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EPHRAIM GEORGE SQUIER
A REGISTER OF HIS PAPERS
IN THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Prepared by
Michael Music, 1969
Revised by
Joseph Sullivan and T. Michael Womack
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress
Washington, D.C. 1997
***
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
The papers of Ephraim George Squier (1821-1888),
archaeologist, author, businessman, editor, and diplomat, were
given to the Library of Congress in 1905 by Squier's brother,
Frank Squier. Additions to the papers were received by gift,
purchase, and transfer from 1941 to 1994.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of
Ephraim George Squier in these papers and in other collections of
papers in the custody of the Library of Congress is governed by
the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
A microfilm edition of most of these papers is available on
fourteen reels from the Library's Photoduplication Service for
purchase subject to the Copyright Law of the United States. This
microfilm edition may also be requested on interlibrary loan
through the Library's Loan Division. Ten reels may be requested
at a time for a loan period of one month.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Readers interested in consulting any of the division's
collections are advised to write or telephone the
Manuscript Reading Room at (202) 707-5387 before visiting.
Many processed and nearly all unprocessed collections are
stored off site, and advance notice is needed to retrieve
these items for research use.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Linear feet of shelf space occupied: 4.8
Approximate number of items: 2,500
***
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
1821, June 17 Born, Bethlehem, N.Y.
1842-1845 Journalist and editor, _Poets' Magazine_, _New
York State Mechanic_, and _Hartford Evening
Journal_
1845 Publisher, _Scioto Gazette_ (Chillicothe, Ohio)
1847-1848 Clerk, Ohio House of Representatives
1848 Published with Edwin Hamilton Davis _Ancient
Monuments of the Mississippi Valley_ (New York:
Bartlett and Welford; Cincinnati: J.M. and U.P.
James; Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution. 306 pp.)
1849-1850 Charg‚ d'affaires, Guatemala
1851 Published _Aboriginal Monuments of the State of
New York_ (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution. 188 pp.)
1852 Published _Nicaragua; Its People, Scenery,
Monuments, and the Proposed Inter-oceanic Canal_
(New York: D. Appleton & Co. 2 vols.)
1853 Secretary, Honduras Interoceanic Railway Co.
1858 Published _The States of Central America_ (New
York: Harper & Brothers. 782 pp.)
Married Miriam Florence Folline (later divorced)
1860 Editor, publishing firm of Frank Leslie
1861 Supervised _Frank Leslie's Pictorial History of
the American Civil War_ (New York: F. Leslie,
1861-1862, 2 vols.)
1863-1865 United States Commissioner to Peru
1867 Delegate of the American Ethnological Society to
the Anthropological Congress of Paris for 1867
1868 Consul-General of Honduras, New York, N.Y.
1870 Published _Honduras; Descriptive, Historical, and
Statistical_ (London: Trubner & Co. 278 pp.)
1871 President, Anthropological Society of New York
1874-1888 Suffered intermittent periods of mental illness
ca. 1874 Remarried Miriam Florence Folline Squier Leslie
1877 Published _Peru: Incidents of Travel and
Exploration in the Land of the Incas_ (London:
Macmillan and Co. 599 pp.)
1888, Apr. 17 Died, Brooklyn, N.Y.
***
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
The papers of Ephraim George Squier span the years
1841-1888, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the
period 1846-1874. The papers include correspondence, diplomatic
and business records, lectures, articles, reference and
bibliographic notes, drawings, and scrapbooks of clippings
assembled by Squier. The collection, in English, Spanish, French,
and German, is arranged in the following series: General
Correspondence; Honduran Representatives File; Honduras
Interoceanic Railway File; Speech, Article, and Book File;
Miscellany; and Addition.
Squier's interest in archaeology, ethnology, and Central
American affairs are documented in the General Correspondence.
Also represented are Squier's writings, publishing interests, and
membership in learned societies. A few items concern his
connection with the publisher Frank Leslie, and there are no
letters of his wife, Miriam Florence Folline (later Mrs. Frank
Leslie), an editor, author, and feminist.
The Honduran Representatives File consists of correspondence
of Don Luis Molina, 1857-1867, Honduran minister to the United
States, and Squier's correspondence as the Honduran consul-
general in New York, 1869-1873.
The Honduras Interoceanic Railway File contains a variety of
papers dealing with the ill-fated Honduras Interoceanic Railway,
Ltd., for which Squier was attorney and agent. The file includes
correspondence, inventories, reports, construction plans, and
employee lists. Among the correspondence are letters of John C.
Trautwine, the project's chief engineer. A small handwritten
volume titled "Barometrical & Therm. Obs.," dated 1853 and
containing crude maps, tables, and drawings, is filed in the
Miscellany series.
Archaeology and ethnology are the chief focus of the Speech,
Article, and Book File, which contains reference notes, drafts of
books, and articles and lectures by Squier. Represented are
manuscripts of what appear to be articles and book chapters on
Nicaragua and drafts of _Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi
Valley_. In addition, there are reference and bibliographical
notes dealing with Indians, Mexico, Central America, archaeology,
languages, hieroglyphics, religion, history, government, and
diplomatic affairs. Among the items are numerous drawings and
diagrams of archaeological interest which show implements,
architecture, and locations of sites, and a printed bibliography
dated 1876 listing works by Squier.
The Miscellany houses papers related to two professional
societies in which Squier held office, the American Ethnological
Society and the Anthropological Society of New York, papers
pertaining to Central America, a journal of Squier's travels in
Central America in 1849-1850, two scrapbooks of printed material
consisting mostly of articles by Squier and others, and
miscellaneous fragments.
The Addition consists of a bound report dated 1858 from
Squier to the directors of the Honduras Interoceanic Railway
Company Limited, setting forth the results of his activities as
director of the land survey for the feasibility of a rail linkage
across Honduras between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The
volume also contains reports of engineers working with Squier on
the project. Also included are articles and maps relating to the
survey.
Correspondents include Jean Louis Agassiz, Leon Alvardo,
Henry B. Anthony, John Russell Bartlett, Samuel Birch, E. H.
Davis, Joseph Barnard Davis, George R. Gliddon, Joseph Henry,
Jos‚ de Marcoleta, Matthew Fontaine Maury, Brantz Mayer, Charles
Eliot Norton, Josiah Clark Nott, Frederick Ward Putnam, Henry
Shelton Sanford, Buckingham Smith, Henry Stevens, John Cresson
Trautwine, William Wadden Turner, and Thomas Wright.
Appended to the register is an alphabetical index to the
General Correspondence and correspondence in other files. The
index, with occasional errors regarding number of letters cited
and inclusive years listed, was prepared as part of "The Ephraim
George Squier Manuscripts in the Library of Congress: A
Checklist," _The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of
America_, Vol. 53, 1959, pp. 309-326, by Jerry E. Patterson and
William R. Stanton.
***
DESCRIPTION OF SERIES
Container Reel
Nos. Nos. Series
1-3 1-6 General Correspondence, 1841-1888, n.d.
Letters sent and received, supplemented by
occasional printed items. Arranged
chronologically.
4 7 Honduran Representatives File, 1857-1873.
Letters and copies of letters sent and
received. Subdivided into minister's
correspondence of Don Luis Molina and Squier's
consul-general's correspondence. Arranged
chronologically.
5-6 8-9 Honduras Interoceanic Railway File, 1853-1870.
Letters and copies of letters sent and
received, reports, statements, inventories,
employee lists, prospectus, charters, land
certificates, newspaper clippings, and stock
certificates. Arranged by type of material
and chronologically therein.
7-10 10-13 Speech, Article, and Book File, ca. 1848-1877,
n.d.
Drafts of books, articles, lectures,
drawings, notes, printed articles,
bibliographic material, and a printed
bibliography of Squier's writings. Arranged
by type of material and therein by subject or
title.
11 14 Miscellany, ca. 1849-1872.
Correspondence, government and business
records, bonds, lists, ethnological and
anthropological material, a notebook,
newspaper clippings, printed matter, and
fragments. Arranged by type of material and
therein alphabetically by subject or title.
12 not Addition, 1857-1858.
filmed Bound report with tipped in maps, articles,
and a letter written by Squier.
***
CONTAINER LIST
Container Reel
Nos. Nos. Contents
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE, 1841-1888, n.d.
Box 1 Reel 1-2 July 1841-Jan. 1853 (22 folders)
Box 2 Reel 3-4 Feb. 1853-Mar. 1865 (21 folders)
Box 3 Reel 5-6 Apr. 1865-June 1888, n.d. (23 folders)
HONDURAN REPRESENTATIVES FILE, 1857-1873
Box 4 Reel 7 Minister's correspondence, 1857-1867
(11 folders)
Consul-General's correspondence, 1869-1873
(4 folders)
HONDURAS INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY FILE, 1853-1870
Box 5 Reel 8 Correspondence, 1853-1870 (10 folders)
Reports, George R. Gliddon
Acknowledgement of receipt, 10 Aug. 1857
No. 1, 16 May 1857
No. 2, 22 May 1857
Box 6 Reel 9 No. 3, 13 June 1857
No. 4, 24 June 1857
Statements, inventories, employee lists, etc.,
1851-1859
Prospectus, charters, land certificates,
1853-1858
Newspaper and serial clippings, ca. 1849-1870
(3 folders)
Stock certificates (2 folders)
SPEECH, ARTICLE, AND BOOK FILE, ca. 1848-1877, n.d.
Box 7 Reel 10 Reference notes
Archaeology and serpent symbol
Description of Central America
Extracts on Indians, languages, and
description of Central America
Hieroglyphic drawings and writings
Languages, religions of Central American
Indians
"Memoir on the didactic paintings and the
figurative writings of the ancient
Mexicans"
Box 8 Reel 11 "Mexican Writings"
Mosquito question
"Origin of the worship of the phallus...,"
Mexican hieroglyphic writings
Seventeenth century, extracts relating to
explorations of America
Sixteenth century, extracts relating to
explorations of America
Vocabularies and languages of Mexico and
Central America
"The volcanoes of the Cordilleras of Quinto
and Mexico"
Miscellaneous
Notes
Printed matter
Box 9 Reel 12 Manuscripts
Ancient monuments of New York and the
Mississippi Valley and plates for these
works (2 folders)
Totemic system and sculptured tablets
Serpent symbol
Miscellaneous hieroglyphic drawings
Box 10 Reel 13 Central American question
Mosquito question
Book on Nicaragua
"Political history of Nicaragua"
"Review of Parties in Guatemala.
Translations from _El Progresso_ of San
Salvador"
"Santa Ana"
Lectures and articles
"Lecture on American Archaeology and
Ethnology"
Lecture to the "Gentlemen of the
Agricultural Society;" lecture on Mexican
manuscripts and paintings; lecture or
speech outline on Central America
Printed articles by Squier
Bibliographical notes, including a printed
bibliography of Squier's works
MISCELLANY, ca. 1849-1872
Box 11 Reel 14 Central America
Development of San Salvador by railway,
1863-1870
Guatemalan Harbor Improvement Bond No. 56
Purchase of arms for the Honduran
government, 1871-1872
Treaty between Honduras and Great Britain,
1856
Organizing statement of the Central American
Mining Association, 1853
Notebook, "Barometrical and Therm. Obs.,"
1853
Journal of Squier's travels, 1849-1850
Ethnology and anthropology
American Ethnological Society
Anthropological Society of New York
Anthropological printed matter
Scrapbooks of newspaper and periodical
clippings and articles by Squier and his
friends
Fragments, diplomatic, archaeological, and
business
ADDITION, 1857-1858
Box 12 not "Report to the Directors of the Honduras
filmed Inter-Oceanic Railway Company Limited," by
Squier with tipped in correspondence, maps,
and an attached article and reprint,
1857-1858
*** Last updated 03/30/98 (mal) ***
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