Manuscripts Collection
Robert B. Haines was born in Pennsylvania on February 16, 1827; graduated from Haverford School (now College) in 1844; bought a nursery near Germantown (Philadelphia, Penn.); and lived there until his death on August 9, 1895. He was married to Margaret Vaux Wistar.
A brief report of how the Minnesota Historical Society acquired the Robert B. Haines Letters was printed in
Associated Materials: Other papers of Robert Bowne Haines, which relate primarily to the Haines family, are located at the Archives of American Art of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and at the American Philosophical Society Library in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should
Accession numbers: 3680, 3707
Processed by: Kathryn A. Johnson, October 1997
Catalog ID number: 09-00320139
Copies of twelve letters from and to Haines while he was a secretary on David Dale Owen's United States Geological Survey exploration of areas of Minnesota along the Minnesota, St. Croix, and Mississippi rivers in order to locate mineral resources, supplemented by a small amount of unrelated personal correspondence. There is a typescript and photostatic copy of each letter written by Robert B. Haines.
In addition to the survey correspondence are two early personal letters: one to Haines from W. Russell (1838) describing his house in Boston, and one from Haines (1844) while a student at Haverford School to his sister, with information on his activities there. Two other family letters, from his sisters J.R.H. [Jane Reuben Haines] (July 8, 1848) and Margaret Haines (July 14, 1848), contain information on family activities, the weather, news of friends, and other matters.
The letters (June 24, 1848 - Nov. 8, 1848) relating Haines' experiences on the Owen survey contain detailed descriptions of his life and activities written from the Blue Earth River, Stillwater (Minn.), and St. Louis (Mo.). The June 24 letter has detailed information on the 700-mile trip up the Minnesota River and back to Fort Snelling, noting contacts with Indian tribes, food, the weather, geographical features, hunting expeditions, portaging, trees, flowers, birds and waterfowl, and a wealth of related information on a largely unsettled frontier region.
Upon its return to Fort Snelling, the company proceeded east to Stillwater, where they began the Mississippi River journey to St. Louis. Letters (August 18, October 14 and 26) describe the country around the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, with information on Winnebago Indian villages; a sawmill in Osceola (Wis.); geographical features; the weather; flowers; farming prospects; and, further down river, descriptions of Prairie du Chien (Wis.); the presence of jasper and other minerals; Indian mounds; Mississippi River bluffs; Bloomington, Dubuque, and Davenport (Iowa); Rock Island (Ill.); and his arrival in St. Louis on October 26, at which time the survey company disbanded.
A letter written from Vincennes (Ind.) (Dec. 10, 1848) describes his trip there from Louisville (Ky.) citing cities in the region, a flood in Paoli (Ind.), the Wabash River, and general descriptions of the region. One from Green Bay, Wis. (June 11, 1849) tells of his journey there from Detroit, across Lakes St. Clair, Huron, and Michigan, and across Mackinac Island to Green Bay, with much information on woodland areas, flowers, fruits, the weather, the Fox River and its potential for transportation, Old Fort Howard, and the rumored removal of the Winnebago Indians whose lands were being given to speculators.