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Finding aid created by: --
Date: 1970?
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| 17 Sep 2008 | converted to EAD (LDC) |
Overview of the Collection |
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| Creator: | Cowan, Philander N. |
| Title: | Philander N. Cowan Notebook |
| Dates: | circa 1828-1829 |
| Quantity: | 1 volume, 224 pages (SC) |
| Abstract: | Workbook used by the young Cowan of Oswego, New York, to practice mathematical exercises; also contains miscellaneous personal financial data. |
| Language: | English |
| Repository: | Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center |
Philander N. Cowan (1811-?) was an American businessman who lived in Oswego, New York.
He was born in 1811 in Hancock, Massachusetts. His mother died when he was 8 years old and he was put to work for a church deacon. The deacon was cruel, making Cowan sleep in the attic where the bed was often covered with snow that had fallen through holes in the roof. Cowan worked hard to teach himself and eventually became a fine businessman and gentleman. He would go on to become a "pillar" of the West Baptist Church in Oswego, New York.
The Philander N. Cowan Notebook consists of 224 pages of closely written mathematical work, from simple addition to more complicated business work. In the back he has recorded examples of the following legal forms: obligatory bond, bill of sale, short will, lease of a house, payable note, inland bill of exchange, receipts, checks, and lastly, an "Ode to Content":
- Oh, thou, The Nymph with placid eye
- O seldom found, yet ever nigh
- Receive my temperate vow
- Not all the storms that shake the pole
- Can ever disturb they halcyon soul and smooth unaltered brow
- O come, in simple vest array'd
- With all they sober cheer display'd
- To bless my longing sight.
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Persons
Cowan, Philander N.
Subjects
Mathematics -- Study and teaching.
Genres and Forms
Notebooks.
Preferred Citation
Preferred citation for this material is as follows:
Philander N. Cowan Philander Notebook
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries
Acquisition Information
Gift of Charles H. Kal, 1970.
Writings
| Writings | |||||||||||
| SC 61 | Notebook circa 1828-1829 (1 volume, 224 pages) | ||||||||||