Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. .13 linear foot (2 volumes)

Summary

1. William Little Brown kept this diary while living in the home of his father, Dr. Morgan Brown, at Palmyra, Montgomery County, Tennessee, and in Kentucky; later as a student at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky (1810-1811); while studying law under Joseph H. Hawkins in Kentucky; and while practicing law in Tennessee from the autumn of 1812 until October 4, 1813, when he joined the army at Camp Beatie, Mississippi Territory, for a brief term, under the service of General Coffee.
2. Following his army service, Brown settled in Clarksville, Tennessee. The diary mentions assistance he gave his father in operating a grist mill, an iron furnace, and a farm; the names of bedfellows who passed the night in his home; the sale of medicine to patients; setting bird traps; playing cards; cock fighting; slavery - notably a conspiracy among the negroes in December 1810; his studies and general reading; and his law library.
3. Entries date from January 1, 1805 through November 22, 1814. In addition, the diary includes clippings from the Clarkesville Leaf-Chronicle weekly editions dated October 5, 12, 19, and 26, 1916, when portions of Brown's diary were published. A typed transcription of the diary is available for consultation.

Subject

1. Lawyers > Diaries
2. United States > Army
3. Montgomery County (Tenn.) > Social life and customs > 19th century
4. Books and reading
5. Law > Study and teaching > United States
6. Coffee, John, 1772-1833
7. Brown, Morgan, 1769-1841
8. Slavery > Tennessee > History > 19th century
9. Kentucky > Social life and customs > 19th century
10. College students > Diaries
11. Transylvania University
12. Diaries
13. Hawkins, Joseph H., 1786-1823
14. Clarksville (Tenn.) > Social life and customs > 19th century
15. Clippings (information artifacts)

Genre/Form

1. Clippings (information artifacts)
2. Diaries.

Call number

1. MssCol 417

Access (note)

1. Apply to Manuscripts and Archives Division for access at http://www.nypl.org/mssref.

Author

1. Brown, William Little, 1789-1829.

Title

1. William Little Brown diary, 1805-1814.

Restricted access

1. Apply to Manuscripts and Archives Division for access at http://www.nypl.org/mssref.

Research call number

1. MssCol 417