Scope and Content Note
The papers of Edward Maynard (1813-1891) span the years 1836-1867 and include correspondence and legal records bound in one volume relating to Maynard's invention of a percussion primer, known as the Maynard tape primer, his patent of it in 1845, and his efforts, plus those of his partners, Thomas L. Smith and Joseph Washington Tyson, to get firearms manufactured utilizing the primer. Some correspondence relates to his improvements in the breech-loading rifle and the sale of his patent rights. Important correspondents include Timothy W. Carter of the Massachusetts Arms Company, George Mackay, Edward Riddle, Thomas L. Smith, and Joseph Washington Tyson.
Also included are four account books recording Maynard's patients and the services he performed in his Washington, D.C., dental practice. Among his patients were Samuel Cooper, W. W. Corcoran, John A. B. Dahlgren, Stephen A. Douglas, Thomas Ewing, Philip Kearny, Horace Mann, George B. McClellan, George W. Riggs, Edwin M. Stanton, and Joseph Vann.