Creator: Lowndes, William, 1782-1822.
Collection number: 2778
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Abstract: Lawyer, planter, and U.S. representative from South Carolina. Papers of William Lowndes and his family. The collection consists chiefly of Lowndes’s correspondence while in Congress, 1811-1821, including letters written from Washington, D.C., to his wife, Elizabeth (Pinckney) Lowndes, discussing his personal and social life; and letters he received from notable politicians, including John Quincy Adams, Joseph Alston, John C. Calhoun, Langdon Cheves, William H. Crawford, William Drayton, Hamilton Fish, John Forsyth, James Hamilton, Robert Y. Hayne, Daniel H. Huger, Hugh S. Legar?, James Monroe, Thomas Pinckney, Eldred Simkins, and William Wirt. Among other items are correspondence, 1758- 1799, of William Lowndes’s father, Rawlins (1721-1800), of Charleston, S.C., with English and West Indian merchants; a fragment of a diary of Charles Lowndes, 1754-1755, chiefly concerning social life in London; detailed reminiscences of William’s grandson, Thomas Pinckney Lowndes (1839-1899), concerning antebellum life, the Civil War, and Reconstruction in Charleston; copies of speeches by William Lowndes; and his notebooks on law and congressional matters.
Repository: Southern Historical Collection
Collection Highlights: Papers of Lowndes, a South Carolina lawyer, planter, and U.S. Representative, and those of his family. Included are a letter addressed “Dear Master” concerning the care of crops (1817) and two letters that discuss slavery (1820). Microfilm available.