Manuscripts Division
William L. Clements Library
University of Michigan

Finding aid for
Henry Black Papers, 1863-1872

Finding aid created by
Naomi Herman-Aplet and Meg Hixon, December 2011

Summary Information

Title: Henry Black papers
Creator: Black, Henry
Inclusive dates: 1863-1872
Extent: 0.5 linear feet
Abstract:

The Henry Black papers contain personal and business correspondence addressed to Black, primarily concerning life on his family's farm in Carrollton, Illinois, and the marketing and sale of Black's patented hay harvesting machine. The collection also holds several pamphlets offering advice for patent-seekers in the mid-1860s.

Language: The material is in English
Repository: William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan

909 S. University Ave.
The University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1190
Phone: 734-764-2347
Web Site: www.clements.umich.edu

Access and Use

Acquisition Information:

1997. M-3378.1.

Access Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Copyright:

Copyright status is unknown

Processing Information:

Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.

Preferred Citation:

Henry Black papers, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan

Arrangement

The collection is arranged in the following series:

• Series I: Correspondence
  • Subseries I: Personal correspondence
  • Subseries II: Business correspondence
• Series II: Printed material

Each series and subseries is arranged chronologically.

Biography

Henry Black was born in Illinois ca. 1836, and lived in Carrollton, Illinois, with his parents, William and Caroline, who owned a farm. His siblings included John W., Catherine, and Alice. In 1864, he moved temporarily to Pacheco, California, where he worked on a farm, and in 1866 he returned to Carrollton and received a patent for a pulley used in hay harvesting. He spent the next several years marketing and selling his machine in the Midwest and South. He committed suicide in 1878.

Collection Scope and Content Note

The Henry Black papers contain personal and business correspondence addressed to Black, primarily concerning life on his family's farm in Carrollton, Illinois, and the marketing and sale of Black's patented hay harvesting machine. Personal correspondence dates almost exclusively to the Civil War era, though Black's correspondents only mentioned the war in passing; his sister Alice, parents, and cousins focused on farm life in Carrollton, and passed along news of family and friends while Henry worked in California. Black's cousin, Edward B. Hobson, wrote several letters about his studies at Shurtleff College in Alton, Illinois. Albert Gregory, another cousin, described his family's passage from San Francisco to Panama, where they saw several volcanoes and other exotic sights (March 8, 1863). Business correspondence comprises the bulk of the collection, and relates primarily to Black's hay harvesting pulley, which he marketed and sold throughout the Midwest and South. One early letter from James Hill in New Hampshire regards Hill's harness business, including wartime prices for his products and a printed circular offering his manufactured goods to military officials (December 2, 1864). The remainder of the material contains inquiries about Hay's machine, orders for the equipment, and positive feedback from customers. A series of later letters from the U. S. Wind Engine & Pump Company respond to Black's own inquiries about their windmills and other farm equipment.

Printed material includes 6 pamphlets about the process of obtaining a United States patent, a call for advertisers for the Boston Cultivator, and a request for sales agents for the Osage Orange Hedge Plants Company.

Subject Terms

Subjects:

• Agricultural implements.
• Agriculture--United States--History.
• Carrollton (Ill.)
• Haying equipment.
• Patents--United States.

Contributors:

• Black, Alice.
• Black, Caroline.
• Gregory, Albert.
• Hobson, Edward Black.

Genre Terms:

• Advertisements.
• Circulars (fliers)
• Letters (correspondence)
• Pamphlets.

Contents List

Container / Location		Title
		Correspondence [series]:
		Personal correspondence [subseries]:
Box   1	Folder   1-5	January 1863-August 1871
		Business correspondence [subseries]:
Box   1	Folder   6-21	1863-1872 and  undated
		Printed Material [series]:
Box   1	Folder   22	1866 and  undated

Additional Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Black, Henry. "Improved Hoisting-Apparatus." Patent 57,850. 11 September 1866.