Scope and Content Note
The papers of Thomas Allen Jenckes (1818-1875) span the years 1836-1878 and consist of diaries, journals, correspondence, letterbooks, ledgers, account books, patent papers, legal briefs, photographs, and other material. The collection relates to Jenckes's life from his student days at Brown University, but is concerned principally with his legal and political career. Featured in addition to his pursuits in patent law are his services to Rhode Island as legislator, adjutant general, secretary to the state's 1842 constitutional convention and to the governor's council, and his four terms in the United States House of Representatives. Jenckes was a pioneer in civil service reform and a leader in the revision of bankruptcy, patent, and copyright laws. Some papers deal specifically with the prosecution of the Credit Mobilier fraud and with patent cases involving the Corliss steam engine, Goodyear rubber, and ventilation and refrigeration patents. The collection is organized into six series: General Correspondence ; Diaries, Journals, and Letterbooks ; Account Books ; Patent Papers ; Miscellany ; and Oversize .
Correspondents include Benjamin Vaughan Abbott, Charles Adams, Henry B. Anthony, Hugh Burgess, Alexis Caswell, Horace H. Day, Ezra D. Fogg, George Gifford, B. Benton Hammond, Alexander Hay, J. E. Hilgard, Charles R. Ingersoll, David Lyman, Dennis F. Murphy, Francis C. Nye, James H. Parsons, William Sprague, Charles C. Van Zandt, Henry E. Wallace, and Augustus Woodbury.