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Manuscript Group 270
MACFARLANE-LITTLE FAMILY PAPERS
1831-1945
2 cu. ft.


James Macfarlane (1819-1885) was a graduate of Pennsylvania College (1837), a civil engineer, and was admitted to the bar in 1843. He practiced law at Bloomfield, Perry County from 1843-1851, was General Superintendent and sole manger of Barclay Railroad and Coal Company beginning in 1857, and served as a District Attorney for three years. Macfarlane also organized the Towanda Coal Company in 1865, served as head of the Associated Blossburg Coal Companies, authored books dealing with coal and geology in the United States, and was appointed Commissioner of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. He married Mary Overton in 1847, and together they had six children, one of whom, Ella L., married William Little, a lawyer from Towanda, Pennsylvania. Their son, James M. Little, was a mining engineer, spending time in gold mines in Australia during 1909 and 1910, Mexico from 1911-1915, and Chile from 1915-1918. Later in life, he became president of Ivanhoe Cooper Company in Brisbee, Arizona. James M. Little was the author of books on mining in the U.S. and Chile.

The Papers contain biographical notes and materials on James Macfarlane and James M. Little; general correspondence; published books; and photographs. Also of note is James M. Little's diary of a trip to Europe in 1905. The general correspondence covers three generations, and is mostly to or from James Macfarlane and his children and between William and James M. Little, although there is also correspondence between all family members, friends, and more distant relatives. Letters describe family news, news from university scholars, legal and mining concerns, investment opportunities, and politics of the day. The published books are authored by James Macfarlane and James M. Little, including the latter's illustrated Columbia University thesis for a mining engineer degree with hand colored photographs of mines and mining operations, and two reference books on mining. There are also four folders of photographs, including: family members, Alf Tellam, Colorado mines and mining operations, and mine, mining operations, staff, and the revolution in Cananea, Mexico.



MacFARLANE FAMILY
LITTLE FAMILY
BOOKS


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