Princeton, Illinois

The Bryant Family Collection is a three generation chronicle of the Bryant Family and their migration from Massachusetts to Illinois and Kansas. The materials collected document the family history from 1767-1912. Boxes one and two contain photostat, microfilm, and typescript copies of Bryant family letters and diaries assembled from various sources. Box one, folder one contains the family genealogy chart, prepared in the archives based on information available in the collection. Also included in box one is biographical data and letters of the Bryant family, 1767-1912; notes from the diary of Sylvia Drake, 1821-1824, a close friend of the Bryant family; a watercolor of the original J.H. Bryant cabin; typescript copies of Sylvia Drake’s Diary, 1821-1824; and Sylvia Drake’s letters, 1784-1868. Box one also contains 28 folders of the Bryant Family Research Project including publications, reprints, manuscripts and the general notes of Donald M. Murray and Robert M. Rodney, dating 1960-1966. Box two contains letter on microfilm from the New York Public Library; notecards on Julian Bryant; a book of poems by John H. Bryant and a cardfile index of the Bryant letters. Most of the material in the Bryant Collection is photocopies of the original. The material is typed copy, either whole or excerpted and some is simply handwritten notes on letters.