Dr. Augustine Slaughter

Invitation to the funeral of Dr. Augustine Slaughter at the Exchange Coffee House on Wednesday, December 14, 1814. The contributor writes: "This comes from a recently discovered cache of items from the estate of Charles Lanman. Lanman was private secretary to Daniel Webster in 1850 and wrote Webster's biography in 1852. Lanman was an explorer who traveled extensively throughout the American Midwest, and an author who wrote several books about those travels, including 'History of Michigan' and 'Dictionary of the United States Congress' (1859). He was also an artist who studied under Asher B. Durand. Lanman's sweeping American landscapes hang in several U.S. museums, including the prestigious Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Lanman was also a prolific letter writer and collector of historical items. Some of his correspondence and papers are in the collections of numerous universities."

A printed funeral invitation rather than a memorial card — the funeral date, not the death date, appears on the document. Dr. Slaughter's will brackets his death between 23 November and 14 December 1814.