J.W. Spencer fonds, 1866, 1881-1921

Joseph William Winthrop Spencer (commonly known as J.W. Spencer) was a geologist and geomorphologist best known for his work on the geology of southern Ontario and the Great Lakes. He was born in Dundas, Upper Canada in 1851, but moved to Hamilton, Ontario in 1867. In 1871, he began studies in geology at McGill College in Montreal. In 1875 he worked in the Michigan copper mines and shortly afterwards prepared a thesis on the copper deposits. He submitted this thesis to the University of Gottingen in Germany in 1877 and was awarded a doctorate in geology, the second Canadian to earn a doctorate in this field. In 1880, he became a professor of geology and chemistry at King’s College in Windsor, N.S. Subsequently, he taught at the University of Missouri, and then the University of Georgia, but moved to Washington, D.C. in 1894, where he worked as a consultant geologist. Spencer spent much of his life studying preglacial river valleys in Ontario and the origins of the Great Lakes, as well as the Niagara River and Falls. In 1907, he published a book titled The Falls of Niagara: their evolution and varying relations to the Great Lakes. His opinions in these areas differed from some of his contemporaries, namely the American geologist Grove Karl Gilbert. Gilbert published a review of the The Falls of Niagara that exposed some flaws and inaccuracies in Spencer’s estimate of the age of the falls. Spencer’s studies also took him to the Caribbean and Central America. In 1920 he moved back to Canada, but died the following year.

Receipt from James N. Andrews for hand sawfile, whiskey and postage

Receipt from James N. Andrews for hand sawfile, whiskey and postage, June 18, 1834.

Exception or extension? : reorienting the Peacock Room among James McNeill Whistler's interior designs

"Although famous for his paintings and etchings today, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was also an important interior designer in the nineteenth-century British Aesthetic movement. Whistler‘s most famous and only extant interior design is Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room (1876-77). It is also his most puzzling interior. Long considered an exception to the rule of Whistler‘s other interiors, the Peacock Room has often been overlooked in the few studies of the artist‘s interior designs"

Letter from William Croswell to James Scott, 1803 November 1

One-page letter from Croswell to Captain James Scott, Master of the Boston Marine Society, that accompanied Croswell's work on lunar observations.

Letter from William Croswell to James White, 1807 March 6

One-page draft of a letter from Croswell, in Liverpool, to James White of London requesting help in finding work.

Letter from William Croswell to James Maury, 1808 June 4

Draft of a letter to James Maury, the American consul in Liverpool, with information about Croswell's failed plans to publish a map.

Letter from William Croswell to James [Lloyd], 1824 September 16

Draft of a letter chiefly concerning a proposal for a new edition of Croswell's Mercator map.

Letter from James Winthrop to William Bentley, 1811 November 18

Two octavo-sized leaves containing a brief one-page handwritten letter from Winthrop to Bentley noting the transmission of a French book for Hannah Crowninshield (1789-1834), an artist and daughter of Bentley's neighbor.

Vote of the immediate government for the suspension of James L. Murray,

Vote of the Corporation, signed by Kirkland.

James T. Fields. Biographical notes and personal sketches, with unpublished fragments and tributes from men and women of letters.

Published anonymously.

Ten years at the court of St. James', 1895-1905,

Abridged and arranged from Lebenserinnerungen und politische denkwürdigkeiten.

History of the Revolution in England in 1688. Comprising a view of the reign of James II. from his accession, to the enterprise of the Prince of Orange ... and completed, to the settlement of the crown. To which is prefixed, a Notice of the life, writings, and speeches of Sir James Mackintosh ...

Mode of access: Internet.

Memories of James McNeill Whistler, the artist /

"All the illustrations have been printed by lithography by T. Way ... except the etching "Fitzroy Square" ... and the photogravure of the "Thewhite Lady" ..."--P. xi.

Exposition des oeuvres de James McNeill Whistler. Palais de l'École des beaux-arts.

Paris, May, 1905.

A memoir of James Jackson, Jr., M.D. : with extracts from his letters to his father : and medical cases, collected by him /

Mode of access: Internet.