Dan Beach Bradley Papers

The family papers of Dan Beach Bradley consist of letters, letterpress books, diaries, diary transcripts, journals, notebooks, writings, photographs, and a painting. The bulk of the papers document the missionary careers of the Rev. Dan Beach Bradley (1804-73) and his first wife, Emilie Royce Bradley (1811-45) in nineteenth-century Siam (modern Thailand). The collection also includes a small amount of correspondence and writings created by two of their children, Sophia Royce Bradley (1839-1923) and Cornelius Beach Bradley (1843-1936). Only fourteen letters relate to the forty-three-year missionary career (1850-93) of Bradley's second wife, Sarah Blachly Bradley (1817-93) of Dane, Wisconsin.

The collection is divided into five subgroups: I. Papers of Dan Beach Bradley; II. Papers of Emilie Royce Bradley; III. Papers of Cornelius Beach Bradley; IV. Bradley Family Records; and V. Blachly Family Geneological Materials. Within subgroups, records have been arranged into records series; within series, materials are typically arranged chronologically or alphabetically. Series arrangement is as follows: Subgroup I, Papers of Dan Beach Bradley: Series 1. Correspondence (Calendared); 2. Correspondence (Uncalendared); 3. Diaries and Journals; 4. Journal Abstract; 5. Notebooks; 6. Financial Records; 7. Bangkok Calendar; and, 8. Painting. Subgroup II, Papers of Emilie Royce Bradley: Series 1. Diaries and Album; 2. Diary Transcript; and 3. Letters. Subgroup III, Papers of Cornelius Beach Bradley: Series 1. Journal; 2. Letter-press Copy Book; and 3. Writings. Subgroup IV, Bradley Family Records: Series 1. Letters of Sophia Bradley McGilvary; 2. Letters between Bradleys and King of Siam; 3. Miscellaneous Papers; 4. Photographs; 5. Research Files of Julian S. Fowler; and 6. Account Book. Subgroups V and VI are not divided into series.

The bulk of the Bradley Family Papers consists of Dan Beach Bradley's correspondence (1800-73), diaries (1832-73), notebooks (1830-54), and financial records (1847, 1850-66). The bulk of these papers was created in Bangkok between 1835, the year of Bradley's arrival, and 1873, the year of his death. Records predating the Bangkok years include thirteen letters (1800-34); diaries (1832-35), and lecture notes taken in medical school (1830). One notebook records Bradley's stay in Oberlin, Ohio, and West Haven, Connecticut, between 1847 and 1850.

Correspondence relating to Bradley's missionary, medical, and literary endeavors includes nine uncalendared letters (1836-67) and 340 leaves of calendared correspondence (largely incoming) with family members in America and colleagues in the mission field, 1829-73. (Also filed here are three letters written by Bradley's father, Judge Dan Bradley, dated 1800-1803.) Subjects treated in the letters include the voyage to Siam, Emilie's illnesses and childbearing, the children's' health, abolitionism, news of Finney's preaching, and the Bradleys' doctoral disagreements with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (A.B.C.F.M.). Interfiled with this correspondence are drafts of Bradley's annual reports to the Corresponding Secretary of the A.B.C.F.M. Additional papers include a diary written in Singapore at the close of the voyage to Thailand in 1835, a chronology drafted in 1847 for inclusion in Bradley's publication The Bangkok Calendar entitled, "Notices of the Protestant Missions to Siam, 1827-46", and numerous invoices recording goods purchased by Bradley from importers in Singapore, such as nursing suppliers for Sarah, paper, lithography tools, cloth, and foodstuffs (1847, 1850-66).

The most valuable resource for understanding Bradley the man is his twenty-five-volume diary (1832-73). In addition to this diary, the collection contains a modern transcript of portions of the original: Abstract of the Journal of Rev. Dan Beach Bradley, M.D., Medical Missionary in Siam 1835-1873, George Haws Feltus, editor, 1936. The diary itself, which records events during the thirty-eight years of Bradley's residence in Siam, sheds light not only on the mission but also on the wider foreign community in Bangkok. Early entries (1832-34) in the diary describe his medical studies and also include a sketch of his early years.

Emilie Royce Bradley's papers include an album and two diaries (1827-30; 1831-33; 1840-42) kept in Clinton, New York and in Bangkok; a microfilm copy and a modern transcription of a diary (1834-36) whose original may still remain in private hands; a journal letter written aboard ship during her voyage to Siam in 1834-35; and a record book containing summaries of letters sent. The summaries often refer to "my large letter book", probably indicating that only a portion of Emilie's correspondence has survived. Only three letters in her hand (1835-38) are included in the calendared correspondence of Dan Beach Bradley; the accompanying index to the calendar erroneously ascribes ten letters to her.

Papers of Cornelius Beach Bradley include a journal (1864), a letterpress copy book (1872-74, 1884), genealogical data on the Bradley family, and several unrelated publications and writings. As a student in 1864-65 in Oberlin College's preparatory department, he wrote the "Critique on the Rhetorical Exercises of March 13, 1865". Later writings include three drafts of the "Sketch of the Life of Reverend Dan Beach Bradley By His Son C.B. Bradley," undated.

Biographical information about Dan Beach Bradley collected during the late 1960s by Oberlin College Emeritus Librarian Julian S. Fowler (1890-1975) is included in Subgroup IV, Bradley Family Records, together with letters of Sophia Bradley McGilvary, five original letters and photographs of letters between Bradley and the King of Siam (1858-88), and family photographs (1860-70, 1991, n.d.). Subgroup IV also includes a day book, or account book, for the Bradley family in Bangkok, dated 1882-84.