Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82034744
Collection material in French and English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of J. N. Nicollet, mathematician, explorer, and cartographer, were acquired by transfer, purchase, and gift from various sources between 1921 and 1956.
The collection was housed and listed between 1921 and 2005. As part of a reorganization in 2006, a new finding aid was created.
The Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Papers contains Nicollet's journal of 1836 concerning an expedition to the sources of the Mississippi River (with correspondence from 1837).
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of J. N. Nicollet is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of J. N. Nicollet are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of part of these papers is available on one reel. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition as available.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, J. N. Nicollet Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Joseph Nicolas Nicollet (1786-1843) span the years 1797-1843. The collection contains correspondence, journals, maps and sketches, notes, printed matter, research material, and writings and reports. Much of the material is in French.
The correspondence consists primarily of letters to Nicollet, with the exception of some photostatic copies of letters Nicollet wrote to Rush Nutt, a physician and scientist in Mississippi, regarding Nicollet’s study of the Chippewa and Sioux languages. Several letters are from bishops and prominent individuals in the early American Catholic Church, including Simon William Gabriel Bruté de Rémur, Bishop of Vincennes (Indiana); John England, Bishop of Charleston; Jean-Louis-Anne-Madeleine Lefebvre de Cheverus, Bishop of Boston; Michael Portier, Bishop of Mobile; Joseph Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis; Pierce Connelly; and Louis Régis Deluol. Scientists include Jacob Whitman Bailey, David W. Gobel, Ethan Allen Hitchcock, Elias Loomis, H. H. Sherwood, and Sears Cook Walker. Cartographers represented in the collection are Edmund M. Blunt, J. D. Graham, and F. R. Hassler. Nicollet also corresponded with state geologists Charles T. Jackson of Maine and Gerard Troost of Tennessee. Alfred Mordecai, drafter of the first United States ordnance manual, wrote requesting Nicollet to design a form for standardizing meteorological, geological, and mineralogical data reports. A letter from Joseph Plympton, the commander of Fort Snelling, Minnesota, suggests ways to develop the land between the St. Croix River and St. Anthony Falls, an area which is now Minneapolis.
The journals consist of astronomical observations, expedition diaries, and geographical and meteorological data. Some of the astronomical observations, dated 1832, were made from the White House in Washington, D.C. The expedition diaries document Nicollet’s exploration of what is now Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, and Wisconsin and include detailed sketches of the routes. The geographical observations include calculations of latitudes, longitudes, and altitudes from various points. In 1839 Nicollet published
The collection contains many of Nicollet’s detailed sketch maps of the upper Mississippi and Missouri river basins and his notes on various scientific subjects. Writings and reports primarily consist of a draft of Nicollet’s report that accompanied his
This collection is arranged alphabetically by type of material
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm82034744
Nicollet's journal of 1836 concerning an expedition to the sources of the Mississippi River (with correspondence from 1837) is in the Henry Rowe Schoolcraft Papers , Container 87/reel 67 (microfilm shelf no. 13,819).