James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 1 Papers of James Buchanan, Series 3 Campaign and Inaugural Materials
Description
The James Buchanan Family Papers, Part 1, Series 3 contains documents and ephemera from Buchanan's Presidential campaign, inauguration, and inaugural ball. The items date between 1833 and 1869.
Subseries 1 includes ephemera from the 1856 Presidential campaign and Subseries 2 has ephemera from Buchanan's inauguration and inaugural balls. The materials from James Buchanan's Presidential campaign include portraits of the candidates of the election of 1856, various political cartoons, a Democratic ticket from Virginia with engravings featuring Buchanan, a booklet, the results from the 1856 election, a handout promoting the Democratic ticket, and a song written about the life of James Buchanan set to the Democratic tune of "Poor Old Horse let him die." The inauguration materials include multiple invitations to the Grand National Inauguration Ball, Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper articles and illustrations of certain Inauguration scenes.
Admin/Biographical History
James Buchanan was born on April 23, 1791 to James Buchanan and Elizabeth Speer. He was the second child born out of ten children, and he would go on to outlive all but one of his siblings. Most popularly remembered as Pennsylvania's only President and as a lifelong bachelor, Buchanan committed a lifetime to politics. In 1821, he left his law practice and embarked on his political career after having been voted into the U.S. House of Representatives. He would remain in the House for five consecutive terms before serving as the U.S. Minister to Russia, a Senator in the U.S. Senate, the U.S. Secretary of State, the U.S. Minister to Great Britain, and finally, the 15th President of the United States. He died in his bedchamber at Wheatland at 8:30 AM on June 1, 1868. He was 77 years old. [https://www.lancasterhistory.org/about-wheatland, accessed 10/24/2019]
System of Arrangement
JBFP Part 1 Series 3 Campaign and Inaugural Materials
James Buchanan Papers, Dickinson College Archives & Special Collections http://archives.dickinson.edu/collection-descriptions/james-buchanan-papers
James Buchanan and Harriet Lane Johnston Papers, Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov/collections/james-buchanan-and-harriet-lane-johnston-papers/
James Buchanan Papers, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, http://www2.hsp.org/collections/manuscripts/b/Buchanan0091.html
James Buchanan Papers, Penn State University Libraries, https://libraries.psu.edu/findingaids/1458.htm
Related Item Notes
James Buchanan Family Papers
James Buchanan Collection, MG0096
Historical Society of Pennsylvania microfilm
Photograph collections
Curatorial collections
Wheatland Mansion
Access Conditions / Restrictions
Please use digital images and transcriptions when available.
Original documents may be used by appointment. Please contact archives@lancasterhistory.org at least two weeks prior to visit.
Copyright
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Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Description Level
Series
Custodial History
The James Buchanan Family Papers were collected by the James Buchanan Foundation for the Preservation of Wheatland. This collection was relocated from the Wheatland mansion to the LancasterHistory archives in the Spring of 2009. Digitization of the James Buchanan Family Papers was funded by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, PHMC Appl ID # 201808013051, 2019-2020.
Walnut side chairs featuring intricately carved scroll design on the cresting rail. A solid splat extends through the center of the back and joins a horizontal member above the rear seat rail. The front of the skirt is plain with a serpentine shape surmounting fully formed Louis XV cabriole legs with floral motif carvings at the top. Upholstered seat originally had leather; current seat cover is black fabric.
American Empire chair, incorrectly called a fiddle-back. The back top rail is a wide concave veneer with gilded decoration surmounting downward sloping arm rests and an urn shaped vertical splat back. The arms are supported by curved uprights surmounting a plain curved apron with an upholstered slip seat. The front legs are flat and shaped in reverse ogee curves with front edges rounded. The rear legs are square and have a backward saber curve.
Provenance
Buchanan, James
To - Buchanan, Edward Young
To - Ewing, Alice C. Buchanan
To - Ewing, Alice B.
To - Niece, Marshall, Cornelia Lausdale Brooke (Mrs. Donnel)
American Empire chair; back top rail is a wide concave veneer with gilded decoration surmounting downward sloping arm rests and an urn shaped vertical splat back. The arms are supported by curved uprights surmounting a plain curved apron with an upholstered slip seat. The front legs are flat and shaped in reverse ogee curves with front edges rounded. The rear legs are square and have a backward saber curve.
Provenance
Buchanan, James
To - Buchanan, Edward Young
To - Ewing, Alice C. Buchanan
To - Ewing, Alice B.
To - Niece, Marshall, Cornelia Lausdale Brooke (Mrs. Donnel)
James Buchanan to Edward Y. Buchanan to Alice Cunningham Buchanan to Alice Buchanan Ewing, her daughter. Alice B. Ewing her niece, Mrs. Donnell Marshall / Cornelia Lausdale Brooke, daughter to Cornelia Lausdale Ewing and Robert E. Brooke.
American Empire chair; back top rail is a wide concave veneer with gilded decoration surmounting downward sloping arm rests and an urn shaped vertical splat back. The arms are supported by curved uprights surmounting a plain curved apron with an upholstered slip seat. The front legs are flat and shaped in reverse ogee curves with front edges rounded. The rear legs are square and have a backward saber curve.
Provenance
Buchanan, James
To - Buchanan, Edward Young
To - Ewing, Alice C. Buchanan
To - Ewing, Alice B.
To - Niece, Marshall, Cornelia Lausdale Brooke (Mrs. Donnel)
James Buchanan to Edward Y. Buchanan to Alice Cunningham Buchanan to Alice Buchanan Ewing, her daughter. Alice B. Ewing her niece, Mrs. Donnell Marshall / Cornelia Lausdale Brooke, daughter to Cornelia Lausdale Ewing and Robert E. Brooke.
American Empire chair; the back top rail is a wide concave veneer with gilded decoration surmounting downward sloping arm rests and an urn shaped vertical splat back. The arms are supported by curved uprights surmounting a plain curved apron with an upholstered slip seat. The front legs are flat and shaped in reverse ogee curves with front edges rounded. The rear legs are square and have a backward saber curve.
Provenance
Buchanan, James
To - Buchanan, Edward Young
To - Ewing, Alice C. Buchanan
To - Ewing, Alice B.
To - Niece, Marshall, Cornelia Lausdale Brooke (Mrs. Donnel)
James Buchanan to Edward Y. Buchanan to Alice Cunningham Buchanan to Alice Buchanan Ewing, her daughter. Alice B. Ewing her niece, Mrs. Donnell Marshall / Cornelia Lausdale Brooke, daughter to Cornelia Lausdale Ewing and Robert E. Brooke.
Vase splat chair, back top rail is faced with a crotch-grain mahogony veneer and is a wide concave cross member with rounded ends, a rolled cresting and scroll-cut lower edge. The top is supported by plain rounded uprights that are a continuation of the square rear legs that have a backward saber curve.
The back is open with a wide urn-shaped splat that surmounts the upholstered, rectangular slip seat. The front rail has a conforming shape to the seat and is supported by the front legs that are flat and shaped in a reverse ogee curve with rounded front edges.
Vase splat chair, back top rail is faced with a crotch-grain mahogony veneer and is a wide concave cross member with rounded ends, a wide concave crest and scroll-cut lower edge. The top is supported by plain rounded uprights that are a continuation of the square rear legs that have a backward saber curve.
The back is open with a wide urn-shaped splat that surmounts the upholstered, rectangular slip seat. The front rail has a conforming shape to the seat and is supported by the front legs that are flat and shaped in a reverse ogee curve with rounded front edges.
One of a pair of Empire side chairs (with 2013.008.21) with yellow upholstered seat and cherry wood frame. Elements of entire frame are flat with rounded fronts. Back uprights have slight cyma curve, surmounted by a long, wide concave tablet. Tablet has low relief foliate carved ends while most of face is covered with a panel of mahogany veneer. Tablet extends beyond back uprights. Horizontal splat at center of back is pierced carved with a central rectangle flanked by half-moon carved shells, and is then supported by paired, loosely scrolled lyre-like "legs" that attach to chair posts. Trapezoid seat. Front legs have a slight cyma curve.
