Draper Manuscript Collection

Record Description
Coverage. This collection also known as the Draper manuscripts, and as the Draper Collection, consists of nearly 500 volumes of manuscripts, papers, and books collected by Lyman Copeland Draper about the history of the trans-Allegheny West in the United States, a region including the western areas of the Carolinas and Virginia, all the Ohio River Valley, and part of the upper Mississippi Valley from the 1740s to 1830. This includes New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Michigan, and Wisconsin.

Arrangement. The collection is divided into 50 series. Some series are titled by geographic area, some by the names of prominent frontier leaders, and some by topic. The bulk of the collection consists of notes from interviews, questionnaires, and letters gathered during Draper’s extensive travels and research to learn about frontier history. For further details see also  the FamilySearch Catalog title description.

Additional Information About Record Availability
Original images can be viewed or ordered through the following:


 * Wisconsin Historical Society
 * Pickler Memorial Library

Microfilm access. For contents of this collection by microfilm number, see the Draper Manuscript Series Coverage Table.


 * Microfilms are available for viewing at a FamilySearch Center.
 * For information on ordering films see: Ordering Microfilm or Microfiche

Record Content
Key facts found in this collection vary from record to record. They may include:


 * Names
 * Birth, marriage, or death dates and places
 * Names of parents or other family members
 * Residences
 * Life sketches
 * Names of neighbors
 * Notes of involvement in historical events

Additional Information About This Collection
The following books have been published about this collection:

Descriptive List


 * Reuben Gold Thwaites, Descriptive list of manuscript collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin together with reports on other collections of manuscript material for American history in adjacent states (Madison, Wisc.: Wisconsin Historical Society, 1906) Digital copy online; ;.

Partial Indexes


 * Reuben Gold Thwaites, Frontier Defense on the Upper Ohio, 1776-1778 (Madison, Wisconsin : Wisconsin Historical Society, c1912) Digital copy online; ;.
 * Edward Earl Bennett, Calendar of the Tennessee and King's Mountain Papers of the Draper Collections of Manuscripts, Vol. 3. Digital copy online; ; . A partial index to the Draper Manuscript Collection.
 * Mabel Clare Weaks, The Preston and Virginia Papers of the Draper Collection of Manuscripts. Available at the Internet Archives
 * Mabel Clare Weaks, Calendar of the Kentucky Papers of the Draper Collection of Manuscripts. Available on Ancestry.com
 * George Rogers Clark, George Rogers Clark Papers, 1771-1784. Available at the Internet Archives


 * The George M. Bedinger papers : volume 1A of the Draper Manuscript Collection / Heath, Craig L.
 * The Illinois manuscripts : volume 1Z of the Draper manuscript collection / Heath, Craig L.
 * Index to the Draper manuscripts, series NN : the Pittsburgh and northwest Virginia papers / Green, Karen Mauer, 1950-

Related Websites

 * Wisconsin Historical Society
 * Draper Manuscripts: King's Mountain Papers, 1756-1887
 * Pickler Memorial Library

Related Wiki Articles

 * Illinois History
 * Indiana History
 * Kentucky History
 * New York History
 * North Carolina History
 * Tennessee History
 * Virginia History
 * Wisconsin History