velora Elwell, writing to her paramour and fellow inmate Albert Green Jackson.

Correspondence and petitions to Henry Seymour regarding canal routes in northern New York, personnel, etc. Mentions David Thomas, Wells Hatch.

Letters from two young Christian Onondaga Indians, Thomas La Fort and Jameson L. Thomas, about their efforts to get an education so they might help their tribe; from Chief David Hill, leader of the Christian Onondagas, asking for financial and political aid when the New York state legislature refused money for a school on the Onondaga reservation, and when the Christian and pagan Indians sought to divide the reservation between them.

These are miscellaneous documents relating to appointments, money acts, defense, etc., mostly addressed to Charles Spencer, Earl of Sunderland, Secretary of State for the Southern Department. Contain signatures of important Englishmen, among whom are: Wm.Blathwayt, Jas. Craggs. Mitford Crow, Dartmouth, Herbert, Sir P.Meadows, Wm. Popple, Jr., Matthew Prior, John Smith, Stamford, Sunderland,etc.

Copies by Mrs. Deborah Norris Logan of letters from Logan, while president of the Council, to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the Duke of Newcastle, and Ferdinand John Paris, on province business. The letters relate to the choice of Logan's successor, his retirement, crown-proprietor relations, and the Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary.

These minutes record the business of, and actions taken by, the Provincial Council.

This is a volume of extracts from provincial records copied by Thomas Sargeant when Secretary of the Commonwealth. Includes material on Indian affairs and French and Indian wars in Pennsylvania and the New England colonies.

This is an undated copy of the deed of incorporation issued in 1742 by King George II and witnessed by George Thomas, Governor of Pennsylvania.

This volume includes Swan's report to Henry Knox (1791), in which he reports contact with and observations of the Creek Indians, while acting as deputy agent to the Creek Nation.

These are accounts of expenditures for various legal services rendered as magistrate, as well as some miscellaneous personal accounts.

This volume records payments principally by John Hart, treasurer of Bucks County, Pa., of taxes, such as militia fines, forfeited debts, supplies, monthly taxes, second-class tax, and excise taxes.

Catalogue and Tracts relating to Pennsylvania, 1681-1770, collected by Joshua Francis Fisher (presented to APS in 1839), contains: 1. "Catalogue of Printed Tracts relating to the Political History of . . . Pennsylvania, 1681-1770," with an introduction by Fisher (20 pp.); 2. (Sir William Keith), "The Life and character of a strange `He Monster' lately arrived in London from an English Colony in America, . . .," n.d. The "Monster" is identified as Andrew Hamilton by Walker Lewis, William and Mary Quarterly 38 (1981): 269-294; 3. A modest apology for the eight members. (3 pp.); 4. Petitions of merchants and others to the King for the safety of the Province and against the Quakers, n.d. (4 pp.).

John Marshall was appointed the fourth chief justice of the United States by President John Adams. In the thirty four years he served on the bench, Marshall presided over the Court's evolution into an institution with power equal to both the executive and legislative branches of the Federal Government. The Marshall collection consists of manuscript drafts for 62 opinions delivered by the chief justice in the Fourth Circuit Court of the United States between 1803 and 1831. These opinions seem to be from cases heard in Richmond, VA. The collection is arranged chronologically by the court term.