George Washington Julian Collection
L81, V53, OB4, OBC64
1789-1902, bulk 1850-1902
5 mss boxes, 2 os folders, 8 vols.
Manuscript Section, Indiana Division
Indiana State Library
Processed by: Christina Baich, February 2006
Biographical Note:
George Washington Julian was born on May 5, 1817, near Centerville, Indiana. In 1840, he was admitted to the bar and began practicing law in Greenfield, Indiana. He was a member of the State House of Representatives in 1845. That same year, he married Anne Elizabeth Finch with whom he had three children, Edward, Louis, and Fredrick. Anne died in 1860. Julian remarried in 1863 to Laura A. Giddings, daughter of anti-slavery leader Joshua R. Giddings of Ohio. They had two children together, Grace and Paul.
Julian served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1851 and again from 1861 to 1871. He was elected to his first term as a Free-Soil candidate, but later became a Republican. In 1852, he lost his bid for the vice-presidency as the Free-Soil candidate. In the 1860s, he joined with the Radical Republicans in Congress. While in the House of Representatives, he served as chair of the Committee on Public Lands (1863-1871) and as a member of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (1865-1867). He joined the liberal Republican movement and supported Horace Greeley for President (1872). Julian later joined the Democratic Party.
In 1873, he moved to Irvington (now an Indianapolis neighborhood) and opened a law practice. He became the law partner of William A. Meloy in Washington, D.C. (1879-1884). From 1885 to 1889, he was U.S. Surveyor General of the New Mexico Territory.
Throughout his life, Julian was an active advocate of social reform including the antislavery, temperance, labor, and women’s suffrage movements. He also wrote and published several books including his Political Recollections, Life of Joshua R. Giddings, and two collections of his speeches. He died on July 7, 1899, in Irvington, Indiana.
Sources:
Ancestry Library. Indiana State Library. 17 Feb. 2006.
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. United States Congress. 10 Feb. 2006.
Shepherd, Rebecca A., Charles W. Calhoun, Elizabeth Shanahan-Shoemaker, and Alan F. January, comp. A Biographical Directory of the Indiana General Assembly, Volume 1, 1816-1899. Indianapolis: The Select Committee on the Centennial History of the Indiana General Assembly, 1980.
Scope and Content Note:
The bulk of the correspondence is that of Julian and his wife, Laura Giddings Julian, and with his children, Grace and Paul, while he was serving in Congress, working as an attorney in Washington, D.C., and on speaking tours. In his letters with Laura, he discusses questions before Congress. Additional correspondence includes letters to Laura from her father, Joshua R. Giddings, written while he was serving in Congress or as U.S. consul general to Canada in Montreal (1861-1864); correspondence between her and her sister in Washington, D.C., Montreal, and Ohio; Julian’s correspondence with his brothers in Centerville (1838-1839) and Iowa (1840s); correspondence regarding Indiana and national politics, women’s rights, his legal work, speeches and writings, including retained copies of his letters; copies of his correspondence with Edward L. Pierce regarding their biographies of Joshua R. Giddings and Charles Sumner (1885-1898); and letters written to Presidents Arthur and Cleveland recommending Julian for Commissioner of the General Land Office. There are also letters dealing with the difficulties between Andrew Johnson and Congress and the Hayes-Tilden election of 1876 and the actions of the Louisiana Returning Board in that election.
Correspondents include W. H. Barnum, Benjamin Butler, Salmon P. Chase, Charles F. Coffin, Schuyler Colfax, Francis J. Garrison, Joshua R. Giddings, Stephen S. Harding, Abram S. Hewitt, Robert J. Ingersoll, Oliver P. Morton, Samuel W. Parker, Andrew L. Robinson, Samuel J. Tilden, William W. Wick, and William W. Woollen.
Also included in the collection are Julian’s manuscript for the second edition of Political Recollections; pamphlets and manuscripts of his speeches (1850-1892); an essay about Julian by Lydia Maria Child; memoranda books containing notes on expenses, notes for speeches and campaigns, and newspaper clippings; and his scrapbook of clippings on Zachary Taylor for the 1848 election.
The volumes include his school notes on law and history (1839); journals (1869-1879); scrapbooks (1876-1897); an account book from an Irvington grocery store and meat market (1877-1878); and an album belonging to his first wife, Anne E. Julian, which contains mostly autographs (1848-1851). The clippings within the scrapbooks are not entirely in chronological order.
The oversized items include certificates from the U.S. General Land Office granting land to soldiers (1859-1860). The certificates are signed by President James Buchanan. Also included are a Confederate States of America loan certificate and certificates naming Julian Surveyor General of New Mexico.
The collection consists of four chronologically organized series: Correspondence and papers, Political Recollections manuscript, Speeches, and Small volumes.
Box and Folder Listing:
Box 1. Correspondence and papers, 1789-1872
Folder
1. 1789-1849
2. 1850-1858
3. 1859-1863
4. 1864
5. 1865 Jan. 16
6. 1865
7. Jan.-Apr. 1866
8. May-Dec. 1866
9. 1867
10. Jan.-Apr. 1868
11. May-Dec. 1868
12. 1869-May 1870
13. June 1870-1872
Box 2. Correspondence and papers, 1873-1902, undated
Folder
1. 1873-1876
2. 1877
3. 1878
4. 1879-1880
5. 1881-1884
Box 2, Folder 6. Correspondence and papers, Jan.-Mar. 1885
1885 Jan. 30 Indiana Congressmen to President Arthur, ALS
1885 Jan. 30 Alabama Representatives to President Arthur, ALS
1885 Feb. 6 Julian, George W. to his daughter, ALS
1885 Feb. 9 Cary, Samuel F. to President Arthur, ALS
1885 Feb. 10 Julian, George W. to Paul Julian, ALS
1885 Feb. 10 Julian, George W. to his daughter, ALS, 2 p.
1885 Feb. 11 Randall, Samuel J. to President-Elect Cleveland, LS
1885 Feb. 12 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS
1885 Feb. 13 Julian, George W. to his wife?, ALS
1885 Feb. 14 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS
1885 Feb. 16 Julian, George W. to Paul Julian, ALS
1885 Feb. Julian, George W. to President Arthur, ALS
1885 Feb. Buckner, A. H. to President Arthur, ALS
1885 Mar. 2 Rosencrans, W. S. (Chairman, House Committee on Military Affairs) to
George W. Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. 4 Doolittle, J. R. to President Cleveland and the Secretary of the Interior, ALS
1885 Mar. 5 Goode, John to President Cleveland, ALS
1885 Mar. 5 Farnsworth, J. F. to President Cleveland, ALS
1885 Mar. 6 Julian, George W. to Paul Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. 7 Niblack, William E. to President Cleveland, ALS
1885 Mar. 11 Cravens, John R. to President Cleveland, ALS
1885 Mar. 11 Sumner, Charles A. to Secretary of the Interior L. Q. C. Lamar, ALS
1885 Mar. 12 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. 14 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS, 2 p.
1885 Mar. 15 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. 16 Curtin, A. G. to President Cleveland, LS, 2 p.
1885 Mar. 17 Julian, George W. to Paul Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. 19 Julian, George W. to Grace Julian, ALS
1885 Mar. List of Senators and M.C.’s recommending Julian for Commissioner of the General
Land Office with envelope
1885 Mar. Turner, Thomas to President Cleveland, ALS
Box 2, Folder 7. Correspondence and papers, July 1885-June 1888
1885 July 4 -Nov. 26 Julian, Grace to George W. Julian, small tablet
1885 July 24 Julian, George W. to Benjamin R. Turner, LS
1885 Dec. 15 Colfax, Schuyler to George W. Julian, ALS, 3 p. with envelope
1886 Jan. 9 Spring, Rebecca B. to George W. Julian, ALS, 3 p.
1886 Mar. 13 Spring, Rebecca B. to George W. Julian, ALS
1886 Dec. 20 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Pass Check of Grace Julian
1888 Mar. 13 Julian, George W. to J. E. Ramsburg regarding his inquiry about Abraham Lincoln,
ALS with envelope
1888 June 8 McKain, A. A. to George W. Julian, ALS
Box 2. Correspondence and papers, 1873-1902, undated
Folder
8. 1889-1898
9. Correspondence with Edward L. Pierce, Dec. 1889-May 1899
10. 1899-1902, undated
11. undated
Box 3. Political Recollections manuscript
Folder
1. Additions and corrections
2. Title page through Chapter 2
3. Chapters 3 and 4
4. Chapters 5 and 6
5. Chapters 7 and 8
6. Chapters 9 and 10
7. Chapters 11 and 12
8. Chapters 13 and 14
9. Chapters 15 and 16
Box 4, Folder 1. Speeches, 1850-1851
1850 May 14 “The Slavery Question,” speech in the House of Representatives (3 copies), pamphlet
1851 Jan. 29 “The Public Lands,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
Box 4, Folder 2. Speeches, 1850-1868
1850-1868 Small scrapbook of speeches including:
- “Political Education in Common Schools,” given at Educational Convention, Richmond, Ind., 1863 Aug. 11
- Speech on the “Healing Measures” of the present session of Congress, given in the House of
Representatives, 1850 Sept. 25
- “The New York Platform. The Seymour Democracy and the Public Lands,” given in Shelbyville, Ind., Aug. 8
- “Review of Our Congressional Politics,” closing remarks at Dublin, 1868 Oct. 24
Box 4, Folder 3. Speeches, 1862-1864
1862 Jan. 14 “The Cause and Cure of Our National Troubles,” speech in the House of Representatives,
pamphlet
1862 May 28 “Confiscation and Liberation,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1863 Feb. 18 “The Rebellion—the Mistakes of the Past—the Duty of the Present,” speech in the House
of Representatives (2 copies), pamphlet
1864 Mar. 18 “Homesteads for Soldiers on the Lands of Rebels,” speech in the House of Representatives,
pamphlet
1864 May 12 “Homesteads for Soldiers—Who Are Their Friends?,” speech in the House of
Representatives, pamphlet
1864 May 24 “Miscegenation—A Question of Veracity Settled,” from the Daily Congressional Globe,
pamphlet
Box 4, Folder 4. Speeches, 1865-1866
1865 Feb. 9 “Sale of Mineral Lands,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1865 Nov. 17 “Dangers and Duties. Reconstruction and Suffrage.,” speech in the Indiana House of
Representatives (2 copies), pamphlet
1866 Jan. 16 “Suffrage in the District of Columbia,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1866 July 5 “The Rights of Pre-emptors on the Public Lands of the Government Threatened—The
Conspiracy Exposed,” remarks of Julian and others in the House of Representatives,
pamphlet
1866 July 23 “Disposition of Mineral Lands—Ditches and Canals in Pacific States,” speech in the
House of Representatives, pamphlet
Box 4, Folder 5. Speeches, 1867-1869
1867 Jan. 28 “Regeneration Before Reconstruction,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1868 Jan. 22 and 28 “Southern Land Grants,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1868 Feb. 4 “Southern Land Grants,” speech in the House of Representatives (3 copies), pamphlet
1868 Mar. 6 “Our Land Policy—Its Evils and their Remedy,” speech in the House of Representatives,
pamphlet
1868 Mar. 6 “Spoliation of the Public Domain—The Saving Remedy,” speech in the House of
Representatives (2 copies), pamphlet
1868 July 13 “Impolicy of Land Bounties—The Homestead Law Defended,” speech in the House of
Representatives, pamphlet
1869 Feb. 5 “How to Resume Specie Payments,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
Box 4, Folder 6. Speeches, 1871, 1876 and 1880
1871Jan. 21 “The Overshadowing Question,” speech in the House of Representatives, pamphlet
1871 Jan. 21 “The Overshadowing Question” translated into German, pamphlet
1876 “Reform. For Independent Voters. The Issues of the Day.,” speech at the Grand Opera House,
Indianapolis (2 copies), pamphlet
1880 Aug. 24 “The Duty of Independent Voters,” speech at Wigwam, Indianapolis, manuscript
Box 4, Folder 7. Speeches, 1892
1892 Sept. 14 “President Harrison and Civil Service Reform,” speech in Indianapolis, Photostat copy
1892 Sept. 14 “President Harrison and Civil Service Reform,” speech in Indianapolis (2 copies), pamphlet
Box 4, Folder 8. Speeches, undated
July 4 4th of July speech, manuscript, 2 p.
undated Temperance speech, manuscript (pages missing), 20 p.
undated Speech on character and inheritance, manuscript, 18 p.
undated Patriotism & Loyalty, speech manuscript, 16 p.
Box 4. Speeches & Small volumes
Folder
9. Notebook of notes and memos, 1840s
10. Gen. Taylor’s letters and other documents hearing upon the presidential question, 1848
Box 5. Small volumes, 1849-1868
Folder
1. Catalogue of the names of persons to whom documents are to be sent, 1849-1850
2. Notebook, 1849-1850
3. Notebook, 1852-1858
4. Scrapbook, 1854-1857
5. Political scrapbook, 1858
6. Political memoranda, 1868
Volumes.
53-1 School notebook, 1839
53-2 Album of Anne E. Julian, 1848-1851
53-3 Journal, June 1869-Jan. 1878
53-4 Journal, Apr. 1878-May 1899
53-5 Scrapbook, 1876-1888
53-6 Scrapbook, 1879-1889
53-7 Scrapbook, 1892-1897
53-8 Account book of Irvington grocery store and meat market, 1877-1878
OB 4
Folder 1. U.S. General Land Office certificates, 1859-1860
1859 Dec. 1 Certificate granting land to William B. Robinson
1859 Dec. 1 Certificate granting land to Mary Williams, widow of Eli Williams
1859 Dec. 10 Certificate granting land to Maria Campbell, widow of Robert Campbell
1859 Dec. 10 Certificate granting land to James B. Gant
1859 Dec. 10 Certificate granting land to Elizabeth Saylor, widow of John Saylor
1860 Jan. 3 Certificate granting land to Desire Clark, widow of George Clark
1860 July 1 Certificate granting land to Henry Beach
1860 July 1 Certificate granting land to Basile Crocker
1860 July 1 Certificate granting land to Archibald Lauter
1860 July 1 Certificate granting land to William Moore
1860 July 1 Certificate granting land to John Wilcox
OBC 64
1 Folder. Certificates, 1863-1887
1863 Mar. 2 Confederate State of America loan certificate
1885 June 1 Certificate designating Julian Surveyor General of New Mexico after the suspension of
Clarence Pullen (signed by President Grover Cleveland)
1887 Mar. 8 Certificate appointing Julian Surveyor of New Mexico (signed by President Grover Cleveland)
Collection Information:
Size of Collection:
5 manuscript boxes, 8 volumes, 2 oversized folders
Collection Dates:
1789-1902, bulk 1850-1902
Provenance:
Grace Julian Clarke, 5 July 1932, 11 April 1937, 30 September 1937
Access: This collection is open for research.
Restrictions:
None
Reproduction Rights:
Permission to reproduce, exhibit, or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Manuscript Section, Indiana State Library. Possession of a reproduction from an Indiana State Library collection does not constitute permission for use.
Language Materials are almost entirely in English. One item is in German
Alternate Formats:
None
Related Holdings:
L33, Grace Julian Clarke Papers
Notes:
The Library of Congress holds MMC-0854, Papers of Joshua R. Giddings and George Washington Julian, 1839-1899.
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