Inventory of the Rufus King Sewall Letter, 1850
Collection Number 3108-z
Manuscripts Department, University Library of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- 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/
Back to Top
Descriptive Summary
- Repository
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.
- Creator
- Sewall, Rufus King, 1814-1903.
- Title
- Rufus King Sewall Letter, 1850
- Call Number
- 3108-z
- Language of Materials
- Materials in English
- Extent
-
- Items: 1
Back to Top
Administrative Information
- Processing Information
- Processed by: Manuscripts Department Staff, 1960s
- Encoded by: Roslyn Holdzkom, January 2007
- Preferred Citation
- [Identification of item], in the Rufus King Sewall Letter #3108-z, 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.
Online Catalog Headings
These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.
- Botany--Florida--History--19th century.
- Dearborn, H. A. S. (Henry Alexander Scammell), 1783-1851.
- Florida--Description and travel.
- Indians of North America--Florida.
- Medicine--Practice--History--19th century.
- Mitchell, Augustus.
- Plants--Florida--History--19th century.
- Sewall, Rufus King, 1814-1903.
- St. Lucie Inlet--Description and travel.
- Zoology--Florida--History--19th century.
Biographical Note
Rufus King Sewall wrote articles concerned chiefly with historical events in the state of Maine. His Sketches of St. Augustine with a View of its History and Advantages as a Resort for Invalids was published in 1848 and surpressed; a second edition was published in 1849.
Augustus Mitchell was a physician and natural scientist who was living in Portland, Me., in 1850. He published "Antiquities of Florida" in the Smithsonian Institution's annual report of 1874.
H. A. S. Dearborn, son of Henry Dearborn, was a soldier, state legislator, member of the United States House of Representatives 1831-1833, author, and horticulturalist, who practiced law in Salem, Mass., and Portland, Me.
Back to TopCollection Overview
The collection is a letter, 24 April 1850, from author Rufus King Sewall in Saint Mary's, Ga., to August Mitchell in Portland, Me., that is enclosed in a letter from Mitchell to H. A. S. Dearborn, author, lawyer, legislator, and horticulturalist of Salem, Mass., and Portland, Me. In his letter to Mitchell, Sewall wrote about a voyage down the east coast of Florida, passing through Saint Lucie Inlet. Sewall described in detail the sound west of Hutchinsons Island and the region between the sound and Lake Okeechobee to the west and discussed vegetation, aminals, and the area as a terminal for traffic from three directions. The region he described includes the present Port Sewall and Sewall's Point. In his letter to Dearborn, 11 June 1850, Mitchell requested that Dearborn have Sewall's letter published in the Boston Courier or another newspaper. Mitchell also discussed his medical practice in Florida, where he had tried to establish a "sanitary retreat," studied natural history and Indian mounds, and looked for a site for a national botanical garden. He also included some observations on crania and teeth of Indian skeletons.
Back to Top
Detailed Description of the Collection
Back to Top