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Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress
Manuscript
Division,
2001
Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms001039
Latest revision: 2004-10-28
General Correspondence, 1813-1904, n.d. | |||||||||||||
| Bound, 1813-1904, n.d. | |||||||||||||
| Unbound, 1857-1880, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Legal File, 1853-1880, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Writings, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Miscellany, 1859-1903, n.d. | |||||||||||||
Addition, 1837-1888, n.d. | |||||||||||||
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
The papers of Jeremiah S. Black, lawyer, judge, and statesman, were purchased from Mrs. Jeremiah Black, wife of his grandson, in March 1918. Other small gifts and purchases were made between 1935 and 1992.
The papers of Jeremiah S. Black were arranged and described in 1966. Additional material received between 1966 and 1992 was incorporated into the collection in 1996. A description of the Black Papers appears in Library of Congress Acquisitions: Manuscript Division, 1992, pp.8-10.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Jeremiah S. Black is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
A microfilm edition of the bound portion of the general correspondence in these papers, 1813-1904, is available on thirty-six reels. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Charles S. Black Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Date | Event |
| 1810, Jan. 10 | Born, near Stony Creek, Pa. |
| 1830 | Admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania |
| 1836 | Married Mary Forward |
| 1842 | Appointed judge of court of common pleas, sixteenth district, Pennsylvania |
| 1851 | Appointed justice of supreme court of Pennsylvania |
| 1857-1860 | United States attorney general |
| 1860 | Appointed secretary of state replacing Lewis Cass |
| 1861 | Appointed to
United States Supreme Court by
James Buchanan but not confirmed by
Senate Appointed United States Supreme Court reporter Wrote first volume of annual publication, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the United States |
| 1873 | Helped revise Pennsylvania constitution |
| 1876 | Defended Democratic presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden before electoral commission |
| 1883, Aug. 19 | Died, York, Pa. |
The papers of Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1810-1883) span the years 1813-1904, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1856-1880. The collection includes correspondence, legal papers, articles, scrapbooks, and other papers relating to such subjects as the turmoil over slavery in Kansas before the Civil War, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson, the Crédit Mobilier, the trial of Jefferson Davis, Black's efforts on behalf of Clement Claiborne Clay, and Jacob Thompson's letters from his exile in Europe following the Civil War. A large part of the material relates to various legal matters in which Black was involved.
The General Correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection and includes an important group of James Buchanan's letters relating to the closing days of his administration. Among these is Buchanan's draft of the defense of his actions with regard to Forts Sumter and Moultrie. There is also a group of letters written by Edwin M. Stanton during the years 1857-1858. Correspondence of Black's son, Chauncey, concerns Ward Hill Lamon's Recollections of Abraham Lincoln (1895), apparently written by Black and claimed by him to have been published with unauthorized changes. There is a large number of letters from Speaker of the House of Representatives, Samuel J. Randall, to Chauncey Black on important phases of Pennsylvania politics. Prominent among Jeremiah S. Black's correspondents are Thomas Francis Bayard, Montgomery Blair, Caleb Cushing, John C. Frémont, James Abram Garfield, Joseph Holt, and Reverdy Johnson. Among the correspondents of Chauncey Black are Charles A. Dana, William H. Herndon, Ward H. Lamon, James R. Osgood and Company, Samuel J. Randall, Don Piatt, J. M. Cooper, Wayne MacVeagh, and Daniel Sickles.. A partial card index of correspondents is available in the Manuscript Reading Room.
Included in the Writings series is Jeremiah S. Black's notes containing information on the last four months of Buchanan's administration, an account of his own resignation, and the cabinet meeting on Major Richard Anderson's removal to Fort Sumter. Chauncey Black's unpublished draft of the last chapter of Ward Hill Lamon's book on Lincoln is also filed in this series.
An addition to the collection contains family correspondence consisting primarily of letters from Black to his wife, Mary, and to his children. Other family members represented in the addition include Henry Clayton and Jeremiah S. Black Clayton.
The collection is arranged in five series:
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