David Priestly Hall and David Prescott Hall papers (RLC.Ms.005)

This collection consists mainly of commonplace books compiled by David Priestly Hall and his youngest son, David Prescott Hall. Commonplace books were used by their creator to compile knowledge about subjects which interested them and often include transcriptions from books, poems, and sometimes the creator’s thoughts on a particular subject. David Priestly Hall’s three commonplace books begin in 1819 when he was a student at Harvard and continue through his death in 1868. Within these volumes David Priestly Hall includes passages from “miscellaneous literature, original remarks and extracts from the Books of Lawyers.” Notes on his family history, drawings, newspaper clippings, and letters from his brother, Charles Henry Hall (1781-1852), are also included within his commonplace books.

The commonplace books of David Prescott Hall were arranged by him into two series. The first series is comprised of two volumes, while the second series contains twenty small volumes. Each book in the second series was numbered by David Prescott Hall and also includes the dates that he started and finished the volume. Within his commonplace books, Hall noted particular poems, book passages, newspaper clippings, and often included his own reminiscences. In the later volumes, beginning with volume number 16, Hall included the genealogy of his family and other related families such as the Minturn, Robinson, Mumford, and Prescott families. He maintained his commonplace books up until his own death in 1907. More than one commonplace book may be found within the folders listed in the inventory.

This collection also contains David Prescott Hall’s attempts to write a definitive history of the United States. Beginning at age eleven, David Prescott Hall undertook the task of writing his own history of the United States of America, in which he claimed “it contains many amusing anecdotes not just found in other books.” He worked on this project for six years, producing three different trials of his own history of the United States. Like his commonplace books, Hall also numbered each volume and included the dates he began and finished each. However, it is hard to distinguish between the first and second trials of his drafts of the History of the United States, since many of these volumes were first written in pencil and then written over in ink. Hall began his third draft on December 15, 1858, and completed eight volumes before stopping in April 1862. This series also includes a volume with maps designed to accompany his history of the United States that he drew himself – probably by tracing from other books. Altogether, there are twenty-seven volumes of his drafts on the history of the United States, with more than one draft found within the folders listed in the inventory.

Lastly, this collection includes correspondence between David Priestly Hall and David Prescott Hall from March 2, 1854 through September 27, 1867. The earlier letters were written between them while young David Prescott Hall was summering in Newport, Rhode Island, with his sisters and cousins, and his father was working in New York City. These letters reflect the role that David Priestly Hall took in his son's education since he uses the letters he received from his son as a way to instruct him on proper spelling, grammar, punctuation, and other important life lessons. Letters from the 1860s were written while both were in New York and David Prescott Hall was studying to become an attorney and concern land transactions, other business, and family matters. Also included is one letter to David Priestly Hall from his son Rowland Minturn Hall (1864-1906).