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Princeton University Library Collection of Patrick Henry Materials
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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
Patrick Henry, born in Hanover County, Virginia, was an American lawyer, patriot, orator, and participant in almost every aspect of the founding of America, as well as a plantation owner and enslaver. He studied law on his own, and in 1760, he appeared in Williamsburg to take his attorney's examination before Robert Carter Nicholas and others. Henry served in the Virginia House of Burgesses, was a member of the Virginia Committee of Correspondence, a delegate to the Virginia Convention, and a delegate to the Virginia Constitution Ratification Convention. He played a prominent role in the May 6, 1776, convention and became the first governor of the commonwealth under its new constitution. He served three terms as governor of Virginia. Henry is perhaps best known for the speech he made in the House of Burgesses on March 23, 1775, urging the legislature to take military action against the encroaching British military force, which ended with the phrase "Give me liberty or give me death!" Henry also acquired extensive land holdings in the 1780s and 1790s, including a 10,000-acre plantation in Henry County, Virginia, known as Leatherwood, where he lived from 1779 to 1784, cultivated tobacco, and owned 75 enslaved persons. In 1794, he retired to Red Hill Plantation in Charlotte County, Virginia, a tobacco plantation comprising 520 acres.
The collection consists of selected manuscript material by and about Patrick Henry (1736-1799), including signed autograph letters to family and associates; documents and notes regarding legal, property, and financial matters; and engraved portraits of Henry.
Items are arranged by accession.
The collection was formed as a result of a Departmental practice of combining into one collection material of various accessions relating to a particular person, family, or subject.
Promissory Note in the Hand of Patrick Henry, Signed by Jacob Puckett was a gift of Pierre F. Cook (1892) in 1931. (AM 9875).
Letter to Thomas Madison and receipt dated June 8, 1765, were a gift of Cyrus H. McCormick in April 1947. (AM 13366)
Letter to Robert Carter and receipts for October 1764 and May 1765 were a gift of David S. Elkind (1973), in October 2006. (AM 2007-37)
Purchases from 2007 to the present have been made with support from The Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Fund for Research and Teaching on Patrick Henry and Early Americana (AM 2007-66, AM 2008-66, AM 2009-34, AM 2009-40, AM 2009-115, AM 2010-26, AM 2014-59, AM 2016-23, AM 2017-62, AM 2018-44, AM 2019-129, AM 2020-72).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Dina Britain on January 29, 2007. Finding aid written by Dina Britain on January 29, 2007.
Folder inventory added by Nicholas Williams '2015 in 2012.
Finding aid updated by Faith Charlton in October 2015 and by Kelly Bolding in November 2016, November 2017, June 2019, and March 2020.
No material was separated during 2013-2020 processing.
Subject
- Revolutionaries -- United States -- 18th century
- Slaveholders -- Virginia -- 18th century
- Slavery -- Virginia -- 18th century -- Sources
Place
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Faith Charlton; Kelly Bolding
- Finding Aid Date
- 2007
- Sponsor
- The majority of materials in this collection were purchased with support from The Barksdale-Dabney-Henry Fund for Research and Teaching on Patrick Henry and Early Americana
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
-
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
In the hand of Patrick Henry, signed by Jacob Puckett
Physical Description1 folder
Regards a bond of Henry's brother.
Physical Description1 folder
Letter, dated July 24, 1789, regards a legal matter.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Signed by cobbler Ephraim Potts
Includes an accompanying explanatory letter (1889)
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Declining to take a law case involving an influential Fairfax family.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Addressed to the Virginia delegate, the letter is about two persons jailed for suspected "wicked intentions."
Physical Description1 folder
Sent from Prince Edward County, Virginia, Henry writes about selling enslaved persons to raise money to purchase Yazoo land (portions of present day Alabama and Mississippi).
The engraving, made from an Alonzo Chappel painting of Henry seated with a pen and notebook, is undated.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of three documents related to the purchase of lands for Patrick Henry's Leatherwood Plantation. In one document, dated November 27, 1778, Martin Key agrees to allow Patrick Henry to settle on land on Leatherwood Creek in Henry County, Virginia, which Henry purchased from Thomas Lomax, but was involved in a legal dispute. Another is a May 29, 1778, document signed by Thomas Lomax transferring 9,990 acres of land on Leatherwood Creek to Patrick Henry. The third is a complaint for the Court of Chancery case of Lomax v. Randolph concerning a tract of land, circa 1743 (filed April 3, 1783).
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of a one-page signed autograph letter from Patrick Henry in Red Hill, Virginia, to Major-General Henry "Light-Horse Harry" Lee III. Henry opens the letter reporting that he has again been asked by "the Executive" (President George Washington) to administer the Fairfax estate, likely referring to George William Fairfax, whose estate neighbored Mount Vernon. Fairfax had left Virginia in 1773, giving Washington power of attorney, but had died in England in 1787. Henry continues seeking Lee's assistance in selling "about 10 tracts of land in No. Carolina from 15 to 20 miles from Fayetteville. They contain about 9000 acres, are choice rice lands..." Henry also describes land at Cape Henry and elsewhere.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of an engraved portrait of Patrick Henry, engraved by E. Wellmore from a painting by J.B. Longacre after an original miniature in possession of John S. Fleming of Virginia. The engraving is signed by Patrick Henry.
Physical Description1 folder
One letter, written in Williamsburg, from Patrick Henry as Governor of Virginia, in which he arranges for salt provisions for the Virginia militia "that have joined Genl Washington."
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of a printed document completed by hand and signed by Patrick Henry, certifying that the representative of Thomas Chandler is entitled to the proportion of land allowed a Lieutenant of the State Navy for three years service.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Consists of a document containing an invoice for supplies, including cotton, blankets, a cloak, and gauze, with their corresponding prices. The verso is docketed: "Paid to Col. Joseph Martin the within goods." It is signed by Henry with his initials.
Physical Description1 folder