Lyman Draper
Encyclopedia
Lyman Copeland Draper, was a librarian and historian who served as secretary for the Wisconsin Historical Society
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...

 at Madison, Wisconsin
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....

. Draper also served as Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin
Superintendent of Public Instruction of Wisconsin
The Superintendent of Public Instruction, sometimes referred to as the State Superintendent of Schools, is a constitutional office within the executive branch of the Wisconsin state government, and acts as the executive head of the Department of Public Instruction...

 1858-1860.

Draper was born in Lockport, New York
Lockport (city), New York
Lockport is a city in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 21,165 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from a set of Erie canal locks within the city. Lockport is the county seat of Niagara County and is surrounded by the town of Lockport...

. Starting in the 1830s, Lyman Draper corresponded with people who were early settlers in the Trans-Allegheny region during the second half of the 18th century. He planned on writing a series of biographies on early settlers in the region and document the Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...

 that occurred in the Ohio River Valley. He also traveled extensively in the region to gain a better feel for the territory in question. His correspondence with various survivors of the time and their close relatives provide the largest single first-hand account of the settlement of the region.

Lyman Draper never finished his biographies, although he did publish 10 volumes of historical notes for the Wisconsin Historical Society as well as a volume about the Battle of King's Mountain, which featured many of the people who also were also early settlers. Draper's professed purpose was to shed light on the era and gain knowledge before they became completely forgotten.

Published works

The Lyman Draper Manuscript Collection are the works and papers of a number of notable early Americans, collected by Lyman Draper on the history of the trans-Allegheny West, an area that includes portions of the Carolinas, Virginia, Georgia, Alabama, the entire Ohio Valley and the Mississippi Valley. The most famous personal papers in the Draper Collection include those of Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone was an American pioneer, explorer, and frontiersman whose frontier exploits mad']'e him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. Boone is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the Commonwealth of Kentucky, which was then beyond the western borders of...

, George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark
George Rogers Clark was a soldier from Virginia and the highest ranking American military officer on the northwestern frontier during the American Revolutionary War. He served as leader of the Kentucky militia throughout much of the war...

, and Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton
Simon Kenton was a famous United States frontiersman and friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Girty, Spencer Records and Isaac Shelby.-Family and early life:Simon Kenton was alive even before Ohio was a state...

. Most materials cover the time period from the 1740s through the 1810s. There are nearly 500 volumes in this collection. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin
Wisconsin Historical Society
The Wisconsin Historical Society is simultaneously a private membership and a state-funded organization whose purpose is to maintain, promote and spread knowledge relating to the history of North America, with an emphasis on the state of Wisconsin and the trans-Allegheny West...

, for which Draper served as corresponding secretary from 1854–1886, now owns the collection of original 18th and 19th century papers. Major research libraries around the U.S. have microfiche files of the Collection. An index of the Lyman Draper Manuscript Collection is shown below:

Series Title Volumes
A George Bedinger Papers Vo. 1
B Draper's Life of Boone Vol. 1-5, 7-9
C Boone Papers Vol. 1-6, 10-33
D Border Forays Vol. 1-5
E Brady and Wetzel Papers Vol. 1-16
F Joseph Brant papers Vol. 1-22
G Brant Miscellanies Vol. 1-3
H Daniel Broadhead Papers Vol. 1-3
J George Rogers Clark Papers Vol. 1-64
K George Rogers Clark Misec….. Vol. 1-5
L Jonathan Clark Papers Vol. 1-2
M William Clark Papers Vol. 1-6
N William Croghan Papers Vol. 1-3
O Daniel Drake Paper Vol. 1-2
P Draper's Biographical Sketches Vol. 1-3
Q Drapher's Historical Misc… Vol. 1-8
R Drapher's Memoranda Books Vol. 1-3
S Draper's Notes Vol. 1-33
T Thomas Forsyth Papers Vol. 1-9
U Frontier Wars Papers Vol. 1-24
V Georgia, Alabama & So. Carolina Papers Vol. 1
W Josiah Harmar Papers Vol. 1-2
X William Henry Harrison Vol. 1-5
Y Thomas S.Hinde Papers Vol. 1-41
Z Illionas Papers Vol. 1
AA William Irving Papers Vol. 1-2
BB Simon Kenton Papers Vol. 1-13
CC Kentucky Papers Vol. 1-36
DD Kings Mountain Papers Vol. 1-18
EE London Documents At Albany Vol. 1
FF Mecklenburg Declaration, By Draper Vol. 1-3
GG Mecklenburg Declaration Papers Vol. 1-3
HH Mecklenburg Declaration Misc….. Vol. 1-2
JJ Newspaper Extracts Vol. 1-4
KK North Carolina Papers Vol. 1
LL Paris Documents at Albany Vol. 1
MM Robert Paterson Papers Vol. 1-3
NN Pittsburg and Northwest Virginia Papers Vol. 1-10
OO Pension Statements Vol. 1
PP Potter Papers Vol. 1
QQ William Preston Papers Vol. 1-6
RR Rudolph-Noy Papers Vol. 1-10
SS David Shepherd Papers Vol. 1-5
TT South Carolina Papers Vol. 1
UU South Carolina In The Revolution Misc…… Vol. 1-2
VV Thomas Sumter Papers Vol. 1-24
WW John Cleves Symmes Papers Vol. 1-4
XX Tennessee Papers Vol. 1-7
YY Tecumseh Papers Vol. 1-13
ZZ Virginia Papers Vol. 1-16

Sources

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