The American Heritage Center (AHC) at the University of Wyoming has digitized and made accessible online 17 letterpress books, scrapbooks, and albums from the James C. Drayton and William A. Drayton papers (Collection #8177).
James C. Drayton was an attorney who had mining interests in Canada and in Colorado. He and his son, William A. Drayton, from Philadelphia, eventually lived in British Columbia after James C. Drayton’s divorce, all the while pursuing their mineral and mining business as well as James C. Drayton’s law business. William A. Drayton, the son of James C. Drayton served in the Royal Serbian Artillery during World War I and later as a member of the Bulgarian Atrocities Commission and of the Serbian Delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference. He also worked with his father on the mining and mineral business in British Columbia.
The collection contains James Drayton’s letterpress copybooks (copies of outgoing letters) from 1881 to 1899. Volumes mainly concern his law practice, mining interests, investments, and other business matters. Some letters relate to James Drayton’s divorce and other personal business. The collection also includes scattered correspondence and miscellaneous materials of James and William Drayton from 1921 to 1940, including a report by William Drayton on the treatment and living conditions of the Kutenai Indians. There are also maps and blueprints of mines and mining properties in British Columbia, Quebec, and Colorado. Lastly, the collection contains newspaper clippings of the mining business, a scrapbook of mementos of James Drayton’s travel experiences, a scrapbook containing newspaper clippings of James Drayton’s divorce, and two picture and photo albums.
Links to digitized items and additional information about the James C. Drayton and William A. Drayton papers can be found in the on-line finding aid at: https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=wyu-ah08177.xml.
We hope you enjoy this new resource for research about mining history!
–Jamie Greene, Digital Programs Department
