Title: U.S. General Land Office Copied Documents and Calendars
Inclusive Dates: 1794-1916

Creator:

• United States. General Land Office

Call Number: U.S. Mss BO

Quantity: 4.4 c.f. (6 oversize black boxes and 10 card file boxes)

Repository:

Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Calendar summaries and photostat copies of documents from the files of the General Land Office in Washington, D.C. Included are photostats of field notes of surveys of Wisconsin Territory, circa 1832-1842, including townships in Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties; photostats of other G.L.O. records concerning Wisconsin; and calendars compiled by Newton D. Mereness summarizing G.L.O. documents, 1794-1916, concerning Wisconsin history.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-us0000bo

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These copies are part of the result of a project to survey and copy documents in the files of the federal government relevant to the Wisconsin region. Calendar cards summarizing such documents were prepared in Washington, D.C. from about 1912 to 1933.

The survey was begun by Dr. Leo F. Stock, working in Indian Office materials. Dr. Stock's card entries were very brief and made in pencil. The State Historical Society of Wisconsin secured typewritten copies of the records he calendared. In later years his calendar entries were typed on cards [see Mss 450].

About 1915, Dr. Newton D. Mereness took up the work that had been begun by Dr. Stock and soon six other historical agencies in the Middle West joined in the project. Dr. Mereness' method was to examine a set of records, study each item in it to see if it contained information on any of the seven agencies, and if it did, to calendar the item and note which of the seven would be interested in the item. To simplify matters, each of the seven agencies was assigned a letter of the alphabet. Wisconsin's letter was “c”. These letters will be found on the lower right-hand corner of each Mereness card.

Periodically, usually four times a year, the set of cards that touched upon its interests was sent to each agency, and from these cards the agencies could order photostatic copies of the records if they so desired. When he had finished surveying a group of records, Dr. Mereness would make a summary card of the contents and approximate number of cards he had made for the set. These summary cards, usually typewritten on orange cards, are filed at the beginning of each set of cards.

The project's work was begun in the Indian Office records, at that time filed in various places in Washington. The Wisconsin Historical Society ordered copies of all records relating to its region at that time. Next Dr. Mereness worked on the House Files, and the Wisconsin Historical Society ordered copies of these records.

Dr. Mereness continued his work in the State Department, Senate Files, and elsewhere including the General Land Office. In 1928, the General Land Office photostat copies were received at the Historical Society.

This, in brief, describes the rather complicated matter of typewritten copies, photostatic copies, and no copies of records. Dr. Mereness' quarterly reports, on typewritten sheets, are filed in the Manuscript Section. They explain in great detail the progress of the survey. Probably most, if not all, of the records he examined and calendared are now filed in the National Archives.

This collection drawn from the General Land Office files consists of the calendar cards and the photostat copies of the described documents. Though it is unclear from existing descriptions whether all calendared documents were copied, the relatively large number of calendared items causes one to conclude that not all calendared documents are represented in the photostats. Also photostats date only to 1906 and some of the calendared items date to 1916.

The collection contains three boxes of photostats of field notes of surveys from Dane, Grant, Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties, circa 1832-1842, executed by Deputy Surveyors Lucius Lyons, J. E. Whitcher, and others; three boxes of photostats “relating to the lead mining region of southwestern Wisconsin”; and ten card file boxes of the calendar cards. The survey field notes and the calendar cards are further described in the contents list below.

	Series: Field Notes of Surveys, circa 1832-1842
	Dane County
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 6 East, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 6 North, Range 6 East, 4th Meridian
	Grant County
Box   1	Town 1 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 1 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 2 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 2 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 2 North, Range 3 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 2 North, Range 4 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 3 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 4 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 5 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 3 North, Range 6 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 4 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 4 North, Range 3 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 4 North, Range 4 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 4 North, Range 5 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 4 North, Range 6 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 3 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 4 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 5 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 5 North, Range 6 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 6 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 6 North, Range 2 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 6 North, Range 3 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 6 North, Range 4 West, 4th Meridian
Box   1	Town 7 North, Range 1 West, 4th Meridian
	Green County
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 6 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 7 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 6 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 7 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 8 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 4 North, Range 6 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 4 North, Range 7 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 4 North, Range 8 East, 4th Meridian
	Iowa County
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 2 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 4 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 2 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 2 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 4 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 3 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 4 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   2	Town 4 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 5 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 5 North, Range 2 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 5 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 5 North, Range 4 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 5 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 6 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 6 North, Range 2 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 6 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 6 North, Range 4 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 6 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 7 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
	Lafayette County
Box   3	Town 1 North, Range 1 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 1 North, Range 2 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 1 North, Range 3 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 1 North, Range 4 East, 4th Meridian
Box   3	Town 1 North, Range 5 East, 4th Meridian
	Series: Photostats Relating to the Lead Mining Region of Southwestern Wisconsin	⇧
Box   4-4a	1845-1906
Box   5	Undated
	Series: Calendar Cards	⇧
	Letters of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Commissioner of the GLO to Surveyors, 1796-1901 Physical Description: About 3000 cards  Scope and Content Note: At the time of the calendaring, General Land Office copies of these letters were preserved in quarto volumes in chronological order. The letters are particularly valuable for the instructions under which the public lands were surveyed.
Box   6	1796-1838
Box   7	1839-1852 November
Box   8	1852 November-1866
Box   9	1867-1879
Box   10	1880-1901
	Miscellaneous Letters, 1796-1868 Physical Description: About 3100 cards  Scope and Content Note: Copies of these letters, which were signed by the secretary of the treasury prior to 1812 and subsequently by the commissioners of the GLO, were preserved at the time of calendaring in chronological order in quarto volumes. They cover a diversity of subjects relative to the survey and disposal of the public lands. Some of them establish important general principles; others deal with petty details.
Box   10	1796-1846
Box   11	1847-1854
Box   12	1855-1858
Box   13	1859-1868
Box   14	Letters of the Commissioner of the GLO to Members of Congress, 1868-1887 Physical Description: About 260 cards  Scope and Content Note: These letter-book copies cover all subjects pertaining to the survey and distribution of public lands.
Box   14	Map Division, circa 1818-1856 Physical Description: 99 cards  Scope and Content Note: Maps from the GLO, the Indian Office, and the War Department are grouped together.
Box   14	Swamp Lands, 1850-1889 Physical Description: About 420 cards  Scope and Content Note: Copies of letters of the commissioner of the GLO relative to the selection of swamp and overflowed lands which were donated to the states by act of Congress. The many difficultues and controversies encountered in making the selections were the cause of a voluminous correspondence.
Box   14	Town Sites, circa 1837-1916 Physical Description: About 75 cards  Scope and Content Note: These papers, filed in a separate bundle or bundles for each town, cover cases in which some controversy arose relative to a town site. Not arranged chronologically.
Box   14	Letters to the Secretary of the Treasury et al. from the Surveyor General at Marietta (Subsequently at Cincinnati), Ohio, 1802-1807 Physical Description: 13 cards  Scope and Content Note: Autograph letters of the surveyor general who had jurisdiction over the survey of the public lands in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.
Box   15	Letters Received by the Surveyor General for Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, 1794-1850 Physical Description: About 200 cards  Scope and Content Note: About half of the cards deal with land surveys outside of Wisconsin. The last half of the group deal with the surveys of lands in Wisconsin regions from 1830 to 1840 and contain letters from the prominent early surveyors. Arranged chronologically.
Box   15	Letters Received from Surveyors General, 1797-1866 Physical Description: About 200 cards  Scope and Content Note: These are mostly autograph letters addressed by surveyors general to the commissioner of the GLO. About one-third are of early date for the region of Ohio, etc. The remainder deal with the period after 1830 and deal with the progress of surveys in this region.
Box   15	Letters Relative to Railroad Lands, 1856-1886 Physical Description: About 200 cards  Scope and Content Note: Letters of the commissioner of the GLO relative to grants of land to aid in the construction of railroads, conflicts with such grants, etc., were written to the secretary of the interior, members of Congress, railroad officials, registers, receivers, and others.
Box   15	Letters Received from Registers and Receivers, 1816-1831 Physical Description: 9 cards
Box   15	Letters to Registers and Receivers Relative to Selections of Land under Act of Sept. 4, 1841, 1841-1848 Physical Description: 6 cards
Box   15	Miscellaneous Letters Received, 1805-1832 Physical Description: 19 cards
Box   15	Abandoned Military Reservations, 1827-1903 Physical Description: About 75 cards  Scope and Content Note: The correspondence for each military reservation was transferred from the war department to the GLO when the reservation was abandoned and the land was to be offered for sale. The material is arranged by reservations and concerns Bois Blanc, Fort Howard, and Fort Crawford.
Box   15	Private Land Claims, Letters Sent, 1833-1893 Physical Description: About 175 cards  Scope and Content Note: Copies of letters written in the division of private land claims and signed by the commissioner of the GLO. Included is valuable data on early land claims around Green Bay, Prairie du Chien, the Stockbridge Reservation, the Carver Grant, etc.