James Mease papers, 1794-1848
Processed by Pat L. Walter.
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections
Division
History and Special Collections Division
UCLA
12-077 Center for Health Sciences
Box 951798
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1798
Phone: 310/825-6940
Fax: 310/825-0465
Email: biomed-ref@library.ucla.edu
URL:
http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/hisdiv.htm
©2005
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: James Mease Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1794-1848
Collection number: 185
Creator: Mease, James
1771-1846
Extent:
0.8 linear feet
( 2 document boxes)
Repository:
University of California, Los Angeles. Library.
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and Special Collections
Division
Los Angeles, California 90095-1490
Abstract: James Mease (1771-1846), physician, scientific
thinker and author, was one of Philadelphia's most prominent citizens and an
ardent booster of both the United States and Pennsylvania. His interests were
wide-ranging, as were his contacts with notable figures in science, agriculture
and natural history in the United States and abroad. The papers consist of two
folio volumes, over fifty letters mostly addressed to Dr. Mease, and some
newspapers and other miscellaneous materials. One of the folios volumes is a
letterbook, containing mostly précis, but sometimes entire copies, of
outgoing correspondence over the years 1802-1836. The other volume is a register
of Mease's agricultural notes, experiments, theories, plus notes on
conversations and correspondence.
Physical location: History and Special Collections Division,
Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, University of California, Los
Angeles
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
Access
The collection is open for research. Contact the History and Special
Collections Division, Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library, UCLA, for
information.
Conditions of Use
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], James Mease papers (Manuscript collection 185). Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library History and
Special Collections Division, University of California, Los Angeles.
UCLA Catalog Record ID
Acquisition Information
Purchased by the UCLA Biomedical Library from William Reese Company, New
Haven, CT in Oct. 2000.
Biography
James Mease (Aug. 11, 1771-May 14, 1846), physician, scientific thinker and
author, was one of Philadelphia's most prominent citizens and an ardent booster
of both the United States and Pennsylvania. His interests were wide-ranging, as
were his contacts with notable figures in science, agriculture and natural
history in the United States and abroad.
Mease was born in Philadelphia into a wealthy and patriotic shipping merchant
family; during the Revolutionary War his father, John Mease, served in the
Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse. James graduated from the College of the
University of Pennsylvania, and received an M.D. degree in 1792 from the same
institution. He married Sarah Butler, the daughter of a South Carolina senator,
in 1800. During part of the War of 1812 the younger Mease served as a hospital
surgeon. Mease was one of the managers of the "Company for the Improvement of
the Vine," in connection with which he developed a vineyard; he was a prominent
member of The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, a member, curator,
and councilor of the American Philosophical Society, and one of the founders and
first vice-president of the Philadelphia Athenaeum
Mease belonged to an informal international network of
scientifically-inclined thinkers who shared information, books, pamphlets,
geological samples, seeds, etc. in an ongoing exchange. He wrote to Count
Rumford, to Sir Joseph Banks, sent a pamphlet to Cuvier, had a lively
correspondence with the Scottish horticultural writer, John C. Loudon, and sent
rocks to Donald Stewart, mineralogist of the Dublin Society. On the subject of
the Pennsylvania penal system and general criminal reform he wrote to the
President of the United States, cabinet department heads, state governors, and
numerous federal and state legislators. He was interested in a wide range of
agricultural and horticultural topics, in various technologies, in geology, in
the medicinal properties of plants. All together these papers render a portrait
of a remarkably intelligent, dedicated and thoughtful individual.
Scope and Content
The papers consist of two folio volumes, over fifty letters mostly addressed
to Dr. Mease, and some newspapers and other miscellaneous materials.
One of the folios volumes is a letterbook containing mostly précis,
but sometimes entire copies, of outgoing correspondence over the years
1802-1836. The timing of entries is quite uneven, sometimes recording several
letters a day, at other times indicating intervals of three or four months or
even a year between entries. Dr. Mease noted the name of the recipient, the
date, and occasionally a marginal note indicated how the letter was to be
conveyed: the name of a ship, perhaps the captain's or the courier's name.
The other volume is a register of Mease's agricultural notes, experiments,
theories, plus notes on conversations and correspondence. The topics cover a
wide range of agricultural and horticultural subjects, methods and theories.
There is a fairly complete index to topics included.
Aside from a few autobiographical pages, there is little trace of Dr. Mease's
personal life in this collection. The correspondence contains only an occasional
greeting to his wife; his letters rarely mention his own state of health or
being, and almost never mention the family. There is also very little
information on his activities as a clinical physician.
The collection is organized into the following series:
- Series 1. Biographical materials.. 2 folders
- Series 2. Writings and Speeches, 1799-1836. 1 document box plus 7
folders
- Series 3. Correspondence, 1794-1842. 5 folders
- Series 4. Miscellaneous Papers, 1787-1847. 2 folders
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Philadelphia
Society for Promoting Agriculture
Agriculture--United
States--History--19th century.
Physicians--United States--Archival
resources.
Physicians--United
States--History--19th century.
Prisons--Pennsylvania--History--19th
century.
Series 1.
Biographical materials.
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 1, Folder 1
Biographical sketches.
Scope and Content Note
typed transcripts of personal accounts by JM, original manuscript and
transcriber unknown; tells of JM's early medical training, for a short time
under Dr. Romeyn in New York, then under Dr. Rush in Philadelphia (4 p.); also,
personality and character of JM's mother (1 p.)
Box 1, Folder 2
John Mease's (father) Revolutionary War service.
1823
Scope and Content Note
facsimile of a letter of discharge from The Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse
signed by George Washington, dated Morris Town, 23 Jan. 1777; cover letter from
Captain J. R. D. Smith to John Mease, dated 8 May 1823, stating that Mr. Mease
was an active member of the Troop at the time of discharge
Series 2.
Writings and Speeches
1799-1836
Physical Description: 1 document box plus 7 folders
Box 2, Folder 1
Letterbook.
1802-1836
Physical Description: folio volume, 21 x 33 cm., 272 pp. ; bound in contemporary reversed
sheepskin; spine title: "Letter Book No. 2"; signature inside front
cover
Scope and Content Note
records and summaries, sometimes complete copies, of outgoing letters
Box 2, Folder 2
Agricultural Register.
Physical Description: folio volume, 21 x 33 cm., 184 pp.; alphabetical tabs in front of the
volume for index
Scope and Content Note
records of JM's horticultural and agricultural interest, thoughts,
experiments
Box 1, Folder 3
Agricultural Register.
Scope and Content Note
photocopies of outside and inside covers of folio volume, showing jottings
and list of books
Box 1, Folder 4
Eulogium on Dr. Cooper.
1799
Scope and Content Note
text of address delivered to the Medical Academy of Philadelphia, Jan. 10,
1799 on the death from yellow fever of Dr. Samuel Cooper, 1772-1798
Box 1, Folder 5
Plan of a Corporation Bank to enable the Council always to anticipate
the City funds, respectfully submitted by James Mease, Philadelphia, June 30,
1801.
1801
Scope and Content Note
three pages
Box 1, Folder 6
Biography of General Thomas Mifflin.
Scope and Content Note
partial draft and scattered notes on Mifflin's military career during the
Revolutionary War, plus some additional information on his earlier and later
life
Box 1, Folder 7
Natural history of the alligator.
Scope and Content Note
manuscript notes, including a sixteen-page collection, on the alligator,
caiman and crocodile; also, a few printed pages (page proofs?) from "The English
Reader," part I, chapter IX: "Promiscuous Pieces," with the word "Alligator"
written across
Box 1, Folder 8
A speech to young people.
Scope and Content Note
partial draft of 3+ pages concerning the duty of performing one's assigned
tasks to the best of one's abilities
Box 1, Folder 9
Fragments and notes.
Scope and Content Note
seven scraps of paper with writing usually on both sides, found between the
pages of the "Letterbook"
Series 3.
Correspondence
1794-1842
Physical Description: 5 folders
Box 1, Folder 10
Letters from JM to:
1814-1815
Scope and Content Note
TILTON, James, M.D. (pysician and Surgeon General), 10/7/1814 and 4/13/1815;
WATTS, David (not in letter format, but folded to letter size and addressed to
Watts), undated
Box 1, Folder 11
Letters to JM from U.S. correspondents:
1803-1842
Scope and Content Note
BAYLIES, Francis, Taunton, Mass., 12/11/1831; BEGGS, Andrew, Kiskiminetas,
3/5/1832; CHAMBERS, George, Cham...(?), 12/1/1832; CLINTON, Dewitt (governor of
N.Y.), Albany, 12/4/1821; COCHRAN, Richard E., M.D., Columbia, Lancaster Co.,
Penn., 1/20/1832; COXE, William, Sunbury, 6/9/1823; EVERETT, Edward, Cambridge,
7/20/1822; FIELD, Martin, Fayetteville, 4/22/1833; FRAZER, Rev. Thomas,
Inverness, 8/25/1830; GOODACRE, William, New York, 4/20/1833; GRIFFITH, M.,
Charlieshope (?), 8/16/1830; LOCKWOOD, Ralph, Milan, Huron Co., Ohio, 6/20/1821;
MIFFLIN, James E., Wrightsville, York Co., 2/23/1830; MILLER, Edward (Principal
Asst. Engineer, Allegheny Portage Railroad), Ebensburg, Cambria Co., Penn.,
7/9/1832; MORRIS, Ann C., Morrisania, 3/25/1826; PLYMPTON, Henry, Boston,
11/27/1841 and 12/27/1841; PRINCE, William, (horticulturist), Flushing,
1/21/1803; STREATER, Charles, Wilkeshame, undated (first pages missing); TAYLOR,
John, (U.S. Senator), Port Royal, Virginia, 8/1/1807; WHITNEY, Henrietta F.,
(wife of Eli Whitney), New Haven, 11/22/1826; * Williamson, William, West
Chester, 2/21/1842
Note
on verso of Miller letter, shows profile of crest line of 15 miles of
the summit of the Allegheny Mountains, based on a 1830 survey
Box 1, Folder 12
Letters to JM from abroad:
1794-1841
Scope and Content Note
ANDERSON, James, M.D., London, 4/16/1799 and 9/7/1801 (the later letter is
somewhat fragmentary); COWPER, John, St. Simons, 6/12/1841; DASCHKOF, A., St.
Petersburgh, 7/8/1826; De la BECHE, Henry T., (geologist), Falmouth, 6/10/1837;
EBELING, C. D., Hamburg, 7/30/1815; FABBRONI, Jean, Florence, 5/12/1805; FLINT,
James, Edinburgh, 12/6/1830; GARDINER, Henry, Liverpool, 4/24/1825; GUILLEMARD,
J., Woodford in Essen, 4/20/1833; HATZFIELD, Adolph, Hamburg, 2/10/1836; HORNE,
Thomas Hartwell, London, 6/30/1831, 7/31/1834 and 3/9/1841; HUNTER, William,
M.D., Calcutta, 11/1/1810; LETTSOM, J.D., M.D., London, 9/22/1802, 6/21/1803 and
5/25/1812; MACLAREN, Charles, (journalist), Edinburgh, 9/16/1830; MAFIZ(?),
Charles C., Copenhagen, 10/28/1841; MOSELEY, Benjamin, M.D., London, 4/29/1793
and 7/26/1817; OBERS, Albert, M.D., Bremen, 1802 (?); PEARSON, G., M.D., London,
9/12/1802; PRICHARD, J.C., Bristol, 9/6/1838 and 10/25/1838; P_TRY, R. Wm. (?),
Esher Surry (?), England, 7/31/1829; RENOUARD, George Cecil, Swanscombe,
Dartford, 6/19/1841; ROSCOE, William, (historian) Liverpool, 4/21 and 5/1/1821,
7/17/1822; THEMMEN, Phoebus Hiberus, M.D., Amsterdam, 4/2/1794; VOGHT, Caspar,
Hamburg, 9/20/1803; WILLICH, A. F. M., London, 8/1/1801; WILLICH, Charles M.,
London, 1/19/1833; YOUNG, Arthur, Bradfield Hall, England, 11/19/1802;
[UNIDENTIFIED], Philipsburg Centre County, 4/14/1818; NOTES headed "cashmere
goat," addressed on verso to Dr. James Mease, unsigned, undated
Box 1, Folder 13
Letters to JM from John C. Loudon, Bayswater.
1827-1837
Scope and Content Note
five letters from the Scottish horticultural writer and editor of "Gardener's
Magazine"
Box 1, Folder 14
Other letters.
Scope and Content Note
* from Dr. Akinside to M. Wilkes in St. John's St., London, 5/21/1745; at
head of sheet "Fac simile of Dr. Atkinside's hand-writing"; * from Gouvernor
Morris, Morrisania, to David C. B. Ogden, 10/2/1816
Series 4.
Miscellaneous Papers
1787-1847
Physical Description: 2 folders
Box 1, Folder 15
Map, Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Physical Description: 7 x 8"
Box 1, Folder 16
Newspaper clippings.
1826-1848
Scope and Content Note
* "The Daily Union," City of Washington, Saturday Night, October 23, 1847; *
"Public Ledger," Philadelphia, Saturday, November 11, 1848; * clippings of
newspaper stories and poems, pasted into the front cover and on six leaves of a
ledger, with some partial manuscript entries visible, dated newspaper items
range from 1826 to 1838; * "Consolidation. An account of parties in the United
States, from the Convention of 1787, to the present period", print columns
pasted unto blank leaves, no date or source; * "Justice to the memory of John
Fitch, who in 1785 invented a steam engine and steamboat, planned, constructed
and put in operation the steamboat 'Perseverance,' of sixty tons, moving at the
rate of eight miles an hour in 1788, by C. Whittlesey; from The February 1845
number of The Western Literary Journal and Monthly Review", print columns pasted
unto blank leaves; bears a partially legible handwritten note: "from Hesperian
vol. 2, p. 106 and Amer. Review...p. 22"; * miscellaneous newspaper columns,
pasted unto blank leaves, no date or source
