MOLE: The Manuscripts Online Guide

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | Sh | T | U | V | W | X,Y | Z

Walker, John (1731-1803)
Natural historian
Natural History, May 3-December 2, 1790. 1 vol. (173 pp.).

Walker, Professor at the University of Edinburgh, writes on mineralogy, the "vegetable kingdom" (botany, fructification, etc.), and the animal kingdom (zoology, ornithology, generation of animals, etc.).

---

Wallace, Alfred Russel (-1913)
British natural historian.
Papers, 1867-1913. (0.25 lin. feet).

A prime exponent of evolutionary theory in the late nineteenth century, the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace arrived independently at the theory of natural selection nearly simultaneously with Charles Darwin. The numerous publications that emerged from his extended field excusions into the Amazon Basin and the Malay Archipelago (Indonesia) Wallace resulted in major contributions to evolutionary theory, biogeography, ecology, and ethnography, and made Wallace, by the end of his life, one of the best known naturalists in Britain. A Socialist, social progressive, and Spiritualist, Wallace's distinctive take on evolutionary change differed from the Darwinian mainstream in significant ways.

The Wallace Collection is a miscellaneous assemblage of letters written by and to Alfred Russel Wallace, primarily during the last twenty five years of his life. Varied in content, the letters touch on Wallace's views on evolution, Spiritualism, and to a less degree, his progressive social commitments.

---

Wallace, Anthony F. C. (1923- )
Anthropologist
William Parsons, surveyor and proprietary agent, 1701-1757. 5 notebooks, 2 bundles.

A biography, accompanied by transcripts from sources, photostats, microfilms, and notes.

---

Tuscarora material, [1948,1949]. Recording. 30 reels.

Includes texts, vocabularies, kinship terms, translations.

---

Wallace Family Papers
Anthony F. C. Wallace and Paul A. W. Wallace
Papers, 1895-2000. 110 lin. ft.

The Wallace Family Collection documents the professional and personal lives of Anthony F.C. Wallace, anthropologist and ethnohistorian and his father, ethnologist, historian, and folklorist Paul A.W. Wallace. The collection includes correspondence to and from 20th century anthropologists, ethnologists, historians, linguists, and psychiatrists and provides a wealth of resources for the study of technological and social change, American Indians, culture and personality, revitalization movements, the anthropological study of religion, and the cultural and biological bases of behavior.

Anthony Wallace's papers (1920-2000) comprise the bulk of the collection. In addition to Wallace's correspondence, research notes, and drafts, the collection includes Wallace family correspondence and photographs, as well as Wallace's writings from childhood through recent years.

While representing a much smaller portion of the collection, Paul Wallace's papers (1920-1967) provide rich source materials for the study of northeastern American Indians. The collection includes extensive correspondence with fellow scholars and Indian consultants, interviews with Indians of the Six Nations Reserve in Canada, and notes and photographs collected during his fieldwork among the Indians of New York State, Pennsylvania, and Canada.

---

Ward, Henry Baldwin (1865-1942)
Parasitologist.
Papers, 1859-1942 (Bulk 1888-1933). 1.75 linear feet.

Henry Baldwin Ward was a professor of zoology at the Universities of Nebraska (1893-1909) and Illinois (1909-1933). The first American to offer a laboratory course in parasitology and the first to offer graduate instruction in the field, Ward's research interests touched on the medical aspects of parasitology, fish parasitology and ichthyology, fresh water biology, and ecology.

The Ward Papers include just under 2 linear feet of professional correspondence dating primarily between the period of Ward's graduate education in Germany in the late 1880s until the time of his retirement in 1933, dealing primarily with parasitological and ichthyological research, the exchange of specimens and publications, and the Journal of Parasitology. Some files include retained copies of letters written by Ward to accompany the letters received.

---

Warden, David Bailie (1772-1845)
Diplomat, teacher. APS 1809.
Papers, 1797-1844. Film & guide. 8 reels.

From originals in the Maryland Historical Society.

---

Warner, John (d. 1873)
Amateur mathematician, Pottsville, Pa.
Letters and papers, 1850-1864. 255 items.

The major portion of the correspondence deals with the controversy which arose when Benjamin Peirce, after having seen the manuscript of Warner's Studies in Organic Morphology (Philadelphia, 1857), read a paper on the subject before the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1855. Other topics frequently discussed are: the alleged Harvard clique and its influence on the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the administration of the Dudley Observatory in Albany, N.Y., and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey. Correspondents include: Louis Agassiz, William P. Foulke, Frederick Fraley, Horace Greeley, Joseph Henry, J. Peter Lesley, William F. Miskey, C. F. Winslow.

---

Warner, John (d. 1873)
Diaries, 1862-1868. 52 vols.

These chiefly detail his travels through Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. There are interesting sketches scattered throughout the volumes. See: Murphy D. Smith, Historical American Sketches. An Illustrated Guide to Sketches in the Manuscript Collections of the American Philosophical Society (Boston, 1984): 242-243.

---

Warner, Joseph
books, 1833-1836, 1849-1859. 2 vols. (ca. 500 pp.).

These are accounts of payments and receipts, of numerous loans and bonds, etc., for Philadelphia area merchants and individuals.

---

Waterton, Charles (1782-1865)
Naturalist, ornithologist.
Papers, 1772-1872. ca. 145 items.

This collection of letters and documents relates primarily to Charles Waterton but included as well are papers of the family. Most of the letters to or from Waterton concern birds, bird mating, domestic news, natural history, and Walton Hall, his estate. In addition, there are recipes and a housekeeping account book (1780-1781). There are numerous letters with his sisters-in- law, Elizabeth and Helen Edmonstone, and also an exchange of letters between Edmund Waterton and Sir George Bowyer concerning Papal audiences.

Among the correspondents are:

• Edward Charlesworth
• Walter Clifford
• Henry Cottrell
• John Greville Fennell
• Richard Hobson
• Edward Jones
• William Makepeace Thackeray

---

Waterton, Charles (1782-1865)
Papers, ca. 1830-1877. Film. 2 reels.

There are letters to George Ord in Pennsylvania (1 reel, 1830-1869); letters to his sisters-in-law, Elizabeth and Helen Edmonstone, and to Charles Edmonstone; and observations on birds by Norman Moore (1862-1871), with letters to Moore.

From originals owned by the Moore family, Hancox, Battle, Sussex.

---

Watkins, Donald
Collector
Okanagan Salish stories and songs, n.d. Recording. 2 reels.

---

Watson, John (d. 1826)
Physician and antiquary of Bucks County, Pa.
A narrative of the Indian Walk, 1815. 1 vol. Copy. (23 pp.).

This copy was made by Watson's son in 1822; it includes the younger Watson's report of the recollections of Moses Bartram as well as his own commentary on the Walking Purchase, and a letter from John Watson, Jr., 1822, about this manuscript. Printed in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania 16 (1830): 209-213.

---

Waugh, Frederick Wilkerson (1872-1924)
Canadian ethnologist
Collection of Iroquois folklore, 1912-1918. ca. 900 pp. Typed, carbon.

Copies of originals in the National Museum of Canada, collected by Waugh at Six Nations Reservation, mostly from Cayuga and Onondaga informants. Indexed.

---

Wavran, Abbé C.L.B.Chapelain de St. Louis à Hesdin
">Essai de phisique, 1 vol. (397 pp.).

Presented to Benjamin Franklin; contains chapters on electricity, fire, air, water, earth, earthquakes, etc.

---

Wayne, Anthony (1745-1796)
Soldier. APS 1780.
Receipt book, 1785-1792. 1 vol. (70 pp.).

Signed receipts for Wayne's payment, in money or mind, of debts, taxes, land, commodities, etc.

---

Weber, Neal Albert (1908- )
Entomologist.
Papers, ca. 1930s-1980s. ca. 19,000 items (ca. 22 lin. ft.).

This diverse collection includes correspondence, field notes, lecture and meeting notes, publication material, drawings, and lantern slides. It documents Weber's professional career as an internationally known myrmecologist, or ant scientist, and his wider ranging interests in entomology and ecology. There are class and lab notes for his educational period at Harvard University (A.M. 1933; Ph.D. 1935), and substantial documentation on his primary academic career at Swarthmore College (1947-1974; includes teaching records, data on the Biology Dept. and the College). His field notes, 1930s-1970s (ca. 3 lin. ft.), contain detailed observations of the many scientific expeditions he was a member of, including trips to: West Indies, 1933-1936; Colombia, 1938; Sudan, Uganda, and Kenya, 1939. He also participated in numerous American Museum of Natural History expeditions: Central Africa, 1948; Middle East, 1950, 1952; and Tropical America, 1954.

There are data for his time as visiting professor at the University of Baghdad, Iraq, 1950-1952, and his period as Scientific Attaché, Buenos Aires, for the U. S. Dept. of State, 1960-1962. Weber's contributions to polar scientific studies can be studied through his files of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Polar Research, 1958-1960 (he was on the panel on biological and medical science), as well as many numerous miscellaneous files on polar research. There is substantial material on the Entomological Society of America, and on such local ecological groups as the Chester-Ridley-Crum Watersheds Assoc., Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

Significant correspondents include:

• Thomas Peter Bennett
• Joseph C. Bequaert
• William L. Brown, Jr.
• Frank L. Campbell
• Horace Donisthorpe
• Alfred E. Emerson
• Caryl Parker Haskins
• William M. Mann
• Michael M. Martin
• William J. Robbins
• Mary Talbot
• George C. Wheeler
• William Morton Wheeler
• Brayton Wilbur

---

Webster, Donald H., and Wilfried Zibell
Collectors
Canadian Eskimo Dialects, n.d. Recording. 11 reels.

---

Webster, Leslie Tillotson (1894-1943)
Epidemiologist
Papers, 1909-1943. ca. 2,000 items. (4 lin. ft.).

Includes correspondence, diaries, lab notes, photographs. Webster was a pioneering epidemiologist working at the Rockefeller Institute (1920-1943), and his collection documents this, as well as his interest in encephalitis, poliomyelitis, rabies, and resistance to infectious diseases. Other aspects of his life can be seen in his diaries and journals: diary of 1909; privately published diary of 1919, with photos, of his service in Labrador as a physician at the International Grenfell Assoc.; European journal of 1924, with photos, of Webster's honeymoon trip which was partly paid for by the Institute in order that he could meet European scientists; diary of 1929-1943; 1930 journal of a canoe trip to James Bay, with Dr. Charles C. McCoy. There is also a volume of letters concerning his death, including biographical sketches by colleagues.

The contributions of his wife, Emily deForest Weber White (later married to Dr. Harold White), to Webster's work and publications can be seen in her interesting reminiscence, "Science Recollections, 1923-1971." Her own interests after Webster's death are suggested in her report of her world trip of 1964 in behalf of the Planned Parenthood Assoc. including attendance at the International Conference of Social Work, in Athens, Greece.

The correspondents of L. T. Webster include:

• Simon Flexner
• M. Kodama
• S. Kasahara
• Ralph S. Muckenfuss
• Frederick Osborn
• John R. Paul
• Theobald Smith
• Itsuma Takaki
• W. W. C. Topley
• Hans Zinsser

---

Weedon, George (1730?-1790)
Brigadier general, Continental Army.
Military correspondence, 1777-1786. 1 vol. (154 items).

Correspondence with officers of the American army and others, principally with Horatio Gates, Nathanael Green, Thomas Jefferson, Marquis de Lafayette, Richard Henry Lee, J. P. G. Muhlenberg, Thomas Nelson, Baron von Steuben, George Washington, in 1780. Calendared in: Calendar of the Correspondence Relating to the American Revolution, of Brigadier-General George Weedon... (Philadelphia, 1900).

---

Weedon, George (1730?-1790)
Valley Forge orderly book, 1777-1778. 1 vol. (184 pp.).

A Brigadier General in the Continental Army, George Weedon served under the immediate command of his fellow Virginian George Washington from, 1776 until 1778. This orderly book was kept under Weedon's command during the fall and winter, 1777-1778, documenting the hardships suffered by the American soldiers during their bitter encampment at Valley Forge. Published: Valley Forge Orderly Book of General George Weedon... (New York, 1902).

---

Weer, Paul
Compiler
Bibliography of the Walam Olum. Film. 1 reel.

From manuscript in possession of Paul A. W. Wallace, New Cumberland, Pa., 1952. Writings about a chronicle of the Lenape Indians, first studied by Constantine S. Rafinesque and subsequently by Ephraim G. Squier and Daniel G. Brinton. See Weer's letter on the subject in Pennsylvania History 18 (1951): 266.

---

Weiner, Charles I. (1931- )
Historian
Joseph Henry's Lectures on Natural Philosophy. Film. 1 reel.

Ph.D. thesis, Case University, 1965.

---

Weir, Jack A. (d. 1997)
Geneticist
Collection, 1920s-1997. 6.25 linear feet.

An agricultural geneticist with the Department of Zoology at the University of Kansas, Jack A. Weir began work on a history of Bussey Institute at Harvard during the late 1960s, collecting information about its faculty, students, researchers and research. The collection includes Weir's correspondence relating to his history of the Bussey Institute, his research notes, copies of correspondence from the geneticists he studied from a variety of collections, brief biographical articles on key figures at the Bussey, and a copy of Weir's unpublished manuscript, "Genetics and Agriculture at the Bussey Institution of Harvard." Weir deposited another copy of this manuscript at the University of Kansas Archives.

---

Weisberger, Richard W.
The cultural and organizational functions of speculative freemasonry during the Enlightenment: a study of the craft in London, Paris, Prague, and Vienna. 336 pp. Photocopy.

Doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1980.

---

Weiss, Paul Alfred (1898- )
Biologist.
Manuscripts, 1966-1971. 4 items (ca. 190 pp.).

There are annotated manuscripts of four published articles (reprints are included): "Bringing the Public to Science" (1966); "A Cell is not an island entire of itself" (1971); "Neural development in biological perspective" (1970); "One plus one does not equal two" (1971).

---

Welch, George (fl. 1671)
London trader
Journal of a voyage to the West Indies, 1671. 1 vol. (ca. 95 pp.).

Describes his journey from his home in England to the coast, the long wait for the wind, the voyage, preparations against possible attack by pirates, visits to Barbados, Nevis, and other islands, his arrival at Port Royal in Hispaniola. The manuscript was purchased at the sale of Franklin's library, 1803.

---

Wellcome Historical Medical Society
Letters, 1731-1871. 71 items. Photocopy.

These are copies of letters from the Wellcome collections on a variety of topics, primarily natural history and medicine. Among the correspondents are:

• Louis Agassiz
• Benjamin S. Barton
• Johann F. Blumenbach
• Charles L. Bonaparte
• Roger J. Boscovich
• Peter Collinson
• Thomas Cooper
• John R. Coxe
• Manasseh Cutler
• Henry L. Duhamel du Monceau
• Johann R. Forster
• David Hosack
• François André Michaux
• Jedidiah Morse
• Thomas Nuttall
• Joseph Priestley
• Benjamin Rush

---

Werkmeister, William Henry
Driesch's philosophy: an exposition and a critical analysis. Film. 1 reel.

Doctoral dissertation, University of Nebraska, 1927.

---

Werner, Oswald (1928- )
Anthropologist
Collection, 1963-1964. 2 items, 0.25 lin. feet.

The anthropologist Oswald Werner was a member of the faculty at Northwestern University from 1963 until his retirement in 1998. A student of Navajo language and culture, he had a particular interest in Navajo medicine and science.

The Werner Collection consists of two of Oswald Werner's early works on Navajo language and culture: his dissertation, "A typological comparison of four trader Navaho speakers" (Indiana University, 1963) and a paper "The Navaho ethnomedical domain: prolegomena to a componential semantic analysis" (1964).

---

West Jersey and Seashore Railroad
Record of train movements, 1883. 1 vol. (ca. 300 pp.).

In general, this is a record of movements of trains into and from Camden, with the number of full and empty cars, the times of arrival and departure, reasons for lateness, etc. The donor has inscribed this assurance: "This Ms. vol. of records concerning the West Jersey Railroads for the entire year 1883 will be of value to Railroad men and other students in the future. It was purchased by me in Camden and is official."

---

Western Missionary Society of Pennsylvania
Records, 1804-1826. 1 vol. Typed, carbon. (210 pp.).

Minutes of a Presbyterian philanthropy (originally Western Missionary Society, for the purpose of promoting and spreading the knowledge of agriculture, literature, and Christianity among the Indian tribes of America) which supported missionaries and schools among the Indians on Lake Erie and in Ohio. Transcribed by Edward I. George under the Direction of Rev. Gaius Jackson Slosser, from the original in the library of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, 1936.

---

Wheatley, Charles Moore (1822-1882)
Natural scientist, mine owner. APS 1879
Papers, 1840-1882. ca. 750 items.

A small but diverse collection documenting his interests in mines and mining technology, paleontology, mineralogy, shells. There are sketches of Wheatley's mine near Phoenixville, Pennsylvania; estimates of costs of machinery; list of furnace products sent to the Centennial Exposition, etc.

Among the numerous correspondents are:

• Spencer F. Baird
• Edward D. Cope
• James D. Dana
• Isaac Lea
• W. G. Lettsom
• Francis Markoe, Jr.
• John Pickering
• John H. Redfield
• Henry D. Rogers
• Benjamin Silliman, Jr.

---

Wheeler, John Archibald (1911- )
Physicist. APS 1951
Papers, ca. 1950s-1970s. ca. 17,000 items. (24 lin. ft.).

There are correspondence, notebooks, reports, recordings, etc. of this award-winning physicist and pioneer theorist on the existence of black holes. Herzfeld's student at Johns Hopkins, he studied nuclear fission with Bohr. The twenty-eight volumes of notebooks, which are his daily record of calculations, meetings attended and conversations held about his work, are of primary significance. They cover physics, nucleonics, quantum electrodynamics, and relativity (18 vols. total).

The correspondence contains many personal evaluations of scientists (subject to restrictions on use), as well as Wheeler's contributions to promoting physics and scientific education and training in general. There are important series relating to his participation in the 1950s on the Committee on Scientific and Technical Personnel of NATO, headed by Senator Henry M. Jackson, and his organizational work on the Joint Committee of the American Physical Society and the American Philosophical Society on the History of Theoretical Physics in the Twentieth Century. There are also two boxes of council and committee records (1964-1966) of the American Physical Society.

Correspondents include:

• Ronald J. Adler
• Joseph Andrew Ball
• Jacob David Bekenstein
• Aage Bohr
• Max Born
• Vladimir B. Braginsky
• Gregory Breit
• Dieter Brill
• Hans Adolph Buchdahl
• Dragolijub Savo Cethovic
• Edward U. Condon
• Hugh Dempster
• Bryce S. DeWitt
• Cecile M. DeWitt
• Robert Henry Dicke
• Arthur E. Fischer
• Kenneth Ford
• Robert W. Fuller
• Robert P. Geroch
• Owen Gingerich
• Brendan B. Godfrey
• Friedrich W. Hehl
• Werner Heisenberg
• Karl F. Herzfeld
• Karel V. Kuchar
• Henry Leutwyler
• Hans C. Ohanian
• Roger Penrose
• Remo Ruffini
• Andrei Sakharov
• Lawrence C. Shepley
• Claudio Teitelboem
• Edward Teller
• Kip S. Thorne
• John S. Toll
• Joseph Weber
• Eugene P. Wigner
• James W. York, Jr.

---

Whipple, Fred Lawrence (1906- )
Astronomer. APS 1956
Correspondence, 1965-1975. ca. 100 pp.

This correspondence is primarily with George W. Corner, Executive Officer of the American Philosophical Society, concerning Whipple's membership on and contributions to the Magellanic Committee of the APS, which awards a medal for the best discovery in navigation, astronomy, or natural philosophy.

---

Whipple, Mrs. George Hoyt
Compiler
Scrapbook of Dr. Whipple's Nobel Prize, 1934. 1 vol.

Pictures, newspaper clippings, letters, telegrams, programs, etc., which tell the story of Dr. Whipple's Nobel award, of the news reaching Rochester, N. Y., local comments, the trip to Sweden, the presentation ceremony, etc.

---

Whiting, Alfred F.
Collector
Recordings & transcripts, 1964-1965, 1969. 14 reels. 257 pp.

These are Hopi and Tewa Indian recordings, but primarily Hopi. There are eighteen Indian informants who provide information on names of plants, birds, reptiles, and other animals, including domesticated; costumes, including Kachina; migration legend; place-names; kinship terms; numerals; weaving; pottery; Hopi, Huichol and Tarahumara belts; medicine men; etc. Restricted research use.

---

Whitney, Leon Fradley (1894-1973)
Biologist, eugenicist.
Autobiography. 50 pp. Photocopy of typescript.

This is an extract of Whitney's autobiography, giving a partial account of various episodes in his life as a supporter and practitioner of eugenics. There are observations on the American Eugenics Society, the Eugenics Record Office, the Leopold-Loeb murder trial, as well as mentions of Charles B. Davenport, Clarence Darrow, Harry H. Laughlin, and Margaret Sanger.

---

Whitney, Joel F.
Missionary
Papers, 1871-1878. 0.5 lin. feet.

The Whitney Papers contain the highly incomplete records of a life spent in missionary service in Micronesia. The bulk of the collection is comprised of Rev. Whitney's in-coming correspondence, his diaries (1876-1877), missions accounts, manuscripts of articles, printed items, and a tintype photograph of a white man (probably of Rev. Whitney) with by a Micronesian girl.
The few printed items in the collection are of significant interest. Included are several copies of a poem, "the Micronesian Elm," written by P. B. Fisk, a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and several imprints typical of the sort produced at American missions in Oceania: a primer printed on the mission press at Ebon (the first printing in the Mortlok language), the Lord's Prayer in Ponape, a questionnaire soliciting statistical information from missions, and a later (1904) periodical in Ponape.

---

Wilbur, Walter K.
Ancient Mexican material culture as revealed in Codex Vindobonensis Mexicanus, 1940. 1 vol. (220 pp.) & handcolored plates.

---

Wilbur, Walter K.
Comparative study of Aztec hieroglyphs, 1943. 1 vol. Typed (134 pp.).

A study of pre-Conquest hieroglyphs in the Codex Borgia group.

---

Wilks, Samuel Stanley (1906-1964)
Mathematician, statistician, professor at Princeton University. APS 1948.
Papers, 1940-1963. a. 25,000 items. (ca. 61 lin. ft.).

Chiefly working papers on subjects requiring statistical analysis, and letters, reports, and papers relating to professional organizations, among them: U. S. Air Force Systems Command; American Association for the Advancement of Science projects; study of the life span of the APS members; American Association for Public Opinion Research; American Council on Education; American Educational Research Association; American Institute for Biological Research; American Mathematical Society; American Ordnance Association; American Society of Human Genetics; American Society for Testing Materials; American Statistical Association; ballistic research; College Entrance Examination Board; Institute of Mathematical Statistics; International Statistical Institute; Mathematical Association of America; National Academy of Sciences; National Research Council; National Science Foundation; Office of Ordnance Research; Rand Project; Russell Sage Foundation; Social Science Research Council; Systems Development Corporation; John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; United States government bureaus; various universities. There is little personal material.

---

Willets, Jane
Collector
Ottawa material, [1947]. Recording. 20 reels.

Includes hymns, tales, word list, interviews.

---

Williams, Eleazar (1789-1858)
Missionary to the Indians.
A grammar of the Mohawk dialect of the Iroquois language. Film. 1 reel.

From Missouri Historical Society. Read by title at APS meeting, October 5, 1838, and referred to the Historical and Literary Committee.

---

Williams, Henry Jonathan (1791-1879)
Philadelphia lawyer. APS 1833
A brief account of the family of General Jonathan Williams (1751-1815). 1 vol. (30 pp.).

Williams, a nephew of Benjamin Franklin, was subsequently chief of the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, and first superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point. The genealogical material was compiled from family records and his own personal knowledge by his son, H. J. Williams, 1873.

---

Williams, John
Storekeeper, Middletown, Pa.
Day book and ledger, 1773-1774. 2 vol. (243 pp.).

The day book is a chronological record of sales, with names of purchasers; the ledger arranges the same data by customer. Typical of the articles sold are: sugar, augers, knives, jewelry, thread, tea, linen, coffee, tobacco, combs, fabrics of various sorts, glass panes, wine, rum, ribbon, salt, and frying pans.

---

Williams, Jonathan (1750-1815)
Merchant, army officer. APS 1787.

• Papers, 1763-1802. 0.25 linear feet.

  Born May 26, 1750, to the niece of Benjamin Franklin, Jonathan Williams was a prominent merchant, scientist and soldier. Elected to the APS in 1787 as a result of his observations on temperature and barometical readings, as well as work on sugar production, Williams had a distinguished military career highlighted by his appointment as first superintendent of the Military Academy at West Point.

  The Jonathan Williams Papers consists of 46 letters and documents, written by or two Jonathan Williams Sr. and Jr., dealing primarily with financial and legal matters. The collection includes five letters written by Benjamin Franklin and many of the others are signed by Williams' father-in-law and brother-in-law, William and Robert Alexander.

  (B W6765)

  View the complete finding aid
  html | pdf

• Selected papers, 1771-1813. Film. 1 reel.

  From Indiana University Library. The papers selected are those relating to Benjamin Franklin and APS; they include correspondence among Franklin, William Franklin, Jonathan Williams, Sr., and Jonathan Williams, Jr. (the present figure); also Williams's journal of a trip through England with Benjamin Franklin, Jan Ingenhousz, and John Canton, 1771; also some memoranda and essays by Williams on trade, meteorology, sugar refining; also notes and drawings. Table of contents (5 pp.).

  (Film 455)

---

Williamson, Miss, and E. A. Bowles
Crocus: drawings in watercolor, 1903-1905. 26 items.

---

Willis, William S., Jr. (1921-1983)
Anthropologist
Papers, 1940s-1983. ca. 7,000 items (7 lin. ft.).

This collection includes correspondence, lecture notes, manuscripts of his writings, working notes, etc., relating to Dr. Willis's career as an anthropologist of the Indians of the Southeast United States, as professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University and teacher at Columbia University, and as a historian of anthropology interested in Afro-American history, and particularly racism in anthropology and the career of Franz Boas. There is interesting material on his time at SMU, where he became the first black faculty member, and the later difficulties which led to his resignation. Of special note are the lecture materials. There are notes, etc. on the courses he taught in anthropology, history of anthropology, and black studies, at SMU and at summer sessions at Columbia University during the 1960s-1970s. Of even greater value are the detailed course notes (many typed) that he kept from anthropology lectures he attended at Columbia University during the 1940s-1950s (Ph.D., 1955). He studied with Ruth Benedict, George Herzog, Alfred L. Kroeber, Ralph Linton, Julian Steward, Duncan Strong, Charles Wagley, Gene Weltfish, and Leslie White. There is material relating to his participation in the Odyssey television series on Franz Boas, drafts of articles and finished papers, and also letters of condolence on his death.

---

Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)
Ornithologist. APS 1813.
Papers, 1806-1813. 9 items.

This material relates to Alexander B. Grosart's biography of Wilson. There are notes and copies of letters and documents, including a copy of Wilson's will. There is one poem by Wilson, "The Last Wish," and an 1806 letter to William Bartram.

---

Wilson, Alexander (1766-1813)
Letters, 1800-1809. Film. 1 reel.

From Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University. Chiefly to William Bartram.

Table of contents (1 p.).

---

Wilson, Edmund Beecher (1856-1939)
Biologist, zoologist. APS 1888.
Notebooks. 4 vols.

There are three lab notebooks for the period of his study at the Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University: Systematic work A, 7 January 1875 (ca. 120 pp.); Anatomic work A, 18 September 1876 (ca. 175 pp., including sketches); and Anatomic work B, 17 September 1876 (ca. 150 pp., with sketches). The fourth volume is a private journal notebook, 1903-1928, kept during his tenure at Columbia University. Included are Dept. of Zoology records and an interesting and revealing listing of his students, with test scores and brief comments on many of them.

Further described in Bentley Glass, Guide to Genetics Collections... and in Lily Kay, Molecules, Cells, and Life

---

[Wilson, James?] (1743-1798)
Lawyer, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Account book and diary. 1 vol. (ca. 114 pp.).

The entries are made in a copy of Aitken's General American Register for 1773. Some entries are dated 1774, others 1782-1786. The notes are in two hands. The book is a record of receipts and expenses and of some astoundingly intimate actions, the latter almost certainly not Wilson's.

---

Wilson, Rev. Patrick
Observations while passing thro' the Choctaw, Chickasaw & Cherokee nations, 1803. 2 pp.

Explorations in the Louisiana country, No. 3. Record of travel on a road built between Choctaw and Chickasaw country; notes condition of Indian-white relations, increase of white population. At Muscle Shoals Wilson stayed with Cherokee chiefs Doublehead and Skiowska. Finds Indians have good farms, good furnishings, good fences, good stock. One Indian runs an inn. This is addressed to John Vaughan.

The manuscript was formerly identified as written by James Patriot Wilson (APS 1814).

---

Windsor Literary Society
Proceedings, June 18, 1859-June 7, 1862. 1 vol. (ca. 120 pp.).

This volume records the proceedings of this York County, Pennsylvania, Society. There are minutes of the meetings of this organization, formed to promote clear thinking and intelligent discussion on a wide range of topics which are noted for each session, with affirmative and negative arguments. There are lists of members and officers, and the constitution is set forth.

---

Winlock, Joseph (1826-1875)
Astronomer, mathematician.
Letterbook, 1857-1875. 1 vol. (340 pp.).

During the period of this letterbook, Winlock was the superintendent of the American Ephermeris and Natural Almanac, head of the Department of Mathematics at the U.S. Naval Academy, and Director of the Harvard College Observatory, as well as being a professor of astronomy at Harvard. There is much in his letters about his various posts, conflicts and personalities, and the politics of science. There are also many references and comments about scientific technology of the day, and of such people as Matthew F. Maury. There are numerous letters to Alexander D. Bache, James Henry Coffin, Charles Henry Davis, and William H. Willcox.

Among other correspondents are:

• John T. Ballard
• Henry I. Bowditch
• William Chauvenet
• Thomas C. Cochran
• Benjamin A. Gould
• Asa Gray
• Joseph Henry
• Thomas Hill
• Joseph Stillman Hubbard
• Thornton Alexander Jenkins
• Samuel P. Langley
• William Makepeace
• Nathaniel Silsbee
• William J. Waller
• Gideon Welles

---

Winner, James and N. Barrows
Philadelphia machinists
Day book, April 26, 1854-June 28, 1855. 1 vol. (117 pp.).

This is an account book of a Philadelphia machine shop ( screws, taps and dies ) doing diverse work, such as bolts, iron rods, pins, rivets, etc. Charges and time requirements for the work are given.

In the same volume, but unrelated to the above, are: accounts (1863-1864) of an unknown person; drawings of ocean liners, steamships, ca. 1900.

---

Wistar, Caspar (1761-1818)
Philadelphia physician and paleontologist. APS 1787.
Papers, 1794-1817. 44 items.

Letters to Wistar on botany and paleontology, APS, and instructions to André Michaux for exploring the Missouri, from various persons.

---

Wistar, Caspar (1761-1818)
Medical commonplace book, 1796-1813. 1 vol. (95 pp.).

Contains observations respecting the yellow fever, with arguments to prove its foreign origin; facts relative to the progress of the fever in 1797; infection of the ship Deborah; infection and death of Colonel Van Emburgh; infection of the crew of the Durham boat, 1802; account of the diseases which afflicted the family of James Hammar in Montgomery County; facts relating to the typhus fever of 1812-1813; case histories, 1796-1803; temperature chart, 1758-1759, 1760; thermometrical journal kept by Charles Norris, 1760-1765, copied from his notes in possession of Joseph Parker Norris.

---

Wistar, Caspar (1761-1818)
Notes of anatomical lectures, ca. 1781-1809. 3 vols.

---

Wistar, Caspar (1761-1818)
Note nécrologique sur le Docteur Wistar, 1818. By José Francesco Corrêa da Serra. 1 vol. In French. (9 pp.).

Included are letters about Wistar written to John Vaughan by Catherine Bache Wistar, Elizabeth Wistar, and others; also the printed eulogiums on Wistar by William Tilghman and Charles Caldwell, and newspaper clippings about his death.

---

Wistar, Caspar (1761-1818)
Inventory of Estate, February 15, 1837. 34 pp. Photocopy.

This copy is from a certified one owned by Barry L. Glaser.

---

Wistar Centenary
Biographical tributes to Caspar Wistar, 1918. 1 vol. (55 pp.). Typescript.

These tributes were read at the APS on the centenary of Wistar's death: Isaac M. Hays, "Caspar Wistar as a Citizen and Philosopher;" George A. Piersol, "Dr. Caspar Wistar as a Human Anatomist. "

---

Wister, Charles Jones, Jr. (d. 1910)
Memoir of Charles J. Wister, 1782-1865. 3 vols.

The elder Wister was a member of APS 1811, and an amateur scientist who erected an astronomical observatory at his Germantown, Pa., home Grumblethorpe.Printed in Charles J. Wister, Jr., The Labour of a Long Life: A Memoir of Charles J. Wister (2 vols., Germantown, 1866-1886).

---

Wolfart, H. Christoph
Collector
Plains Cree texts from the province of Alberta, n.d. Recording. 5 reels.

---

Wood, George Bacon (1797-1879)
Philadelphia physician. APS 1829.

• Papers, 1815-1913. 31 items.

  Some correspondence relating to the publication and republication of his Dispensatory of the United States and Treatise on Therapeutics and Pharmacology, or Materia Medica by J. B. Lippincott & Co.; also 12 diplomas and certificates of membership in American and European professional societies.

  Accessioned, 1949.
  (B W84)

 


• Journal, 1836-1849. Film. 1 reel.

  From College of Physicians of Philadelphia. A record of travels to Niagara Falls and Quebec, and of professional activities in Philadelphia. A similar journal, 1817-1829, was reproduced by mimeograph by a collateral descendant of George B. Wood at Wynnewood, Pa. 1939.

  (Film 1220)

---

Wood, John (1775-1822)
Professor of mathematics, College of William and Mary
Vocabulary of the language of the Nottoway tribe of Indians, 1820. 1 vol. (32 pp.).

Obtained from Edie Turner, "an old Indian Woman." This volume contains also John Heckewelder's English-Algonkian and Delaware comparative vocabulary and his "Names of various trees, shrubs, and plants in the language of the Lennape."

---

Woodbury, Anthony C.
Field notes for Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Chevak dialect. Microfiche. 9 cards.

---

Woodruff, Robert
British clerk of John Anstey, commissioner for American Loyalists' claims
Journal of a trip through the American states, 1785-1788. 1 vol. (136 pp.).

This journal relates his travels with Anstey, as he describes the towns he visited, comments on episodes of the American Revolution and on the Federal Convention and state ratifying conventions. He and Anstey spent a night at Mount Vernon, 1786. The states they visited included Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

---

Woodward, Mary F. (1923- )
Anthropologist, linguist.
Hupa word lists and grammar, 1953. ca. 6,000 slips.

---

Woodward, Samuel Pickworth (1821-1865)
Naturalist.
Letters, 1836-1865. 124 items.

These are letters to Woodward, mostly only one letter per correspondent, concerning his professional appointments, and botanical and geological research and publications. There is scattered information on the Geological Society of London, British Museum, etc., but not much substantive material on Woodward himself.

Among the correspondents are:

• Edward Forbes
• Thomas H. Huxley
• Sir Charles Lyell
• Gideon A. Mantell
• Roderick I. Murchison
• Richard Owen
• James Pagent
• Adam Sedgwick

---

Wormley, Theodore George (1826-1897)
Physician, toxicologist. APS 1878.
Papers, 1853-1896. ca. 75 items.

Letters, chiefly on professional appointments and honors, from Samuel D. Gross, Charles F. Himes, S. Weir Mitchell, Benjamin Silliman, Jr., and others; with drafts of replies. Table of contents (2 pp.).

---

Wright, Chauncey (1830-1875)
Philosopher.
Papers, 1850-1875. 137 items.

A philosopher, metaphysician, and mathematician, Chauncey Wright graduated from Harvard in 1852 and taught occasionally at the College while employed as a "computer" with the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. A positivist and empiricist in the British tradition, he exerted an influence on the development of American Pragmatism through his younger friends William James, Charles S. Peirce, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, but is perhaps best remembered as one of the earliest and most able defenders of Darwinism and Darwinian natural selection.

The bulk of the 137 items in the Wright Papers is comprised of personal letters addressed to Wright during the adult years of his brief life. From the typical letters of a college student, the correspondence branches out to touch upon philosophy, mathematics, and Wright's meeting with Darwin in 1872. Among the more prominent correspondents are C. S. Peirce, Charles Eliot Norton, Francis Bowen, Susan and J. Peter Lesley, and James Bradley Thayer and William Sydney Thayer.

---

Wright, Sewall, 1889-1988
Papers, 1895-1988. 17 linear feet.

Sewall Wright ranks among the most influential figures in the field of population genetics during the 20th century, and made important contributions to biostatistics, biometrics, and evolutionary theory. These papers contain much of Wright's professional correspondence, scattered research notes, and drafts of a small number of papers.

---

Wright, William D.
Notebooks, 1843-1847. 6 vols. (ca. 250 pp.).

Wright was perhaps an amateur Britain scientist or natural scientist, and each notebook contains lectures or reports on lectures, with corresponding watercolor and pen-and-ink drawings. There are volumes on geology (Gt. Britain and elsewhere); natural history; mechanics (sketches of levers, valves, weighing machines, etc.); steam engines (sketches of mechanics of boilers, etc.).

---

Wurts, John Howard (1838-1862)
Student
Lectures on natural philosophy, 1857-1858. 1 vol. (323 pp.).

As a junior and senior at Princeton in 1857-1858, John Howard Wurts was enrolled in the two semester sequence of courses on natural philosophy taught by the astronomer Stephen Alexander. The polished version of Wurts' lecture notes provide a detailed record of Alexander's presentation of both statics and the applications of statics, including thebasic principles of natural philosophy, the physical properties of matter, forces, and methodology. The notes are illustrated throughout with finely rendered pencil and ink drawings of physical apparatus and experiments.

---

Wyck
(Estate : Philadelphia, Pa.)
Collection, 1663-1972. Ca.100,000 items (ca.150 lin. feet)

One of the oldest houses in Philadelphia, Wyck is now a non-profit museum listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Nine generations of the Jansen-Wistar-Haines family owned the Wyck property from 1690 until 1973. The last family owner deeded 2.5 acres of land, the house and its contents, several outbuildings, a landscaped garden, and a small endowment to the Wyck Charitable Trust. The Wyck Charitable Trust and the Wyck Association now administer the preservation of the property and its educational services to the public. This collection contains diaries, letters, accounts, bills and receipts, deeds, and photographs. The collection as a whole is deepest for the period 1770-1970.

Items of particular note include accounts of household expenses at Wyck from ca. 1790-1970; papers pertaining to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, Quaker schools, and social reform groups; agricultural and horticultural practices; and correspondence to and from cultural leaders of 18th and 19th century Philadelphia. The papers of the John S. Haines family (Ms. Coll. 52A) form part of the Wyck Papers. The papers cover the years 1845 to 1949 and are arranged into eight series.

---

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M
N | O | P | Q | R | S | Sh | T | U | V | W | X,Y | Z