Scope and Content Note
The papers of James Buchanan (1791-1868) and Harriet Lane Johnston (1830-1903) span the years 1825-1887, with the bulk of the material concentrated in the period 1840-1866. They are organized in five series: James Buchanan Papers, Harriet Lane Johnston Papers, Special Documents File, Additions, and Oversize.
Series I: James Buchanan Papers consists chiefly of correspondence but also includes notes, drafts of remarks made in the House of Representatives, Department of State commissions and transmittals to foreign service officers, land patents, petitions, a presidential message to Congress, and clippings. Among the topics discussed in the papers are Democratic politics in Pennsylvania and the nation, Joel R. Poinsett’s negotiations with Mexico, the Cumberland Road, the Delaware Canal, the Oregon question, relaxation of the blockade of Mexico, British attempts to obtain a marine postal monopoly, trade treaties, Democratic presidential possibilities and the convention of 1852, and anti-Buchanan attacks in the New York Herald.
Series II: Harriet Lane Johnston Papers consists chiefly of letters received concerning such topics as ladies’ fashions, social affairs, and romance. Also included are letters of her husband, Henry E. Johnston, and others concerning the selection of a biographer of James Buchanan and efforts to provide financial support for the work.
Series III: Special Documents File consists of photocopies of selected Buchanan material in other repositories and typed transcripts of Buchanan letters from various collections in the Library of Congress. An earlier published guide to the James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers includes an index to items in Series I-II and the photocopies in Series III.
Series IV: Additions contains a group of letters from Buchanan to his friend, J. Glancy Jones, a Pennsylvania lawyer, Democratic party activist, and member of the United States House of Representatives from 1851 to1858. The correspondence includes discussions of national and Pennsylvania state politics and traces Buchanan’s career from the Senate to the first year of his presidential term. His presidential ambitions are documented throughout, including assessments of support and comments on rivals, most notably during the election of 1856. The escalating sectional strife between North and South is also ever present in the letters, culminating in Buchanan’s assertion in 1856 that the presidential election “ought to be run on the question of union or disunion. . . .” Many letters originate from London during Buchanan’s service as minister to England with observations on his participation in formulating the Ostend Manifesto, Europe and the Crimean War, and domestic politics, including his dismissal of the Missouri Compromise as obsolete. Other topics include protective tariffs, abolitionists, the American Party (Know Nothings), “Black Republicans,” government support for a transcontinental railroad, and cabinet appointments. Addition III includes a version (some variation from the published version) of the December, 1858 State of the Union message. This addition also contains nine letters written by Buchanan. Topics covered in his letters include the National Bank, the Whig Party, Pennsylvania politics, the Tariff of 1842, Nicaragua, the Missouri Compromise, the "will of the majority" for Kansas and Nebraska, nullification, and presidential politics, including his own presidential campaign. Also in Addition III is an inscribed book.
Series V: Oversize is an official patent signed by Buchanan while secretary of state, removed from Addition III.