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John Miller 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
John Miller (Princeton Class of 1836) was an American Presbyterian clergyman and Confederate chaplain.
The collection consists of works, correspondence, a diary (1851), financial papers, biographical material, a bibliography, and printed matter of Miller (Princeton Class of 1836). The collection reflects the theological controversy in which Miller became involved (1877) resulting in his withdrawal from the Presbyterian Church, the establishment of an independent church in Princeton (1880), and his later association with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (1893). Included are his hymns, poetry, articles, essays, lectures, sermons, English translations of Genesis, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Matthew, and papers from his graduate student days at the Princeton Theological Seminary (1839-1840); letters to him by Walter Lowrie, H. A. Boardman, Charles Hodge, Samuel Miller, and others; some letters by him to his wife, Sally McDowell Miller, and his son, Alamby Millington Miller, and letters to newspaper editors and public officials; and plans setting forth the need, scope, system of teaching, and endowment of a research university at Princeton ("A University for Discoverers").
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Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2002
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
Consists of correspondence with approximately 380 correspondents.
Arranged by genre of correspondence.
Physical Description2 boxes
Letters received from 380 correspondents. Chronological file. Name index appended to this checklist.
Physical Description2 boxes
A fragmentary file, composed of drafts, copies, letters never completed, and a few originals. 1) Contains letters to his wife and son during his service as Captain and Chaplain in the Confederate Army in Virginia, and after 1863 as pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church at Petersburg, VA. Contains several replies of Mrs. Miller, and two letters to the Secretary of War of Confederacy and one too Surgeon General (1861-1869). Schedule of letters is filed within this folder. 2) Twenty-seven letters to twenty-five correspondents, 1849, and 1857-1893. Schedule is appended and copy placed in folder.
Physical Description1 box
John Miller took a trip abroad in the summer of 1849. These letters were written by friends in America to men and women in England to introduce him. Schedule is appended, and a copy filed in this folder.
A reference card made for each of these names is to be found in the Manuscript Division card catalogue.
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Consists of manuscripts for short writings, hymns, poetry, lectures, diaries, undergraduate papers, notes, and a diploma.
Arranged by genre of material.
Physical Description3 boxes
Articles, essays, lectures and sermons in John Miller's autograph. Alphabetically arranged by title. An index by title is appended to this checklist.
Physical Description1 box
Autograph manuscripts of following titles:
- What time I was afraid
- She is not dead
- Once
- A light tatoo by mother Goose
- The Iscariote
- Hymn (beginning "Hark! Hark my Lord and Master")
- The charge of the salary grabbers
- Two hymns printed on small slips
1 box
To the Editor of the Tribune: Oct. 8, 1878, on the greenback party; April 28, 1894, on the next Presbyterian Assembly; and two undated on the state of belief in Princeton; an open letter to Rev. Henry G. van Dyke, March, 1889; and Oct. 22, 1877, on Dr. Plumer's new tract.
To the Editor of the World: Jan. 15, 1892, on Liberia.
To the Editor of the Sun: Undated, an appeal for justice.
To the Editors of the Presbyterian: Oct. 5, 1877.
To his Princeton Congregation, Nov. 25, 1894; to the mayor of Princeton undated; and to the Alliance of the Reformed Churches, Sept. 29, 1880.
Physical Description1 box
A series of eight lectures on Metaphysics, or the Science of Perception, given February to April, 1890. Numbered lectures, typewritten with autograph additions and corrections.
Physical Description1 box
Three autograph manuscript copies of a plan setting forth the need, scope, system of teaching, and endowment of a research university to be located at Princeton; outline for "A University for Research;" and some notes by Margaret Miller on the subject.
Physical Description1 box
Records from his early life which include: notes about a trip taken with Professor John Torrey in 1836 (a college expedition to gather specimens of minerals); a list of sermons which he heard preached 1841; a brief and irregular diary, called a register, from Oct. 9 to Dec. 31, 1851; an account of a horseback trip through Virginia in 1856; a list of students who worked with Miller, undated
Physical Description1 box
Reports, essays on religious topics, and sermons composed in accordance with studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. (John Miller graduated in 1841.) Includes also other student papers, two small chemistry notebooks, two lists of writing topics; a list of the empirical class; "The Seven Sleepers" (an oratorio translated from the German); some notes on the Bible.
Physical Description1 box
A printed pamphlet, containing the examination of John Miller by the Bishop of Oxford on April 30, 1849. The Hearing pertained to the proposed settlement of Liberia by American negroes, which the American Colonization Society advocated.
Physical Description1 box
Pertaining to his office of Captain in an Artillery Company in the Confederate Army, in Virginia. Includes also a broadside proclamation signed by John Miller, Aug. 10, 1862 and printed copy of General Orders, no. 37. Schedule is located inside of folder.
Physical Description1 box
In the autograph of John Miller, undated
Physical Description1 box
Jottings, incomplete articles, and scraps. Many contain notes by Margaret Miller, attempting identification. Includes scraps of an article on greenbacks, and one on Jackson; some writings on sale of liquor in Princeton (1882).
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Consists of biographical materials, lists of writings, and the correspondence of Margaret Miller.
Not arranged according to any arrangement scheme.
Physical Description1 box
A variety of information gathered or written by Miss Margaret Miller, daughter of John Miller, consisting of several typewritten and printed biographical accounts, sermons delivered at his funeral, anecdotes, data on his life, a bibliography of his works, notes on his papers, and other documents. A file of newspaper clippings of notices of his death, one of reviews and comments, and circulars on his published works, one on the trial for heresy.
Physical Description1 box
Dossier pertaining to John Miller's biography in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography. Scattered items relating to the John Miller School in Changteh, China. Letters received on the death of John Miller (1895); letters received on the death of Mrs. Miller (1895).
Physical Description1 box
Drawings of eyes used by John Miller for decorating the backs of his books; and a group of calling cards, tickets, and other ephemera.
Physical Description1 box
Typescript, six pages compiled by Margaret Miller.
Physical Description1 box
Typescript and manuscript as published in the Princeton University Library Chronicle in April 1947; four letters to Luther P. Eisenhart relating to research on the "University," 1946.
Physical Description1 box
Typescript subject analysis of the letters to and by John Miller which are part of this collection. Seventy-eight general topics, i.e., European Trip; letters about trial; Churches - Frederick City, MD., etc. Prepared at Princeton University Library.
Physical Description1 box
Includes the short writings (checklist 4). Typewritten lists prepared at Princeton University Library.
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