Series: 1 S (Volume 1)
Scope and Content Note: Nine small pocket memoranda books bound together. Eight contain interview notes on frontier events in Kentucky and Tennessee recorded by Draper in 1843 and 1844. The ninth lists letters written by Draper in 1842 and 1843. Each of the books was individually indexed by Draper, but he later removed many of the notes to other series.

Series: 2 S (Volume 2)
Scope and Content Note

Seven pocket memoranda books bound together, containing interview notes taken in the fall of 1845 mainly in western Virginia (West Virginia) and Ohio in the vicinity of Wheeling.

Topics discussed include the sieges of Wheeling; Samuel Brady; William Crawford; David Shepherd; Lewis Wetzel and other members of the Wetzel family; Ebenezer, Jonathan, and Silas Zane; and numerous other pioneers in this region. Among persons interviewed was an elderly black survivor of the Wheeling sieges, Rachael Johnson, whom Draper visited again the following year. (The 1846 interview notes are in 3 S.) A few pages at the end of the volume contain notes by Draper from the archives of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and from scattered issues of the Pennsylvania Packet, 1773-1774. Each memorandum book contains an individual index by Draper.

Series: 3 S (Volume 3)
Scope and Content Note

Eight notebooks bound together, filled mainly with interviews recorded during a trip in 1846 through the upper Ohio River area in Pennsylvania, western Virginia (West Virginia), Ohio, and Kentucky between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Topics embrace a wide range of frontier events and persons, but there are substantial references to the siege of Bryan's Station (1782), the Nickajack campaign (1794), Daniel Boone, Samuel Brady, George Rogers Clark, William Crawford, Simon Girty, Simon Kenton, David Shepherd, John Cleves Spumes (1742-1814), the Wetzels, and Jacob White. A few notes abstracted from public records of Mason County, Kentucky, and a few biographical notations and obituaries copied from pamphlets and from Kentucky and Pennsylvania newspapers of assorted dates, 1796-1840, are also in this volume. The notebooks were individually indexed by Draper, but in many instances the interview records were later placed in other series.

Series: 4 S (Volume 4)
Scope and Content Note: Notes of interviews recorded in 1850 during a trip in western Pennsylvania and adjacent portions of Ohio and New York; in the latter state Draper spent ten days at Iroquois Indian reservations near Cattaraugus conversing with members of the Seneca tribe. Most of this volume pertains to the history of Indian campaigns, 1755-1794, in which the Iroquois participated or of which they had knowledge. There is considerable biographical notice of Joseph Brant, Samuel Brady, George Rogers Clark, Cornplanter, William Crawford, Sir John Johnson, James Potter, and Red Jacket, with briefer references to many other Iroquois leaders.

Series: 5 S (Volume 5)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly notes of interviews taken in 1851 during portions of Draper's journey through western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and the French villages along the Mississippi River in Illinois and Missouri. Although many topics are touched upon, biographical emphasis was placed on Boone, Brady, Clark, Crawford, John Edgar, Micajah and Wiley Harpe, Simon Kenton, Jonathan and Josiah Ramsay, James Robertson, the Todd family, and Cornelius Washburn. A few brief notations from the Catholic Church records at Kaskaskia and a genealogy of the Kenton family are interspersed among the interview notes.

Series: 6 S (Volume 6)
Scope and Content Note

Notes, primarily of interviews, recorded in 1851 in Missouri. The bulk of the information was obtained in extensive interviews (pages 18-194) in October and November with Daniel Boone's son Nathan and the latter's wife, Olive Van Bibber Boone. Although their discussion centered about the life, adventures, and personality of Daniel Boone, there is also biographical material on Simon Kenton and Lewis Wetzel; genealogical data on the Boone, Bryan, Callaway, and Van Bibber families; and numerous references to Nathan Boone's own career, particularly his military service in the War of 1812 in Missouri and the upper Mississippi Valley.

A very few other papers - letters to Draper, copies of articles, and newspaper clippings - are found preceding and following the interview notes. At the beginning of the notebook Draper prepared a detailed name index with chronological entries under each name.

Series: 7 S (Volume 7)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly notes of interviews recorded in 1858 in the vicinity of Maysville and Washington, Kentucky, and Aberdeen, Ohio. Although Draper's research in 1858 was centered on the life of Simon Kenton, there are incidental references to many of Kenton's associates and contemporaries. The notebook also contains extracts from The Western Spy and Hamilton Gazette, 1799-1806, and notes copied from early Mason County, Kentucky, court records. The volume was indexed by Draper.

Series: 8 S (Volume 8)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly notes covering interviews in 1858 in White County, Indiana, and in Urbana and vicinity in Champaign County, Ohio. There are also a few notes from Champaign County archives and from a few 1807 issues of the Cincinnati newspaper Liberty Hall. Although Simon Kenton was the primary topic of the interviews, there are also noteworthy references to Samuel Brady, Simon Girty, and Andrew Poe. The volume was indexed by Draper.

Series: 9 S (Volume 9)
Scope and Content Note

Mainly interview notes recorded in 1860 in Ohio. Discussed were frontier events from about 1764 to 1794, in most of which Samuel Brady or Lewis Wetzel was involved. Among the varied topics are Dunmore's War (1774); the battle of Monmouth (1778); Indian captivities of Mrs. Glass, John Grist, Richard Tilton, Jacob and Joseph Van Bibber, and Mrs. Lawrence Van Buskirk; Thomas Edgington's illness from rattlesnake bite; the Beaver Block House campaign (1791); and the dress, customs, and activities of spies.

In addition to genealogical data pertaining to the families of John Cuppy, Thomas Dickerson, Silas Hedges, and Henry Jolly, there are biographical references and allusions, often brief, to several dozen other scouts and pioneers associated or contemporary with Brady and Wetzel. Also found are excerpts and notes from a manuscript autobiography by Benjamin Van Cleve, data from a scrapbook kept by John W. Van Cleve, portions of songs commemorating William Crawford's campaign (1782) and an exploit by Samuel Brady. A few copies of other newspaper and manuscript articles are interspersed among the interviews.

Series: 10 S (Volume 10)
Scope and Content Note: Correspondence and related records, 1779-1794, from the Virginia archives, abstracted, noted, or copied by Draper while in Richmond in September 1860. Most pertain to relations with the Cherokee and other Southern Indian tribes and to frontier warfare on many fronts. Selections were primarily from the correspondence of Governors Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, and Beverley Randolph to and from western military leaders. Campbell's account (January 15, 1781) of the Cherokee expedition of 1780-1781 includes commentary on Nancy Ward. A few additional interviews recorded in Ohio (similar in character to those in 9 S) precede the Virginia archival records.

Series: 11 S (Volume 11)
Scope and Content Note: Selections and extracts from correspondence and papers, 1780-1784, on military campaigns and Indian affairs in the Virginia archives, copied by Draper in Richmond in September 1860. Most of the letters were from incoming correspondence files of Governors Jefferson, Harrison, Thomas Nelson and Patrick Henry, and include letters from about three dozen prominent western military figures in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Series: 12 S (Volume 12)
Scope and Content Note: Additional selections and notes from the Virginia archives, 1769-1795, made by Draper during September and October 1860. Among the selections are correspondence of Governors Patrick Henry, Henry Lee, and Edmund Randolph of Virginia, Governor John Sevier of Tennessee; Daniel Boone; George Rogers Clark; and Joseph Martin; and speeches exchanged with the Cherokees and other Southern tribes. Among the major topics are Indian depredations and alarms in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee; applications for western land grants (1769); Clark's Wabash campaign (1786); John Logan's Shawnee expedition (1787),; the Cherokee conflict (1788); and the creation and government of the State of Franklin.

Series: 13 S (Volume 13)
Scope and Content Note: Additional selections, extracts, and notes from the Virginia archives, 1774-1795, copied during October 1860. From correspondence and the journal of the Virginia Executive Council, Draper noted an assortment of documents relating to Clark's Illinois expedition (1778), to Cherokee expeditions (1776, 1793), and to other military and Indian affairs.

Series: 14 S (Volume 14)
Scope and Content Note: Selections and extracts from correspondence and petitions and memorials, 1776-1788, in the Virginia archives and from records, 1777-1787, of the Continental Congress in Washington, D.C., all of which Draper examined in October 1860. The Virginia documents (pages 1-101) deal primarily with conditions in Kentucky, particularly the defense of Boonesborough, and with the military career of George Rogers Clark. The Continental Congress records (pages 102-236) emphasize Indian affairs in Kentucky and adjacent areas, particularly the treaty at the Great Miami (1786) and the negotiations preceding it. There are also briefer references to Clark's campaigns, to Joseph Brant anti New York border warfare, to the battle of King's Mountain, and to the problem of Spanish and American interests in navigation of the Mississippi River in the 1780s.

Series: 15 S (Volume 15)
Scope and Content Note: Selections, extracts, and notes from Continental Congress records, 1777-1786 (pages 1-76), and from incoming correspondence, circa 1767-1779 (pages 77-232) in the papers of George Washington, copied by Draper in the archives of the State Department in Washington, D.C., in November 1860. In both sections many of the papers pertain to Brant and the Revolution in the Mohawk: Valley, but there is also material on land claims in the early 1770s by Washington, John Connolly, and others; the proposed Ohio colony of Banataria; Richard Henderson's Transylvania purchase; Dunmore's War (1774); Clark's Vincennes expedition (1779); the treaty of the Great Miami (1786); and other military affairs in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Series: 16 S (Volume 16)
Scope and Content Note

Additional copies and extracts from archival collections and notes on interviews recorded by Draper in November and December 1860. In Washington, D.C., Draper's sources included: one oral interview (page 52); additional correspondence of George Washington, 1780-1783 (pages 1-77); papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1779-1825 (pages 78-147); and records of the United States House of Representatives, 1811-1838 (pages 148-162). From the nation's capital Draper went to West Chester, Pennsylvania, to examine papers, 1792-1795, of Anthony Wayne (pages 163-210) in possession of Joseph J. Lewis, and to Harrisburg to use Pennsylvania state archives and newspapers files for the 1790s (pages 211-228) before recording interviews (pages 228-304) elsewhere in Pennsylvania, western Virginia, and Ohio. Many of the Washington papers copied relate to the war in New York, and the House of Representatives selections pertain only to the Boone family. Among Wayne's papers are lists and some short statements about prisoners taken in Indian raids in Kentucky from about 1786 through 1794.

A wide variety of references to border events and participants are found in Draper's other documentary selections and interviews; among the many persons mentioned are Samuel Brady, Daniel Brodhead, George Rogers Clark and his brother William, William Cocke, Joseph Crockett, John Filson, the Marquis de Lafayette, J.M.P. Legras, Francis Marion, Joseph Martin, Alexander Mitchell, Edward Perrin and Jacob Van Braam.

Series: 17 S (Volume 17)
Scope and Content Note

Mainly interview notes, 1863, recorded in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario. Major topics considered were the lives of Simon Girty, Simon Kenton, and Tecumseh and events of the War of 1812, but these involved research and briefer references on many others, such as the Shawnee Indians Blue Jacket and Captain Johnny; Daniel Boone; Samuel Brady; William Caldwell (d. 1822) and his family, particularly his son Billy; Isadore Chêne, George Rogers Clark; Kinzie and Vachel Dickerson; Peter Drouillard; Peter Navarre and his family; Cornelius Washburn and his family; Anthony Wayne; William Whitley; David Williamson; and James Winchester.

Among persons interviewed was Rachel Reno, a black woman born in Blue Jacket's town after her mother had been captured in Kentucky by the Shawnee. There are also a few entries copied from the registers of St. Anne's Catholic Church in Detroit and from the Catholic Church in Amherstburg, Ontario; a biographical account about James Knaggs; a memorial poem about Simon Kenton; and Kenton family genealogical records. A detailed index by Draper precedes the notes.

Series: 18 S (Volume 18)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly interview notes, 1863, taken in Ohio and Kentucky, with emphasis on the lives of Boone, Clark, Kenton, Benjamin Logan, Yelverton Peyton, Isaac Shelby, Tecumseh, Aquilla Whitaker, and William Whitley, and their participation in such battles as Point Pleasant (1774), Blue Licks (1782), Raisin River (1813) and the Thames (1813). Also found are a list of officers in Joseph Crockett's regiment in 1779, notes from the John Hardin family register, and a few periodical articles and newspaper clippings. Draper's detailed index preceding the notes contains entries for many other names of persons and events.

Series: 19 S (Volume 19)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly interview notes, 1863, recorded in Ohio, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Although the interviews were centered about the lives of Boone, Brady, Kenton, Tecumseh, and Cornelius Washburn, there are substantial biographical references to numerous others such as George Anderson, the Shawnee Chi-ux-ka (Chi-ux-ko) known as Captain Tommy, George Rogers Clark, Kinzie and Vachel Dickerson, George Edwards, George Fouls, John Gunsaulus (Kingsaula), William Henry Harrison, Jacob and Joseph Holmes, Captain Johnny, Spencer Records, Lewis Wetzel, David Williamson, and Samuel McDole Wilson. One interview contains portions of a ballad on Crawford's defeat in 1782. A detailed index by Draper precedes the notes, and lists many other names and events for which there are brief references.

Series: 20 S (Volume 20)
Scope and Content Note

Notes taken by Draper during four periods:

1) interviews gathered in Indiana and Illinois during October 1863 (pages 41-141)

2) notes on Indian affairs, 1770-1774, from Pennsylvania newspapers and on the War of 1812 from Ohio newspapers examined in Cincinnati in September 1864 (pages 142-195)

3) interviews with Simon Girty's daughter, Mrs. Sarah Munger, in Winnebago County, Illinois, in December 1864 (pages 195-230)

4) interviews with Simon Kenton's son William M. Kenton, who visited Draper in Madison in April and June 1865 (pages 231-259).

In addition to biographical and genealogical records and information on the Girty, Kenton, and Munger families, there is also much material on tae Spencer Records family and on Cyrus, Jacob, John, Lewis, and Martin Wetzel, with briefer allusions to many associates and contemporaries of all of these families. Topics range from Dunmore's War in 1774 to the battle at the Raisin River in 1813. An index begun by Draper but never completed precedes the notes.

Series: 21 S (Volume 21)
Scope and Content Note

Mainly interview notes, 1866, recorded in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. Topics range widely and include: exploration, settlement, and Indian raids in Kentucky in the 1770s and 1780s; Clark's capture of Vincennes in 1779; episodes in the lives of Simon Kenton and the Wetzels; and the Chicago massacre and other events during the War of 1812 in the Old Northwest. Dozens of participants are mentioned, but among the persons and families for whom there is substantial biographical or genealogical information are William Brooks and his Negro known as “Old Will”; Michael Cassidy; John Clinkenbeard; William Grant and his wife Elizabeth; Governor Thomas Kirker of Ohio; James and John McIntire; Cornelius Rains and his wife Mary; Samuel Wells; and William Wells.

Also found are many notes on the Negro Jean Baptiste Point au Sable and on Indian leaders from the Chippewa, Mingo, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Seneca, Shawnee, and Wyandot tribes, including Blackbird or Sig-ge-naak, Black Partridge or Mu-ca-da-puck-ee and his brother, the Foggy Day or Wau-bun-see; Billy Caldwell or Sauganash; Civil John; James Logan (Captain Jim Logan); Pontiac and his descendants; Shaubena known also as Chau-be-nay, Chambly or Shabonee; the Stone Roller or Sa-natch-e-win; and Tecumseh. A few selections from papers of Thomas S. Hinde were copied by Draper during his negotiations with the Hinde family for acquisition of the originals (which compose Series Y).

Series: 22 S (Volume 22)
Scope and Content Note

Interview notes, 1868, taken in Illinois and Missouri. Much of the material pertains to Daniel Boone, his life in Kentucky, his son Nathan, and the Boone's Lick Settlement in Missouri. There are references to many frontier events such as the capture of Ruddell's Station (Kentucky, 1782), the battle of Blue Licks (1782); the capture of Chenoweth's Station (Kentucky, 1789); the Little Miami battle (1792); Henry Dodge's expeditions of 1812 and 1814, the attack on Côte Sans Dessein, and other episodes in Missouri during the War of 1812. Numerous references discuss Indian captivities involving Elizabeth and George Foulks; John Leeth (Leith); Polly, John, and Lewis Tucker; and James Whittaker.

Biographical and genealogical data is given for many persons and families including Joab Barton; Black Partridge; Billy Caldwell; the Callaway family; the family of George Rogers and William Clark; Benjamin and Sarshall Cooper; Robert Dixon; the ancestry of Thomas Forsyth and his wife Keziah Malotte; the William Grant family, Henry Gratiot; Stephen Hempstead; John Hughey; Francois Le Claire; the Potawatomi known as the Main Poque; Daniel Morgan and his son Willoughby; David Musick and family; Jean Baptiste Point au Sable; Byrd Rogers and family; Abraham and Stephen Ruddell; Shaubena (Chaubonna, Chambly, Shabonee); Tecumseh; and the Van Bibber family. The interview with Richard J. Hughey contains a brief reference to the fabled Swift's mine in Kentucky. Draper's brief rough index of names of contributors precedes the notes.

Series: 23 S (Volume 23)
Scope and Content Note

Interview notes, 1868, recorded in Missouri and Kansas. The majority of the interviews relate to the life of Daniel Boone or to events in Missouri preceding or during the War of 1812, particularly the battle in 1810 between a party led by Stephen Cole and a band of Potawatomi and Henry Dodge's expedition of 1814. There is also discussion of the Chicago massacre (1812), Nathan and Rebekah (Rebecca) Heald, and Samuel and William Wells.

Draper's interviews with Indians in Kansas (pages 164-206) yielded biographical dal a on many of their prominant ancestors and tribal leaders. Among those most frequently noted were the Shawnee Big Snake or She-men-e-to, Black Fish or Pah-e-a-ta-pea-se-ka, Bright Horn, Captain Tommy or Chi-ux-ka (Chi-ux-ko), Peter Cornstalk and Old Cornstalk, Captain Jim Logan, James Rogers, Spy-Buck, Tecumseh and his brother the Prophet; the Ottawa and Potawatomi Billy Caldwell, John Baptiste Chardonnais, Main Poque (Main Poe). Also noted were Senachewin (Se-na-ge-woin), Shaubena (Chau-be-nee, Shabonee), Sig-ge-nauk (Sig-ge-naak), To-pin-e-bee (Tus-la-bee) or a Perched Eagle and his brother Che-banse, Wau-bun-see and his brother Black Partridge.

Also found in the volume are copies, of the muster roll for Sarshall Cooper's company in 1812, lists of persons killed or wounded in the Boone's Lick region in 1812-1815, and a Boone family register.

Series: 24 S (Volume 24)
Scope and Content Note: Interview notes, 1868, taken in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri. Topics range widely and include: events in the lives of Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, the Musick family, and the Wetzel family; early American settlement in Missouri and Missouri's participation in the War of 1812; Indian settlement and traders at Milwaukee about 1800 to 1804, including Antoine Le Clair Sr. and family, Joseph Laframboise, and Joseph La Croix; Indian leaders in Illinois including Gomo and his brother Senachewin (Se-na-ge-woin, Se-nah-ge-woin) and Billy Caldwell of the Potawatomi, and Black Hawk and Keokuk (Ke-o-kuck) of the Sauk and Fox; and Tecumseh and the battle of Frenchtown (1813). Also found are copies of entries from a Kenton family register and portions of a ballad by John Matthews on the defeat of Allen Ramsay's scouting party by the Winnebago in Missouri in July 1813.

Series: 25 S (Volume 25)
Scope and Content Note: Mainly interview notes, 1868, from residents of Indiana and Kentucky. In content the emphasis is on the lives of Daniel Boone, George Rogers Clark, and Tecumseh, but with many brief references to their associates and contemporaries. From family registers Draper copied brief genealogical entries on John Harbeson and his wife Catherine Ingless and on Zackwell Morgan Sr. and his wife Drusilla Springer. From the brother and daughter of Alexander S. Withers Draper obtained biographical information on the author of Chronicles of Border Warfare (1831). In a memorandum dated November 19, 1868 (page 211) Draper commented briefly on his first meaningful encounter with spiritualism. There are also notes made during examination of public records of Jefferson County, Kentucky, and a few newspaper clippings. At the beginning of the volume is Draper's index by chronology and subject.

Series: 26 S (Volume 26)
Scope and Content Note: Draper's manuscripts copies of articles and excerpts, 1812-1816, from the Louisiana Gazette and its successor the Missouri Gazette, files of which he examined in St. Louis in 1868. Nearly all of the selections pertain to the War of 1812 in the West, but particularly to events in Missouri and in the Rock River and Prairie du Chien areas of the Upper Mississippi Valley. Included are articles about Robert Dickson, Matthew Elliott, and the Girty family.

Series: 27 S (Volume 27)
Scope and Content Note: A volume entitled “Memorandum Book A,” containing miscellaneous entries on Revolutionary events and participants, including a list of Revolutionary Army generals. Draper compiled this notebook during the early years of his research, 1839-1843. Most data came from published sources, but he recorded a few oral conversations in Ohio and Mississippi concerning Robert Patterson, William Whitley, Benjamin Cleveland, the battle of King's Mountain, the Indian ambush of Robert Edmundson and the Samuel Neely family in 1787, and Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts. Many of the other entries demonstrate Draper's interest in such men as Andrew Pickens and George Rogers Clark. Numerous other names and episodes are listed in Draper's index at the beginning of the notebook.

Series: 28 S (Volume 28)
Scope and Content Note: A volume known as “Note-Book B,” containing interview notes, 1841-1843, taken in Mississippi and Tennessee and a few copies of newspaper articles. In content the notes pertain largely to the Revolution in Tennessee and the Carolinas, with discussion of the King's Mountain campaign; such Tory leaders as William Cunningham; and such patriot officers as Benjamin Cleveland, William Campbell, the two Joseph McDowells, Andrew Pickens, and Griffith Rutherford. Preceding the notes is a detailed index by Draper.

Series: 29 S (Volume 29)
Scope and Content Note: A volume designated as “Note-Book C,” begun by Draper in Mississippi in 1841, with copies of newspaper obituaries and biographical notices of a few Ohio and Kentucky pioneers. Filling the major portion of the volume, however, are interview notes recorded in Tennessee in 1843 and 1844 and centered about the same topics listed in 28S. Also included are notes on the territory south of Ohio copied from Jedediah Morse's American Geography (1793 edition). A detailed index by Draper is found at the beginning of the notebook. A brief account of the battle of Kettle Creek (Georgia) on the last page of the volume is not noted in the index.

Series: 30 S (Volume 30)
Scope and Content Note

Three notebooks designated by Draper as “D,” “E,” and “F,” bound together and primarily containing interview notes, 1841-1844, recorded in Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Most pertain to border affairs between 1770 and 1795. Among the principal events and participants discussed are: the settlement of Bryan's Station; the siege of Buchanan's Station; Daniel Boone; William Campbell; John Casey and his son William; the Cherokee War in 1776; William Christian; George Rogers Clark; Benjamin Cleveland; John Donelson; the Tennessee Cherokee chief Doublehead; the captivity of Mrs. Polly English; the Harpe brothers and Samuel Mason; the Island Flats battle; the King's Mountain battle; Maldin's Station; John Montgomery; the Nickajack campaign; the Point Pleasant battle; the Chickasaw Indian attack on the Renfroe and Turpin families at Battle Creek; James Robertson; Griffith Rutherford; Arthur St. Clair's defeat; Charles Scott; John Tipton; and John and Valentine Sevier.

One of Draper's informants, Hugh F. Bell, recalled experiences in hunting buffalo, elk, and bear in Kentucky in the early 1790s and gave instructions for cooking beaver tail, wild turkey, and other game and also for preparing a bearskin coat. There are also a few excepts from Jared Sparks's, The Writings of George Washington on Adam Stephen in 1754 and copies of Isaac Shelby-John Sevier correspondence, 1810-1814, and a few stanzas of two songs: one on the battle of Point Pleasant, the other on St. Clair's defeat. Draper indexed each notebook individually (pages 165-171, 337-343, and 533-536).

Series: 31 S (Volume 31)
Scope and Content Note

Three notebooks, “G,” “H,” and “I,” bound together and containing interview notes taken in Tennessee: and Virginia, selections from articles by Hugh Paul Taylor and Agatha Towles and from other publications, and copies of personal manuscripts and public archives.

The material concerns white settlement and Indian warfare in Kentucky, Tennessee, and western Virginia and was gathered and copied into these notebooks in the 1841-1843 period. Draper's archival and manuscript sources included court records of Augusta and Frederick counties, Virginia; papers, 1787-1805, of James Robertson found in a Nashville library; letters of William Cocke to Andrew Jackson (1814); correspondence (1813) of James Winchester; and notes by Samuel Kercheval compiled during his preparation of A History of the Valley of Virginia (1833). On the battle of King's Mountain, Draper not only gathered oral accounts, but also copied newspaper descriptions and a song issued during the commemoration of the battle anniversary in 1810 as well as published documents involved in the controversy over the conduct of the battle which erupted between William C. Preston and Isaac Shelby in the 1820s.

Among other persons prominently discussed in this volume are Anthony Bledsoe, Benjamin Cleveland, James Fontaine, Samuel Handley, the Harpe brothers, Robert Johnson, Andrew and John Lewis and the Lewis family of Virginia, Joseph Martin, John Montgomery, William Preston and the Preston family, Griffith Rutherford, John Sevier, Daniel Smith, Adam Stephen, John Stuart, Frederick Stump, and William Whitley. Many other names and subjects are listed in the indexes which Draper prepared for each notebook (pages 179-183, 371-377, 558-565).

Series: 32 S (Volume 32)
Scope and Content Note

Three notebooks, “J,” “K,” and “L,” bound together and containing information on border settlement in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia gathered by Draper in 1844 from interviews, county records, family papers, and publications.

Although many civil and military leaders of the region are discussed, emphasis is on events in Tennessee such as the Cherokee campaign of 1776, the battle of King's Mountain and subsequent Shelby-Campbell controversy, the attack on Nashville in 1781, and the government of the State of Franklin. Draper's archival sources included records of Botetourt, Fincastle, and Montgomery counties, Virginia, and Sullivan and Washington counties, Tennessee. From private papers he copied Sevier family genealogical records and portions of Daniel Trabue's narrative of life in early Kentucky (a manuscript of which Draper later acquired the original in Volume 57 J). From publications he copied additional articles by Hugh Paul Taylor and a few obituaries.

The volume contains substantial biographical references to Anthony Bledsoe; Daniel Boone; Richard Callaway; Arthur, John, and William Campbell; Gilbert and William Christian; George Rogers Clark; John Donelson; Andrew Lewis and family; Benjamin Logan; Joseph and William Martin; William Preston; the Renfroe family and their Negro Robert; James Robertson; Evan and Isaac Shelby; John and Valentine Sevier; Stephen Trigg; William Whitley; and James Winchester. Many other names and events, however, are listed in the indexes prepared by Draper for each notebook (pages 183-194, 377-389, and 533-545).

Series: 33 S (Volume 33)
Scope and Content Note

Four notebooks, “M,” “0,” “P,” and “Q,” bound together.

For notebook “M”, only Draper's index remains here, for the interview notes composing this segment were all transferred to other locations in Series C and Series J. All of notebooks “0” and “P” and a few pages in “Q” are filled with selections Draper copied from the Kentucky Gazette, 1787-1795. Most of notebook “Q” is filled with copies of manuscripts in possession of Nathaniel Hart of Woodford County, Kentucky. These include letters of John Floyd to William Preston, 1774-1783, extracts from a few letters, 1779-1781, of Thomas and Nathaniel Hart (1770-1844), selections from Nathaniel's journal during Wayne's campaign (1794), and copies of an address by Charles Scott (1812) and of a manuscript biographical sketch of William Preston by Francis Preston (1833). A few Kentucky interview notes, 1845, are also in this notebook. For the contents of notebooks “O,” “P,” and “Q” Draper made detailed indexes (pages 101-109, 199-213, and 371-387).