Scope and Content Note
The Henry A. Willard II Collection spans the years 1743-1888, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1770-1840. There are three series: Series I, consisting of Bradley-Willard family papers; Series II, an autograph collection of Henry A. Willard I (1822-1909), grandfather of Henry A. Willard II; and Series III, an autograph collection of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and presidents of the Continental Congress, also compiled by Henry A. Willard I.
The Bradley-Willard family papers, Series I in the collection, span the years 1771-1859, with the bulk of the approximately three hundred items concentrated in the period 1820-1840. The documents include family letters, biographical sketches, printed material, and notes and receipts from business dealings in Westminster, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. Notable people represented in the correspondence include Stephen R. Bradley (1754-1830), a Revolutionary War officer and a United States senator from Vermont; his son, William Czar Bradley (1782-1867), a lawyer and United States representative from Vermont; and William Bradley's father-in-law, Mark Richards (1760-1844), a merchant and United States representative from Vermont (1817-21). Collectively these men represented Vermont in Congress from 1791 to 1827, except for three periods totalling six years. Their correspondence illuminates congressional history in Vermont and the United States during this early period.
Series II, autographs compiled by Henry A. Willard I, spans the years 1774-1888, with the bulk of documents concentrated in the period 1820-1840. Henry A. Willard, who was the first owner and proprietor, with his brother Joseph C. Willard, of the Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C., collected the approximately two hundred letters and signature clippings for their autograph value. Twenty-one of the documents are letters from the Bradley-Willard family or from the records of the Willard Hotel. Another grouping originated in the records of Gales and Seaton, publishers of the National Intelligencer, a Washington, D.C., newspaper. Willard obtained the items when the paper went out of business. Represented in the collection are letters from DeWitt Clinton, Nathan Hale, Isaac Hull, James Madison, Francis Mallory, James Monroe, Robert H. Morris, Samuel A. Otis, John Penn, Francis W. Pickens, George Poindexter, David R. Porter and Benjamin Rush.
Series III, containing autographs and other items related to the signers of the Declaration of Independence, presidents of the Continental Congress, and related individuals, spans the years 1743-1829, with the bulk of the documents concentrated in the period 1770-1800. Included in the material are letters, clipped signatures, receipts, court documents, and individual and group portrait engravings collected by Henry A. Willard I and passed down to his heirs. Represented in the collection are John Adams, Samuel Adams, Josiah Bartlett, Elias Boudinot, Carter Braxton, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Samuel Chase, George Clinton, George Clymer, George Washington Parke Custis, William Ellery, William Floyd, Benjamin Franklin, Elbridge Gerry, Cyrus Griffin, Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, John Hancock, Benjamin Harrison, John Hart, Joseph Hewes, Thomas Heyward, William Hooper, Stephen Hopkins, Francis Hopkinson, Samuel Huntington, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Laurens, Francis Lightfoot Lee, Richard Henry Lee, Francis Lewis, Philip Livingston, Thomas Lynch, Thomas McKean, William Matthews, Arthur Middleton, Thomas Mifflin, Lewis Morris, Robert Morris, John Morton, Thomas Nelson, William Paca, Robert Treat Paine, John Penn, Peyton Randolph, George Read, Caesar Rodney, George Ross, George, Ross, Jr., Benjamin Rush, Edward Rutledge, Arthur St. Clair, Roger Sherman, James Smith, Richard Stockton, John Hoskin Stone, Thomas Stone, George Taylor, Charles Thomson, Matthew Thornton, George Walton, William Whipple, William Williams, James Wilson, John Witherspoon, Oliver Wolcott, and George Wythe.