description | Correspondence, maps, circulars, toll sheets, package of internal improvement certificates, canal scrip, bonds, letter books (3 vol.) reports and proceedings, and other records relating to the Illinois and Michigan Canal. The correspondence is chiefly between Capt. William Henry Swift, president of the canal's board of trustees; and David Leavitt, William Gooding, Edward Talcott, Eli Prescott, John Preston, Charles Oakley, Robert Stuart, Jacob Fry, Isaac N. Arnold, Charles Ray, John Wentworth; Illinois governors Ford, French, Matteson, Bissell, Yates, and Oglesby; and financiers Baring Brothers & Co., Magniac, Jardine, and Co., and Matheson & Co., London. Many items are copies of outgoing letters retained by Swift or other authors or return copies of correspondence requested by Swift in order to create a thorough documentary file. |