During my research at the
David Library, I was able to consult with many records that will be of importance
to my dissertation research into the patterns of the grain trade in the late
colonial and Early Republic United States.
The most important of these records
that I have been able to consult at the David Library is the Colonial Office
16/1 records. These records provide the
only quantitative study of colonial trade prior to the revolution, and will
form the base line “norm” for my study of post-revolutionary trade patterns.
The records of the Philadelphia
Customs House will provide an interesting comparison source to the CO 16
records as the customs records also provide a quantitative assessment of the
trade entering and leaving Philadelphia.
I hope that this will provide evidence to prove or disprove my hypothesis
of the continuity of trade both in destination and in content of the
trade.
The Baynton and Wharton
correspondence proved to be unexpectedly useful in my research. These merchant records suggest a trade in
grain between Philadelphia merchants, Canadian farmers, and the larger British
Atlantic much earlier than other resources suggest. Based on these records, I will be able to
revise part of one chapter of my dissertation as well as (potentially) produce
a conference paper based on the correspondence of Baynton and Wharton in
Philadelphia and their correspondents in Montreal. Their further correspondence with a series of
merchants in Madeira, Lisbon, and Cadiz is also potentially significant for my
research. I am currently writing a
conference paper based on my findings in this resource that will be presented
at the Northeastern University graduate student conference in April.
Another unexpectedly rich source I
found at the David Library is the Liverpool Papers. The first Lord Liverpool was a member of the
Board of Trade leading up to Jay’s Treaty in 1794. The records included the minute books and notes
for the Board for a three-year period which outlined not only the general sense
of how British trade relations would be managed in a broad sense but also the
place of the United States within the trading system. Discussion on the import/export management of
particular commodities is included within the source; this gives me an
important insight into the official thinking of the British government at this
critical time. Also included in the
source are a selection of papers from the second Lord Liverpool, who served as
Prime Minister during the Peninsular Campaign and the War of 1812.
The Dearborn Papers provide an
interesting insight into the management of the Canadian campaign in 1812 and
the continuing connection between the Canadas and the United States during the
war. This source will be useful to me as
I attempt to assess the nature of the War of 1812 along the northern frontier.
The War Office 60/14 files could
also be an interesting resource for my research. The WO 60 series outlines the provisions sent
from Britain and Ireland to the British forces in America during the
revolution, and the shortages encountered by the British Army. This aberration to the normal trading
patterns is interesting as it may be possible to use this source to analyze the
importance of food commodities in trade when an extraordinary demand is created
by war in the Atlantic World.
The British Colonial Office records
on the correspondence between the West Indies and Jamaica and the Secretary of
State were somewhat less fruitful than I hoped for my narrowly tailored
topic. Much of the correspondence
focused on the Revolutionary War era and the measures taken for local defense
in conjunction with the Royal Navy rather than the economic condition of the
islands as they were denied access to American produce as a result of the war.
I would like to thank Kathie Brian,
and Meg for all of their help during my time at the David Library and to
express my gratitude to the Library for the generous
support that made my time there possible.
