Shoemaker-Eccleston collection

The Shoemaker-Eccleston Collection consists of letters, notes, and receipts mainly relating to Augusta Chambers Eccleston Shoemaker (1833-1907) and her father, John Bowers Eccleston (1794-1860), Maryland Court of Appeals Judge from 1851 to 1860. The Augusta Shoemaker materials range from 1881 to 1895; Judge Eccleston papers span from 1818 to 1858.

Incoming letters characterize the majority of the Shoemaker items; very few documents are from the hand of the subject. Notes from relatives, while in the United States and abroad, employment seekers, charities, and religious missionaries appear interspersed. One letter, dated 1895, describes Strauss conducting a concert in Baltimore. An 1890 note, written in France, mentions aspects of the Paris Exposition and comments on the newly-built Eiffel Tower. A very limited number from the subject appear.

The Eccleston portion of this collection is composed mainly of published legal opinions and handwritten case notes. The cases cover Eccleston's judicial career from the 1840-1860 period and include the following sample of subjects: land transactions, immigration, inheritance, and property disputes. "Jno K. Sappington v. Joseph Witaker and others" involves injurious smoke from kilns and its effects on nearby residents. "W. Holmes v. Sarah Floyd Mitchell" (circa 1853), a property case, considers the propriety of separating a newly-born child from its enslaved mother. An opinion on an 1849 petition for freedom is also featured. One of the few letters in this section is an 1854 memo from Reverdy Johnson regarding a marriage contract.