Individual census record · C075

Cushwa-Leighton Library · Notre Dame, Indiana

John Jay Smith, presenter → Peter Force → unresolved gap → Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross → Saint Mary's College

RepositorySaint Mary's College, Cushwa-Leighton Library

LocationNotre Dame, Indiana

Shelfmark / Call NumberPJ1531 .R817 1858 ↗ (Rare Book)

BindingOriginal cream-and-black decorated cover panels affixed to later tan buckram. The spine is entirely of the later buckram and does not preserve any part of the original binding. Staff report no significant staining or tears; approximately ten leaves are detached but believed present, and all pages are solidly bound after page 11. The photographed final page appears complete, with no subsequent advertisement leaves present.

Edition EvidenceThe original cream-and-black decorated cover panels are diagnostic of the 1858 first edition. The title page carries no date or "Second Edition" statement, and Cushwa-Leighton Library's own rare-book identification tag records the date as 1858.

Presentation / Association‘Peter Force Esq / from his friend / Jno. Jay Smith.’ The three-line presentation is undated; Smith was not a Report author.

Ownership EvidenceThe inside front cover bears the ownership stamp of Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross, a women's college in Washington, D.C. that closed in 1973, along with its printed address label. A pasted bookseller clipping describes the volume as "Second edition... Very scarce... $25.00"; this description does not match the physical copy, which is the 1858 first edition, and the clipping's source, date, and relationship to this exact copy are unknown. It is not used here to establish an intermediate binding or provenance stage.

Provenance Chain

John Jay Smith, presenter → Peter Force → unresolved gap → Dunbarton College of the Holy Cross → Saint Mary's College

Peter Force–Library of Congress Route Checked

The route from Force to Dunbarton is unrecorded. A Library of Congress stage is not established.

Why This Copy Matters

A transfer from Dunbarton after its 1973 closure to Saint Mary’s is plausible but undocumented. The Smith Family Papers at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania list a Force letter dated February 22, 1859 (Box 7, Folder 59), and Gilpin letters (Box 7, Folder 63); their relevance to this copy is untested.

Sources and Documentation

Saint Mary’s College correspondence and copy photographs; Historical Society of Pennsylvania Smith Family Papers finding aid; Library of Congress acquisition catalogue, 1866–67.

People in This Copy

John Jay Smith
Peter Force

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