J. Hampton Barnes collection of autograph letters

The J. Hampton Barnes Collection of Autograph Letters consists of 37 documents, most which are letters written to Dr. David Hosack (1769-1835). Hosack was the attending physician at the Burr-Hamilton duel and a founder of Rutgers Medical College. The collection consists of 32 ALSs, 2 ANSs, 2 letter fragments, and ship’s papers. The collection contains letters from a number of noteworthy correspondents, including the Marquis de Lafayette, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Baron von Humboldt, and Sir Humphry Davy. In addition to these, the collection contains a lithograph copy of a letter from Aaron Burr to Dr. Hosack written after his duel with Alexander Hamilton in which he inquires after Hamilton’s health. A letter from Hosack to Thomas James comments on Hamilton’s contributions to George Washington’s Farewell Address. There are a number of letters between Hosack and James Thacher, a physician and army officer who fought in the Revolutionary War, concerning the burial and exhumation of Major Andre. There is a somewhat ironic 1826 letter from George Parkman to Hosack in which he calls John White Webster “his friend”—Parkman was later murdered by Webster, leading to a highly publicized trial. There are also 1811 ship’s papers for an American ship carrying rice from the Carolinas to ports in France. The papers have been signed by Napoleon and the Ministers of the Interior, Secretary of State, Maritime and Colonies and the Directeur General of Imports. The topics discussed within the letters cover a wide range of topics, but when taken as a whole, they illuminate the life of Dr. David Hosack. This collection would be of interest to researchers studying Hosack or post-Revolutionary War America.