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Aileen Moore Topping Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS 233

Scope and Content

Includes Topping's typed English translations of correspondence between Spanish authorities and diplomatic agents Juan de Miralles and Fransisco Rendón. These documents contain detailed reports on the activities of the American Continental Congress from 1777-1785. The agents obtained information clandestinely and passed it to the Spanish crown. The typed copies contained in this collection were made from original primary source material located in the Archivo General de Simancas, the Archivo Historico Nacional, and the Archivo General de Indias. This collection provides insight into Spanish involvement during the Revolutionary period in America.

Topping made this collection available to the Library of Congress during publication of their 25 volume edition of the Correspondence of the Continental Congress, which made extensive use of her work in vols. 10-20. These can be consulted at most university research libraries and online at Letters of Delegates to Congress, 1774-1789. Her research greatly increased historians' understanding of the Spanish missions of Miralles and Rendon to Congress during the American Revolution.

Dates

  • Creation: 1779-1785

Creator

Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical/Historical Note

Aileen Moore Topping was a graduate of Agnes Scott College and Middlebury College and taught at the University of Miami. She worked extensively in the Spanish archives at the Archivo General de Simancas, the Archivo Historico Nacional, and the Archivo General de Indias. [Source: Adapted from Samuel Proctor, "General Editor's Preface," pp. viii-ix, in An Impartial Account of the Late Expedition Against St. Augustine, with an introduction and indexes by Aileen Moore Topping. Bicentennial Floridiana Facsimile Series, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, 1978.]

Extent

0.6 Linear feet (2 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

Typed English translations of original reports from Spanish agents reporting on the activities of the Continental Congress during the American Revolution. Topping used these translations as source material for her published and unpublished works.

Physical Location

University of Florida Smathers Library Building

Acquisition Information

Donated by Anne Topping Weed.

Related Material

The Library of Congress (Manuscripts Division) has a similar set of typescripts. For additional information on this topic, see the Aileen Moore Topping Collection at http://www.loc.gov/rr/mss/text/topping.html.

Morales Padrón, Franciso (editor). Journal of Don Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis during the commission which he had in his charge from 25 June 1780 until the 20th of the same month 1783. Translated by Aileen Moore Topping. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 1989.

Topping, Aileen Moore (editor). An Impartial account of the late expedition against St. Augustine under General Oglethorpe: a facsimile reproduction of the 1742 edition: with an introduction and indexes. University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 1978.

Topping, Aileen Moore. "Spanish agents at the Continental Congress and Spanish-American plans for the Conquest of East Florida." Unpublished manuscript, on file, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, U.F., n.d.

Topping, Aileen Moore. "Jean Savy's plans for expelling the British from Georgia, 1735 - 1737." Unpublished manuscript, on file, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, U.F., n.d.

Topping, Aileen Moore. "The Journal of Don Miguel Antonio Eduado." Unpublished manuscript, on file, P.K. Yonge Library of Florida History, U.F., n.d.

Title
A Guide to the Aileen Moore Topping Papers
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid created by Scot R. Cruickshank
Date
November 2007
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository

Contact:
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755