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/mm75028498
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 James Kent, jurist and legal commentator, were given to the Library of Congress by William Kent, 1904 and 1906, and by the heirs of William Stone, 1914. An additional item was purchased in 1969 and transferred from the Miscellaneous Manuscripts Collection to the Kent Papers in 2007.
The James Kent Papers were prepared for microfilming in 1974. The collection was revised and expanded in 2007.
The
The original of Kent’s journal of a trip to Washington, D.C., in 1793, kept in the back pages of Tobias Lear’s
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of James Kent is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of James Kent Papers 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 seven reels. Consult a reference librarian 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.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, James Kent Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of James Kent (1763-1874) span the period 1779-1854, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the years 1798-1847. The collection consists of correspondence, travel journals, and a register of law cases entered by James Kent and his associate, Gilbert Livingston. Kent’s life as lawyer, traveler, and family man is well documented in the collection, and there are records of his military service in the New York state militia and his election to public office.
Kent corresponded with many of the political and judicial leaders of the period, including John Quincy Adams, Simeon Baldwin, George Bancroft, William Carroll, Henry Clay, David Daggett, Edward Everett, William Johnson, Francis Lieber, William H. Seward, Benjamin Silliman, Joseph Story, Daniel Webster, and William Wirt. A letter to Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, wife of Alexander Hamilton, dated Dec. 10, 1832, includes the draft of “Chancellor Kent’s Memories of Alexander Hamilton.” In 1847, Simeon Baldwin prepared a similar sketch of James Kent’s life for Kent’s son, William.
The greater part of Kent’s correspondence is with family members—his wife, Elizabeth, his brother, Moss, his son, William, and his brother-in-law, Theodorus Bailey. The originals of many of Kent’s letters to family members are included in the collection. The letters refer frequently to Kent’s interest in the classics.
Among other papers included in Kent’s correspondence files are diplomas, awards, a military commission, certificates of election to public office, and documents related to his career as a jurist. These documents and all of Kent’s correspondence have been indexed.
A single register records law suits entered by the law firms of Livingston and Kent and of Livingston and Thompson. Kent’s reputation as a legal writer rests chiefly upon his four-volume
Kent kept detailed accounts of his travels between 1793 and 1847, annotating them in later years and adding pertinent newspaper clippings. The fifteen volumes in the collection describe his journeys that ranged from Quebec to Richmond, Virginia. Volume 14 of the Journals series contains an account of William Kent’s 1848 journey to his father’s birthplace.
Included in the Correspondence and Other Papers series is a photocopy of a journal Kent maintained in the back pages of Tobias Lear’s
This collection is arranged in four series:
Available on microfilm. Shelf no. 16,216
General and family correspondence, memoranda, diplomas, awards, certificates, circulars, travel accounts, notes, and miscellaneous papers and documents.
Arranged chronologically. Oversize items were removed from their chronological sequence and filmed at the end of the series. Also at the end of the series is a photocopy of a journal by Kent, 1793, and a few original notes, dated 1838, that were added to the collection in 2007. The notes have been not filmed. An card index to the series, filmed at the end of the collection, is located in the Manuscript Division Reading Room. Consult a reference librarian for availability of the original index.
Bound register of the law firms of Livingston and Kent and Livingston and Thompson.
Journals describing trips by Kent mostly along the eastern seaboard, including an account by his son, William Kent, to his father’s birthplace in Putnam County, N.Y., in 1848.
Chronology in the volumes is irregular. Included at the end of the microfilm edition is a card index of correspondents in the Correspondence and Other Papers series. Consult a reference librarian in the Manuscript Division regarding availability of the original index in the Manuscript Division Reading Room.
Certificates, awards, and appointments. Oversize material originally in Containers 1-4 that was filmed as part of Container 12 in the Correspondence and Other Papers series.
Arranged in the order in which it was filmed.