Scope and Content Note
The papers of Lucian Barbour (1811-1880) span the period 1838-1977, with the bulk from 1840 to 1898. The collection consists of correspondence, a few fragmentary diaries, a file of miscellaneous papers arranged by subject, financial records, printed matter, and family photographs.
The correspondence, which is chronologically arranged by day, consists chiefly of letters exchanged by members of the family and is preponderantly that of Lucian Barbour, addressed to his wife, Alice Thomas Barbour, and two of his three children, Linus and Mary Alice (“Pet” or “Pett”). Subject matter is almost entirely domestic in character and is revelatory of the life of a well-to-do Indianapolis family, particularly in the decades of the 1860s and 1870s. Of a somewhat different nature is a series of letters written by Barbour from Washington while he served as a United States Representative from Indiana in the 34th Congress (1855-1857). Other letters of more than routine interest are included in the period 1861-1863 and consist of some eleven letters written by soldiers to Mary Alice Barbour. A few letters of autograph interest include specimens by James Buchanan (1), Oliver P. Morton (1), and Schuyler Colfax (2). Two letters by Laura Finch Wick, wife of Congressman William Watson Wick, describe an interview with Martin Van Buren, social events at the White House, and other aspects of life in Washington.
A brief diary kept at Amherst College by Linus Barbour in 1872 and two fragmentary diaries kept in later years by unidentified diarists are present in the collection. A miscellaneous file contains genealogical materials, estate papers, diplomas and certificates, speeches, wills, papers and correspondence relating to Cornell University (including an Ezra Cornell letter), and papers relating to John T. Jackson, husband of Mary Alice Barbour. Financial records, printed matter, and family photographs complete the collection.