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Letters, typescripts, typescript notes, and related printed materials. Most of the collection consists of typescript notes compiled by Pratt in the preparation for his book STANTON, LINCOLN'S SECRETARY OF WAR. The notes chiefly relate to the Civil War. It is not always possible to determine the source of a given note. There are 17 letters to Pratt which relate to his book, most of them from Gideon T. Stanton. Also, typescripts for three other books by Pratt: THE EMPIRE AND THE GLORY (N.Y., Sloane, 1941) on the Napoleonic campaigns; ORDEAL BY FIRE (N.Y., Sloane, 1948) on the Civil War; ELEVEN GENERALS; STUDIES IN AMERICAN COMMAND (N.Y., Sloane, 1949). Each of these typescripts has handwritten corrections and instructions for the printer. The printed materials include earlier serial versions of ELEVEN GENERALS and travel brochures and maps of Civil War sites used by Pratt in his research on Stanton.

Correspondence, manuscripts of poems, and manuscripts of lectures by Benjamin. The correspondence consists of original letters of Benjamin, typescript and photostatic copies of Benjamin letters in other libraries, and letters to Benjamin from some of his literary contemporaries including Paul Hamilton Hayne, Willis Gaylord Clark, John Lothrop Motley, and Fitz-Greene Halleck. Many of the letters relate to Park Benjamin's lecture tours. There are other family letters and many documents relating to the Benjamin family,and two letterbooks of John Lothrop Motley. Also, a large amount of genealogical material of the Benjamin family, and its related families from the 16th century to the present day. There are also financial records, monographs, clippings, and photographs.

Correspondence of Richard Yates, Governor of Illinois, with outstanding contemporaries including Abraham Lincoln, Edwin M. Stanton, Lyman Trumbull, and Thaddeus Stevens.