Daniel March family papers (MS-1U-M5)

The Daniel March family papers provides an intriguing view of the life and thoughts of Daniel March, a young man in the early 1800s as well as a window into the March Family from 1769-1871. The collection consists of correspondence, essays, receipts, newspaper clippings, notebooks, poetry, orations, silhouettes, and two dramatic dialogs. The majority of the written material comes from Daniel March (1786-1807) who graduated from Brown University in 1806. His collected essays discuss a variety of topics including conversation, honor, suicide, patriotism, duels, education, envy, military duty, local prejudice, dancing, capital punishment, knowledge, death, and women’s hats. Also included are poems, many of them by Daniel, some as yet unidentified. The poetry, like the essays, deal with a wide range of topics from the light-hearted “The Folly Sailor” to the brooding “The Hermit-the Storm”. Within the essays and orations are several references to the “Philandrian Society” to which Daniel appears to have belonged. The correspondence contains letters from various March family members and their extended family. The letters deal largely with family news, deaths, births, illnesses, education, travel, daily life and some business dealings. Included with the more traditional letters are notes for debts owed or paid by the family, term bills for Daniel March’s time at Brown University, letters of merit, invitations and a court summons from 1777.