Thomas Jefferson Papers
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Robert Walsh to Thomas Jefferson, 6 March 1817

From Robert Walsh

Baltr 6h March 1817

Mr Ro Walsh Jr has the honor to present to Mr Jefferson the volume sent herewith, presuming that the scientific and literary intelligence which it Contains, may be of interest to one, who embraces so large a portion of human knowledge in the range of his enquiry.

RC (DLC); dateline at foot of text; addressed: “Thomas Jefferson Esqre”; endorsed by TJ as received 15 Mar. 1817 and so recorded in SJL.

Robert Walsh (1784–1859), author, educator, and diplomat, was a native of Baltimore who studied at Saint Mary’s Seminary (Saint Mary’s College from 1805 and later Saint Mary’s Seminary and University) and Georgetown College (later Georgetown University). He read law with Robert Goodloe Harper. After completing his education, Walsh traveled in Europe and spent some time as secretary to William Pinkney at the American legation in London. When Walsh returned to the United States in 1809, he settled in Philadelphia, where he edited a succession of short-lived publications. In 1817 he joined José Corrêa da Serra in a visit to Monticello. Walsh founded the American Quarterly Review in 1827 and headed it until at least 1835. He also contributed articles to the Encyclopædia Americana, supplied the biography of Benjamin Franklin for Delaplaine’s Repository, edited several literary works, and published his own monographs, including An Appeal from the Judgments of Great Britain respecting the United States of America (Philadelphia, 1819; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 11 [no. 685]), a work that garnered praise from TJ. Walsh was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1812, served as professor of general literature at the University of Pennsylvania, 1818–28, and became a trustee of that institution in the latter year. In 1844 President John Tyler appointed him United States consul at Paris, a position from which he resigned in 1851. Walsh remained in France and died in Paris (DAB description begins Allen Johnson and Dumas Malone, eds., Dictionary of American Biography, 1928–36, 20 vols. description ends ; Madison, Papers, Retirement Ser., 1:170; Mary Frederick Lochemes, Robert Walsh: His Story [1941]; APS description begins American Philosophical Society description ends , Minutes, 17 Jan. 1812 [MS in PPAmP]; Catalogue of the Alumni of the University of Pennsylvania [1877], 9, 11; TJ to Francis W. Gilmer, 14 Oct. 1817, and note; TJ to Walsh, 6 Feb. 1820; JEP description begins Journal of the Executive Proceedings of the Senate of the United States description ends , 6:361, 370, 8:296 [18, 31 Dec. 1844, 27 Feb. 1851]; Philadelphia North American and United States Gazette, 28 Feb. 1859; Washington Daily National Intelligencer, 5 Aug. 1859).

The volume sent herewith was the American Register; or Summary Review of History, Politics, and Literature (1817; Poor, Jefferson’s Library description begins Nathaniel P. Poor, Catalogue. President Jefferson’s Library, 1829 description ends , 14 [no. 926]), vol. 1. Walsh edited both volumes of this semiannual serial. In 1810 and 1811 he had also edited vols. 6–7, the concluding numbers, of the American Register, or General Repository of History, Politics and Science (Lochemes, Robert Walsh, 49, 60, 68, 82–8, 229).

Index Entries

  • American Register, or General Repository of History, Politics and Science (ed. R. Walsh) search
  • American Register; or Summary Review of History, Politics, and Literature (ed. R. Walsh) search
  • Jefferson, Thomas; Books & Library; works sent to search
  • Walsh, Robert; editor ofAmerican Register, or General Repository of History, Politics and Science search
  • Walsh, Robert; editor ofAmerican Register; or Summary Review of History, Politics, and Literature search
  • Walsh, Robert; identified search
  • Walsh, Robert; letters from search