An archive of signed letters and autographs relating to John Berrien Lindsley as chancellor of the University of Nashville. The archive includes interesting content related to higher education in Tennessee (current institutions that can trace their roots to the University of Nashville include Vanderbilt Medical School, Peabody College, Montgomery Bell Academy, and University School of Nashville). 1st item: 1855 ALS, educator and future Confederate General Alexander P. Stewart to John Berrien Lindsley regarding Lindsley's plan to add a fourth department to the University of Nashville, to be called the Scientific School (for Mathematics and Engineering and for Chemistry). Stewart, who was born in Rogersville, TN and was a professor of mathematics at Cumberland University and the University of Nashville prior to the Civil War, gives advice on the organization of such a department and structuring of the professorships. (Stewart would go on to serve as Chancellor of the University of Mississippi in his post-War career). 2nd item: 1850 ALS from A.P. Stewart to Lindsley, written from Lebanon, TN, discussing various schools around the state. Includes mention of proposed female institutes at Murfreesboro, McMinnville and Manchester; plans by Cumberland University to establish law schools in Clarksville and Jackson; mention of the Masons dissolving their relationship with a college in Clarksville; and "I learn that the University at Knoxville is declining, only some 40 or 50 students. Perhaps the sooner all our colleges go by the board, the better: there may then be a possibility of establishing ONE that will be permanent." 3rd item: 1851 ALS from Robert Jefferson Breckenridge of Kentucky to John Berrien Lindsley, declining Lindsley's invitation to relocate, presumably for career purposes: "Nashville bears a high character abroad for hospitality, refinement, and every advantageof high social intercourse... a most pleasant place for a man with a large income to reside, but not much of a place for a young man who has his own way to hew in the world to settle in... it would not be at all prudent for me to select Nashville [over St. Louis]." Breckenridge, who served briefly as president of Jefferson College in Pennsyvania, was named superintendent of public education in Kentucky, and was so successful that he came to be known as the father of Public Education in Kentucky. 4th-7th items: Four J. B. Lindsley signed Nashville bank cheques, with amounts payable to Percy Warner, Dr. Henry Holton or Horton, Annie Lindsley, and Baxter Smith, dated 1885-1897. Also included are 14 clipped John Berrien Lindsley signatures, together with a 10" x 7" framed print of John Berrien Lindsley after the engraving by Samuel Sartain, matted and framed, 15" x 12 1/2". 22 items total. Provenance: formerly from the collection of Miss Margaret Lindsley Warden of Nashville, Tennessee. (Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.caseantiques.com)

1st item: Tears and tape at fold lines, toning, very fragile condition. Stewart's signature is clear. 2nd item: toning and couple of small holes at fold lines. 3rd item: (Breckenridge letter) very good condition, retains cover envelope. Checques and clipped signatures in good condition, some with light fading and toning. Engraving: very good condition with later frame.