A small archive of printed ephemera and manuscript material expressing Jon R. Forest's (of Winooski, Vt) views on the Civil War and radical views on the U.S. monetary system, 'equal suffrage'. agrarian reform, etc.

The collection comprises: A. 6 Autograph Letters, one signed John R. Forrest , 3 ending Farewell and 2 possibly incomplete or simply unsigned, to John Abraham of Liverpool, England, addressed as cousin, druggist, 1847-1879, various formats, total 27 (twenty-seven) pages, some lines faint, good condition. Subjects: (1847) introductory; personal and family information; Montreal connection; Vermont industries; railway about to be connected; I am a real Yankee by this time; jobs he's done inc. agent for the Liberty Gazette; currently doing a variety of jobs inc. work for a periodical with a Reform stamp being himself a Reformer; his beliefs; agrarian reform; engage in any scheme that shall tend to ameliorate the human condition; (1857; letter addressed to John Abraham, but also any of the Bewshaw family in Penrith ...) he has prospered; family news and activities; getting rich a theme; interest in spelling reform, and has become editor and printer for amusment [sic] [see below]; (1861) family news; rheumatic but managed to print his paper of Jany 1st; hernia; enjoys news of home country and wants to re-visit; refers to the troubles in the south . . . We think secession is not making much headway; Presidential election imminent; heard that in New York they hav [sic] feared an attack on the Brooklin [sic] Navy Bord [sic]; (1862, but written over a period to Feb. 1863) Thanks for gifts; Wesley with the Vermont Volunteers wrote from five miles from the Bull Run battle field; describes the experiences and movements of the regiment (sudden orders, issue of ball cartridges; quotes son's letter on marching, hard nights, officers not knowing where they were going, hunger; he blames both nations for the wrongs done to slaves, discussing the peaceful attempts to remove the evil; consequences of fighting, but determination to stay the rebellion and destroy slavery; contributions of non-combatants to fighting men; describes a movement ot provide for the starving in England!; $40,000 subscribed at the first meeting; anticipates the President's declaration of emancipation on 1 Jan. 1863- and they don't wnat the rebels to lay down their arms until that day; discusses literature on the subject; talks of degraded Southerners and black regiments starting to prove themselves - prejudice is fast wearing away; discusses divisions in England; reading Harriet Beecher Stowe's address to the women of England - reaction; progress of the war; (1877) Has sent package of circulars; retired from money-making; property-owner; exchange of views on currency exchange, rejecting the British system which had enslaved them all their lives; discusses gold and silver in fiscal matters; the nature and use of money; the Rothschilds and other Shylocks manipulate; paper money discussed; lengthy example (involving Our Congress); the solution is paper money; discusses his writing and printing of petitions; consulted concerning a suitable name for a party to unite the Labor Party & Greenback Party, and counsels a union between them and the Prohibition and Woman Suffrage Parties; the legitimate business of a banker is not to issue money ...; (1879) his age; wants to revisit native land; sons in Kansas, one grandson a banker; activities; invitation to visit; wrote and printed a very small sheet, on the money question; making progress politically; I have attempted to reduce the question of money to a Science; encouraging neighbours to support the Vermont National which is nine weeks old. B. Pamphlets and Printed Ephemera (Unrecorded);a. Leterz [sic] Political & Theological, later Leterz, Moral, Political and Theological, vol.1, nos.1-3&4 (3 items), ed. Forest, Winooska Falls, Vt, nos 1 & 2 printed wraps, pp.8, 8 and 4 respectively, using phonographic spelling, final no. sl. ragged but complete, others in good condition. No copy recorded (possibly e-book).b.Galley Proof of letter signed Georg Washington, dated 9 Aug. 1851, phonographic spelling, one page, 15 x 42cm, about slavery (what he thinks Washington would have thought).c. J. R. Forest, National Systems of Finance, unopened sheet, 12pp., 16mo. No copy recorded (except eod)d. [J.R. Forest, Chairman State Executive Committee, Winooski, Vermont], Declaration of Principles of the Anti-Monopoly or Greenback- Labor Party, handbill, one page, 13 x 30cm, chipped loss of one letter only, blue ink.e. A Plea for Plenty of Money ...[concluding] REVOLUTION, c.1876), handbill,one page, 13 x 20cm.f. J.R. Forest, Greenback Currency (Winooski, Vt, Oct. 1876), handbill, two pages, 13 x 23cm, foxed.g. [Gree[n]back Club Winooski, Vt] An Unanswerable Argument in Favor of Paper Money, ...a copy of a letter sent a United States Senator May 19, 1877, Now To every member of Congress, with overleaf a statement of the aims and beliefs of the Greenback and Political Reform Club of Winooski, Vermont (inc. agrarianism, equal suffrage, prohibition and greenbacks), followed by a list of members, handbill, two pages, 22 x 31cm.h. [J.R. Forest], Chittenden County Political Temperance Society (members and report, mainly about prohibition, but also a brief paragraph stating Equal Suffrage is a self-evident truth .... Overleaf,headed Chittenden County Political Reform Scoiety, Proposed Amendment. 1877, followed by Declaration, Constitution and By Laws, handbill, 2 pages, 15 x 23cm.i. [Printed letter] J.R. Forest to David A. Wells, the leading American economist of his age, taking issue with Wells's The dollar of the Sons [The silver question, the dollar of the fathers versus the dollar of the sons, pub. 1877]. Overleaf headed A Plea for Plenty of Money!, handbill, 2 pages, 14 x 26cm, foxing.j. [Printed Letter] headed Robinson Crusoe's Money | Winooski, Vt, Aug 3, 1877, J.R. Forest to David A. Wells, economist, responding to Wells's book of that name, published 1876. Overleaf, printed letter, Land and Currency Reform 30 Years Ago. Copy of a letter ... headed Addison, Jany 3rd. 1847, handbill, 2pp., 30 x 15cm.k. [Petition] To the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress Assembled [Oct. 1877], on currency (our national wealth drifting into the hands of home and foreign Shylocks) and land reform. Room left at bottom for Name, Residence and Date, 2pp., 20 x 11cm.l. Phonography, handbill, one page, 16 x 28cm, giving history, nature, and benefits. Reader told to ask J.R. Forest and another for details.m. Card with slogans No gold Money ..., etc., backing greenbacks, 16 x 5cm.n. Handbill headed MONEY! supporting greenbacks, one page, 21 x 13cm.o. Fragments of two envelopes addresssed to John Abraham, with printed address of Forest and a few words with headings about his main interests (Agrarianism, Greenbacks, Prohibition, Equal Suffrage.p. Winooski Critic,1876-7, nos. 2/3, 4/7, with the appearance of newspaper clippings, covering the usual Forest issues.