Jefferson Davis

A Register of His Papers in the Library of Congress

Prepared by Joseph Sullivan

Manuscript Division, Library of Congress

Washington, D.C.

1997

Contact information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/mss/address.html

Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Manuscript Division, 2007

Finding aid URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/eadmss.ms007040

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

Names:

Subjects:

Occupations:

Administrative Information

Provenance:

Transfers:

Copyright Status:

Microfilm:

Preferred Citation:

Scope and Content Note

Arrangement of the Papers

Container List

Collection Summary

Selected Search Terms

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.

Administrative Information

The papers of Jefferson Davis (1808-1889), President of the Confederate States of America, were acquired by the Library of Congress by transfer, gift, and purchase from 1895 to 1985.

A photograph has been transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where it is identified as part of the Jefferson Davis Papers.

The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Jefferson Davis is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).

A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on two 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, Jefferson Davis Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Scope and Content Note

The papers of Jefferson Davis span the years 1795-1913, but are concentrated in the periods 1850-1859 and 1870-1906. The papers consist of correspondence to and from Davis and his wife Varina Howell Davis and others, supplemented by newspaper clippings, articles, speeches and highlights of speeches, notes of historian Nathaniel Wright Stephenson summarizing Davis's letters and writings which were printed in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, and drafts of military reports concerning the Battle of Monterrey, 1846, in the Mexican War. Subjects include admission of California as a state, Davis's capture at the end of the Civil War, Mississippi state politics, a southern transcontinental railroad, and other pre-Civil War issues. Varina Davis's correspondence, 1889-1906, relates chiefly to her husband's capture, to family and personal matters, and to the conversion of Beauvoir, Davis's home in Biloxi, Mississippi, to a home for Confederate veterans. Correspondents include Amos B. Corwine, Hamlet J. Harris, William Maynadier, Philip A. Roach, and Crafts J. Wright. A small addition dated 1795-1888, not filmed, consists of photocopies of land grants, speeches, and correspondence of Davis and his wife.

Arrangement of the Papers

This collection is arranged chronologically.

Container List