From: Karen Wise
Question: I appreciate all
the work you do in preserving History and educating the
public. I find History Now a great resource for historical
research. My question is about the Seneca Falls Women's
Convention in 1848. I know that there were participants
that signed the Declaration of Sentiments, but is there
record of those, estimated at 300, who attended?
I greatly appreciate your time.
Answer: Dear
Ms. Wise: If you haven’t done so already, get
in touch immediately with Ann Gordon and her staff at
the Stanton and Anthony Papers project at Rutgers:
http://ecssba.rutgers.edu/misc/aboutus.html
If Ann and her colleagues don’t have an answer,
no one does.
Please give Ann my best while you’re at it.
Mary-Jo Kline
From:
Joel McMahon
Question: Dear
Dr. Kline,
I am conducting research for a book on Justice James
Moore Wayne, who served under Marshall, Taney, and Chase
during the years 1835-1867. Judge Wayne's personal papers
were destroyed by his wife upon his death, so information
about my subject is scant, at best. Not to be deterred,
I would like to discover as much about Wayne's legal
mind as possible and as can be determined by his decisions
and opinions. I would like to start by examining every
decision of the Court from 1835 until 1867. Is there
such a "quick and dirty" list that gives the
case, a summary, and how the justices voted? While thirty
two years sounds like a long period of time that seemingly
would be packed with cases, I'm not so sure the Court's
workload was as massive as it is today. Second, I would
like to discover every case in which Wayne wrote an
opinion. Could you suggest a resource of opinions by
the justices from the era indicated? Finally, before
the Civil War, Supreme Court justices performed double-duty
by serving in DC hearing cases while the Court was in
session and by riding their home circuit when the Court
was not in session. How would you suggest I discover
the cases justices heard while riding the circuit in
the six months or so they were away from the Court?
Any information you have would be most helpful, and
I am delighted that you offer such a wonderful resource
online!
Answer: Dear
Mr. McMahon:
I assume that you've managed to get your hands on this
book:
Lawrence, Alexander A. James Moore Wayne, Southern
Unionist. Chapel Hill, The University of North
Carolina Press, 1943.
Have you ever used Oyez.com?
It's a wonderful full text database of Supreme Court
cases and opinions. In earlier decades, not every opinion
came with the name of its author. Lawrence's book may
give you clues to those that Wayne might have written,
and Oyez will give you the full record. As you've anticipated,
the Court's caseload wasn't nearly as heavy in the early
nineteenth century, and you won't have long lists to
review. Go to this search screen and begin choosing
the chronological periods in which you're interested.
You'll get lists of cases, but not always indications
of how the Justices voted:
http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2006/
What libraries can you use? Major university libraries
will have databases that index journal literature in
historical and legal journals that may highlight specific
cases you want. Let me know. You'll also want to get
into a library that subscribes to ArchivesUSA, a wonderful
database of manuscript collections in the United States.
This can lead you to collections of the papers of Wayne's
close friends and colleagues - remember that these are
the collections where you'll find his letters to people.
Meanwhile, go to the Website for our current May 2008
issue on the Supreme Court and look at my page of General
Resources on the Supreme Court:
/historynow/04_2008/ask2.php
You'll want to look at the volumes that cover the history
of the court during Wayne's tenure as well as the reference
works for Supreme Court sources.
Let me hear from you when you've had time to digest
all of this.
Mary-Jo Kline
From: Robert
Rodriguez
Question: The
great big book Gotham identifies a Jan Rodrigues
as a man
who jumped ship to run into the wilderness, of Manhattan
Island. Could this man and his name be the first Dominicano
into New York?
Answer: Dear
Robert:
Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, has an interesting
entry on Juan Rodriguez but there absolutely no sources
given:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Rodrigues
I haven’t read Gotham, but I’d
suggest that you look at another recent book about Manhattan,
Russell Shorto’s The Island at the Center
of the World.
If Shorto doesn’t have enough information to
satisfy you, then go to the project at the State Library
in Albany that’s publishing (in English) the original
Dutch records of New Amsterdam – the people who
are the real experts in this area. The group is called
the New Netherland Institute, and here’s their
Website:
http://www.nnp.org/
I think you’ll find them very, very helpful.
Let me know if you have more questions.
Mary-Jo Kline
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