Inventory of the Lester-Gray Collection of Documents Relating to Joseph Glover Baldwin, 1838-1949

Collection Number 2993

unc seal
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Collection Information
block Descriptive Summary
block Administrative Information
block Online Catalog Headings
block Biographical/Historical Note
block Collection Overview
plus Detailed Description of the Collection
block Items Separated
Contact Information:
Manuscripts Department
CB#3926, Wilson Library
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC 27514-8890
Phone: 919/962-1345
Fax: 919/962-3594
Email: mss@email.unc.edu
URL: http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/
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Descriptive Summary

Repository
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
Title
Lester-Gray Collection of Documents Relating to Joseph Glover Baldwin, 1838-1949
Call Number
2993
Language of Materials
Materials in English
Extent
Items: 3
Abstract
Joseph Glover Baldwin (1815-1864), was born in Virginia and lived in Alabama from 1836 to 1854, when he moved to San Francisco, Ca. He was author of Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi (1853), Party Leaders (1855), and Flush Times of California (1966), and was a justice on the California Supreme Court.
The collection includes a reel of microfilm of papers, 1838-1949, of Joseph Glover Baldwin and the Lester and Baldwin families; an audiodisc; and a photograph album. The microfilm is a copy made from the Joseph Glover Baldwin papers at the New York Public Library in 1949. Microfilmed materials include correspondence relating to family life in California and Alabama, an 1863 meeting with Abraham Lincoln, and mining interests in Nevada Territory; clippings; writings; and other materials. Also included is some correspondence with Millard Fillmore and much correspondence of Robert M. Lester in connection with gathering Baldwin material for a biography (never completed) and the administration of the material collected beginning in the 1920s. Lester received the bulk of the Baldwin family papers from Joseph Glover Baldwin's daughter, Cornelia Baldwin Gray, of California. An original audiodisc of WJZ coverage of part of a 24 June 1939 symposium relating to Robert M. Lester's address "Is the Library Doing Its Job?" and an original photograph album labeled "Negroes, born and Bred on Gen. Lee's Land, 1862" are also included. The photograph album holds 17 tintypes and one carte-de-visite picturing African Americans--women, men, and children--well-dressed and formally posed. Despite the label on the album, most of the images appear to date from 1880-1900, and there is no direct evidence of connection with Robert E. Lee.

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Administrative Information

Restrictions to Access
This collection has restrictions to access. Please see details below or contact the Manuscripts Department for more information.
Usage Restrictions
Contact New York Public Library for permission to quote extensively from microfilmed materials.
Alternate Form of Material
Originals of microfilmed materials at the New York Public Libraryat the time of microfilming.
Acquisitions Information
Received from and lent for filming by Robert M. Lester of Chapel Hill, N.C., in February 1954 and received from Memory A. Lester of Chapel Hill, N.C., in December 1969.
Processing Information
Processed by: Suzanne Ruffing, August 1996
Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, November 2006
See control file available at repository for researcher notes on photograph album dates.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Lester-Gray Collection of Documents Relating to Joseph Glover Baldwin #2993, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

African Americans--Clothing--History--19th century.
African Americans--Photographs.
Alabama--Social life and customs.
Authors, American--19th century.
Authors, American--California--19th century.
Baldwin family.
California--Social life and customs.
Alabama--Social life and customs.
Family--California--Social life and customs.
Fillmore, Millard, 1800-1874.
Judges--California--History--19th century.
Lawyers--California--History--19th century.
Lee, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1807-1870.
Lester family.
Lester, Joseph Glover, 1815-1864.
Lester, Robert M. (Robert MacDonald), 1889-1969.
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Mines and mineral resources--Nevada--History--19th century.
Photograph albums.
Tintype.
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Biographical/Historical Note

Joseph Glover Baldwin (1815-1864), was born in Virginia and lived in Alabama from 1836 to 1854, when he moved to San Francisco, Ca. He was author of Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi (1853), Party Leaders (1855), and Flush Times of California (1966), and was a justice on the California Supreme Court.

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Collection Overview

The collection includes a reel of microfilm of papers, 1838-1949, of author, lawyer, and California Supreme Court justice Joseph Glover Baldwin and the Lester and Baldwin families; an audiodisc; and a photograph album. The microfilm is a copy made from the Joseph Glover Baldwin papers at the New York Public Library in 1949. Microfilmed materials include correspondence relating to family life in California and Alabama, an 1863 meeting with Abraham Lincoln, and mining interests in Nevada Territory; clippings; writings; and other materials. Also included is some correspondence with Millard Fillmore and much correspondence of Robert M. Lester in connection with gathering Baldwin material for a biography (never completed) and the administration of the material collected beginning in the 1920s. Lester received the bulk of the Baldwin family papers from Joseph Glover Baldwin's daughter, Cornelia Baldwin Gray, of California. An original audiodisc of WJZ coverage of part of a 24 June 1939 symposium relating to Robert M. Lester's address "Is the Library Doing Its Job?" and an original photograph album labeled "Negroes, born and Bred on Gen. Lee's Land, 1862" are also included. The photograph album holds 17 tintypes and one carte-de-visite picturing African Americans--women, men, and children--well-dressed and formally posed. Despite the label on the album, most of the images appear to date from 1880-1900, and there is no direct evidence of connection with Robert E. Lee.

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Items Separated

Microfilm (M-2993/1)
Audiodisc (D-2993/1)
Photograph album (PA-2993/1)
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Detailed Description of the Collection

Collection, 1838-1949 and undated.
3 items.
Reel M-2993/1
Introduction, explanation of the composition of the collection, and restrictions
Memorials, 1864, of the United States Circuit Court and San Francisco Bar
Baldwin's license to practice law, 1843
Newspaper accounts of Baldwin and a notice of Mrs. Baldwin's death
Title pages of Flush Times of Alabama and Mississippi and Party Leaders
Photographs of Mr. and Mrs. Baldwin
Newspaper accounts of John Brooks Felton, Kate Baldwin Felton, and other Feltons
Newspaper accounts of Alexander W. Baldwin (Sandy)
Check list cards of all materials in the Lester-Gray Collection
Letters of Robert M. Lester and Baldwin family members, 1924
Letters of Robert M. Lester and various persons, 1922-1934, 1924-1934, 1949
Baldwin family letters, 1838-1865, typed copies, and various letters of a later date
Robert M. Lester's notes, typed, on Baldwin biography
Robert M. Lester's notes, handwritten, on Baldwin biography
Newspaper account of the Pyramid Lake Indian Troubles
Typed copy of fragmentary original and original handwritten copy of Flush Times in California
Memoir of Baldwin and notes by his brother, C. C. Baldwin, with typed copy of fragmentary original and original handwritten copy
"The Duel" by Baldwin with typed copy of the incomplete original and original handwritten copy
"A Trip to Washoe," "The Unlucky Boy," "The Hog with Eagle's Wings," "To Fred Billings," and "On Henry Clay" handwritten originals in various handwritings
"On Peace, Labor, Taxes, Patriotism, etc." by Baldwin with incomplete handwritten originals
Legal document by Baldwin regrading Rhodes, Herzo, and others
Legal documents of Felton, Morris, Whitman, and Stanly
Photocopy of a newspaper report of a sketch of Aaron Burr
McConnell Book List, 1861, Dear Citizen, 1861, and Editor Express
Baldwin family letters, 1838-1865
The earliest letters are to Baldwin's wife, Sidney White at Talladega and Mardisville, Ala., from friends in Huntsville and from Baldwin, who was in Sumter County, Ala. They married in 1839. The couple continued to correspondence whenever he traveled to New Orleans, New York, Mobile, Winchester, Va., and other locations. There are also letters of the immediate family and W. H. and Alexander M. Garber of Sumter County, Ala. From July to October 1854, Baldwin moved to San Francisco and wrote to his wife until she traveled out there to be with him. Correspondence continues with other members of the family back in Alabama. There are letters, 1860-1863, of Baldwin and his son, Joseph G. Baldwin Jr., who was in Virginia City, Nevada Territory, where the family had mining and other interests. Baldwin traveled to New York in 1863 and visited with Abraham Lincoln. Other correspondents in addition to members of the Baldwin family are Reverdy Johnson, Alexander H. H. Stuart, Milliard Fillmore, John B. Felton, and others
Audiodisc D-2993/1
WJZ, 24 June 1939
WJZ coverage of a symposium relating to Robert M. Lester's address "Is the Library Doing Its Job?"
Photograph Album PA-2993/1
"Negroes, born and Bred on Gen. Lee's Land, 1862"
Photograph album holding 17 tintypes and one carte-de-visite picturing African Americans--women, men, and children--well-dressed and formally posed. Despite the label on the album, most of the images appear to date from 1880-1900, and there is no direct evidence of connection with Robert E. Lee.

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