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: https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm79041202
Collection material in 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 Edwin McMasters Stanton, lawyer, United States attorney general, and United States secretary of war, were given to the Library by Lewis H. Stanton in 1911. Other items were acquired by gift and purchase, 1910-1983.
The papers of Edwin McMasters Stanton were arranged and described by Allan Teichroew in 1979. The finding aid was revised and materials that had previously been cataloged separately were added to the collection by Patrick Kerwin in 2003. The finding aid was updated in 2023 by Maria Farmer as part of a division-wide remediation project by the Inclusive Description Working Group.
A partial index to the papers is available in the Manuscript Division reading room.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Edwin McMasters Stanton is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Edwin McMasters Stanton 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 these papers is available on fourteen reels. 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
The papers of Edward McMasters Stanton are available on the Library of Congress Web site
at https://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/collmss.ms000033.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Edwin McMasters Stanton Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Edwin McMasters Stanton (1814-1869) span the years 1818-1921, with the bulk of the material originating between 1862 and 1870. The collections consists of correspondence, letterbooks, a draft of the annual report of the secretary of war for 1863, and the March 1862 proceedings of the War Board. Interspersed among the bound correspondence, which makes up most of the collection, are battle maps, reports, charts, and printed matter. There is also a miscellany file and a few oversize items.
The papers focus chiefly on Stanton's tenure as secretary of war under presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson and stress his role in the Union victory over the Confederacy and the first phase of Reconstruction. As revealed by his extensive correspondence, both the small and large tasks of winning the war came frequently within Stanton's purview. In addition to information on the reorganization of the War Department immediately after his arrival, there are logistic reports from various state and departmental command posts, communications about army morale and discipline, and orders concerning the exchange of prisoners, the use of formerly enslaved people as soldiers, and the policies to be employed in occupied territories. The papers also shed light on Stanton's relationship with Lincoln, Johnson, and the radical wing of the Republican Party. Other topics include Lincoln's assassination and Stanton's evaluation of the various generals under the national government's command. The major portion of the collection ends with letters of condolence to Stanton's wife on his death in 1869.
The Addition consists of correspondence, chiefly with Stanton's mother and sister, Lucy Norman Stanton and Oella Stanton Tappan Wright, and a diary of Stanton's niece, Nancy Tappan.
Correspondents in these papers include George Bancroft, Henry Ward Beecher, James Buchanan, Benjamin F. Butler, Simon Cameron, Salmon P. Chase, Roscoe Conkling, Charles A. Dana, Thomas Ewing, William Pitt Fessenden, William Lloyd Garrison, Ulysses S. Grant, John Hay, Andrew Johnson, Reverdy Johnson, Francis Lieber, Abraham Lincoln, George Brinton McClellan, Winfield Scott, William Henry Seward, Philip Henry Sheridan, William T. Sherman, Thaddeus Stevens, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charles Sumner, Benjamin Tappan, Lyman Trumbull, and Gideon Welles.
This collection is arranged in six series:
Microfilm available. Shelf no. 17,814
Letters received and copies of letters sent with enclosed material including maps, reports, and printed matter.
Arranged chronologically in bound volumes.
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Proceedings of the War Board for March 1862 and a draft of the annual report of the War Department for 1863.
In bound volumes.
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Copies of letters sent.
Arranged chronologically in bound volumes.
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Biographical material.
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Correspondence and a diary of Stanton's niece, Nancy Tappan.
Arranged alphabetically by type of material and chronologically therein.
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Oversize commissions, certificates, and other materials of David and Edwin M. Stanton.
Arranged and described according to the series, containers, and folders from which the items were removed.