Historical note:

            Thomas W. Dorr (1805-1854) was best known as the leader of the Dorr Rebellion.

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Scope and content:

            This collection contains seven letters written by Dorr to miscellaneous persons, as well as one received from Franklin Pierce, selections from Dorr's personal scrapbook, twelve pages of business accounts, and several items relating to the rebellion.

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Provenance:

            This collection was gathered together from miscellaneous holdings of the Society circa 1975. There are other Dorr materials remaining in other collections, which can be found through the card catalog at the Society.

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Inventory:

Correspondence:

1. To Dr. Metcalf Marsh of Slaterville, R.I., 1/14/1837.

Photocopy, gift of Patrick Conley, #1980.11.12. Location of original unknown.

2. To Silas Weaver of East Greenwich, R.I., 8/5/1839.

3. From Franklin Pierce, 12/14/1842.

4. To Dr. Alexander F. Vache of New York City, 1/7/1846.

5. To Elijah F. Purdy and others, 1/8/1848.

            Gift of George P. Wetmore, #1921.22.1

6. Transcription of same, accession #1921.22.2

7. To Estwick Evans, 4/12/1848

8. To Nahum Capen, 9/17/1850.

9. To George Turner, 4/26/1851.

Miscellaneous:

10. "Private Journal of T.W.D.". Contains solely financial transactions with Samuel P. Crins & Co., dated 1847-1852. 12 pp. plus loose sheet.

11. Items compiled from Dorr's personal scrapbook, 1831-1832, 1839, 1851-1852, edited by unknown owner at later date. Includes notes in Dorr's hand, and many clippings of Dorr's letters to newspapers.

12. Scrapbook concerning the Dorr Rebellion, kept by unknown person, 1842-1843.

13. Petition from "Friends to the Constitution", 2/1842, with 67 signatures, none Dorr's.

14. Notice from Col. Joseph Benedict Arnold to the members of the Pawtuxet Artillery Company, 6/4/1842, regarding the "clandestine admission of a number of the very fag ends of society".

15. Letter, William J. Harris of Gloucester to William M. Bailey, 2/25/1888, listing the members of the expedition to locate Dorr in Stonington, Connecticut in 1842.

    Also, an anonymous list of the same expedition, giving several additional names.

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Subjects:

Arnold, Joseph Benedict

Bailey, William M.

Capen, Nahum

Crins, Samuel P.

Dorr Rebellion

Evans, Estwick

Harris, William J.

Marsh, Metcalf

Pawtuxet Artillery Company

Pierce, Franklin (1804-1869)

Purdy, Elijah

Turner, George

Vache, Alexander J.

Weaver, Silas (1802-1896)

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RIHS1822