The Darlington Digital Library

"created from the first major collection of books, manuscripts, atlases, and maps donated to the University of Pittsburgh. Most of the credit for assembling the Darlington Collection rightly goes to William M. Darlington, an attorney by profession who was born in Pittsburgh in 1815.

By the 1840s, Mr. Darlington had developed a keen interest in colonial American history, especially as it related to Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley. He initially acquired books on those subjects, but later he would expand his interests to topics associated with the exploration of the Trans-Mississippi, the Far West, and even world history."

Atlases 

(12 online)

"more than one hundred volumes ranging from world travel 

and exploration to state atlases with county maps. "

8-11. A General Map of the River Ohio, from its Source to its Mouth.
A journey in North America. Georges-Henri-Victor Collot. 1750-1805.
Image Courtesy of The Darlington Digital Library.

Fortifications des anciens Indigens sur la riviere Huron.
Voyage dans la haute Pensylvanie et dans l'état New-York:
par un membre adoptif de la nation Onéida, v.3. J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur. 1735-1813.
[Fortifications of ancient indigenous people on the Huron River.
Trip within high Pennsylvania and New York State: by an adoptive member of the Onéida? Nation.]
Image Courtesy of The Darlington Digital Library.

Books

(1,680)

"American history, with an emphasis on the history of Western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley...works that related to the settlement of colonial America, local history, and the manners and customs of American Indians... "

• Life of Ma-ka-tai-me-she-kia-kiak, or Black Hawk. 
• Black Hawk, Sauk chief, 1767-1838, John Barton Patterson, 1805-1890.
• Buffalo Bill's Wild West Company and Congress of Rough Riders of the World Programme
• 1893.
• Hudson's Bay, or, Every-day life in the wilds of North America: during six years' residence in the territories of the honourable Hudson's Bay Company.
• Robert Michael Ballantyne, 1825-1894.
• New travels among the Indians of North America: being a compilation, taken partly from the communications already published, of Lewis and Clark, to the President of the United States, and partly from other authors who traveled among various tribes of Indians.... with a dictionary of the Indian tongue
• Meriwether Lewis, 1774-1809; William Clark 1770-1838; Jonathan Carver, 1710-1780; Sir Alexander Mackenzie, 1763-1820, Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809); William Fisher.
• Essays on the present crisis in the condition of the American Indians.
• Jeremiah Evarts, 1781-1831.
• The first visit of de la Salle to the Senecas, made in 1699.
• Orasamus Holmes Marshall, 1813-1884.
• A treaty held by commissioners, members of the Council of the province of Pennsylvania, at the town of Lancaster, with some chiefs of the Six Nations at Ohio and others, for the admission of the Twightwee Nation into the alliance of his majesty, & c,. in the month of July, 1748.
• The journal of Col. George Croghan: who was sent, after the peace of 1763, by the government, to explore the country adjacent to the Ohio River, and to conciliate the Indian nations who had hithero acted with the French.
• George Croghan, 1782.
• An enquiry into the causes of the alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British inters: and into the measures taken for recovering their friendship.
• Charles Thomson, 1729-1824.
• Facts and observations, vindicating the absolute right of the indian nations, or tribes of America, to their respective countries and proving, that a valid title to any part of the same can only be acquired by purchase and grant from the indian proprietors.
• J. Everingham, 1775.

Broadsides

(51)

"less than one hundred items, ranging from the 1700's to the late 1800's. 

It includes items of significant historical value to advertisements from theaters in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh."

Images

(1844)

"almost two thousand items, includes engravings, lithographs, and photographs on a wide range of subjects. Dating to the 1700's and into the 1800's, the engravings include images of royalty, political leaders, inventors; and religious and military figures, predominantly from the United States and Europe."

• Braddock's Battle Field
• Defeat of General Braddock
• Tens-Kwau-Ta-Waw

Manuscripts

(1,735)

"papers and manuscripts that focus primarily on the early history of western Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley; they mainly date from the 1700's through the mid-1800's."

• Ohio Company Papers
• "founded in 1747, represented the trading and land prospecting interests of a handful of Virginia planters. In 1748, company representative George Mercer secured a land grant from the British Crown for 200,000 acres in the Ohio territory, a colloquial term for what is now modern day West Virginia, much of Ohio, western Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland. The company employed frontiersman Christopher Gist to survey the area of the grant and negotiate a treaty with the Native Americans in the 1750's. Gist embarked on three separate journeys into the Ohio territory in 1750-51, 1751-52, and 1753-54. The Ohio Company’s efforts in the contested region were largely stymied by the outbreak of the French and Indian War, despite its continued existence until its formal dissolution in 1779. Members of the company included Virginians George Mason, brothers Lawrence, Augustine, and George Washington, Virginia colony Governor Robert Dinwiddie, and British merchant John Hanbury. This collection includes manuscript copies of the Case of the Ohio Company, a collection of materials compiled by George Mercer to demonstrate the progress made by the Ohio Company, and a number of debt notes related to the company’s trade in dry goods. The collection documents the involvement of John Mercer, James Mercer, George Mercer, George Mason, George Croghan, Thomas Cresap, Adam Stephen, and William Crawford in the company."
• Pittsburgh Waste Book and Fort Pitt Trading Post Papers
• "reputed to be the first known accounts of trade at Fort Pitt. Information recorded in the book and associated documents detail business transactions through daily accounts, correspondence and receipts."
• Conference Between the Six Nations and the Quakers Minutes
• "In April of 1756, the Six Nations of the Iroquois and the Quakers held a conference in Philadelphia in an attempt to create peace for innocent inhabitants during the French and Indian War. Records for part of this meeting are available in this collection. There is a list of the names of the Quakers and the Indians present along with the names of three interpreters."
• Iroquois Land Deed
• "documents a secret agreement between the Susquehanna Land Company and the Iroquois Nation regarding the sale of the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania to Connecticut settlers. The deed outlines the stipulations of the agreement, the names of the colonial land purchasers, and the marks of the Iroquois involved in the negotiations."
• Christopher Gist's Journals by William M. Darlington
• "primarily contains manuscript drafts of William Darlington's book, Christopher Gist's Journals, published posthumously in 1893 by J.R. Weldin & Co. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Included are many handwritten research notes, manuscript drafts, a partial galley proof, and several printing plates of the maps used in the publication."
• Robert Stobo Papers
• "contains an original French and Indian War era letter written by Robert Stobo to Colonel Innes, who were officers in the British Army. Stobo writes in captivity from Fort Duquesne, describing French negotiations with the Shawnee [Shanoe] Indians. On the reverse of the letter is a map of Fort Duquesne and its environs. The collection also contains a manuscript copy of the 1754 letter, and transcriptions of the letter. "
• Alfred P. James Papers
• "a history professor at the University of Pittsburgh between 1918 and 1956, researching eighteenth and nineteenth century Virginia and Pennsylvania. This collection contains correspondence and research notes created by James for his book, The Ohio Company: its Inner History, published in 1959."
• Indian Depredation Claims
• "filed by settlers seeking reimbursement for property allegedly stolen by Native Americans through the Federal government between 1796 and 1920. This collection contains several claims filed in the western United States by frontier settlers against American Indian tribes, seeking reimbursement primarily for stolen livestock."
• Fur Trader's Journal
• "consists of a journal from an unidentified fur trader traveling in the region of the Du Lièvre Rivere, a tributary of the Ottawa River, in western Québec. The entries, covering May to June of 1775, document a journey during which the trader faced river rapids, a number of portages between waterways, and at times hostile trading partners from the Ottawa and Nipissing tribes. Also recorded are details of transactions and inventories."

Maps

(853)

"a collection of nearly six hundred items... maps of states, colonies, and larger regions of the United States comprise a significant number..."

• Partie occidentale du Canada, 1688
• [Occidental part of Canada or of New France: where are the Illinois nations, of Tracy?, the Iroquois, and many other peoples; with the new discoveries of Louisiana etc.,  coming from the latest memories] "Relief shown pictorially; Shows rivers, lakes, Indian tribal territories, portages, forts, and missions."
• Map of the Countrey of The Five Nations, 1730
• "A Map of the Countrey of THE FIVE NATIONS belonging to the Province of NEW YORK and of the LAKES near which the Nations of FAR INDIANS live with part of CANADA taken from the Map of the LOUISIANE done by Mr. De LISLE in 1718. Copied for W.M. Darlington Esq. from Public Record Office London by James A. Burt, June 1882."

• Map of the Ohio River Valley and surrounding area,1755
• "Covers western Pennsylvania, western Virginia and Ohio; Shows major rivers and tributaries, forts, principal settlements and Indian tribal territories."
• Map of the middle British colonies, 1776
• " Includes text, list of townships, distance charts, and inset "A sketch of the remaining part of Ohio R. &c.""
• New map of the western parts of Virginia- sh 2, 1778
• "New map of the western parts of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and North Carolina, comprehending the River Ohio, and all the rivers, which fall into it, part of the River Mississippi, the whole of the Illinois River, Lake Erie, part of the Lakes Huron, Michigan &c. and all the country bordering on these lakes and rivers."
• One-sheet map of the independent states..., 1796
• "Bowles's new one-sheet map of the independent states of Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pensylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, &c. comprehending also the habitations & hunting countries of the confederate Indians. "