The Correspondence series consists of 167 personal and business letters of Elijah Boardman and his family. Many of the letters are copies sent to Eli Baldwin, who managed Boardman's property in Ohio. Oliver Wolcott, from the Connecticut Council Chamber, sent multiple letters (1818, 1820) informing Boardman of his elections to state office. The collection also contains letters between friends and family members, including a number of items between Elijah and his son William, who was studying at Harvard College in Massachusetts, and letters to and from William's brother George and his mother Mary ("Mama"). In addition to the Boardman material is a small set of fifteen 20th century letters pertaining to Walter G. Drogue, comprising.
The Documents series contains 10 items, mostly inventories of Boardman's estate and property, along with his last will and testament.
The Business and Financial Papers series of 163 items consists of promissory notes, tuition receipts from Harvard and Yale, correspondence on orders and shipments from Villee and Burrail, and miscellaneous receipts and financial accounts.
The Miscellaneous: Political and Other series holds 30 items, both related to Boardman's public work as well as some truly miscellaneous items, such as a poem titled Oh Unfortunate, and a printed list of prices for produce in New York. Two items of note are a booklet with a list of names of "Freemen Republicans" and "Freemen Federal," and Boardman's Political Notebook from 1803.
The Drafts, Research, and Notes and series contains an undated manuscript draft of Walter Gerald Drogue biography of Elijah Boardman and the the materials he used to write the history. This series is comprised of 1,848 dated and undated items such as letters from libraries and special collections detailing their related holdings, and note cards with citations from primary and secondary sources.
The Books series contains two volumes: William Boardman's "Commonplace Book," which mentions topics such as philosophy, astronomy, and poetry; and the published Memoir of the Life and Character of Mrs. Mary Anna Boardman, with a Historical Account of Her Forefathers, and Biographical and Genealogical Notices of Many of Her Kindred and Relatives, by John Frederick Schroeder, published in New Haven, in 1849.
Elijah Boardman (1760-1823) was the third son of deacon Sherman Boardman and Sarah Bostwick, of New Milford, Connecticut. At age 16, he enlisted in the Continental regiment of Colonel Charles Webb. In March 1776, he was stationed in Long Island but his regiment left in October when the British took over the city. Boardman suffered from poor health and spent much of the war bed-ridden with a fever. After the war he became a merchant; he first trained as a clerk in New Haven, Connecticut, then set up his own mercantile business in his home town of New Milford. In 1795, he became a member of the Connecticut Land Company, which purchased and managed a large tract of land in Ohio.
Boardman married Mary Anna Whiting on September 25, 1792. Together they had three daughters and three sons.
In addition to his business pursuits, Boardman was active in local and state politics. He became a member of the State Lower House of Representatives and served there from 1803 to 1805 and again in 1816. He was elected to the State Upper House where he served from 1817 to 1819. In 1819, he ended his merchant activities and devoted his energies to the Connecticut State Senate. He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democratic-Republican, where he served from March 4, 1821, until his death in 1823, while on a visit to Boardman, Ohio. He is buried in New Milford, Connecticut.
William Whiting Boardman (1794-1871) was the eldest son of Elijah and Mary Boardman. He graduated from Yale College, was a probate judge in New Haven, Connecticut, and was elected to the Connecticut State Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
Walter Gerald Drogue wrote a biography of Elijah Boardman. His research notes and a draft of the biography are in this collection. Drogue was born in New Britain, Connecticut, in December of 1910. He graduated from Yale in 1932, and died in Boston, Massachusetts, in February 1990.