Inventor Name
Whitney, Eli
Repository
Yale University
Manuscripts and Archives
Sterling Memorial Library
PO Box 208240
128 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8240
203-432-1735
http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/
Physical Description
4.75 linear ft.
Summary
Eli Whitney was born in Westborough, Massachusetts, on December 8, 1765. After graduation from Yale College in 1792, Whitney spent a year in Georgia where he designed and tested a model cotton gin and formed a partnership with Phineas Miller to gin and sell cotton. Though his invention revolutionized agriculture in the South, Whitney received practically no financial return for his invention. Whitney returned to New Haven in 1794 and in 1798 began manufacturing firearms under contract to the federal government. In his factory, Whitney developed a manufacturing system based on the production of interchangeable parts. Whitney married Henrietta Frances Edwards in 1817. He died on January 8, 1825. The papers consist of correspondence and business papers relating to Eli Whitney’s interests in developing the cotton gin and the manufacture of firearms employing a system of interchangeable parts. The papers include land records relating to the acquisition of property for the mill site, patents on inventions, account books and other financial records, and contracts and drawings concerning firearms production. Also included in the papers are records of Eli Whitney’s estate, papers of Eli Whitney’s nephews and son who succeeded him in producing firearms, and personal papers of Whitney and other Whitney family members.
Finding Aid
http://mssa.library.yale.edu/findaids/stream.php?xmlfile=mssa.ms.0554.xml