Papers,
The William Smith Papers primarily document the public and political activities of William Smith from 1753 to 1775
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| Format: | Kit |
| Language: | English |
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| Summary: | The William Smith Papers primarily document the public and political activities of William Smith from 1753 to 1775 The collection also contains a small number of letters between various members of William Smith's family. The largest of these are between of his wife, Rebecca Moore Smith, and Elizabeth Graeme Fergusson. Some very personal reflections on the passing of William Smith's wife can be found in his correspondence with Benjamin Rush. There is also some correspondence of Charles Smith, William's son. The family correspondence stretches into the first three decades of the nineteenth century. In addition to the family correspondence there are some literary writings, primarily poems, authored both by Smith himself and by other members of his family The role of William Smith as an educator and fundraiser looms large in the collection, particularly in his correspondence with Richard Peters, the head of the College's Board of Trustees. The Peters correspondence covers the period 1762 to 1764, during which Smith conducted his extensive tour of Great Britain raising money for the College. The fund raising trip is also documented in a diary covering the months of November and December 1762. In addition to the correspondence with Thomas Penn, William Smith's work as Provost is found in four notebooks of the commencement exercises of 1765 to 1768. Smith's interest in education, in general, is documented in the bound book of minutes and correspondence of the German Free School movement conducted in Pennsylvania from 1754 to 1756 William Smith's staunch support and advocacy of the Penn family, the Proprietors of colonial Pennsylvania, is well documented in the collection. There is extensive correspondence between William Smith and Thomas Penn for the years 1754 to 1770 which provides detailed reports of, and observations on, the state of the Proprietor's political interest in Pennsylvania. William Smith's staunch support and advocacy of the Penn family, the Proprietors of colonial Pennsylvania, is well documented in the collection. In addition to the Penn correspondence, the collection contains the legal briefs, petitions, and supporting documentation used to defend Smith in the libel suit brought by the Pennsylvania Assembly for his pamphleteering against it |
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| Physical Description: | 2 Cubic ft |
| Finding Aid: | Finding aid available from repository |