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Voyage to China: To China and back, 1863-1869 (inclusive)

Extent:
4 volume
Abstract:
These four volumes contain three handwritten variations of the travel narrative of nineteenth-century American sailor George Arthur Gray recorded on his roundtrip voyage from Boston to China between March 1863 and May 1866. The original diary entries were expanded into a full narrative, which Gray apparently hoped to publish. The narrative focuses on Chinese social customs, the Chinese coast, and the details of a sailor's life.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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E.L.L.K. poems and journal, approximately 1870s (inclusive)

Extent:
1 volume
Abstract:
This volume chronicles four voyages made by the Brig Romance between Baltimore, Maryland, and Navassa Island in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. The creator, identified as “E.L.L.K.” (possibly Louis King), wrote the entire volume in poetic verse.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Matlack family letters to Samuel J. Matlack, 1862-1865 (inclusive)

Extent:
17 item
Abstract:
This collection consists of seventeen letters written by members of the Matlack family in Philadelphia to Samuel J. Matlack while he was serving in the Union Navy aboard the USSWissahickon, a gunboat in the blockading squadron off the coast of South Carolina, during the American Civil War, from 1862-1865.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Thatcher family papers, 1870-1941 (inclusive)

Extent:
.3 linear foot (circa 100 items)
Abstract:
Small group of miscellaneous papers relating to several generations of the Thatcher family of Wilmington, Delaware. Papers include correspondence, military documents, photographs, notebooks, legal documents, and miscellaneous material.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Letters written during a South American cruise, 1826-1827, 1832 (inclusive)

Extent:
1 volume (178 pages)
Abstract:
This collection consists of one letterbook containing ten long letters from an anonymous Philadelphian to his friend, Ned, written between 1826-1827. The author, a crew member on the frigate Brandywine, vividly and poetically describes life on board the ship and ashore in South America.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Malcolm L. Mackenzie papers, circa 1926-2007 (inclusive)

Extent:
5.5 linear foot (7 boxes) and 3 oversize box
Abstract:
This collection contains materials relating to Malcolm L. Mackenzie's publicity firm Malcolm L. Mackenzie & Associates and Mackenzie's personal involvement with the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation, other local cultural institutions, and his interests in general maritime history and historic ships. Materials include publicity materials, written reports, correspondence, meeting minutes, newspaper clippings, facsimile maps, newsletters, photographs, photograph negatives, slides, and sailing and maritime history books. The collection also includes personal papers such as photographs albums, scrapbooks and Mackenzie's ships log, 1946 to 1948, of voyages to ports in the United States, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and Europe while serving as a Second Mate in the Merchant Marine.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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W.D. Snodgrass letters to Lila Jean Hank, 1944-1946 (inclusive)

Extent:
.6 linear foot (2 boxes)
Abstract:
Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet W.D. (William De Witt) Snodgrass (1926-2009) wrote 58 letters between 1944 and 1946 to his then-fiancée Lila Jean Hank after being drafted into the United States Navy and stationed in Saipan. The letters described life on the naval base at the end of World War II and a long, anxious period of demobilization in the Pacific. Snodgrass was one of the early practitioners of the confessional style in American poetry with his first volume Heart's Needle (1959) written after his divorce from Hank in 1953 and inspired by the subsequent estrangement from their daughter.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Philadelphia Custom House records, 1779-1934 (inclusive) 1790-1900 (bulk)

Extent:
12.2 linear foot (13 boxes), 1 oversize removal, and 1 oversize box
Abstract:
The Philadelphia Custom House records consist of materials generated by and related to the United States Customs Service of the Port of Philadelphia from 1779 to 1932. These records illustrate commercial and shipping interests, as well as foreign trade relations, in the United States from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century. The materials also highlight the growth of the U.S. Customs Service as it took on new responsibilities and wielded greater authority over the course of the nineteenth century. In addition to documents related to shipping and paying duties, the collection also contains materials related to marine insurance, the internal administration of the Philadelphia Custom House, and the activity of ship crews.

Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]

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Current results range from 1779 to 2012

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