Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, accounts, and invoices relating to the activities of French diplomat and naval agent John Holker during the American Revolutionary War, as well as his private business ventures. Correspondents include Charles-François-Adrien Le Paulmier Annemours, François Barbé-Marbois, Henri-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste Bertin, Jacques-Donatien Le Ray de Chaumont, William Duer, Anne-César de La Luzerne, Peter Marmié, Gouverneur Morris, Robert Morris, Daniel Parker, Mark Pringle, Matthew Ridley, John Ross, William Smith, and William Turnbull. Materials concern supplying the French fleet and army, particularly troops commanded by Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur; Holker's dealings with Duer, Marmié, Robert Morris, Parker, and Turnbull, and investments in the merchant vessel Empress of China, Jacobs Creek Iron Works, and a whiskey distillery; and trade of American tobacco. Personal bills and invoices in the collection reference people enslaved by Holker. Also included is a card catalog of individual items in the collection, arranged in chronological order.
Dates
- 1777-1821, undated
Creator
Language of Materials
In French and English.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The John Holker Papers is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of William Smith Mason, 1935, with later acquisitions. Transferred from Sterling Memorial Library, 1984.
Arrangement
Organized into two series: I. Correspondence and Other Papers, 1777-1821. II. Catalog Cards, undated.
Extent
10.5 Linear Feet (11 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Abstract
The collection consists of correspondence, memoranda, accounts, and invoices relating to the activities of French diplomat and naval agent John Holker during the American Revolutionary War, as well as his private business ventures.
John Holker (1745-1822)
John Holker was an English-born French diplomat, merchant, and enslaver who moved to Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War. He was appointed French consul in Philadelphia and agent for the French Royal Marine in 1778, and in 1780, he became consul general for Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, and New York. From 1781 to 1784, he pursued private ventures with Robert Morris, the United States Superintendent of Finance and Agent of the Marine. After leaving his official post, Holker partnered with New York-based Parker, Duer & Co. to supply the Continental Army. He established a whiskey distillery with William Duer in Poughkeepsie, New York, and invested with Morris, Duer, and Daniel Parker in the merchant ship Empress of China, an early American vessel engaged in the China trade. Other business partners included William Turnbull and Peter Marmié, with whom he built the Jacobs Creek Iron Works (also known as Alliance Iron Works) in western Pennsylvania in 1789. Married three times, Holker settled in Springsbury, Virginia, after the war.
Custodial History
The John Holker Papers were originally part of the William Smith Mason Collection of Benjamin Franklin, donated to Yale in 1935. The collection was housed in Sterling Memorial Library from 1936 until 1984, when it was transferred to the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.
Processing Information
Former call number: Uncat MS Vault Franklin
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Annemours, Charles-François-Adrien Le Paulmier, chevalier d', 1742-1809
- Barbé-Marbois, François, marquis de, 1745-1837
- Bertin, Henri-Léonard-Jean-Baptiste, 1719-1792
- Capitalists and financiers -- United States
- Chaumont, Jacques-Donatien Leray de, 1725-1803
- Diplomatic and consular service, French -- United States
- Diplomats
- Duer, William, 1747-1799
- Empress of China (Ship)
- France -- Foreign relations -- United States
- France. Armée -- Supplies and stores
- France. Marine -- Supplies and stores
- Holker, John, 1745-1822
- Iron industry and trade -- United States
- Jacobs Creek Iron Works
- La Luzerne, Anne-César, chevalier de, 1741-1791
- Marmié , Peter
- Merchants
- Morris, Gouverneur, 1752-1816
- Morris, Robert, 1734-1806
- Parker, Daniel, active 1783-1784
- Pringle, Mark, -1819
- Ridley, Matthew, 1749-1789
- Rochambeau, Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, comte de, 1725-1807
- Ross, John, 1729-1800
- Shipping -- United States
- Slaveholders -- United States
- Slavery -- United States
- Smith, William, 1728-1814
- Tobacco industry -- United States -- History
- Turnbull, William, 1751-1822
- United States -- Foreign relations -- France
- United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783
- United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Equipment and supplies
- United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Finance
- United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Participation, French
- Whiskey industry -- United States
- Title
- Guide to the John Holker Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Brooke McManus
- Date
- May 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
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