Collections : [University of Virginia, Special Collections Dept.]

These manuscript volumes reveal a great deal about Benjamin Kissam's practice, and provide a window on the legal world in New York City on the eve of the American Revolution. The ledger was kept from 1755 to 1776, and contains accounts of clients, both individual and corporate, relatives, servants, and other lawyers. Although there is no mention of John Jay, this ledger was in use during the period of Jay's clerkship with Kissam. His clients ranged across the social spectrum, and he sometimes noted their places of residence or occupations. Since he kept thorough and detailed records for these accounts, the great number of blanks on the credit side suggests that many of them were never settled. Occasionally, he noted that he would never be paid for a certain account. In transactions involving family members and employees, he kept careful records of money spent or advanced and funds repaid.

Memorial of Captain John Fenno Mansfield (1788-1812) in this Eulogium in calligraphy by Benjamin Owen Tyler. At Westpoint Tyler designed and accomplished this memorial dated November 20, 1816.Calligraphically and stylistically, the broadside bears all of the hallmarks of Tyler's penmanship and design such as floating cherubic heads. The Eulogium's most telling couplet states: "Science and Taste, united, would have shed/ A living luster round his honored head."