Scope and Content Note for Additions to the Collection
The addition to the papers of Franklin Pierce includes correspondence, writings, and an engraved portrait organized as Series 6: Addenda. Correspondence and writings received before 1984 are arranged and described in Part A and include nine letters written by Pierce to John and Mary Aiken, Edmund Burke, Asbury Dickins, John W. Forney, Asa Fowler, Milo Mason, and Nathaniel G. Upham. In his letter to Burke, 19 Feb. 1847, Pierce reflects upon the acceptance of his military commission and the cause of the Mexican War.
Also included in Part A is a paper entitled "The Influence of Circumstances on the Intellectual Character," written by Pierce in 1824 while still a student at Bowdoin College, and a manuscript of an address he wrote for his father, Benjamin Pierce (1757-1839), delivered as the governor's message to the legislature of New Hampshire, 6 June 1829.
Part B comprises material processed in 1996 and includes four items of correspondence and an engraved portrait. The correspondence concerns politics, especially the Democratic party in New Hampshire, and family matters. Pierce's signature has been cut out from his letter to John Fairfield, 12 August 1844, and his letter to John Aiken, 21 March 1857.