| | Author: | Bache, Benjamin Franklin, 1769-1798 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Benjamin Franklin Bache diary, 1782-1785
| | | Dates: | 1782-1785 | | | Abstract: | This is a translation of Benjamin Franklin Bache's diary that he kept while in Europe during the American Revolution. Bache traveled there as a young child when his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin, served as the American envoy to France. Bache spent nine years in Europe and during that time, received schooling in Passy and Switzerland. The journal begins with an account of his time in Switzerland and ends with his time with his grandfather in Passy. There are numerous stories and anecdotes in this journal. Some bear only on Bache's experience as a child and teenager in Europe. In Switzerland, among other things, Bache witnessed an execution by firing squad, saw a seven-foot tall giant, and was attacked by a watchdog at a Chateux. While in Passy, Bache received instructions on printing, witnessed numerous ballooning experiments, visited famous sites in Paris, and recorded some comings and goings of prominent guests. Some of these entries from Passy provide insight into Franklin's time in Paris, including a detailed account of the well-known scientific examination Franklin conducted on animal magnetism (hypnosis). Originally in French, this English translation of his journal along with the Benjamin Franklin Bache Collection (Mss.B.B122) provides a clear account of Bache's time in Europe during the Revolution.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.B122d | | | Extent: | 1 volume(s) | | | Topics: | American Revolution | Americans Abroad | Diplomatic History | Education | International Travel | Printing and Publishing | Travel | | | Genre: | Diaries | Travel Narratives and Journals | |
| Author: | Bache, Benjamin Franklin, 1769-1798 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Benjamin Franklin Bache papers, 1779-1793
| | | Dates: | 1779-1793 | | | Abstract: | The Benjamin Franklin Bache Collection is composed primarily of correspondence sent from B.F. Bache. The vast majority dates to his time in Europe during the American Revolution while a young child under the care of his grandfather, Benjamin Franklin, who was then serving as one of America's ambassadors to France. These letters consist of B.F. Bache writing from his school in Switzerland to his grandfather in Paris (often in French) and to his parents in America (in English). Most of the letters relay information on B.F.'s formal education and his experience learning the printing trade. The only letter dated after Bache's time in Europe is a personal letter mourning the loss of Benjamin Franklin that he wrote to his soon-to-be-wife, Margaret Markoe. The letter contains one of the most detailed accounts of Franklin's last days.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.B122 | | | Extent: | 0.5 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | American Revolution | Americans Abroad | Diplomatic History | Education | Printing and Publishing | | | Genre: | Family Correspondence | General Correspondence | | | Subjects: | Aurora (Philadelphia, Pa.) | Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, with the United States of America (1794 November 19) | |
| Author: | Barton, Benjamin Smith, 1766-1815 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Violetta Delafield-Benjamin Smith Barton Collection
| | | Dates: | 1783-1817 | | | Abstract: | The extensive Benjamin Smith Barton collection contains six sections: Correspondence, Bound Volumes (including notebooks), Subject Files, and Graphic Materials. The material includes numerous images, sketches, notes, printed material, and other correspondence. The collection also has numerous copper plates that were used to print images drawn by Barton. Although a collection this large touches on a variety of interesting and important subjects, the collection's strength is its wealth of data on nineteenth century medical, botanical, and Native American studies.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.B284d | | | Extent: | 10 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | Business and Skilled Trades | Education | Language and Linguistics | Literature, Arts, and Culture | Medicine | Native America | Natural history | Printing and Publishing | Science and technology | Travel | | | Genre: | Art | Family Correspondence | General Correspondence | Language Material | Notebooks | Political Correspondence | Sketchbooks | Travel Narratives and Journals | | | Subjects: | Bartram's Garden (Philadelphia, Pa.) | Botanists | Botany -- Study and teaching -- 19th century | Botany -- Virginia | Chemistry -- 18th century | Cherokee Indians | Cherokee language | Choctaw Indians | Dysentery. | Electricity -- 18th century | Ethnobotany | Geology -- 18th century | Gout | Indians of North America | Indians of North America -- Agriculture | Indians of North America -- Languages | Kaigana Indians | Kaskaskia Indians | Mammals -- Classification | Mandan Indians | Mastodons | Materia medica | Medicine -- Practice -- 18th century | Medicine -- Study and teaching -- 18th century | Meteorology -- United States -- 18th century | Meteors | Mineralogy | Natural history -- 18th century | Natural history -- 19th century | Osage language | Physicians -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia | Physics | Rittenhouse, David, 1732-1796 | Seminole Indians | Seneca Indians | Tuscarora Indians | University of Pennsylvania -- Faculty | Venereal disease | Yellow fever | Yellow fever -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia -- 1793 | Zoology -- 18th century | |
| Author: | Carson, Joseph, 1808-1876 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | Joseph Carson papers, 1810-1877
| | | Dates: | 1810-1877 | | | Abstract: | The APS collection of Joseph Carson's letters is relatively small, especially for the purposes of this guide. Joseph Carson was a Philadelphia born and educated physician who spent time serving as a ship's physician. The collection has six documents from before 1850. They range from letters to receipts to notes from a lecture. Of particular significance is a very long letter Carson wrote from Calcultta in 1830 to Samuel Grant, an associate in the U.S.. Carson had been asked to carry a bill of exchange for Grant, which he had some difficulty disposing of because Grant's credit was not well-known, and to purchase goods on Grant's behalf for sale in the U.S.. Carson details the process and availability of goods in India, and the reasons for his decision to purchase silk and indigo for Grant. Carson then goes on to describe his experience on the trip, stating that he "played the part of merchant and doctor."
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.C239 | | | Extent: | 0.25 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | Americans Abroad | Education | Medicine | Trade | | | Genre: | Business Records and Accounts | Educational Material | General Correspondence | Notebooks | | | Subjects: | Botany. | Medical publishing | Medicine -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia. | |
| Author: | Frazer, John Fries, 1812-1872 | Requires cookie* | | Title: | John Fries Frazer papers, 1834-1871
| | | Dates: | 1834-1871 | | | Abstract: | John Fries Frazer was a prominent Pennsylvania scientist in nineteenth century America, serving as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and very active in both the Franklin Institute and the APS. This large collection of his correspondence provides a snapshot of the growing scientific community in mid-nineteenth century America. Frazer's correspondence involves a wide range of topics: science and scientific institutions (shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, geology, geography, astronomy, chemistry, among others), although there are fragments of personal correspondence. His range of correspondents is as diverse as the topics, but there is a notably large collection of letters from scientific heavyweights Titian Ramsey Peale, Louis Aggasiz, Joseph Henry, and Alexander Dallas Bache.
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| | | Call #: | Mss.B.F865 | | | Extent: | 3 Linear Feet | | | Topics: | Education | Philadelphia History | Science and technology | | | Genre: | General Correspondence | Scientific Correspondence | | | Subjects: | Boilers. | Education -- United States. | Electricity. | Geology -- United States. | Haida Indians | Magnetism. | Natural history. | Paleontology. | Scientific apparatus and instruments. | Scientists -- United States. | Solar eclipses. | Tsimshian Indians | Weights and measures. | |
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