Alexander Dallas Bache
Series 1. DIARIES, 1836-1837.
Series 2. OUTGOING CORRESPONDENCE, 1836-1841.
Series 3. INCOMING CORRESPONDENCE, 1821-1866.
Series 4. COAST SURVEY PAPERS, 1849, 1853-1854.
Series 5. LIGHTHOUSE BOARD PAPERS, 1853-1864.
Series 6. LECTURES, REPORTS, AND PAPERS.
Series 7. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION NOTES, CIRCA 1847-1855.
Series 8. LETTERS OF RECOMMENDATION FOR BACHE AS SUPERINTENDENT OF THE COAST SURVEY, 1843.
Series 9. HONORS AND APPOINTMENTS, 1821-1869.
Series 10. LETTERS TO MRS. BACHE, 1859-1869.
Series 11. BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS.
Series 12. MAGNETIC AND METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS AT GIRARD COLLEGE.
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Alexander Dallas Bache |
This series includes diaries from Bache's 1836-1838 trip to Europe to study educational institutions in preparation for the establishment of Girard College. Both volumes record parts of his visitations in Britain. Materials include information used in his Report on Education in Europe, 1839; incidental details of his trip; and impressions of persons he met. Box 1 of 8
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
SERIES 1.
DIARIES, 1836-1837.
| Folders | 1-4 | Diaries, 1836-1837 (2 volumes), and photocopies of each diary |
This series includes outgoing correspondence, usually tissue copy but occasionally a draft copy, and a few other documents inserted. Materials include correspondence, 1836-1838, while Bache was in Europe conducting a study of education for Girard College; correspondence with scientific figures; and personal correspondence.
Box 2 of 8
| Volume | 1 | October 1836-August 1838. Letters written during the period of Bache's visit to Europe, including England and the Continent; correspondence regarding details of his visitations to educational institutions and reports to Nicholas Biddle, chairman of the Board of Trustees of Girard College; and correspondence with scientific figures, including Michael Faraday and Joseph Henry. | |
| Volume | 2 | November 1836-August 1838. Letters written during the same period as volume one, and many to the same persons regarding the visitations; correspondence not directly related to the survey of educational institutions; and family correspondence. | |
| Volume | 3 | September 1838-February 1841. Letters written during the last few months in Europe and thereafter, mostly from Philadelphia where Bache published his report on education in Europe and reorganized the public schools of Philadelphia before his return to the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania in 1841; letters regarding the report and schools in Philadelphia; and a substantial amount of correspondence with scientific figures. |
This series consists of incoming letters to Bache concerning a broad range of scientific topics and other business. The correspondence in box 4 is apparently part of a larger, very structured series of letters, and may well be Coast Survey correspondence.
Box 3 of 8
| Folders | 1-38 | Incoming Correspondence, 1821-1857 |
Box 4 of 8
| Folders | 1-13 | Incoming Correspondence, 1858-1866 and undated | |
| Folders | 14-36 | Private Incoming Correspondence, 1849 and undated |
This series includes correspondence, 1849, 1853-1854, mostly from scientific institutions and important figures, endorsing Bache's administration of the Survey; two reports, one printed on the Survey, 1849, by a committee on the Franklin Institute and the American Philosophical Society; and related materials.
Box 5 of 8
| Folders | 1-3 | Coast Survey Correspondence, 1849 | |
| Folder | 4 | Coast Survey Miscellany | |
| Folder | 5 | Coast Survey Reports | |
| Folder | 6 | Coast Survey Correspondence, 1853-1854 |
This series consists of correspondence, mostly incoming but including outgoing and copies of letters, resulting from Bache's work as a member of the Lighthouse Board; notices of Lighthouse Board meetings, 1854-1864; reports, 1857-1858; salaries, circa 1860; a list of committees, 1861-1862; papers relating to Congress, circa 1862; and papers organized by topics, as follows: Buoys, Cape Race Proposal, Fog Whistle at Gull Island, Lights in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays, Nantucket South Shoal, and miscellaneous Lighthouse Board Correspondence. Correspondents include: James Alden, H. Bache, H. W. Benham, William B. Franklin, Thorton A. Jenkins, William E. Morris, R. Semmas, W. B. Shubrick, and W. P. Trowbridge.
Box 5 of 8
| Folder | 7 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Alden, James, 1860 | |
| Folder | 8 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Franklin, William B., 1854, 1858-1860 | |
| Folder | 9 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Bache, H., 1855-1856 | |
| Folder | 10 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Benham, H. W., 1855 | |
| Folder | 11 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Jenkins, Thorton A., 1853-1855 | |
| Folder | 12 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Morris, William E., 1855 | |
| Folder | 13 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Semmas, R., 1859-1860 | |
| Folder | 14 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Shubrick, W. B., 1860 | |
| Folder | 15 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Trowbridge, W. P., 1855 | |
| Folder | 16 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Notices of Meetings of Board Committees, 1854-1857 | |
| Folders | 17-23 | Lighthouse Board Correspondence: Notices of Meetings of the Board, 1858-1864 | |
| Folder | 24 | Lighthouse Board | |
| Folder | 25 | Lighthouse Board Reports, circa 1857-1858 | |
| Folder | 26 | Lighthouse Board: "Lights in Delaware and Chesapeake Bays" | |
| Folder | 27 | Lighthouse Board: "Nantucket South Shoal" | |
| Folder | 28 | Lighthouse Board: "Salaries," circa 1860 | |
| Folder | 29 | Lighthouse Board: "Committees, 1861-1862" | |
| Folder | 30 | Lighthouse Board: "Buoys" | |
| Folder | 31 | Lighthouse Board: "Cape Race" Proposal | |
| Folder | 32 | Lighthouse Board: "Fog Whistle at Gull Island" | |
| Folder | 33 | Lighthouse Board: Temporary and Permanent Members | |
| Folder | 34 | Lighthouse Board: Miscellany |
This series includes a Water Wheel Report and Water Wheel Experiment Book, circa 1830-1831; a lecture on the Social and Political Life of Vienna, circa 1839; "The Wants of Science in the United States," delivered at the April 1844 meeting of the National Institute; and an address at the Exhibition of American Manufactures, 1842 (see Journal of the Franklin Institute, 3rd series, 1842).
Box 5 of 8
| Folder | 35 | Lecture on the Social and Political Life of Vienna, circa 1839 | |
| Folder | 36 | "The Wants of Science in the United States," delivered by Bache at the April 1844 meeting of the National Institute | |
| Folder | 37 | Address delivered at the close of the Twelfth Exhibition of American Manufactures, October 1842 | |
| Folder | 38 | Water Wheel Experiment Book | |
| Folder | 39 | Water Wheel Report |
Box 6 of 8
| Folder | 1 | Smithsonian Institution Notes, circa 1847-circa 1855. Papers pertain mostly to the Smithsonian Building construction and the library. |
Box 6 of 8
| Folders | 2-8 | Letters of Recommendation. Many letters are copies. |
Box 6 of 8
| Folders | 9-15 | Honors and Appointments, 1821-1865 and miscellaneous |
Oversize
Box 6 of 8
| Folder | 16 | Letters to Mrs. Bache, 1859-1869 |
Box 6 of 8
| Folder | 17 | Collected Material on the Death of Alexander Dallas Bache | |
| Folder | 18 | Summary of Letters regarding Bache's Funeral, February 1867 | |
| Folder | 19 | Miscellaneous |
Boxes 7-8 of 8
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Revised: February 27, 2004