Roger Sherman (1721-1793) collection

Collection

Call Number: MS 447

Scope and Contents

Correspondence, reports, legal records, financial documents and genealogical material of Roger Sherman, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Included are both family letters and political correspondence. Of special interest are the letters to Governor Jonathan Trumbull on the relationship of Connecticut to the prosecution of the war (1777-1780). Among Sherman's writings are a report from the Constitutional Convention (1787), a note on the proposal for a national bank (1791) and a printed copy of his Almanac for 1760. Genealogical and other papers assembled by Sherman's grandson, George Frisbie Hoar (1826-1904) are also in the collection. Major correspondents are Oliver Ellsworth, Samuel Hopkins, Titus Hosmer, Samuel Huntington, Stephen Mix Mitchell and William Williams.

Dates

1749-1904

Creator

Sherman, Roger, 1721-1793

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Unpublished materials authored or otherwise produced by the creator(s) of this collection are in the public domain. There are no restrictions on use. Copyright status for other collection materials is unknown. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

In part, transferred from the Baldwin Family Papers (MS 55), and gift of Charles, Hugh, and Rockwood Foster and the estate of Frances Hoar Foster.

Arrangement

The Papers of Roger Sherman (1721-1793) are divided into two parts. The first consists of about two hundred items which were taken from the Baldwin Family Papers. Included here are correspondence for the years 1783-1793, financial records, and a survey map made by Roger Sherman in 1753. A folder list in this register provides an over-all guide to these materials. In addition, each item is individually catalogued in the Manuscripts and Archives catalogue under the heading, Roger Sherman, 1721-1793.

In 1975 Yale University Library acquired the second part, ninety items, as a gift from Charles H. W. Foster, Hugh K. Foster and Rockwood H. Foster. These comprise correspondence for the period 1770-1790, writings, including notes on the Constitution and on proposals for a national bank, a printed almanac compiled by Sherman in 1760, and materials on the Sherman family. An itemized list of these materials is in this register under the title, ROGER SHERMAN COLLECTION, ADDITION.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0447

Additional Description

Overview

Biographical / Historical

Roger Sherman was born in 1721 in Newton, Massachusetts, and early moved to Stoughton, Massachusetts, where he attended the public schools and later learned the shoemaker's trade. He moved to New Milford, Connecticut, in 1743 and became surveyor of New Haven County in 1745. During this period Sherman was engaged in the study of law and was admitted to the bar in 1754. He was a member of the Connecticut Assembly in 1755, 1756, 1758-61 and 1764-66. As Justice of the Peace for Litchfield County (1755-1761), he issued the warrant for the arrest of Timothy Hurlburt. He served as judge of the New Haven Superior Court and was a member of the State Senate. He served as Treasurer of Yale College from 1765 to 1776. He was a member of the Continental Congress 1774-1781, 1783, and 1784, and signed the Declaration of Independence as a member of the committee which drafted it. He was also on the committee which drafted the Articles of Confederation, and a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1787. As such he became the only person to sign all the great American state papers: the Articles of Association, of 1774, the Declaration of Independence of 1776, the Articles of Confederation in 1783, and the Constitution in 1787.

Appendix: Persons Mentioned in the Collection (Part I)

Adams, John, Pres. U.S., 1735-1826
Allen, Benjamin
Arnold, Benedict, 1741-1801
Austin, David
Baldwin, Ebenezer, 1790-1837
Baldwin, Simeon, 1761-1851
Barclay, Andrew
Bogert, Rudolph
Brady, James
Butler, Zebulon, 1731-1795
Chauncey, Charles, 1747-1823
Denison, Nathan
Edwards, Pierpont, 1750-1826
Ellsworth, Oliver, 1745-1807
Franklin, John, 1749-1831
Franklin, W.
Gibbs, Henry, 1749-1794
Goodhue, Benjamin, 1748-1814
Gray, Samuel
Guno, Nathan
Hazen, Moses, 1733-1802
Herox, James
Hillhouse, James, 1754-1832
Holmes, Temperance
Howell, Joseph
Humphreys, David, 1752-1818
Huntington, Samuel, 1731-1796
Hurlburt, Timothy
Imlay, William
Johnson, William Samuel, 1727-1819
Lanning, Henry
Leavenworth, Jesse
Leavensworth, I.
Lynde, Joseph
Mallet, Peter
Mason, George, 1725-1792
Mitchell, Justus, 1754-1806
Mix, Jonathan, 1753-1817
Noble, Stephen
North, Charles
Ogden, Robert, 1746-1826
Otis, Samuel Alleyne, 1740-1814
Payne, Col.
Pearson and Glover, firm, New Haven
Prescott, Henry
Safford, Samuel
Sherman, Elizabeth, 1765-1850
Sherman, Elizabeth, 1778-1834
Sherman, Harriet, 1776-1795
Sherman, Isaac, 1753-1819
Sherman, John, 1750-1802
Sherman, Maria, 1774-1857
Sherman, Rebecca (Prescott), 1742-1813
Sherman, Roger, 1721-1793
Sherman, William, 1751-1789
Si1kin, George
Spencer, Joseph
Squiers, Samuel
Strong, aoseph, 1753-1834
Swift, Heman, 1733-1814
Toller, Daniel
Toller, Lazarus
Wales, Nathaniel
Whiting, William Jos.
Whi tman, Mary
Williams, Nathan, 1735-1829
Willis, Roswell
Winched, Azariah
Wooster, David, 1711-1777

Appendix: Persons Mentioned in the Collection (Part II)

Individiual	Folder Number
Adams, Simon, 1722-1803	7
Ames, Ellis, 1809-1884	33
Boutwell, George Sewall, 1818-1905	32
Butler, Zebulon, 1731-1795	12
Ellery, William, 1727-1820	10
Ellsworth, Oliver, 1745-1807	6,8,16
Gerard, Conrad Alexandre, 1729-1790	6
Griswold, Matthew, 1714-1799	17
Hoar, George Frisbie, 1826-1904	29-33
Hosmer, Titus, 1737-1780	6, 16
Huntington, Samuel, 1731-1796	9
Jameson, John Franklin, 1859-1937	29
Jay, John, 1745-1829	6
Jefferson, Thomas, Pres.U.S., 1743-1826	11
Johnson, William Samuel, 1727-1818	17
Lee, Thomas Sim, 1745-1819	10
Mitchell, Stephen Mix, 1743-1835	17
Osgood, Samuel, 1747/48-1813	10
Sherman, Elizabeth, 1765-1850	1
Sherman, Isaac, 1753-1819	2
Sherman, Nathaniel, 1724-1797	3
Sherman, Rebecca (Prescott), 1742-1813	4
Sherman, William, 1751-1789	15
Stiles, Ezra, 1727-1795	11
Trumbull, Jonathan, 1710-1785	6
Williams, William, 1731-1811	11
Wolcott, Oliver, 1726-1797	17