Draper Manuscripts

Mary Hill will present this week's webinar from Legacy specifically for intermediate and experienced researchers. The synopsis of the webinar follows:


Tracking Migration Using the Draper Manuscripts

"Learn about the manuscript collection of Lyman Draper which include gleanings from the Carolinas, Virginia, portions of Georgia, Alabama, the Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi valley from about 1755 through 1870. Find out how to approach searching this vast collection and the hidden treasures that can be discovered therein. It is estimated that about one and a half million people are named in these folders!"



Draper was a lifelong student of early American history and made it his life's work to document the history of the "heroes of the Revolution" in the South. He bequeathed his manuscript collection to the Wisconsin Historical Society.

According to the WHS, the collection covers primarily the period between the French and Indian War and the War of 1812. The geographic concentration is on what Draper and his contemporaries called the "Trans-Allegheny West," which included the western Carolinas and Virginia, some portions of Georgia and Alabama, the entire Ohio River valley, and parts of the Mississippi River valley.