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/mm74041467
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 Andrew Stevenson, U.S. representative from Virginia, speaker of the House of Representatives, and minister to Great Britain, and his son, J. W. Stevenson, governor of and U.S. senator from Kentucky, were deposited in the Library of Congress by Mary W. Stevenson Colston in 1910 and converted to a gift in 1952. Other Stevenson papers were given by Judith Braxton Colston in 1931 and 1956. An addition was purchased in 1980.
The collection was processed in 1974. The finding aid was revised in 2011.
A card index for the bulk of the Stevenson Papers is available in the Reading Room of the Manuscript Division.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Andrew Stevenson and J. W. Stevenson is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of Andrew Stevenson and J. W. Stevenson 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.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container number, Andrew Stevenson and J. W. Stevenson Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of Andrew Stevenson (1785-1857) and his son, John White Stevenson (1812-1886), span the years 1756-1882, with the bulk of the material from 1833 to 1876. The period most fully represented is Andrew Stevenson’s service as American minister to Great Britain (1836-1841). Some early papers relate to lawsuits in the Virginia courts, and there is correspondence pertinent to Andrew Stevenson’s service in the U.S. House of Representatives, particularly while speaker. There is no correspondence for 1826-1830. The collection is organized into four series: General Correspondence , Diplomatic Correspondence of Andrew Stevenson , Account Books , and Miscellany .
The diplomatic correspondence in the Andrew Stevenson papers is for
the years 1836-1841. Subjects include the slave trade and searches by British
officers of vessels displaying the American flag, the
King William IV died during Stevenson’s residency in England and was succeeded by his niece, Victoria, whose coronation as queen and wedding the Stevensons attended. Social affairs occupied much of the minister’s time, and his papers reflect these activities. Correspondents represented in Andrew Stevenson papers include James Buchanan, John C. Calhoun, Churchill Caldum Cambreleng, Lewis Cass, Edward Everett, John Forsyth, Francis Scott Key, William L. Marcy, Philip Norborne Nicholas, Viscount Henry John Temple Palmerston, Joel Roberts Poinsett, James K. Polk, Thomas Ritchie, William C. Rives, Benjamin Rush, Richard Rush, Earl John Russell Russell, John Rutherfoord, Sarah Coles Stevenson, Charles Sumner, Roger Brooke Taney, George Tucker, Martin Van Buren, Alexander Van Rensselaer, and Daniel Webster.
Among noteworthy individual items in the General Correspondence of Andrew Stevenson are a poem of William Wordsworth (1770-1850), autographed for a Stevenson family member and dated December 24, 1838, from Rydal Mount; a poem of 1834 by Thomas Moore; and a letter of Robert Southey to John Kenyon, January 29, 1827, transmitting verses 27-46 as a conclusion to his poem “The Devil’s Visit.”
The papers of J. W. Stevenson account for a smaller portion of the collection. They consist principally of correspondence while governor of Kentucky and United States senator from that state. Correspondents include John C. Breckinridge, John Griffin Carlisle, Leslie Combs, C. M. Ingersoll, and Richard Vaux.
This collection is arranged in four series:
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm74041467
Mainly letters received by Andrew Stevenson and J. W. Stevenson.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters between Andrew Stevenson and Viscount Henry John Temple Palmerston and Stevenson and John Forsyth and Daniel Webster.
Arranged chronologically.
A “Process Book” containing early law cases and an account book of the “Contingent Expenses of the Legation at London.”
Newspaper clippings, speeches, printed matter, and financial papers.
Arranged by type of material.