Sydney Stanley Papers
Scope and Contents
This collection contains a range of materials related to the life of Sydney Stanley (1805-1878), Clerk of Connecticut Legislature. The Stanley papers are one of the earliest manuscript collections to be donated to the Watkinson Library, most likely sometime after 1885, based on an 1878 bequest of Sydney Stanley. Such materials include five letters dating from 1847-1861. A bulk of the collection consists of eight original diaries, with the earliest date of July 31, 1858 and the latest August 20, 1866. There are also two additional typed transcriptions of Civil War diary entries (from Aug. 15, 1861 to Aug. 20, 1866). The collection also includes Stanley's financial documents, which include three account books (1826-1856, 1851-1858, 1876-1878) and miscellaneous accounts and receipts. Other personal papers include his legal documents such as deeds and miscellaneous printed materials.
Dates
- Creation: 1671-1878
Creator
- Stanley, Sydney, 1805-1878 (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Digital surrogates may be provided to researchers, in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
Biographical / Historical
Early in his life, Sydney Stanley (1805-1878) came to Hartford, CT, from a neighboring town, where he later served as clerk in the office of the Connecticut Secretary of State. He was known for living a quiet life, with reading and visiting libraries among some of his favorite pastimes. He was not married. Upon his death, Stanley left his estate as well as his personal collection of printed volumes to the Watkinson Library. He died October 18, 1878, at the age of seventy-three.
Extent
5 Cubic Feet (5 flat archival boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Collection is arranged by material type. There are seven series: Series I: Correspondence Series II: Copybooks Series III: Diaries Seires IV: Financial Documents Series V: Legal Documents Series VI: Miscellaneous MSS Series VII: Printed Material
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection was donated sometime after 1885, based on an 1878 bequest of Sydney Stanley.
Separated Materials
In 2020, one printed work was removed from the collection and placed in the administrative file. It is a secondary source produced long after the original accession arrived at the Watkinson Library:
Black, Robert C., "Sydney Stanley, Hartford's Stoutly Prejudiced Pepys of the Civil War" (May 1959).
Bibliography
Bibliography
- Title
- Guide to the Sydney Stanley papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jessica Sullivan, using a Microsoft-Word finding aid prepared by J. H. Kaimowitz in 1989. Originally prepared for electronic publication by Michael J. Breen in July 1999.
- Date
- 2020-10-13
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Watkinson Library - Archival Collections Repository
Trinity College Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford Connecticut 06106