c1858 - 1859 ARCHIVE OF MANUSCRIPT HANDWRITTEN LETTERS FROM MANY PREACHERS TO FUTURE CIVIL WAR ARMY CHAPLAIN AND MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION [ASSU]

On offer is a substantive archive of fifty-eight [58] handwritten letters from one preacher to another. They are all dated circa 1858 - 1859. These were, save for one, written to Rev B.W. Chidlaw who was a member of the ASSU or American Sunday School Union. The single, unique letter is a copy of a letter in Reverend Chidlaw's own hand! There are some notes in Chidlaw's hand throughout the archive of correspondence too. Chidlaw later went on to become a popular Army Chaplain during the Civil War and a published author along with many other talents. A few have the ASSU header and the rest have a seal/crest stamped somewhere on the letter. The names signed or mentioned are as follows: TRUMBULL, MERING, RAYMOND, DELONG, STRONG, WESTBROOK, ROWLAND, McCLURE, BOUGHTEN, CORY, CHASE, SHELDON, WILLIAMS, BATEMAN, BROWN, THOMAS, WIDNEY, BURTIS, GEILER, MCINTYRE, HOYT, BIRKETT, RICSECKER, BRICKETT, CONDIT, BROWN. This list is most certainly incomplete. Most are legible and easy to read, a couple are questionable signatures due to their handwriting. They've been sent from all over the USA, mostly the Eastern side. Content runs from the trivial to the personal to the business of religion; salaries, assignments, contributions, request for books for their schools, western reserve, arrival notes and lodging etc etc. Conditon would as expected include some with light creases, nicks to the edges, folds and mounting traces on some of the backs with the very occasional loss of some text, but overall a nice clean group. A simple internet search will provide a much more information on this very interesting man. Really interesting archive of inter-religious education, funding and networking, quite scarce as such.; Manuscript; KEYWORDS: HISTORY OF, HANDWRITTEN, MANUSCRIPT, DOCUMENT, LETTER, AUTOGRAPH, DIARY, JOURNAL, LOG, KEEPSAKE, WRITER, HAND WRITTEN, DOCUMENTS, SIGNED, LETTERS, MANUSCRIPTS, HISTORICAL, HOLOGRAPH, WRITERS, DIARIES, JOURNALS, LOGS, AUTOGRAPHS, PERSONAL, MEMOIR, MEMORIAL, PERSONAL HISTORY, AMERICANA, Marriages, Funerals, Preaching, Religion, Missionary, Genealogy, Civil War Era, Chaplain,