Series 3 - Minerva Padden Donovan letters

114pp

The original manuscripts of the Padden Donovan Letters are held in the Beekman Family Papers at the New York Historical. The letters were first published in White, P.L. ed., (April 1967), "An Irish Immigrant Housewife on the New York Frontier," New York History 48, no. 2, pp. 182-188.

This series consists of materials pertaining to four letters sent in March-December 1846 by Irish immigrant Minerva Padden Donovan, formerly a domestic servant and then the wife of Tim Donovan, a poor, illiterate Irish famer in upstate New York, and by the son of her former employer, a member of the wealthy Beekman family of New York City. The series includes: Kerby A. Miller's catalogue and description of the letters; typed and published transcripts, and photocopies, of the letters; Miller's research correspondence with New York scholars and archivists regarding the Donovans and Beekmans; Miller's research notes; and photocopies pages from published New York primary sources and from historical studies of the Beekman family and of Oswego County, New York.

Letters of introduction for William Beekman written for his 1838 visit to Ireland are located in P155/71/22.