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William Duane Morgan Correspondence

A description of his correspondence at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: LMD
Date: 3 November 2009



Biographical History

William Duane Morgan (1817-1887) was an American newspaper editor and politician. He was born to a prominent family in Washington County, Pennsylvania and later moved to Ohio. He was an active member of the Democratic Party and had a stake in various newspapers throughout his life. In 1837, he and his brother, Thomas Jefferson Morgan, were both owner/editors of Our Country, a democratic newspaper in Washington, Pennsylvania. Later, Morgan moved to Ohio where he owned the Ohio Patriot of New Lisbon from approximately 1840 to 1871 and the Newark Advocate of Newark from 1856 to 1880. He was also the Auditor of the State of Ohio from 1852 to 1856.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The William Duane Morgan Correspondence consists of letters written to or about William Duane Morgan between 1836 and 1840. Morgan arranged the letters into three packages based on their subject matter.

The first set of correspondence contains letters of recommendation written for Morgan in 1837-1838 while he was applying for the position of clerk in the Post Office of Washington County, Pennsylvania.

The second set, also from 1837-1838, consists of correspondence sent to Morgan from various newspaper owners who were interested in selling their businesses to him. The bulk of this correspondence is from Daniel Blocher, owner of the Maryland Advocate of Cumberland, Maryland.

The third set consists of political correspondence received by Morgan from the Democratic Party's Central Committees of Pennsylvania (1836) and Ohio (1838-1840). The bulk of this correspondence is concerned with the 1840 Ohio gubernatorial election between the incumbent Democrat Wilson Shannon and the Whig candidate Thomas Corwin. It includes a number of printed circulars mailed by the Democratic Party Committees of Pennsylvania and Ohio, which contain details of their election strategies.


Arrangement of the Collection

Letters are in chronological order within each subject.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

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.


Subject Headings

Persons

Blocher, Daniel, 1810-1880.
Corwin, Thomas, 1794-1865.
Morgan, William Duane, b. 1816 or 17.
Shannon, Wilson, 1802-1877.

Subjects

Democratic Party (Ohio)
Democratic Party (Pa.)
Elections -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Circular letters.
Correspondence.

Occupations

Newspaper editors.

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

William Duane Morgan Correspondence,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Purchased, 1967.


Table of Contents

Correspondence


Inventory