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Laura Benjamin Miller collection on Judah P. Benjamin

 Collection
Identifier: Mss 1034-078

Collection Overview

The collection consists of a Confederate States of America two-dollar bill featuring an image of Benjamin, a Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial brochure, and a digital copy of a letter from Benjamin (as the Confederate States Secretary of State) to Daniel Printup, Esq. of Rome, Georgia, requesting assistance in mustering soldiers for the 55th regiment of the Confederate States Army.

Dates

  • 1862, 1983

Creator

Language of Material

Materials in English

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Copyright Notice

The nature of the College of Charleston's archival holdings means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. Special Collections claims only physical ownership of most archival materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Biographical Note

Judah P. Benjamin (1811-1884), US senator, Confederate statesman, and sugar planter, was born in the British-occupied Danish West Indies (modern-day Virgin Islands). The Benjamin family immigrated to the United States shortly after Benjamin's birth and resided in North and South Carolina. Benjamin's father was a founding member of Charleston, South Carolina's Reformed Society of Israelites, the first effort to reform Judaism in the United States.

Judah Benjamin moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1832, where he entered private practice as a commercial lawyer and established a sugar plantation. After serving in the Louisiana state legislature for ten years, Benjamin was elected to the US senate, becoming the second Jewish senator in US history.

After Louisiana seceded from the Union in 1881, Benjamin was elected Attorney General of the Confederacy. Soon afterwards he assumed the positions of Secretary of War (September 1861-March 1862) and Secretary of State (March 1862-May 1865). Benjamin relocated to England after the war, and later moved to France, where he died in 1884.

Extent

1 folder (3 items)

Abstract

The collection consists of a Confederate States of America two-dollar bill, a Judah P. Benjamin Confederate Memorial brochure, and a digital copy of a letter from Judah Benjamin (as the Confederate States Secretary of State) to Daniel Printup, Esq. of Rome, Georgia, requesting assistance in mustering soldiers for the 55th regiment of the Confederate States Army.

Collection Arrangement

Materials are described at the item level.

Acquisitions Information

Materials donated in 2008 by Laura Benjamin Miller.

Alternate Form of Materials

Digital reproduction of the letter from Benjamin to Daniel S. Printup, Esq. is available online in the Lowcountry Digital Library.

Processing Information

Processed by Sarah Dorpinghaus, March 2011.

Title
Inventory of the Laura Benjamin Miller Collection on Judah P. Benjamin, 1862, 1983
Status
Completed
Author
Processed by: Sarah Dorpinghaus; machine-readable finding aid created by: Sarah Dorpinghaus
Date
2011
Description rules
Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
Funding from the Council on Library and Information Resources supported the processing of this collection and encoding of the finding aid.

Repository Details

Part of the Special Collections Repository

Contact:
Special Collections
College of Charleston Libraries
66 George Street
Charleston South Carolina 29424
(843) 953-8016
(843) 953-6319 (Fax)