Scope and Content Note
The papers of the Read family span the years 1568-1906, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1775-1906. The papers consist of correspondence, deeds and indentures, a journal, notebooks, legal documents, genealogical records, commissions, printed matter, and other papers. Family members represented include George Read (1733-1798), lawyer, delegate to the United States Continental Congress, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and United States senator from Delaware; his brother, James Read (1743-1822), army officer, banker, and merchant of Philadelphia; George Read's sons, John Read (1769-1854), banker, lawyer, and Pennsylvania public official, and George Read (1765-1836), lawyer and Delaware public official; John Read's son, John Meredith Read (1797-1874), jurist and Pennsylvania public official; and John Meredith Read, Jr. (1837-1896), army officer, diplomat, and lawyer.
Papers of George Read relate primarily to his activities during the American Revolution and his law practice in New Castle, Delaware. James Read's papers include a journal of memoranda, 1782-1784, kept by James Read as secretary of the Continental Congress Marine Committee and a record of his personal accounts, 1794-1812. Papers of John Read include a notebook, 1809-1818, of correspondence and memoranda which he kept while secretary of the Asylum Company, a land company in Philadelphia. Those of John Meredith Read pertain primarily to his involvement in Pennsylvania state politics. Papers of John Meredith Read, Jr., include correspondence and genealogical material pertaining to his book about Henry Hudson, correspondence regarding the sale of Read's collection of Robert Morris papers, and English legal documents, 1568-1696, from his own manuscript collection.
Correspondents include John Bubenheim Bayard, James Buchanan, Thomas Cadwalader, Simon Cameron, George Clymer, John Dickinson, Philemon Dickinson, Joseph Galloway, Ulysses S. Grant, Henry Hudson, Gouverneur Kemble, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Samuel Meredith, Robert Morris, John G. Nicolay, Caesar Rodney, Tench Tilghman, Samuel Wharton, James Wilson, and John Witherspoon.