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This collection contains 26 bound and paginated 16th-century manuscripts describing contemporary conditions and military operations in the Canary Islands. It consists of a series of letters (15 items) and an assortment of other official documents (11 items). Twelve letters bear the imprimatur of King Philip II of Spain.

Primarily, the collection documents the administration of Lázaro Moreno de León, who served as governor of the islands of Tenerife and La Palma for two years (1582-1584). The last two items in the collection mark the end of Moreno de León's tenure and reference his successor, Juan Núñez de la Fuente, who served until 1589. Moreno de León appears in 18 of the items in the collection, either as subject or recipient (in the case of correspondence). However, the collection includes only one item bearing his signature: Item 18, authored by Diego de Ayala y Rojas, conde de la Gomera, and signed by Moreno de León as a witness.

During Moreno de León's tenure, an epidemic broke out on the island of Tenerife, causing considerable loss of life (documented at length in Item 22). The collection also reflects historical events following Spain's conquest of Portugal. During the dynastic crisis that followed the death of Portugal's King Sebastian in 1578, the throne was claimed by António, Prior of Crato, who was defeated by Philip II in 1580. By 1582, António had relocated to the Azores, where he attempted to establish a government in exile with the support of France. Item 3 provides a set of instructions for a dispatch boat that was sent to the Canary Islands that same year, after word of a possible attack by António. In early 1583, ships loyal to António did attempt an attack on the island of Gomera, but were repelled by local forces under the command of Ayala y Rojas and Moreno de León (documented in Items 18 and 19).

The Walter Adams Collection contains letters, deeds, notes, property records, and receipts from the years 1674 to 1786, in the Massachusetts area.

The John Moultrie Collection contains the following three items:

(1) A sales report titled "Copy of Sales of Effects of Estate of John Moultrie" dated 1772. The commodities sold range from a plantation titled Goose Creek to slaves to "bush corn & peas."

(2) A 1786 letter addressed to a Lord Hawke. In this, Moultrie apologizes for having to leave London early and missing an engagement with Hawke, and asserts his gratitude to Hawke on behalf of the people of East Florida.

(3) A leaf excerpt of a letter, chronicling the fate of the British people living in East Florida after the American revolution. The leaf begins: "...about the time or just before the revolt of the Americas the governor of East Florida secured the Kings order restraining him from any further grants of land in the usual manner and terms, and ordering all the vacant lands in the province to be surveyed, advertised, & laid out in certain tracts and to sell them at public sale at certain periods - giving public notice thereof. This of course could not accommodate with lands those unfortunate people who were obliged to fly from their homes in the neighboring colonies on behalf of their attachment to Great Britain, into East Florida held out as a place of refuge by proclamation in consequence of his Majesties instructions to his governor."

The collection also contains typescripts of these documents, and a photocopy of an image of Moultrie.

The Charles Creighton Collection contains an illuminated manuscript on parchment, signed by Charles VI, last of the house of Habsburg, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary-Croatia. It was the property of Prince Max of Baden until the end of the first World War.

The 33-page manuscript measures 8 by 11 inches, with illuminated borders in red, blue, and gold, and an artistically designed title in black and gold of royal insignia surrounded by implements of war and the crown of the king. The manuscript is bound in a gilded hand-embroidered binding of decorative design with ornamental ribbon ties and tinsel fringes. It is attached with a gold braided cord is the Royal Seal of Charles VI, measuring 4 1/4 inches in diameter with the inscription "Carolus VI Romanorum Imperator S. A. Hispaniarum et utriusque Siciliae Rex." The seal is enclosed in a decorated silver case which is intended to rest in a circular compartment in the center of a tooled Viennese leather binding in which the manuscript reposes. The manuscript is written entirely in Latin and confers the title of Marquis on Honuphrium Ianno Ernandes Arias for "Militiaque multa suae Fides, Constantia Sapienta, ac Fortitudinis Specima edidissent..." (translation: In long military service he displayed Faith, Constancy, Prudence, and Courage...) To legalize the document, it is signed in the autograph of King Charles VI "Yo el Rey," below which are the signatures of noblemen and dignitaries of state.

Included also are 15 separate pages of manuscript written in Latin. These pages also refer to the Marquis and are dated in May of 1731. An unsigned manuscript by one of the Ianno family consists of 5 lines and is written in French.

The Charles Creighton Collection also contains high quality facsimiles of several historical predominantly French documents from the 17th and 18th century. These are: a letter pleading for a 3 day postponement of Louis XIV's execution by Louis XIV dated January 20, 1793; two letters informing French generals of the Waterloo victory by the Duke of Wellington, dated June 14 and June 20, 1815; Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's unfinished letter to Lady Hamilton, dated October 19, 1805; Napoleon's appeal to England for protection after his defeat at Waterloo, dated July 13, 1815; a note written by Marie Antoinette written just before her execution in 1793; and the last letter written by Robespierre, unfinished due to his being shot, with bloodstains at the bottom of the letter, dated July 27, 1794.

Thomas Jefferson (1742-1826) was the primary author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), Governor of Virginia (1779-1781), the first Secretary of State (1790-1793), second Vice-President of the United Sates (1797-1801), the third President of the United States (1801–1809), the founder of the University of Virginia (1819), and one of the most influential Founding Fathers.

The Thomas Jefferson collection includes four letters by Thomas Jefferson, three official documents, an entry of merchandise, a biography, and twenty-six printed portraits.

The Lemuel Adams Papers contains a ledger belonging to Lemuel Adams. There are logged transactions from 1792 to 1804, mostly from Hartford, Connecticut; however, the ledger also contains letters written by Adams, a genealogy of the Adams family, and a few dozen poems by Adams with titles ranging from "On Life" to "Description of the Tea Party."

A lengthy and informative letter from S.P. Anderson to United States Navy Captain David Conner, congratulating him on the birth of his son and offering insight on the prospects of finding a winter home in Florida. After some hearty and cheerful words of encouragement and advice to the new parents, Anderson offers a verbal tour of the homes around St. Augustine that might be for sale.

Anderson goes on to provide similar descriptions of several other homes, noting that "Houses are very much in demand" around St. Augustine. The demand for housing in Florida is perhaps surprising given the ongoing Second Seminole War – which at this early point had been progressing rather poorly for the United States military. Anderson alludes to the war briefly at the close of his letter, when he notes that he will "send the latest Herald, for I am always afraid to say anything about the war, one report contradicting another so quickly." The latter part of Anderson's letter discusses the election of Charles Dowling as Florida representative "by a very large majority," which meets with Anderson's approval as he considers Dowling "the only man in this territory worthy of succeeding [Joseph] White....He is employed in almost all the claims for losses in 1812-13 as well as those of the Indian war." Anderson himself appealed for losses sustained in 1812, and expresses a cautious optimism for their redress.

The recipient of this letter, David Conner, was a noteworthy figure in the United States Navy in the early 19th century. During the War of 1812 he served on the HORNET and saw considerable action, eventually suffering grave wounds and capture as a prisoner of war. He returned to service after a prisoner exchange, and in the years between the war and this letter was steadily promoted until becoming a Captain. He is most well known for commanding the Home Squadron during the Mexican-American War, which included the unprecedented landing of 10,000 soldiers during the siege of Veracruz. His wife, whom Anderson affectionately refers to as "Mrs. C," was the daughter of Dr. Philip Syng Physick, known as the "Father of American Surgery." Appropriately enough, a slightly later pencil note on the address panel labels the contents as "Congratulations on my birth – PSPC;" that is, Philip Syng Physick Conner, the very child discussed in the letter. Philip would fight briefly for the Union during the Civil War as part of a Pennsylvania volunteer artillery regiment.

An interesting and informative letter to an important American figure, with much content on Florida real estate and politics at the start of the Second Seminole War.

Diary of G. Dearborn from 1836 to 1841. The papers also include a letter with an envelope addressed to [B]? G. Dearborn, 1st. Infantry, Fort Pleasant, Via Tallahassee, Florida.

The Calvin Shedd papers consists of approximately fifty letters and documents of a Civil War soldier stationed in Florida from 1862-1863. Calvin Shedd served with Company A and Company C of the 7th New Hampshire Regiment. Shedd and his family, a wife and three daughters, were frequent correspondents. The documents consist only of Calvin Shedd's letters, with no responses from family members available. The letters comprise a fascinating, thoughtful summary of one man's experiences during this tragic era of American history. The lengthy, detailed letters offer an insightful view of Shedd's military activities, observations on life in Florida, and his concerns for the wife and three daughters he left behind in New Hampshire.

The Seventh Regiment left New Hampshire on January 14, 1862, and traveled to New York where soldiers passed a month of relative inactivity. On February 13, 1862, orders directed the troops to the Dry Tortugas in Florida. Six companies under the command of Colonel Putnam embarked on the S.R. Mallory, and four companies under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Abbott left on the barque, Tycoon. The Tycoon reached the Dry Tortugas in sixteen days, the S. R. Mallory arrived six days later. Two men died of an outbreak of yellow fever on the Tycoon, a sampling of things to come in the weeks and months ahead.

The Dry Tortugas, located at the far end of the Florida Keys, served as a principal depot for the distribution of rations and munitions to union forts and military posts in the area. The Seventh Regiment was stationed at Fort Jefferson, where "good quarters were arranged and other preparations made for the comfort of officers and men." Primary duties for soldiers consisted of garrison and fatigue duty, with military drill in infantry and heavy artillery.

On June 16, 1862, the regiment embarked for Port Royal, South Carolina, and arrived safely on July 22, 1862. Troops remained here, engaged primarily in picket and guard duty, until a September 15, 1862, re-assignment to st. Augustine, Florida. In st. Augustine the major effort was on recruitment, as the regiment lost some two hundred men to death and discharge since leaving New Hampshire. The regiment remained in st. Augustine until May, 1863, when it was ordered to Fernandia, Florida, to relieve the Seventh Connecticut Regiment, and then to Hilton Head, South Carolina, in preparation for efforts to attack Charleston. ln June, 1863, fortified with approximately one hundred new recruits, the regiment headed to Folly Island, to prepare the batteries that would support the landing of forces.

The unsuccessful assault on Fort Wagner cost more than two hundred lives, including many important officers. The regiment remained stationed on Morris Island for five months of intensely warm weather, serving duty in trenches, on picket and in fatigue. On December 20, 1863, the regiment left Morris Island, and prepared for a return trip to Florida.

The William H. Johnson Papers contains six letters written by William H. Johnson, a soldier for the Union during the United States Civil War, who was stationed nearby Fernadina, Florida. The first letter is dated January 18th, 1863, and the last one April 4th, 1864.

The Manuel Rionda papers reflect activities of a sugar baron, Manuel Rionda, Spanish-born master of two important Cuban sugar mills and chair of the major U.S. sugar brokerage firm of Czarnikow-Rionda. Rionda was a businessman associated with Cuba, New York and Santo Domingo. The majority of materials include bills of ladings Rionda used to conduct his shipping business between New York and Cuba and Santo Domingo. Correspondence and other official documents are also included in this collection.

The papers consist primarily of facsimilies and copies of documents relating to colonial Cuba.

The Thomas G. Ennis collection contains 41 letters written to George Thompson from 1834 to 1838, largely concerned with business matters pertaining to iron forges; a 1929 Pennsylvania court record for John Kiner, sentenced for horse theft; a 1828 copy of appropriation for state penitentiary, Philadephia; several 19th century almanacs; and a number of 19th century newspapers, including one replica of the Saturday April 15, 1865 issue of the New York Herald, the day Abraham Lincoln's assassination was announced.

Joaquín de Yturralde y López Silvero was the Consul of Spain in Havana in the 1920s during the presidencies of Dr. Alfredo Zayas and General Gerardo Machado y Morales. His papers contain correspondence from 1925 to 1926 and other materials such as invitations, programs, and financial records.

George Augustus Moore (1852–1933) was an Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist.

The George Moore Collection contains correspondence, an undated manuscript titled "Scenario," the galley proofs with corrections for his 1885 novel Mummer's Wife, and a typescript for his 1894 novel Esther Waters.

The correspondence consists of a series of letters and telegraphs between Moore and New York playwright and writer Edward Knoblauch (1874-1945), a letter from Moore to a "Nachey," several letters without a recipient name, two letters from D. M. Beth at Riverside Press Unlimited, a book printer from Edinburgh, discussing corrections on Moore's 1921 novel Heloise and Abelard.

The O. J. Tanner collection contains the following items: a scrapbook with various portraits of historical figures, a diary with notes on wills, an autograph scrapbook (including an autograph from President Ulysses Grant), a photostat copy of a letter by George Washington, an 1822 watercolor sketchbook, two photographs, a catalog and receipt from the Coral Gables Godspeed Bookshop, a 1743 pamphlet titled "Relation de la victorie Remporteé sur les Imperiaux, par les troupes du Roy, & celles du Roy de Serdaigne, dans la Bataille donneé prés de Guastalla, le 19 du mois dernier," and other pamphlets, clippings, programs, and prints.

This collection consists of the papers of H. E. Kilmer, Secretary of the San Jose Fruit Company of Alliance, Ohio, which was formed in April 1903 to establish fruit growing operations in Camagüey, Cuba.  The Company built Palm City on the north coast of that province.  The collection includes approximately 160 items, principally letters to Reverend Kilmer but also maps and incorporation documents.