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Paterson Family Papers
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Paterson family was a prominent New Jersey family. William Paterson (Princeton Class of 1763) was the first attorney general of the State of New Jersey and was a member of the New Jersey delegation to the Constitutional Convention. Paterson was elected to serve in the first Senate of the United States and, in 1793, was chosen by George Washington to serve as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court. Paterson also served as governor of New Jersey from 1790 to 1793.
The collection consists of selected manuscripts, correspondence, letterbooks, documents, commonplace books (1763, 1793-1796), an account book (1786-1787), and legal opinions of chiefly four members of the Paterson family of New Jersey: William Paterson (Princeton Class of 1763), his son, William Bell Paterson (Princeton Class of 1801), and his twin grandsons, William and Stephen Van Rensselaer Paterson (Princeton Class of 1835). There is also some material of Paterson's father, Richard Patterson. The collection contains official documents of William Patterson the elder that relate to the Revolutionary War, the New Jersey Continental Army, and East Jersey Properties, as well as material dating from his undergraduate years at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University). There are college essays, debates, and orations delivered at the Princeton Cliosophic Society, post-college political essays by William Bell Paterson, some of which were published in the Guardian (1808-1809) and the Palladium of Liberty, and poems by William and Stephen Van Rensselaer Paterson including the autograph manuscript of their Poems of Twin Graduates of the College of New Jersey (1882).
Among the papers of William Paterson (grandson) are twenty letters (1837-1846) addressed to him and his sister Cornelia Bell by their friend Anthony Walton White Evans. In these letters, mailed from Syracuse, N.Y., while Evans was working as an engineer on the Erie Canal, he writes about his life in northern New York State and the Onondaga Indian Tribes, among other details.
Organized by family member.
Presented by Dean Mathey. Various AM.
Folder inventory added by Allyse Terrell '2014 in 2011. Rearranged by Hilde Creager '2015 in 2013.
No appraisal information is available.
People
- Patterson family
- Evans, W. W. (Walton White), 1817-1886
- Paterson, Richard
- Paterson, Stephen Van Rensselaer, 1817-1872
- Paterson, William Bell, d. 1833
- Paterson, William, 1817-1899
Organization
- College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.)
- College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.). Class of 1763.
- College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.). Class of 1801.
- College of New Jersey (Princeton, N.J.). Class of 1835.
- Board of Proprietors of the Eastern Division of New Jersey
- American Whig-Cliosophic Society
- New Jersey. Governor (1790-1793 : Paterson)
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University Library does not own the original. Inquiries regarding publishing material from the collection should be directed to RBSC Public Services staff through the Ask Us! form. The library has no information on the status of literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for determining any questions of copyright.
Collection Inventory
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description4 boxes
1 folder
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2 folders
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8 Pieces
Physical Description1 folder
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3 pp. Requests him to give $500 to John Dennis Jr. for him and obtain receipt (copy of receipt on back dated June 20, 1796).
Physical Description1 folder
Augusta. Introducting John and William Glascock sons of General Glascock.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Relative to Judge Paterson's drawing bills for regulations of practice in County of Chancery.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Relative to printing the laws of New Jersey.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Accepting position of commissioner in the Court set up to settle the controversy between Massachusetts and New York.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Notifying him to attend hearing before the Governor's council in the case of Piatt and Cray.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Relative to a law case against Mr. Rutherford.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Regarding a mortgage of Abraham Scherick.
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Holding himself "retained in the Bergen Controversy."
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Order to pay Dr. Lewis Dunham $1992.00
Physical Description1 folder
New Brunswick. Concerning regulations respecting the military dress and univform for the horse grenadiers and light infantry of the state of New Jersey.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Trenton.
Physical Description1 folder
Trenton. In the dispute: "East Jersey Versus West Jersey" (in the handwriting of William Paterson).
Physical Description1 folder
November Term. Earl of Stirling, Surveyor General of East Jersey.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description2 boxes
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Arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
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40 pp. 19.5 cm.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
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1 folder
Among Paterson Papers, No in handwriting of any of the Wm. Paterson's
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Arranged alphabetically by title.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
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1 folder
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
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1 folder
She is apparently sister of William and Stephen Paterson, Class of 1835. July 12, 1835 New Haven. ALS, 2 pp., mentions burning of Presbyterian Church in Princeton.
Physical Description1 folder