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:
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:
I think you’ll find them very, very helpful.
Let me know if you have more questions.
Mary-Jo Kline
