Rare Book Catalog Project Update

Over the past summer I have become more acquainted with the library's rare book collection than I ever thought was possible. I was very familiar with a small number of titles that I normally pulled from the library shelves to show to visitors, but the bulk of the collection remained largely unknown to me. Not cataloged and difficult to explore because of the many high shelves, the rare book collection was doing little except for collecting dust.

Last spring, when presented with the chance to participate in the Founding Fathers Library Consortium with Mount Vernon and Gunston Hall, I was delighted. The Library Consortium website already offers on-line and on-site researchers a digital catalog of library holdings at those two historic sites, and, hopefully, Stratford Hall’s rare books will be cataloged along with the others by next summer. Not only will researchers be able to discover which rare books are located here, but we will also be able to know what’s in the collection and where each title is located.

Work on the digital catalog project officially began last summer with the arrivals of intern Julia Hurwitz and a large stack of self-stick barcodes. Julia’s internship involved finding the books that matched the titles in the lists we already had, inserting acid-free identification strips in each book, putting identical barcodes on the i.d. strip and listing for each volume, and compiling a list of titles that were not represented on any list we had. Every day must have seemed like an Easter Egg hunt for Julia as she looked for titles on the duPont Room shelves, in the library basement, in my office, and in various historic buildings where they were used for props. She made many trips up and down the rolling library ladder and successfully located and barcoded over 2,500 books. Thanks to Julia’s unflagging energy, superb organizational skills, and multi-lingual skills, all of the rare books in the duPont Room were readied for the digital catalog.

Now I have the job of finishing the project! With the help of volunteer Maurice Capone, I have begun identifying and barcoding the rare books housed in the library basement. Some books are easy to find on the lists and others present challenges, particularly the books missing their title pages. I have a much higher regard for on-line research after discovering most of the elusive titles using Google search. I also have many more questions about our rare book collection that have tempted me to delve into the history of the collections themselves.

One of our major rare book collections, the Shippen family library, was given by the great, great-grandsons of Thomas Lee Shippen, William R. and Edward Shippen, partly in 1947 and partly in 1969. Thomas Lee Shippen was the grandson and namesake of Thomas Lee of Stratford, whose daughter, Alice Lee, married Dr. William Shippen of Philadelphia. One volume in the collection of around 500 books is Thomas Lee Shippen’s handwritten library catalog dating to 1790. In this book Shippen carefully recorded loans of his books to friends.

Thomas Lee Shippen’s catalog identified the volumes in his personal library, a number of which were inherited from his father, Dr. William Shippen, and have Dr. Shippen’s name inscribed inside. Dr. William Shippen was noted for his service during the Revolution and for his role in medical education.

However, there are many more books in the Shippen collection that came to Stratford with bookplates other than the one used by Thomas Lee Shippen, including a beautiful armorial bookplate of William Byrd of Westover, armorial bookplates of John Banister, and others of James M. Nicholson. Where did they come from? A perusal of my trusty Lee family genealogical reference, Lee of Virginia 1642-1892, solved the mystery.

Thomas Lee Shippen (1765-1798) married Elizabeth Farley, widow of Col. John Banister, Jr., who was the daughter of James Parke and Elizabeth Byrd Farley [daughter of William Byrd and Elizabeth Carter]. Thomas and Elizabeth Shippen had two sons, one of whom [Dr. William Shippen] had a son Dr. Edward Shippen who married Rebecca Lloyd, daughter of James Macon Nicholson of Baltimore. Dr. Edward Shippen was a distinguished Civil War surgeon. Two of their grandsons [sons of Dr. Lloyd P. Shippen] who donated the family collection to Stratford, actually gave us several libraries accumulated by noteworthy families:

The Nicholsons of Maryland

[Nicholson bookplate]

James Macon Nicholson (1808-1875), inherited the library of his father, the Hon. Joseph H. Nicholson of Maryland, who was elected as Maryland delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777 (but did not serve) and as a Republican to the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Congresses. James’ daughter, Rebecca, had “Maryland, My Maryland” set to music and published, just as her grandfather, Judge Joseph Nicholson, had done for the “Star Spangled Banner.” Francis Scott Key had given his brother-in-law, Judge Nicholson, the handwritten manuscript of the “Star Spangled Banner” in 1814, and the document passed down for two generations in that family before it was sold in 1907 to the Walters Art Gallery.

The Banister Family of Virginia

The first Virginia naturalist was Rev. John Banister (c.1650-1692), a close friend of William Byrd I of Westover. Banister was accidently killed while exploring the lower Roanoke River with some men in Byrd’s entourage. After Rev. Banister’s death, his notes and collections were acquired by some of the most notable collections and libraries in England; however, William Byrd became the guardian of Banister’s namesake son and obtained his library of eighty or more volumes of natural history and travel books. Byrd’s library eventually passed to his grandson William Byrd III, whose widow sold the entire collection to a Philadelphia bookseller in 1777. The library was sold piecemeal. However, we know that some books (at least one or more!) were retained by Byrd’s daughter, Elizabeth. Banister’s ownership is signified by his name stamped in ink; thankfully, it was not obscured by William Byrd I’s ornate bookplate.

Another large part of the Shippen collection was owned by Col. John Banister, the grandson of the Rev. Banister mentioned above. Col. Banister (1734-1788) built Battersea in Petersburg, Virginia, and was a member of the first five Virginia Revolutionary Conventions, fought under General von Steuben, and was elected to (and served in) the Continental Congress in 1778. Banister’s widow married Thomas Lee Shippen and, evidently, moved the Battersea library with her to Philadelphia.

We will keep our readers updated on this fascinating rare book project, which will be completed this coming year.

"A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words..."

...but sometimes doesn't tell the whole story. This week several members of Stratford Hall's staff, including me, participated in a Virginia Association of Museums (VAM) workshop on planning digital projects. One particular project that we want to pursue is the digitization of our historic images so we could easily share them--or at least a good number of them--with on-line visitors (via our web site, e-newsletter, Flickr, and social networking sites) as well as having them available for our collection catalog, exhibits, publications and research.

Stratford Hall's collection of visual images contains thousands of photographs and slides just waiting to be organized digitally into a searchable database. Although many of them are interesting images in their own right, even without an additional layer of history attached, just a short caption makes them much more meaningful. We want to catalog our images in a database that will also capture background information. For example, a 1930s black-and-white image of a setter with pups is charming; however, the fact that Stratford Hall's Resident Superintendent, Gen. B. F. Cheatham, sold the offspring of his cherished Irish Setter Shirley (pictured) to raise money for reconstructing the springhouse is a much more compelling story.

Historic images of the Great House at Stratford have the additional importance of documenting changes in the structure. This circa 1908 cyanotype [this process used predominantly between 1880 and 1920 and identified by its blue tint], taken by Edward A. Preble and given to Stratford by his daughter Marjorie Preble Thorne, shows a small porch at the east end of the house, straight front steps, outside window shutters, and a painted five-board fence bordering the lawn.

Digitizing our images will allow us to make more of our collection accessible to the public and will prevent needless handling of precious originals, helping to preserve them for future generations. The project is a challenging one, but we've already begun "brainstorming" about logistics and plan to have a digital strategy developed within the next new months. Check back with us for updates and more shared images.

Interesting Collection Finds

Managing a library collection sometimes has its surprises, especially when you open a book and find little treasures saved within its pages. How many of us have ever used a photo or other piece of paper to mark a place in a book? And have forgotten to remove it after we finished with the book? Without a doubt, librarians over the years have encountered many pieces of "ephemera" (printed matter of passing interest, such as postcards, tickets, ads, etc.) inside volumes upon their return.

Luckily, my find was better than generic ephemera: two precious little watercolors painted by two young girls in 1858 and saved by their father, Charles M. Taynton, in one of his personal books. Each painting was carefully dated as to when it was painted and when its caption was written. Although my search for information about the family has been unsuccessful, I hope Mary and Phebe would be pleased that their father inadvertently saved their artwork for posterity.

Library Cataloging Project: Wm Lee Letter Books

The most tedious part of the effort to catalog all of the duPont Library's manuscript collection on computer has been the four letter books used by William Lee to keep records of his mercantile correspondence. William, born 1739 in Westmoreland County, was the next to youngest son of Thomas Lee, builder of Stratford. He learned accounting skills while serving as clerk for his older brother Philip Ludwell Lee at Stratford and eventually established himself as a London merchant in 1768. William sent ships to Virginia and Maryland to collect tobacco on consignment, arranged for its sale in London and elsewhere, and sent back to the colonies goods ordered and charged against the anticipated proceeds of the crop.

The earlier letter books, spanning the years from 1769 to 1775, document the political and financial turmoil that existed between England and the colonies just prior to the American Revolution. They also detail some of the financial dealings between mercantile houses, planters, insurers, lawyers, ship captains and ship owners. William's correspondence makes it very clear that the process by which most planters purchased goods from England was essentially a creative juggling act--on paper and using credit, with very little actual money exchanging hands. Thanks to these books, we know about all sorts of troubles that plagued the tobacco trade, including shipworm infestations, pirates, crooked inspectors, and gusts [hurricanes].

The books contain over 700 pages of William Lee's letters, copied by office clerks with varying degrees of spelling and handwriting skills and, later, by his own hand. With help of dedicated volunteer Maurice Capone, who transcribed many of the letters prior to their cataloging, the project has proceeded steadily and will soon reach completion. We are currently working on the last letter book that ended four days prior to William Lee's death on June 27, 1795.