Samuel Kirkland Collection

Manuscript materials related to Samuel Kirkland (1741-1808), founder of Hamilton-Oneida Academy, which became Hamilton College soon after his death.

Includes 648 letters, legal documents, and memos, some of which are written in an Iroquois language. 102 of the letters have been transcribed and can be searched by keywords or phrases.

Baron Friedrich von Steuben Collection, Major

16 letters written by Maj. (Baron) Friedrich von Steuben (1730-1794). Baron von Steuben, a native French speaker, served under Washington at Valley Forge, rose to the position of Inspector-General of the Continental Army in 1778 and later was a participant in the founding of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy, the predecessor of Hamilton College. Includes transcriptions and English translations of the French originals.

Brothertown Collection

This collection comprises records of the Brothertown Indian Nation, an amalgamation of indigenous peoples from the Mohegan, Pequot, Niantic, Narrangansett, Montaukett, and Tunxis tribes from southern New England and New York. Beginning in 1775 the Brothertown settled in today's Deansboro, New York, on land granted them by the Oneida.

Dean Family Papers

160 letters related to Lucinda (Morrison) Dean (1795-1883), daughter-in-law of James Dean (first European settler of Westmoreland and Iroquois translator), a subcollection of letters from the Dean-Judson Family Papers held by the College Archives. The collection includes letters from Lucinda’s daughter Ellen Dean Graham and her husband Hiram James Graham, while on a trip to organize Colorado as a separate Territory from Kansas.

Edward Robinson Collection

Correspondence, notes, and publications related to Dr. Edward Robinson (1794–1863). Robinson was an American biblical scholar who conducted research in Biblical Geography and Biblical Archaeology in the Ottoman-ruled Palestine region in the late 1830s and 1850s. He was an 1816 graduate of Hamilton College.

Elia S. Yovcheff Correspondence

This is a collection of letters and photographs related to Elia Yovtcheff, class of 1877. Most of the correspondence is between Elia Yovcheff and Edward North, a professor of Greek of Hamilton College from 1904 to 1934.

Charles and Charlotte Wilbour Papers

This collection comprises letters of noted journalist and Egyptologist Charles Edwin Wilbour, and his wife. Charlotte Wilbour was a major, if perhaps unsung, player in the suffragist movement. Though her husband departed for Egypt and Europe in the 1870s, Wilbour remained at home in New York City, where she was a founding member of Sorosis, the first women’s club in the United States. Susan B. Anthony regarded Wilbour as a vital part of the suffragist movement in New York, writing in 1871 that Wilbour “must decide what New York can and will do—I will stand at the guns every time.” Her correspondence includes letters with Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Isabella Beecher Hooker, among others.

Susy Clemens Correspondence

Olivia Susan "Susy" Clemens (March 19, 1872 – August 18, 1896), was the second child and oldest daughter of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), and his wife Olivia Langdon Clemens. She died of spinal meningitis at age twenty-four. This collection comprises forty-four letters she exchanged with her close friend Louise Brownell.

Ezra Pound Collection

A collection of 268 postcards collected by Dorothy (Shakespear) Pound, wife of Ezra Pound, showing correspondence between her, her friends, her relatives, and her husband. The famous modernist poet Ezra Pound attended Hamilton College from 1903-1905. Hamilton College holds additional archival materials by and relating to Ezra Pound and his family. Please contact us for information on using those collections.

Hamilton College Special Collection General

The Special Collections of the Hamilton College Library comprise a variety of materials ranging from six Roman-Egyptian Papyri and fifty-four incunabula to contemporary artist's books. The three main collections are the Beinecke Lesser Antilles Collection, the Ezra Pound Collection, and the Communal Societies Collection. We are also strong in Book Arts, Utica Imprints, and local history, including the Adirondacks, and Civil War regimental histories from New York State.

Hamilton College Archives General

The Hamilton College Archives holds Hamilton and Kirkland College records and personal papers of enduring value from administrators, faculty, students, and alumni from the founding of the Hamilton-Oneida Academy to the present, for the use of members of the Hamilton College community, scholars, and the general public.

Hamilton College Publications

Publications of Hamilton College, including official, faculty and student publications.

Banjo Collection

A collection of materials related to banjos held by the Rare Books and Special Collections Department. Many of these items were acquired from the Robert Fraker Collection of Nineteenth-Century Banjo Instruction Manuals.

Communal Societies Site

The aim of the collection is to be comprehensive for imprints relating to all aspects of American Communal Societies. It includes newspapers, photographs, and ephemera of communities such as the Shakers, Oneida Community, House of David, Father Divine, Sun Ra, and more.

Civil War Letters Site

This is a collection of 456 letters written during the American Civil war and related to regiments mustered out counties in the Central New York region such as Oneida County, Herkimer County, and Madison County.

In collaboration with the Digital Humanities Initiative

Lesser Antilles Collection

A collection of materials on the Lesser Antilles assembled by Walter Beinecke, largely from the 16th-19th centuries. The collection includes over 1700 manuscripts, including plantation reports, correspondence, oil paintings and watercolors.

Oneida Community Library Site

This digital collection comprises an annotated and illustrated bibliography of the libraries of the Oneida Community (OC) from both the Mansion House at Oneida, New York, and the satellite branch at Wallingford, Connecticut.

Fillius Jazz Archive

This is a collection of about 300 interviews with Jazz musicians and over 1000 photographs taken at Jazz events -- courtesy of the Milton and Nelma Fillius Jazz Archives at Hamilton College.