Tennessee Archives, Dahlgren Papers [E-30]

All of the Jefferson Davis documents at the Woodson Research Center are copies except those in the Jefferson Davis Letters and related materials (MS 005, Woodson Research Center).

The document files include everything the Jefferson Davis Project received in photocopy form, but only a relatively small percentage of prints from documents on microfilm.

The document files are in chronological order by year.month.day, each in a manila envelope. Conjecturally dated items are filed at the end of the month or year. Documents from the secretary of war period (1853 - 1857) that cannot be reliably dated are filed at the end of 1857. Also check in "n.d." at the end of document files.

The 3x5 pale yellow control slips in the envelopes may or may not reflect the copy actually used in the edition, but are useful for summaries.

In addition to items to and from Jefferson Davis, the document files include the correspondence of Varina Howell Davis, Joseph E. Davis, and other family members. There are also letters of others about the Davises and contemporary issues. Some small collections of non-Jefferson/Varina Davis letters are in the genealogy files and vertical files. Two examples in the vertical files: William Preston Johnston letters and Dorsey Papers, the latter since folded into the Davis Collection at the Museum of the Confederacy (Davis was executor and heir of the Dorsey estate)–see numbers 2905-3081 in the checklist. In the genealogy files: Lise Mitchell Papers and Josie Alexander Collection.

The copies come from hundreds of repositories and private owners. Many Davis collections - for example, those held by the Museum of the Confederacy (now located at the Va. Hist. Soc.), Tulane, Library of Congress, Duke, Transylvania, and the U. of Alabama - number in the hundreds or thousands.

There are typed item by item inventories in the three ring binders for dozens of repositories. They are often helpful in identifying specific letters (where they may be filed, for example) and in determining ownership.

We cannot allow the copying of any manuscripts except those owned by the Rice University, Davis family members, Library of Congress, and the National Archives. Only if the researcher secured permission from the owner, whether repository or individual, can a copy be made from our copy. Copying of typescripts, transcriptions, and printed versions is permitted.

Many privately owned documents have entered or re-entered the marketplace since we secured our copies (see 89.2.2, to Martin W. Philips). Likewise, entire collections have been deaccessioned and sold, among them the Forbes Magazine Collection and the Dallas Historical Society collection of Davis / John H. Reagan letters.

Many other names of collections and repositories have changed. Examples: "Confederate Museum" became Museum of the Confederacy and is now part of the American Civil War Museum; "Chicago Historical Society" is now the Chicago History Museum. The Gilder / Lehrman Collection moved from the Pierpont Morgan Library to the New York Historical Society.

All copies received from the Filson Club (Filson Historical Society, Louisville) were returned to the Filson as a condition of use. Some were transcribed and the typescripts are in the document files.

Ownership of the originals sometimes changes, in which case the envelope usually has multiple copies of the same item. See 80.11.22, to Capen, for an example of copies received from two different owners.

Most prints of documents from microfilm made with old wet process microfilm reader/printers were discarded.

Not all transcriptions in envelopes were prepared by Davis Project staff. In general, those on yellow or blue paper were. Except for the letters printed in full in the edition, most have not been proofread. Sometimes there is more than one document in an envelope–enclosure, letter or transmittal, letters on the same subject, for examples. The other letters are identified on the envelope and identified as "f/w" (filed with) in the database. See 61.6.13 from Harris. It happens occasionally that we don't have either the transmittal letter or that one is a photocopy and the other is on film or vice versa.

Variant versions of the same item are filed together - sender's copy, recipient's copy, printed version, etc.

Two documents from the same writer on the same day are filed together. Occasionally, a "permission to print" document is filed with the letter: 74.12.2, Varina to J. W. Garrett is an example. Otherwise, permission authorizations are in the correspondence files.

"cat." on a document envelope means only an autograph dealer's catalog description is within.

Sometimes there is a manuscript copy on microfilm. "cat. only" means we do not have a manuscript copy.

"print" and "print only"–same as "cat." and "cat. only"

"lost letters" on envelope: one of the letters stolen from Davis' library in Mississippi in 1863 [most of them, eventually turned over to William T. Sherman, form the core of the Davis Collection in the Library of Congress]

"Rowland" on envelope: printed in the 1923 edition of Davis' papers

"Private Ls" or "Priv Letters" or a variation of same means Hudson Strode's edition. His transcriptions are not accurate, so use with care. "DP 6:253.54" on envelope: printed in our edition, Davis Papers, volume 6, pages 253 to 254

"Addenda, Vol. 9" on envelope: arrived after publication of volume in which it belongs chronologically and in time to be included in Addenda section of Volume 9, but not necessarily selected for inclusion in that Addenda section.

All documents are recorded in spreadsheets, accessible to Woodson staff for reference purposes.