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/mm79031336
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 William L. Marcy, U.S. secretary of war and secretary of state, governor of New York, and lawyer, were received by the Library of Congress from Edith Marcy Sperry and other members of the Marcy family from 1915 to 1949 and converted to a gift, 1915-1949. Additional material was received by gift, purchase, and transfer from 1909 to 1989.
The Marcy Papers were processed in 1963 and revised and expanded in 1993. The finding aid was revised in 2012.
A note on the acquisition of these papers appeared in the
An engraved plate was transferred to the Prints and Photographs Division where it is identified as part of these papers.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of William L. Marcy is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of William L. Marcy 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, William L. Marcy Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of William Learned Marcy (1786-1857) span the years 1806-1930, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1806-1857. They begin with a commonplace book for his senior year at Brown University and include an early diary, 1831-1857, the draft of an autobiography, a private letterbook while Marcy served as secretary of war, and another private letterbook while secretary of state. The papers include drafts of diplomatic dispatches, drafts in Marcy's hand of presidential messages to Congress, 1854-1856, and copies of James Buchanan's letters to Marcy in 1853-1856 when Buchanan was minister to England. The material has been organized into seven series: General Correspondence , Family Correspondence , Letterbooks , Diaries , Subject File , Miscellany , and Addition .
The collection relates to Marcy's public career and reflects New York state and national Democratic politics in the three decades prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. Most of the later material is dated in the 1850s. Other subjects range from the Martin Koszta and Black Warrior cases and the Gadsden purchase to questions concerning the proper attire for American diplomats abroad and Pierre Soulé's conduct in Spain. Included also are papers relating to Marcy collected and compiled by Henry Barrett Learned.
Prominent among Marcy's correspondents are W. R. Andrews, Benjamin Franklin Angel, George Bancroft, August Belmont, James G. Berrett, James Buchanan, Archibald Campbell, Lewis Cass, George Mifflin Dallas, Charles Augustus Davis, Charles Eames, James Gadsden, Timothy Jenkins, Simon B. Jewett, John Livingstone, John Y. Mason, William Porcher Miles, George W. Newell, Horatio J. Perry, Franklin Pierce, James K. Polk, Herman J. Redfield, Horatio Seymour, John Addison Thomas, Samuel J. Tilden, Martin Van Buren, Gorham A. Worth, and Silas Wright. Numerous letters or drafts to Prosper Montgomery Wetmore deal with New York state politics. Many others were addressed to Samuel Marcy, James G. Berrett, Winfield Scott, Zachary Taylor, and Archibald Campbell.
This collection is arranged in seven series:
Bound volumes of letters received with memoranda and attached and related matter.
Arranged chronologically.
Letters sent and received.
Arranged chronologically.
Bound volumes of letters received while Marcy served as secretary of war and secretary of state and copies of letters from James Buchanan.
Volumes are arranged chronologically by earliest date.
Bound diaries.
Volumes are arranged chronologically by earliest date.
Correspondence, financial matter, jottings, notes, printed matter, photographs, and miscellaneous material.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person, topic, or type of material.
Correspondence, financial matter, writings, research notes and papers, transcripts of a diary, printed matter, and miscellaneous material relating to Marcy compiled or collected by Henry Barrett Learned, Thomas Maitland Marshall, George W. Newell, and John T. Sprague.
Arranged alphabetically by name of person and by topic or type of material therein.
Letters from Marcy to James Y. Mason and James M. Mason.
Arranged chronologically.