Call Number:

C0428

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 4 boxes
• 1.7 linear feet

Language:

English and French

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); Gilbert Chinard Collection of French Historical Material, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1494-1905 (inclusive) and 1761-1885 (bulk)

Creator:

Chinard, Gilbert, 1881-1972

Form:

Broadsides., Letters., Poems., and Songs.

Abstract:

Contains historical and literary manuscripts collected by Gilbert Chinard (1881-1972), a Franco-American scholar who was associated with the Institut Français de Washington from 1928 and was Pyne Professor of French at Princeton University, 1937-50. His published work was on French literature and the history of Franco-American relations.

Chinard was a Franco-American scholar who was associated with the Institut Français de Washington from 1928 and was Pyne Professor of French at Princeton University, 1937-1950. His published work was on French literature and the history of Franco-American relations.

The collection contains miscellaneous French manuscripts, correspondence, documents, photographs, and broadsides and other printed matter collected by Chinard: 18th-century material of the Tarbé family, including manuscripts of poems, songs, and theatrical works, correspondence, and printe matter of Louis-Hardouin Tarbé (1753-1806), and correspondence of his father, a Sens (France) printer; miscellaneous 18th- and 19th-century papers of the Sorrel family, including letters written by Antoine-François Sorrel (1737-1830) to his father before becoming a cartographer and engineer on Saint Dominigue, West Indies; letters by the French writer Jules Claretie (1840-1913); bound manuscripts--a treatise dealing with the "respective powers and prerogatives of the royal power," a French textbook on geometry for children, and 19th-century French specifications for artillery emplacements and carriages; and letters by Pope Pius VII, cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church, and archbishops of Sens.

In addition, there are documents dating from the Revolutionary and Republican periods, including letters (1788-1797) from the French consul in Baltimore concerning political and economic relations between France and Maryland; some material about the American explorer John Charles Fremont, including a brief biography, a pencil portrait, and a letter by him to Alexander Vattemare; several folders of 18th-century Louisiana material; and about 90 letters (1699-1889) in English, mostly by minor writers and artists.

Arranged in alphabetical order, personal names and subjects interfiled.