Nineteenth century crime : manuscripts and ephemera from the American Antiquarian Society.

Format:

Book

Series:

Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920.

Crime, Punishment, and Popular Culture, 1790-1920

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

American Antiquarian Society.

Crime--United States--History--19th century.

Crime.

Criminal justice, Administration of--United States--History--19th century.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Criminal law--United States--History--19th century.

Criminal law.

History.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (27 manuscripts (6,019 items, 22,015 pages)).

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : [publisher not identified], 1750-1923.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This collection contains assorted legal papers of individuals, towns and counties, and state governments, as well as a number of lithographs. It offers a rich selection of attorneys' records, some police and sheriff records, drafts of bills and laws, case notes, accounting records, lists of evidence and witnesses, notes on testimony and case strategy, inventories, and correspondence relating to legal cases in the mid- to late-nineteenth century. The collection includes supporting evidence for a number of torts, including cases of wrongful termination, slander, and negligence. Other sets of handwritten documents represent legal actions of townships and counties in the early stages of establishing infrastructure. For example, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts approved the extension of a dike road in a marshy area in the 1840s that required multiple landowners to be party to legal agreements with the construction company. Many of these cases bring to life the discomforts and difficulties endured by citizens living in areas still quite undeveloped, such as the records of a suit for damages against the proprietor of a stagecoach company whose driver lost his temper, or a territorial dispute among milk delivery-route drivers. Business disputes and the associated evidence, as well as accounting ledgers and inventories, could be useful to researchers of early mercantile arrangements between salesmen, agents, and producers of commodities. The bulk of these materials are handwritten and offer researchers a glimpse into the everyday deliberations, reports, and correspondence related to nineteenth-century U.S. law.

Notes:

Date range of documents: 1750-1923.

Source institution: American Antiquarian Society.

Local Notes:

Images from the source libraries are selected contents of the original collection materials as representative of their value and pertinence to the digital product.

OCLC:

937021662

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.