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.

1796-1838

1839-1852 November

1852 November-1866

1867-1879

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.

1796-1846

1847-1854

1855-1858

1859-1868

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Letters Received from Registers and Receivers, 1816-1831
Physical Description: 9 cards 

Letters to Registers and Receivers Relative to Selections of Land under Act of Sept. 4, 1841, 1841-1848
Physical Description: 6 cards 

Miscellaneous Letters Received, 1805-1832
Physical Description: 19 cards 

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.

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.