Scope and Contents
The papers consist primarily of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, and Congressional bills regarding Alaska, but also include correspondence, customs documents, writings, maps, and a few photographs and printed illustrations. They document Ball's work as Customs Collector in Sitka at a time when that office was the chief representative of the U. S. Government in Alaska; his term as Alaska's first delegate to Congress, 1882-1885, and his campaign for representation and governance for the Territory; and other events in Alaskan history to 1887.
Series I,Correspondence , includes letters to Ball from Benjamin Harrison, William Dall, M. P. Deady, E. P. Lull, Marcus Baker of the USGS, and John H. Mitchell, as well as from the Pacific Steamship Company regarding his writing for their pamphlet "All About Alaska." Also present are letters to Ball's daughter from James Wickersham.
Series II,Papers , is organized in two subseries, Documents and Writings. Documents include customs receipts from 1877 to 1879, petitions for Ball's election as delegate to Congress, printed bills and statements by Ball to Congress, a subscription for the 1880 4th of July celebration in Sitka, and a report on mining in Cook's Inlet in 1898 by B. Frank Hand. Writings consists of two draft chapters from a larger work about Alaska culture and history, a prospectus about travel in Alaska written for tourists, and a draft article about mining.
Series III,Scrapbooks , consists of two bound scrapbooks and two loose pages from a third volume. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, congressional bills, and printed maps. The first volume, in Folder 21, largely concerns the events of the winter of 1878-1879, when U. S. citizens in Sitka appealed to a British warship for protection from native tribes, and the ensuing controversy.
Series IV,Visual Material , consists of a 1927 Blueprint for the Alaska flag, several printed and manuscript maps of Alaska, a manuscript map showing military operations of the Crimean war, two photographs of St. Peter's by the SEa, a church in Sitka, and two lithographs removed from a Russian book, one of them showing the Sitka harbor.
Series I,Correspondence , includes letters to Ball from Benjamin Harrison, William Dall, M. P. Deady, E. P. Lull, Marcus Baker of the USGS, and John H. Mitchell, as well as from the Pacific Steamship Company regarding his writing for their pamphlet "All About Alaska." Also present are letters to Ball's daughter from James Wickersham.
Series II,Papers , is organized in two subseries, Documents and Writings. Documents include customs receipts from 1877 to 1879, petitions for Ball's election as delegate to Congress, printed bills and statements by Ball to Congress, a subscription for the 1880 4th of July celebration in Sitka, and a report on mining in Cook's Inlet in 1898 by B. Frank Hand. Writings consists of two draft chapters from a larger work about Alaska culture and history, a prospectus about travel in Alaska written for tourists, and a draft article about mining.
Series III,Scrapbooks , consists of two bound scrapbooks and two loose pages from a third volume. The scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, congressional bills, and printed maps. The first volume, in Folder 21, largely concerns the events of the winter of 1878-1879, when U. S. citizens in Sitka appealed to a British warship for protection from native tribes, and the ensuing controversy.
Series IV,Visual Material , consists of a 1927 Blueprint for the Alaska flag, several printed and manuscript maps of Alaska, a manuscript map showing military operations of the Crimean war, two photographs of St. Peter's by the SEa, a church in Sitka, and two lithographs removed from a Russian book, one of them showing the Sitka harbor.
Dates
- 1868 - 1927
Creator
Conditions Governing Access
The materials are open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The M. D. Ball Papers are the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Edward Eberstadt and Sons on the William Robertson Coe Western Americana Fund, 1957.
Extent
2.09 Linear Feet ((2 boxes) + 1 broadside folder)
Language of Materials
English
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The papers consist primarily of scrapbooks containing newspaper clippings, manuscript notes, and Congressional bills regarding Alaska, but also include correspondence, customs documents, writings, maps, and a few photographs and printed illustrations. They document Ball's work as Customs Collector in Sitka at a time when that office was the chief representative of the U. S. government in Alaska; his term as Alaska's first delegate to Congress, 1882-85, and his campaign for representation and governance for the Territory; and other events in Alaskan history to 1887. Particularly well documented are the events of the winter of 1878-79, when U. S. citizens in Sitka appealed to a British warship for protection from native tribes. Ball's correspondence includes letters from Benjamin Harrison, William Dall, M. P. Deady, E. P. Lull, Marcus Baker, and John H. Mitchell, as well as from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company regarding his writing for their pamphlet "All About Alaska." The papers also include letters to Ball's daughter from James Wickersham, a 1927 blueprint for the Alaska flag, several printed and manuscript maps of Alaska, a manuscript map showing military operations of the Crimean War, and two photographs of St. Peter's by the Sea, a church in Sitka.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Mottrom Dulany Ball (1835-1887) was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, and was educated at the College of William and Mary. He taught school until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he formed a cavalry company and rose to the rank of Colonel in the Confederate Army. After the war, he practiced law and founded the VirginiaSentinel, which folded in 1876. In January 1878, he was appointed Collector of Customs for Alaska, and moved to Sitka with his wife, Sallie Lewis Wright Ball, and children. In September of 1881, he was elected Alaska's first unofficial delegate to Congress. Ball served as U. S. District Attorney for Alaska from 1885 to 1887, and was the founding editor of the Alaskan, a Sitka newspaper.
- Alaska -- Description and travel
- Alaska -- History -- 1867-1959
- Alaska -- Politics and government -- 1867-1959
- Baker, Marcus, 1849-1903
- Ball, M. D. (Mottrom Dulany), 1835-1887
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Crimean War, 1853-1856 -- Maps
- Dall, William Healey, 1845-1927
- Deady, Matthew P. (Matthew Paul), 1824-1893
- Flags -- Alaska
- Harrison, Benjamin, 1833-1901
- Indians of North America -- Alaska
- Indians of North America -- Alaska -- Government relations
- Indians of North America -- Alcohol use -- Alaska
- Lull, Edward Phelps, 1836-1887
- Maps (documents)
- Mitchell, John H. (John Hipple), 1835-1905
- Pacific Coast Steamship Company
- Photographic prints
- Politicians -- Alaska
- Proportional representation -- Alaska
- Representative government and representation -- Alaska
- Sitka (Alaska)
- Territorial records
- Wickersham, James, 1857-1939
- Title
- Guide to the M.D. Ball Papers
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- by Ellen Doon
- Date
- May 2000
- Description rules
- Beinecke Manuscript Unit Archival Processing Manual
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
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