Cosby family papers, 1834-1917.

Open to research.

Journals kept by Frank C. Cosby as captain's clerk on a voyage (1 volume, 1857-1858) patrolling African waters to intercept slave ships and on a Mediterranean voyage (2 volumes, 1860-1861) during which he recorded the resignation of several officers upon receiving word of South Carolina's secession and the start of the Civil War in the United States.

Two notebooks (1917 April 14-May 14) kept by Spencer Cosby, American military attaché to the French military delegation to the United States during World War I, recording his impressions while accompanying Marshal Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre on a trip by train from Washington, D.C., to Chicago, Ill. Also includes a scrapbook presented by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company containing newspaper clippings, photographs, and ephemera relating to the journey.

Journal (1831-1834) kept by William Clayton Spencer while in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, containing primarily poetry, but with some descriptions and sketches of life there.

Family members represented in the collection include Frank C. Cosby, U.S. naval officer; his son, Spencer Cosby, U.S. Army officer; and Frank C. Cosby's father-in-law, William Clayton Spencer, newspaper editor from Centreville, Md.

Collection material in English.