James A. Beaver papers

The James Addams Beaver Collection consists of 20,000 pieces of correspondence received by James Addams Beaver. No copies of letters sent by him have been preserved, and comparatively few papers or documents, except among business correspondence. The collection does include small amounts of printed materials- circulars, clippings or pamphlets- and several hundred photographs.

The papers constituting this collection were found in July, 1946 in the old Beaver mansion at Bellefonte which was then being razed. The portion of the papers which Dr. Phillip S. Klein, associate professor of history at the Pennsylvania State College, could salvage from the premises, was presented by Thomas Beaver and Benjamin J. Gryctko, owner of the property, to the Pennsylvania State College Library. A description of the discovery and the removal of the papers by Dr. Klein can be found appended to this description. The condition in which he found the papers leaves no doubt that there was considerable damage and loss to the collection; how much, however, is difficult to estimate. Of the papers brought to the Library, cleaning, flattening, and sorting has reduced the portion not easily usable to less than five percent. A few are badly torn or dirtied or faded beyond recognition; after sorting, there remains a residue of four inches of unidentified letter pages, whose matching sheets had been lost. The most serious losses and mutilations occur after 1890, and are evident in the General Correspondence, 1891-1911, and in the Business Correspondence after 1896. Both of these groups lose continuity after 1900, which probably marks the end of systematic filing by Beaver or his secretaries.

The letters of the 1860's and 1870's, while not indicating much damage or loss, are few and frequently unrelated, and appear to be merely the fragment of a file. The main body of the collection begins with Beaver's first campaign for the governorship of Pennsylvania, 1881-1882. The fullest portion is Series 5, the correspondence received while Governor which accounts for 97 inches of the total 210 inches of the collection.

The object of this description of the Beaver papers has been to identify and restore the original filing order as maintained by Beaver, and to base this description on that order. As they came to the Library, just under half of the papers retained evidence of the original filing. Six topical files could be distinguished through the presence of partially filled cardboard letter-filing cases. The subjects so identified were: The State Hospital for the Insane at Warren; the Campaign for Governorship, 1881-1882, The Campaign for Governorship, 1885-1886; Governor's Correspondence; Congratulations on Election; Appointments to the Cabinet. The internal arrangement was alphabetical by name of the writer of the letter. The remainder of the papers were in chaotic condition, but when sorted and arranged, proved to contain the missing portions of the six original files with minor losses. The amount of restoration needed varied from a few pieces to three-quarters of a file. The papers which remained after the original files were restored were divided into topics, wherever possible on evidence of some homogenous grouping, or failing this, on the basis of expediency. The five assigned topics are: General Correspondence; Business Correspondence and Papers; The Pennsylvania State College; the Curtin Memorial Monument; Miscellaneous Letters and Papers.

With the exception of the chronological arrangement of the Business Correspondence and Papers and the Curtin Memorial Monument file, the letters in all series are arranged alphabetically by name of writer. Printed broadsides, pamphlets, etc. are filed with the correspondence if they accompanied letters, otherwise they have been placed in separate folders at the beginning of the series, and in the case of the Governor's Correspondence, at the beginning of each alphabet. Papers- the loose reports, memoranda, etc. have been similarly treated, with the exception of the Business Correspondence from which the papers have not been separated. Anonymous letters are filed under anonymous; a few letters by unidentified writers have been placed at the beginning of some series. The four inches of unidentified pages of letters have been collected together and placed at the end of the collection.