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Charles H. Branscomb papers

 Collection
Call Number: RH MS P46

Overview

This collection consists of correspondence and documents involving Charles H. Branscomb, agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company in territorial Kansas, dating from 1853-1886. Correspondents or individuals mentioned in the letters include James Gillespie Blaine (1830-1893), Amos Adams Lawrence (1814-1886), Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), Charles Robinson (1818-1894), John Pierce St. John (1835-19140, and Charles Sumner (1811-1874).

Dates

  • Creation: 1853 - 1886

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

No access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.

Biography of Charles H. Branscomb (1822-1891)

Charles Henry Branscomb was born in New Hampshire and educated at Phillips Academy and Dartmouth College, graduated from Dartmouth in 1845. He then studied law at the Cambridge Law School and practiced law in Massachusetts for six years.

Branscomb became an agent for the New England Emigrant Aid Company and went to Kansas Territory in July 1854, selecting with Charles Robinson the site of the town of Lawrence. He then brought the first two parties of settlers associated with the New England Emigrant Aid Company to Lawrence.

Branscomb was active in territorial life, serving on the house of representatives and in the Leavenworth constitutional convention. He was also prohibition candidate for Kansas governor in 1886. Later moving to St. Louis, he served in the Missouri state legislature. Branscomb died in Denver, Colorado.

[Information retrieved from "Chas. H. Branscomb Dead," Lawrence Daily Gazette, February 4, 1891, accessed online at https://kansashistoricalopencontent.newspapers.com/image/366124097/ and Blackmar, Frank W., editor, Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Standard Publishing Company: Chicago, 1912, accessed online at http://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1912/b/branscomb_charles_h.html.]

Extent

7 items

Language of Materials

English

Physical Location

RH MS P46

Physical Location

RH MS Q6

Physical Location

RH MS R1

Physical Location

RH MS-P P46

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, Judge Hugh Means, August, 1963.

Title
Guide to the Charles H. Branscomb Collection
Subtitle
Charles H. Branscomb papers
Author
Finding aid prepared by lgg, 5 October 72. Finding aid encoded by mg, 2004. Finding aid revised by mwh, 2020.
Date
2004
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/10407/4812286714
Preferred citation
Charles H. Branscomb papers, Kansas Collection, RH MS P46, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

Repository Details

Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository

Contact:
1450 Poplar Lane
Lawrence KS 66045-7616 United States
785-864-4334