Private Papers of Charles and Sara T.D. Robinson, 1834-1911

Manuscript Collection 488 - Microfilm Rolls MS 640-652 

• Introduction
• Biography
• Scope and Content
• Contents List
• Related Records and Collections

Introduction

The 13 rolls of this microfilm publication include the correspondence, diaries, writings, accounts, and miscellaneous papers of Charles Robinson, first governor of Kansas, and his wife Sara. This microfilm is available in the Research Room of the Kansas State Historical Society and through interlibrary loan.

Biography

Charles Robinson

Charles Robinson was born at Hardwick, Mass., on July 21, 1818, the son of Jonathan and Huldah (Woodward) Robinson. He was educated at Hadley Academy, Amherst Academy, and Amherst College. In 1835 failing eyesight sent him to Keene, N. H., where for six months he received treatment from Dr. Amos Twitchell. His long and close association with the doctor influenced him to study medicine and for the next eight years he pursued courses under Dr. Henry H. Childs of Pittsfield, Mass.; Dr. Isaac Gridley at Amherst; and Dr. Rush Palmer at Woodstock, Vt. In 1843 he opened a practice at Belchertown, Mass.

In November, 1843, Robinson married Sarah Adams, daughter of William Adams, a farmer of West Brookfield, Mass. To them were born two children, both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Robinson died January 17, 1846.

In March, 1849, Robinson determined to visit California in an attempt to improve his health and obtained an appointment as physician to a company bound for the gold fields of California. After a short time spent in prospecting, he settled in Sacramento where he opened a restaurant and edited The Settler’s and Miner’s Tribune, a free-soil newspaper. In Sacramento Robinson became involved in a controversy between settlers and land speculators and soon became the recognized leader and adviser of the former. Several conflicts between the two factions occurred, in one of which Robinson was wounded and another man killed. Robinson was indicted for murder and spent ten weeks on a prison ship awaiting trial. He was ultimately acquitted. While in jail he was elected to the California legislature, where he supported the election of John C. Fremont as United States senator.

In the summer of 1851 Robinson decided to return to Massachusetts and in July began the trip home by way of the Isthmus of Panama. His ship was wrecked off the Mexican coast, so he signed as surgeon on a vessel bound for Cuba and on which there were a number of sick men who had been working on the construction of the Panama railroad. He arrived at Fitchburg on September 9, 1851, and immediately resumed the practice of his profession.

On October 30, 1851, he married Sara Tappan Doolittle Lawrence, who had been his patient before his California adventure. While in Fitchburg, and in addition to his medical practice, Robinson edited the Fitchburg News.

As the interest of the country turned to the opening of Kansas, Robinson wrote several letters about that place through which he had passed in 1849. His letters attracted considerable attention and Robinson found himself involved in the Free-State effort to settle the new territory. On June 28, 1854, he left Fitchburg for Kansas as an agent of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company, assigned the job of selecting company town sites. Later he returned to St. Louis to meet and guide the company’s second party of emigrants to Kansas. They arrived at the site of Lawrence, on September 11. From that time on Robinson was active in helping Free-State settlers find homes in Kansas and was soon recognized as a leader in the movement to have Kansas admitted as a free state.

Under the Topeka Constitution of 1855, the first attempt to have Kansas admitted, Robinson was elected “governor.” In May, 1856, while en route east, he was arrested for treason and conspiracy against the United States. After several months in prison at Lecompton, the Proslavery capital, he was finally acquitted.

Under the Wyandotte Constitution, by which Kansas was finally admitted in January, 1861, Robinson was again elected governor and upon admission assumed the office. He served only one term, retiring on January 12, 1863.

From 1864 to 1874 he was a regent of the University of Kansas, which he had helped found and to which he had donated considerable property. He was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1871 and to the Senate in 1874. He again ran for governor of Kansas in 1882, this time on a Greenback-Labor ticket, against Republican John P. St. John and Democrat George W. Glick. Robinson failed to be elected but so split an ordinarily solid Republican front that Glick became the first Democrat to reach the governor’s office. In 1890, this time as a Democrat, he ran again but was defeated once more.

For a time in 1887-1888 Robinson was superintendent of Haskell Institute, a federal Indian school located at Lawrence. In 1892 he wrote a book about the territorial struggle which he called The Kansas Conflict. He was again appointed a regent of the University of Kansas in 1893, which office he held until his death on August 17, 1894.

Sara Tappan Doolittle Robinson

Sara Lawrence was born at Belchertown, Mass., on July 12, 1827, the daughter of Myron and Clarissa (Dwight) Lawrence. She was educated in the classical school at Belchertown and at Salem Academy. With her husband she shared in the fight for freedom in Kansas and in 1856 published a book, Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life, about the struggle. One prominent Kansas historian, F. W. Blackmar, has called it “one of the best works on the early history of Kansas, and … a classic. It is both history and literature.”

Mrs. Robinson spent much time and effort trying to correct untrue published accounts of incidents in Kansas history. She was especially active in trying to prevent the elevation of John Brown to hero status.

She died at the family home, Oakridge, near Lawrence, on November 15, 1911. Under the terms of her husband’s will their Kansas property and a large sum of money then passed into the hands of the University of Kansas, which stands on Mount Oread, the hill pre-empted by Robinson in 1854.

Scope and Content

The private papers of Charles and Sara T. D. Robinson consist of 32 document boxes of correspondence, compositions, diaries, clippings, business records, and memo books. The bulk of the collection was presented to the Kansas State Historical Society by Mrs. Robinson on November 19, 1902. During the remainder of her life Mrs. Robinson periodically donated other papers to the collection. Single and small groups of letters have been given by a large number of other donors.

Though the beginning date of the collection is 1834, there are but few papers until 1855. There is no material concerning Doctor Robinson’s journey to California and his experiences there. However, his activities in the fight for a free Kansas are well covered by letters written by him (most of them to his wife) and others which he received.

After the early statehood period, 1861-1863, the collection consists chiefly of personal, family and business matters, though such subjects as the construction of the University of Kansas, local and national politics, and reminiscences of early-day events are well covered. Unfortunately there is little on the elections of 1871 and 1874 or on the gubernatorial election of 1882. Letters written by Robinson during the campaign of 1890 appear in the letter books on roll ten (MS 649).

In large part the collection is Mrs. Robinson’s, for there are numerous letters to her from family and friends and, of course, after Robinson’s death in 1894, all the correspondence and papers center around her activities. In this latter period there is material concerning the governor’s estate and communications regarding Mrs. Robinson’s philanthropies.

The papers have been filmed in the same order as the originals are arranged. Dated correspondence, arranged chronologically, is followed by undated which has been arranged as much as possible in an alphabetical order by name of writer. Fragmentary letters conclude the correspondence and papers section. Letter books and memorandum books are followed by miscellaneous material, including business records, compositions by both Robinsons, and clippings. One document box containing check stubs, canceled checks and bank statements after 1874 has not been filmed.

Dates supplied by the editors have been placed in brackets in the upper right-hand corner of the first page of applicable material. Question marks denote some dissatisfaction with the reliability of supplied dates. Names penciled in the upper left-hand corner of the first page of some letters were supplied by Society staff members many years ago and were not bracketed or removed for this publication. Such names provide immediate identity of the writer. Typed copies follow partially illegible letters in some cases.

Microfilm targets have been kept to a minimum and are used only when necessary to indicate enclosures, retakes, etc. Targets containing editorial material have, for the most part, not been included. Title targets on small sheets of white paper introduce each new series and are easily noticed during rapid winding of the film.

Helpful secondary works relating to the Robinsons, besides their own publications, include: Frank W. Blackmar, The Life of Charles Robinson (Topeka: Crane & Co., 1902).

Two letters from Charles Robinson to Elizabeth Cady Stanton, 1867 Nov 20 and Dec. 5, discussing the failure of the 1867 campaign for full woman suffrage in Kansas and prospects for the future appear with letters from Samuel N. Wood on microfilm roll MS 705.

Other personal papers of Charles Robinson are at the Kansas Collection, University of Kansas libraries (Lawrence); an on - line guide is posted on the Libraries’ website at http://ead.diglib.ku.edu/xml/ksrl.kc.robinsoncharles.htm

The Kansas State Historical Society also has Robinson’s gubernatorial papers; these have not been microfilmed, but an archival inventory is available on the Historical Society's web site.

The papers of the New England Emigrant Aid Company on file in the manuscripts collection of the Kansas State Historical Society contain much information about Robinson and his relationship with the company. This collection is also available on microfilm (rolls MS 619-MS 627) and through interlibrary loan.

Contents List

Microfilm List

MS 640 (Roll 1) - Correspondence and papers, 1834-1865.

MS 641 (Roll 2) - Correspondence and papers, 1866-1874.

MS 642 (Roll 3) - Correspondence and papers, 1875-1887.

MS 643 (Roll 4) - Correspondence and papers, 1888-1892.

MS 644 (Roll 5) - Correspondence and papers, 1893-1897.

MS 645 (Roll 6) - Correspondence and papers, 1898-1902.

MS 646 (Roll 7) - Correspondence and papers, 1903-1906.

MS 647 (Roll 8) - Correspondence and papers, 1907-1911.

MS 648 (Roll 9) - Undated and miscellaneous correspondence and papers.

MS 649 (Roll 10)-Letter and memoranda books, 1884-1894.

MS 650 (Roll 11)
Account books of Charles Robinson, 1856-1872 (three volumes).
Records of personal expenses, 1859-1890 (four volumes).
Miscellaneous cash record books, 1886, 1894-1905 (five volumes).
“Record of Sales of the material of the Co-operator and Press . .”
Statements of accounts, receipts, and business memoranda, 1857-1911 (unbound).

MS 651 (Roll 12)
Genealogical material relating to Charles Robinson.
Compositions of Charles Robinson:

Partial manuscript of The Kansas Conflict.

“The True Doctor.”

“Prohibition in Kansas.”

“The Crime Against Kansas and Louisiana Contrasted.”

“Resolutions of the ‘God in the Constitution’ Convention held at Leavenworth, Feb. 17, 1875.”

“Love of Power.”

“Then and Now,” a comparison of the Kansas Legislatures of 1855 and 1892.

Untitled paper, incomplete, read before a group of farmers.

Untitled paper, incomplete, on the African American and the Supreme Court.

Speeches of Charles Robinson:

Eulogy for Preston B. Plumb.

Anniversary of the settlement of Topeka.

On human slavery.

On the granting of honorary degrees.

On malpractices of transportation companies.

Introduction for Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State.

On the relationship of science to humanity.

Miscellaneous fragments, notes, etc.
Genealogical material relating to Sara T. D. Robinson.
Compositions of Sara T. D. Robinson:

Kansas troops in the Civil War.

Exploits of Civil War Scout Daniel W. Bartwell.

Notes prepared for the second edition of Kansas, Its Interior and Exterior Life.

Letter to an editor about John Brown.

On early days in Lawrence, Kansas.

Miscellaneous compositions and fragments.

Compositions by other authors.

J. H. Cook, “An Open Letter to Hon. Chas. Robinson.”

Lucy Kingman, “Presentation of the Portrait of Sara T. D. Robinson.”

F. B. Sanborn, “Suborned Biographies.”

Samuel C. Smith, “The First Legislature of the State of Kansas . . .”

Samuel C. Smith, Reply to “T. W. H.” in Boston Advertiser.

“The Duties and Responsibilities of Young Men or Practical Education.”

Unidentified articles on early Kansas history.

MS 652 (Roll 13)
Typed copies of newspaper articles of the Kansas territorial era.
Newspaper clippings.

Related Records and Collections

Index to Correspondence

The following is a selected index to the private papers of Charles and Sara T. D. Robinson.

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• Reflections - Autumn 2010

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