The Filson Historical Society Digital Projects

First American West, 1750-1820

Title

First American West, 1750-1820

Description

Drawing from many historical collections at the Filson Historical Society, First American West incorporates maps, diaries, letters, ledgers, and objects. The collection documents the travels of the first Europeans to enter the trans-Appalachian West, the maps tracing their explorations, their relations with Native Americans, and their theories about the region's mounds and other ancient earthworks. Naturalists and other scientists describe Western bird life and bones of prehistoric animals. Books and letters document the new settlers' migration and acquisition of land, navigation down the Ohio River, planting of crops, and trade in tobacco, horses, and whiskey.

The First American West: The Ohio River Valley, 1750-1820 consists of 15,000 pages of original historical material documenting the land, peoples, exploration, and transformation of the trans-Appalachian West from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century.

NEH Preferred Seal
First American West was generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Source

Corlis-Respess Family Papers (1698-1984), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Joseph Hamilton Daveiss Papers (1780-1800), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Foote Family Papers (1759-1987), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Henry Family Papers (1773-1864), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
John Wesley Hunt Papers (1792-1849), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Harry Innes Papers (1792-1849), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
John Jeremiah Jacob Papers (1806-1851), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Meriwether William and George Wood Papers (1780-1831), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Nall Family Papers (1797-1945), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Pirtle-Rogers Family Papers (1797-1875), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Pottinger Family Papers (1631-1932), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Rogers-Woodson Family Papers (1789-1890), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Isaac Shelby papers (1760-1839), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Shelby-Bruen Family Papers (1761-1916), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Charles Wilkins Short Papers (1802-1869), The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Museum Collection, The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky

Type

Collection

Identifier

FAW

Coverage

18th century
19th century

Collection Items

  • 0003r.jpg

    A sketch of the coffee nut tree seed pod from the last page of a letter from Dr. Charles Wilkins Short to Dr. Daniel Drake.
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  • MssA_C592c_f6_17980902_001 copy.jpg

    Letter from Eleanor E. Clark requesting the recipient to use the enclosed linen to make a border for a bed quilt.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/msscc_compagnie_de_colonisation-copy.jpg

    French stock certificate for one share in the Compagnie de Colonisation Americaine (American Colonization Company). Share is for 100 acres of land in Virginia and Kentucky for an investment of 1300 francs. Yields six percent annual interest. Dividends paid annually over thirty years using the attached coupons.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/db_diary_18151220_001-copy.jpg

    Daniel Chapman Banks was a Louisville Presbyterian minister. The diary chronicles his 1815-1816 trip from Connecticut to Louisville in which he travels through New Yok, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. This diary entry discusses Native American mounds.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/db_diary_18151207_001-copy.jpg

    Daniel Chapman Banks was a Louisville Presbyterian minister. The diary chronicles his 1815-1816 trip from Connecticut to Louisville in which he travels through New Yok, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. This diary entry discusses murders committed by Native Americans.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/db_diary_18151205_001-copy.jpg

    Daniel Chapman Banks was a Louisville Presbyterian minister. The diary chronicles his 1815-1816 trip from Connecticut to Louisville in which he travels through New Yok, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. This diary entry describes the death of a woman's baby.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/db_diary_18151125_001-copy.jpg

    Daniel Chapman Banks was a Louisville Presbyterian minister. The diary chronicles his 1815-1816 trip from Connecticut to Louisville in which he travels through New Yok, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In this diary entry, Banks gives an extensive account of the earthquake in New Madrid, Missouri, as it was told to him by a Mr. Hayes.
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  • Mss_BL_S963_001.jpg

    Field notes and plat of a survey done in Jefferson County, Kentucky, by George May. Taken from George May's survey book.
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  • 1936_1_1_1 copy.jpg

    Quilt belonging to Elizabeth Tyler Sturgeon. The quilt has strips of hand-woven cloth believed to have been made locally in Jefferson County, Kentucky, alternating with a commercial indigo print that was imported into the United States. The quilt, the oldest quilt in the Filson's collection, is more than 100 inches long on each side and was completely hand-stitched. Eliza married Thomas Sturgeon in 1816, who died seven years into their marriage in 1822. Eliza then took on the responsibility of managing their farm in addition to rearing her three young sons. Eliza enslaved seven people who provided crucial labor for the success of the farm and household. After her husband died, an unidentified enslaved woman helped Eliza manage the farm. In 1833, Eliza died from cholera leaving her three sons, all under the age of eighteen, to live with her brother.
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  • MssC_B_Bowman-Letter_001 copy.jpg

    Bowman's letter to Isaac Hite discusses trade with New Orleans, the abundance of money at Kaskaskia, British and American troops in the northwest, and a message he wrote that was not received because the messenger was killed at the Falls of the Ohio. Bowman gives a detailed description of the retaking of Vincennes in February 1779 by the Americans led by George Rogers Clark. Bowman mentions guns, military stores, and Native-American goods captured by Clark's men, and notes the Virginia Assembly's indifference to the western territory. Bowman died not long after writing this letter from wounds received during the retaking of Vincennes several months earlier.
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  • 1964_5.JPG

    Hank of wool from Buchanan, Kentucky. Sheep were among the early domesticated animals brought to Kentucky. Home production of wool increased during the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 due to trade embargos. Free and enslaved women prepared and spun the wool into a usable yarn. They used the yarn for knitting, or it was taken to a professional weaver (free or enslaved person) who turned it into cloth. Wool was often woven with cotton or hemp in early Kentucky textiles. Approximately 4/12 lbs. of spun wool were needed to make a single blanket. Wool cloth was also sewn into clothing by women.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1978_12_1.jpg

    Early silk empire style wedding dress. Empire dresses emerged in the early 19th century and rapidly became fashionable across Europe, particularly England.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1977_7_3.jpg

    Early style teaspoon with egg-shaped bowl and slender handle widening to a modified coffin style. Undecipherable monogram on end of handle. "SA" stamped in rectangular cartouche. Also a winged eagle, looking left.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1926_2.jpg

    Silk dresses of the early 19th century embodies the period between the whiteness of dresses of the early Regency gowns and the decorative frills and flounces of the 1810s. This dress belonged to a woman of the McNair -Anderson family.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1992_13_1b.jpg

    This cotton dress is a great example of the changes (simplified, 'natural' dresses) occurring in women's fashion in the late 18th century to early 19th century. 'Naturalness' in this context refers to the use of lightweight , easily washable materials (like muslin, cotton, linen, poplin, and batiste) for dresses.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1987_x_4.jpg

    Empire dresses emerged in the early 19th century and rapidly became fashionable across Europe (particularly England).
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1949_1.jpg

    This shawl is said to have belonged to Ann Rogers Clark Gwathmey (1755-1822). See also 1943.5.1 (miniature portrait). Paisley Shawls were a luxury item worn by affluent women. Paisley, as a style, didn't get its name until the 1830s-40s, named after the Scottish town that began to reproduce designs copied from textiles that were originally imported from India. The pin and cone design motifs had their origins from Indo-Iranian people in Persia. Luxurious textiles from India were in high demand among the upper class and often can be seen in portraits of affluent women. By the mid 18th century, England's East India Company was importing shawls to London. In the early 1800s, Scottish mills began producing their own version of the highly sought after shawls, which made them more accessible to the rising middle class.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1947_2_26.jpg

    Samplers were a staple in the education of girls, designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties. Samples could be symbolic of the girl's culture, religion, social class, or personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility. This was made by Abigail Prather Churchill the daughter of Abigail Pope Oldham Churchill (1789-1854), around age 11-13 at Nazareth Academy (which is near Bardstown, KY).
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/2021_21.jpg

    This sampler was made by Mary Ann Logan in Shakertown, Kentucky. Samplers were a staple in the education of girls. The samplers were designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties and could be a symbol of the girl's culture, religion, social class, and personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility.
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  • https://filsonhistoricalimages.files.wordpress.com/2022/12/1987_27.jpg

    This darning sampler is a great example of the various embroidery techniques that young girls were expected to learn and be proficient in. Samplers were a staple in the education of girls. The samplers were designed to teach needlework skills needed for household duties and could be a symbol of the girl's culture, religion, social class, and personal accomplishments. Sampler making was seen as the ground work for civic, social, and familial responsibility.
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