To Alexander Hamilton from Francis A. Vanderkemp, 15 September 1800
From Francis A. Vanderkemp1
Oldenbarneveld [New York] September 15, 1800. Recalls Hamilton’s kindness to him on his arrival in the United States. Proposes that the Society of the Cincinnati2 establish archives for “all what might be of any worth to Posterity” and that the archives include “all Orations Eulogys3 Sermons on Solemn occasions—all remarkable incidents anecdotes &c.”
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Vanderkemp was a Mennonite minister who had emigrated from Holland to the United States in 1788.
2. H was president of the Society of the Cincinnati. See “Election by the Society of the Cincinnati,” May 8, 1799.
3. Vanderkemp enclosed a copy of a eulogy to George Washington which he had delivered on February 22, 1800, at Oldenbarneveld (AD, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).