Papers of Eleazar Wheelock - Collection 126

[Note: The BGC Archives does not have the original documents of this collection. What it does have is a microfilm edition of the papers, which it purchased from a publisher, as did many other archives and libraries.]

[Note: What follows is a description of the documents in this collection which are available for use at BGC Archives in Wheaton, Illinois, USA. The actual documents are not, in most cases, available online, only this description of them. Nor are they available for sale or rent.]

Table of Contents

Brief Description of This Collection

Title Page and Restrictions

Biography of Eleazar Wheelock

An Essay on the Contents of the Collection (Scope and Content)

List of Microfilm in This Collection (Location Records)

Collection 126 [February 19, 2001]
Wheelock, Eleazar; 1711-1779
Papers; 1728-1779
16 Reels of Microfilm

Restrictions

There do not appear to be any restrictions on this collection. Any questions on use should be addressed to the owner of the original papers:

Dartmouth College
Hanover, New Hampshire

Biography

Eleazar Wheelock was born to Ralph and Ruth Wheelock on April 22, 1711, in Windham, Connecticut. He graduated from Yale in 1733 and received his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh in 1767. In 1734 he was licensed to preach by the Congregational Church serving the Second Congregational Church at Lebanon Crank (Columbia), Connecticut for thirty-five years. He married twice, first to Mrs. Sarah Malty in April 1735, then to Mary Brimstead in November 1747. Eleven children were born from his marriages. His eldest son John followed his father as president of Dartmouth.

During the religious revival known as the Great Awakening, Wheelock traveled to distant congregations to preach and spread the gospel. Educational needs of the Indian population were of great concern to Wheelock. At first he worked with one pupil, Samson Occom, of the Mohegan nation, and then established Moor's Indian Charity School in 1754. Because of resistance from Sir William Johnson, British representative to the Iroquois, and the poor showing of many of the school's graduates, Wheelock moved his school to the New Hampshire frontier. Governor John Wentworth of New Hampshire issued Wheelock the charter to Dartmouth College in 1769. Funds from England helped to get the school started. Wheelock served as president of the college and of Moor's charity school the rest of his life.

He died in Hanover, New Hampshire on April 24, 1779. Wheelock's tombstone in the cemetery of Dartmouth College reads as follows:

By the gospel he subdues the ferocity of the savage;
And to the civilized he opened new paths of science.
Traveler,
Go, if you can, and deserve
The sublime reward of such merit.

Scope and Content

The microfilmed materials in this collection are from Dartmouth College Archives. They document the career of Eleazar Wheelock, and the histories of Dartmouth College, Moor's Indian Charity School, and the town of Hanover through the year of Wheelock's death in 1779.

The catalogued items in the general manuscripts collection of the Dartmouth Archives are arranged by their identifiying numbers. For detailed explanation of the numbering system and a complete listing of entries, please consult the book entitled A Guide to the Microfilm Edition of the Papers of Eleazar Wheelock, located on the New Hampshire shelf in the Reading Room.

A collection of papers containing correspondence from Wheelock's biographer, Rev. David McClure, is also found on the microfilm copy. Items stored in the Dartmouth Archives' vault and small print case were also filmed as units.

The order of items on the microfilm is as follows: the general manuscript collection, dated and then undated papers; McClure manuscripts, dated and undated; "vault" materials (journals, letter books, minutes, ledgers); "small print cases" (three early diplomas).

*****

Provenance

The microfilm in this collection was purchased by the Center from Dartmouth College.

No Accession #
June 18, 1980
Mary Ann Buffington
S. Kouns

LOCATION RECORD
No Accession #
Type of Material: Microfilm
The following items are located in the CENTER LIBRARY MICROFILM ROOM:

All reels are 35mm, positive copy.

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Last Revised: 2/19/01
Expiration: indefinite