Letter from GEORGE PERKINS MARSH to SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, dated January 31, 1870.
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Dear Baird
I am worried out of my life, for want of documents to help me to satisfy the ardent curiosity of my Italian friends about our , , , , and in short all our material interests. From the government I get little, & that little comes generally a year after publication. I have friends in the House & Senate, who would gladly furnish documents, if anybody would call for them and take charge of them.
Now, is there any one within your acquaintance who--, for
otherwise I will have nothing to do with him--would call upon such senator &
respresentatives as I shall refer to, for copies of all interesting documents, for
me, send those not too heavy for the post either direct or, when rather bulky,
through the State Department, others from time to time in boxes by sailing ship from
New York, or by the Mediterranean steamer?
All this would make a good deal of trouble, but I am ready to pay accordingly. I want as many copies as can well be got, of the Report, Report, all Reports, maps, all documents, & in short all other good books-- diplomatic correspondence with which I am deluged and can't give away--but real live books.
I had many most urgent requests for Wells' Report. The gov't has not sent me one & I could get but one from London.
I shall write in a day or two to Senators Edmunds, Drake & Morrill,
Representatives W. C. Smith & Poland
of Vermont, & if you light
on such a man he may call at once
on any of these gentlemen in my name, & send off the documents he gets. Of
course as to , the things are first wanted, but I
think I have more customers for the Agricultural Report than for any other.
Mrs Marsh has been less well since the excitment which kept her up in America has subsided, but is better than formerly. I can't tell you how much obliged I am to you all for your kindness to my dear niece Carrie
Yours very trulyGeo P Marsh
Prof Baird
P.S. Document by mail must be prepaid. Boxes
[Not available]
References in this letter:
National Research Council (U.S.) Agricultural Research Institute,Annual Report. Washington, DC, The Institute, 1868.
The Patent Office was established in 1836 and in 1838, as required by law, issued the Annual Report of the Patent Office for 1837. The Annual Reports contained detailed accounts on a wide range of subjects as well as all patents issued and expired. In the 1870s they were replaced with the Official Gazette of the U.S. Patent Office.
Carey, Henry Charles, How Protection, Increase of Public and Private Revenues, and National Independence, March Hand in Hand Together: Review of the Report of the Hon. D.A. Wells, Special Commissioner of the Revenue (1869).
George Franklin Edmunds (1828-1919) began his career practicing law in Burlington. He served in the Vermont State House of Representatives and in the State Senate. In 1866 he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican to fill the vacancy caused by Solomon Foot's death and served for four terms. He resigned in 1891. Edmunds was married to Susan Edmunds, the daughter of Marsh's sister and Wyllys Lyman, his Burlington friend.
A Republican senator from Missouri, Charles Daniel Drake (1811-1892) was Marsh's friend and the two men corresponded for many years.
A native of Strafford, Vermont, Justin Smith Morrill (1810-1898), was a Whig who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1855 to 1867 and the U.S. Senate from 1867 until his death in 1898. He was the author of the great land grant bill that bears his name and became law in 1862. Morrill was a Smithsonian Regent (1865-1898) and a trustee of the University of Vermont (1865-1898).
A native of St. Albans, Vermont, Worthington Curtis Smith (1823-1894) was Republican who served in the U.S. House of Representative from 1867 to 1873.
Luke Potter Poland, (1815-1887), from Westford, Vermont, was a both a U. S. Senator (1865- 1875) and member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1883-1885).
In the summer of 1869, Caroline Crane Marsh traveled to America to visit family. She was feeling better after the surgery performed by Dr. Sims, and she made the trip alone.