The Hamilton Rowan Gamble Papers consist of deeds, early land grants, surveys, a St. Louis court docket book (1816-1833), bills of sale, legal papers regarding land ownership and business agreements, letters pertaining to causes of the Civil War, letters regarding the raising of a state militia, correspondence with political and military leaders, account books and receipts. Papers pertaining to land cases include deeds from French and Spanish ownership of this area, such as a deed between Pierre Chouteau and his wife who sold land for $248 to Meriwether Lewis (box 1/folder 2); a land grant to Andrew Bowen from President James Monroe with the presidential seal (box 1/folder 5); notes on Doit Delany’s land between Creve Coeur Lake and the Missouri River, part of a land grant to Antoine Reynal by the Spanish government (box 6/folder 1); a copy of the land paper from May 23, 1772, signed by Laclede Liguest, et al., designating land granted in the name of the king (box 5/folder 3). Papers regarding slave cases in the courts of Missouri include an 1805 freedom suit by Celeste, an Indian woman, versus Madame Chevalier (box 1/folder 2). An 1827 case of Margrite versus Pierre Chouteau, Sr., explains that the plaintiff’s grandmother, an Indian, was taken in war by the French and possibly sold as a slave in 1769 (box 2/folder 5). Subsequent papers in the collection show that the case was dismissed in 1838 for want of jurisdiction (box 6/folder 6). Letters to and from Gamble from the years before and during the Civil War illuminate the issue of slavery and emancipation in a border state. A copy of a letter from Gamble in 1861 states his view of abolitionists (box 9/folder 13). A copy of an address at an 1862 meeting of loyal states in support of President Lincoln and emancipation bears a notation that Governor Gamble refused to sign it as governor of Missouri (box 10/folder 3). The original draft and copy of Gamble’s 1863 message before a party convention concerns emancipation for the state of Missouri (box 10/folder 7). Critical papers and letters between Gamble and President Abraham Lincoln cover such issues as: raising and paying for a state militia (box 9/folder 3); the situation in Missouri at the beginning of the Civil War (box 9/folder 8); and disagreements between Gamble and Union generals over who should be in control of the state militia (box 10). Collection includes several letters signed by President Lincoln (box 9/folder 12, box 10/folder 9). The collection includes official papers with government seals from 1824 when Gamble was appointed secretary of state of Missouri (box 2/folder 2), and from 1849 on a certificate admitting Gamble as an attorney and counselor of the U.S. Supreme Court (box 8/folder 5). Miscellaneous letters consist of one against gambling and playing roulette from “The Friends of Morality” (box 4/folder 6); plans for a 2nd Presbyterian Church on 5th Street, including drawings of the church interior (box 7/folder 1); and a letter soliciting donations to establish Linden Wood Female College (box 8/folder 9). Other letters and journal entries discuss treatments of diseases, e.g., cholera and neuralgia (box 8/folder 5). Receipts and account books show costs of clothing, household items, food, building materials and bills of sale for slaves to and from Gamble (box 2/folder 6; box 3/folder 7; box 5/folder 1, 5; box 7/folder 5; box 8/folders 4, 6, 11; box 9/folder 2). Letters written near the end of the Civil War, shortly before Gamble’s death, discuss the status of the provisional government (box 10/folder 7).