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Collection Number: 00513

Collection Title: Christian Miltenberger Papers, 1739-1841

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.


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Size 2 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1900 items)
Abstract Christian Miltenberger, physician, was married to Marie Aimee Mersier (fl. 1803-1841), whose family owned coffee plantations in Saint Domingue on the island of Hispaniola. After their marriage in 1803, the Miltenbergers moved first to Cuba, where they owned property and slaves, and eventually to Louisiana. Miltenberger practiced medicine in New Orleans from about 1809 until his death. The collection includes business papers, estate papers, records of medical observations, and family correspondence of Christian Miltenberger and his family. Most are financial and legal papers relating to Miltenberger's medical practice and to the estate of his father-in-law, Antoine Mersier (d. ca. 1795). In addition to his medical practice, Miltenberger also owned real estate, slaves, and other property in New Orleans and neighboring parishes. Included are bills, accounts, contracts, inventories, leases, receipts for the sale of property, and baptismal and marriage certificates. The small amount of correspondence relates chiefly to family affairs and includes letters from Miltenberger's French relatives in Bordeaux, Mirambeau, and Alsace, who also discussed economic and political conditions in France. Some letters after 1825 relate to the question of indemnity for property losses of French residents of Saint-Domingue, which became Haiti in 1804. Also included are notes and observations on yellow fever and other diseases, accounts with patients in New Orleans, and some data on individual medical cases that Miltenberger treated.
Creator Miltenberger, Christian, 1764-1829.
Curatorial Unit Southern Historical Collection
Language French
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Restrictions to Access
No restrictions. Open for research.
Copyright Notice
Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], in the Christian Miltenberger Papers #513, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Alternate Form of Material
Microfilm copy of Series 1.1 available.
  • Reel 1: Series 1.1
Acquisitions Information
Received from Ralph Hopkins of New Orleans, La., in 1938 and 1944.
Sensitive Materials Statement
Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.
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Processed by: Roslyn Holdzkom, 1990

Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, August 2004

Updated by: Laura Hart, January 2021

Note that this inventory incorporates parts of the inventory to the Christian Miltenberger Papers that was compiled in the 1950s. The order of the papers has been modified slightly, folders have been renumbered, and information has been added, while the description of the papers, with some additions and revisions, remains basically the same.

Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subject Headings

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Christian Miltenberger (1764-1829) appears to have lived in Saint-Domingue on the island of Hispaniola until 1803. In 1802, he married Marie Aimée Mersier (fl. 1803-1841), daughter of Antoine Mersier (d. ca. 1795), who owned coffee plantations and slaves on the island. In 1803, the Miltenbergers left Saint-Domingue for Cuba, and, around 1809, moved to New Orleans, where Miltenberger practiced medicine until his death. He also appears to have owned real estate, slaves, and other property in New Orleans and in other parishes. Note that Mersier is often spelled Mercier and that Miltenberger is sometimes written Milten Berger. There are also letters that address Christian Miltenberger as Dr. Berger.

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Scope and Content

The collection includes business papers, estate papers, records of medical observations, and family correspondence of physician Christian Miltenberger and his family. Most are financial and legal papers relating to Miltenberger's medical practice and to the estate of his father-in-law, Antoine Mersier (d. ca. 1795). In addition to his medical practice, Miltenberger also owned real estate, slaves, and other property in New Orleans and neighboring parishes. Included are bills, accounts, contracts, inventories, leases, receipts for the sale of property, and baptismal and marriage certificates. The small amount of correspondence relates chiefly to family affairs and includes letters from Miltenberger's French relatives in Bordeaux, Mirambeau, and Alsace, who also discussed economic and political conditions in France. Some letters after 1825 relate to the question of indemnity for property losses of French residents of Saint-Domingue, which became Haiti in 1804. Also included are notes and observations on yellow fever and other diseases, accounts with patients in New Orleans, and some data on individual medical cases that Miltenberger treated.

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Contents list

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 1. Correspondence, Financial and Legal Materials, and Other Items, 1795-1841 and undated.

About 1,100 items.

Arrangement: chronological.

Correspondence, financial and legal materials, and other items, not including bills, receipts, accounting sheets, or ledgers. Because of the large number of bills, receipts, accounting sheets, and ledgers, these items have been filed separately in Subseries 1.2.

expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 1.1. Correspondence, Financial and Legal Materials, and Other Items, 1739-1841 and undated.

About 325 items.

Includes the following:

1739-1794 Slave lists, legal papers, inventories, chiefly related to the holdings of Antoine Mersier in Santo Domingo. In the 1790s, there is business correspondence of Mersier with coffee traders in Nantes, France. Records of slave sales appear through 1827.
1795 Chiefly inventories of of Antoine Mersier's property and other documents relating to Mersier's death.
1802-1809 Miltenbergers' marriage certificate; record of the sale of a house in Cuba to Miltenberger; slave sales in Cuba, 1806-1809.
1810 Miltenberger's application to practice surgery in New Orleans.
1815 Accounts of the treatment of yellow fever cases; letter from one of Miltenberger's relatives in Mirambeau discussing the economic depression in France and inquiring about the report of an English expedition against New Orleans.
1816-1826 Letters from relatives in France and materials relating to the yellow fever epidemic, including a paper Miltenberger presented to the Medical Society of New Orleans (1819). A letter of 28 August 1820 shows that Miltenberger was active in the Masons; he is addressed as the president of a commission investigating the formation of a Masonic hospital in New Orleans. Around 1825, there are materials relating to French claims against property lost in Saint-Domingue.
1828 Family correspondence, including letters that document Miltenberger's providing financial assistance to persons wishing to immigrate.
1829-1841 Beginning in October 1829, materials relating to Christian Miltenberger's estate. Also items relating to French claims in Saint-Domingue. A 20 October 1841 letter to the sons of Christian Miltenberger from M. Miltenberger in Schlestadt, Alsace, gives family and business news from Europe.
Undated Includes the inventory of books in a medical library; various plans for addition to the Miltenberger house in New Orleans; and letters about the treatment of a sick female slave.

Folder 1

1739-1769

Folder 2

1770-1779

Folder 3

1780-1789

Folder 4

1790-1794

Folder 5

1795

Folder 6

1796-1798

Folder 7

1802-1809

Folder 8

1810-1819

Folder 9

1820-1823

Folder 10

1824-1825

Folder 11

1826

Folder 12

1827

Folder 13

1828

Folder 14

1829

Folder 15

1831-1841

Folder 16

Undated

Reel M-513/1

Microfilm copy of folders 1-16, 1739-1841 and undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Subseries 1.2. Bills, Receipts, Accounting Sheets, and Ledgers, 1750s-1839 and undated.

About 780 items.

Arrangement: roughly chronological.

Chiefly financial papers, including bills, receipts, charts of accounts, and pages from ledgers. These papers include bills from Miltenberger to his patients for services rendered. They also document his seemingly extensive property holdings in New Orleans. An 1827 tax receipt shows that he also held real estate and slaves in Plaquemines Parish, located south of New Orleans. Materials in 1829 include a summary of receipts and dispersals for 1820 through 1826. After Miltenberger's death in 1829, items tend to consist of tax receipts. These and other items indicate that the family still held considerable property through 1839.

Folder 17

1750s-1770s

Folder 18

1780s

Folder 19

1790s

Folder 20

1800s

Folder 21

1810s

Folder 22

1820

Folder 23

1821

Folder 24

1822

Folder 25

1823

Folder 26

1824

Folder 27

1825

Folder 28

1826

Folder 29-30

Folder 29

Folder 30

1827

Folder 31

1828

Folder 32-34

Folder 32

Folder 33

Folder 34

1829

Folder 35

1830-1831

Folder 36

1832-1833

Folder 37

1834-1835

Folder 38

1838-1839

Folder 39

Undated

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expand/collapse Expand/collapse Series 2. Volumes, 1816-1843 and undated.

7 items.

Arrangement: chronological according to last date.

Folder 40

Volume 1: Account book of Christian Miltenberger, 1819 1825, 32 pp.

Includes records of his management of the account of T. Bayle with the Louisiana State Bank, perhaps as executor of Bayle's estate.

Folder 41

Volume 2: Journal of Christian Miltenberger, 1816-1827, 648 pp.

Contains records of patient visits, 1816-1827 (pages 1-625), and "Livre d'histoires commence le 23 mai 1798 a Asylum," (pages 626-648), which appears to be a history of Rome.

Folder 42

Volume 3: Account book of Christian Miltenberger with the Bank of Louisiana, 1821 1829

Folder 43

Volume 4: Memorandum book belonging to Christian Miltenberger, 1824-1829, 71 pp.

Contains records of rentals of houses and slaves; illnesses of slaves; household accounts; list of plays attended; bank accounts; records of bills owned Miltenberger and owed by him.

Folder 44

Volume 5: Notebook belonging to Christian Miltenberger, 1817-1834, 167 pp.

Contains notes on the treatment of yellow fever cases, the use of quinine, remedies against dysentery and rabies, and other medical topics. Also includes lists of births and deaths in the family; births and deaths of slaves; records of the departure from Saint-Domingue; accounts of clothing materials sold by Miltenberger's wife; accounts of rentals of property; debts owed by slaves and by Miltenberger, and other topics.

Folder 45

Volume 6: Printed pamphlet titled "Banques aux Etats Unis" by A. St. Georges, 1843, 18 pp.

Discusses the workings of banks in the United States, especially the Bank of the United States, and compares United States banks to French banks. Pamphlet was published at New Orleans. Also included is an article on United States cotton production and export, 1833-1842.

Folder 46

Volume 7: Memorandum book, owner unknown, undated, 32 pp.

Includes notes on science and religion and on the sermons of John Wesley. Also included are miscellaneous notes and a few names and address, chiefly of people in South Carolina. In English.

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Microfilm: M-513/1

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