Ebenezer Meriam Letters on Onondaga Indian Education

An inventory of his letters at Syracuse University

Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 19 Jul 2007

Revision history:

Biographical History

Ebenezer Meriam (1794-1864) was a New York meteorologist, pamphleteer and philanthropist who contributed regularly to the schools for Oneida and Onondaga Indian children on the reservation in Central New York.

Samuel J. May (1797-1871), a graduate of Harvard University, was a Unitarian clergyman and social activist. Although his primary interest was in civil rights and particularly abolition, he also raised funds to help build a meeting house and school on the Onondaga Indian reservation and arranged government funding for a teacher.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Ebenezer Meriam Letters on Onondaga Indian Education consists of twelve letters to Ebenezer Meriam. Eight are from Samuel J. May; the remainder are from Archibald Campbell, New York Deputy Secretary of State; E.W. Leavenworth, New York State Secretary's office; Charles E. Mix, Acting Commissioner for the Office of Indian Affairs; and J.D. Torry, missionary.

Arrangement of the Collection

Letters are arranged alphabetically by correspondent (by chance this also happens to be a chronological ordering).

Restrictions

Access Restrictions: There are no access restrictions on this material.

Use Restrictions: Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

Related Material

The library also has a small collection of Samuel J. May Letters.

Subject Headings

Persons

May, Samuel J. (Samuel Joseph), 1797-1871.
Meriam, Ebenezer, 1794-1864.

Corporate Bodies

Onondaga Indian Reservation (N.Y.)

Subjects

Education, New York (State)
Indian children, North America.
Indians of North America, Cultural assimilation, New York (State).
Indians of North America, Education, Law and legislation.
Indians of North America, History, 19th century.
Indians, Treatment of, North America.
Oneida Indians, Education.
Onondaga Indians, Education.
Philanthropists, New York (State).

Genres and Forms

Letters.

Occupations

Educators.
Philanthropists.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Ebenezer Meriam Letters on Onondaga Indian Education,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Library

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 2007.

Table of Contents

Correspondence

Inventory