Brief guide to manuscripts collections| William L. Clements Library The University of Michigan David Berdan Papers |
David Berdan, Sr., a native of New York City, served on the exploration committee of the New York Emigration Society. Berdan and two others were authorized to explore the frontiers of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois to purchase land and lay out a town. The expedition left New York City on October 12, 1818, and traveled 3,244 miles in the course of five months. Nothing came of the venture; high land prices and the panic of 1819 combined to discourage the subscribers, and the society was disbanded in 1820. The collection contains Berdan's official journal of the trip and a description of frontier Indiana and Illinois, 252 pp. There is a copy of the New York Emigration society resolutions authorizing the expedition.
Manuscript journal, map, documents, and family correspondence of David Berdan, Sr. and Jr.
The collection contains 26 letters written by David Berdan, Jr., during and after his graduation from Union College in 1817. He studied law for a time in New York City, and in 1825 embarked on a tour of the United States and Europe. He contracted tuberculosis and died on shipboard returning home. His friend William Henry Seward delivered a memorial before the Adelphi Society of Union College; a manuscript copy is in the collection. There are eight letters written by other members of the family.
Purchased, 1975
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