Collection processed and finding aid created by Erin Platte and Meg Hixon, October 2011 Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan
Title: James Akin collection Creator: Akin, James, ca. 1773-1846 Inclusive dates: 1805 Extent: 4 items Abstract:
The James Akin collection contains four items related to an engraving made by him in 1805. The material includes two personal letters and two testimonies.
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
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
James Akin Collection, William L. Clements Library, The University of Michigan
James Akin (occasionally spelled "Aikin") was born c. 1773 in South Carolina and worked as a clerk for the state department in Philadelphia. In 1804, after learning the process of engraving during an apprenticeship in London, Akin moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts, where he worked as an engraver, painter, and caricaturist. In 1808, he returned to Philadelphia, where he died on July 16, 1846.
The James Akin collection contains four items related to an engraving made by him in 1805. The material includes two letters and two testimonies . Both letters, written in the summer of 1805 by John McKown, relate to an engraving of "a very handsome Stone Horse on type metal," requested of Akin by McKown (June 3, 1805). The two testimonies contain statements made by Moses Moody and William Hooker to the Court of Common Pleas reflecting McKown and Akin's dispute about the proper price for the completed plate.
