Biography:

Charles W. Buck

Letters, legal papers, manuscripts of books, pictures, and miscellaneous papers of Charles W. Buck, who was born at Vicksburg on March 17, 1849. He graduated from Georgetown College, Kentucky, in 1869, and in 187l from the law school of Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia. He was licensed to practice law in Missouri on December 10, 1870, and in the following year moved to Greenville, Mississippi. On May 12, 1873, Governor R. C. Powers appointed him commissioner to "The Vienna Universal Exposition," but he declined that position.

In 1874 he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, and in 1878 he moved to Woodford County, Kentucky, where he was elected county judge. He served as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States to Peru from March 31, 1885, to March 30, 1889. He then returned to Kentucky and resumed the practice of law and did some fiction writing. One of his novels is Under the Sun; or the Passing of the Incas: A Story of Old Peru (Louisville: Sheltman and Company, 1902).

 

Scope and Content Note:

Ninety-three of the letters (May 7, 1866 - October 22, 1874) are from his father, John W. Buck, and 117 letters (March 28, 1866 - February 24,1875) are from his mother. They were written mainly from Vicksburg, Mississippi, and from Midway and Georgetown, Kentucky. The collection includes 61 picture of members of the family and more than eighty calling cards.

The collection is distributed by dates as follows:

  • undated, (293)
  • 1852, (1)
  • 1864-1869, (100)
  • 1870-1875, (206)
  • 1881-1886, (3)
  • 1904-1905, (2)
  • 1912, (1)
  • 1922, (1)
  • (1) drawing book of Charles W. Buck, pp. 12, 26 by 18.5 cm.
  • (2) manuscript volume of poems, pp. 38, 23 by 29 cm.
  • (3) notebook containing miscellaneous entries, March 6, 1866 - December 12, 1868, pp. 33, 10 by 17 cm.
  • (4) diary of Charles W. Buck, Vicksburg, January 1 - December 31, 1873, pp. 212, 7.5 by 14.5 cm.
  • (5) diary of Mrs. Charles W. Buck, January 18 - December 19, 1898, pp. 100, 7.5 by 12.5 cm.
  • (6) manuscript (typewritten, printer's copy) of a book entitled Uncle Bob, which had its setting in and around Vicksburg during the Civil War, pp. 430
  • (7) manuscript (typewritten) of an untitled novel which has its setting in New York, pp. 367 (pages 320-321, 340-366 are missing)
  • (89) two volumes of pictures of "Pacific Countries of South America, 1885-1889", collected by Charles W. Buck, pp. 88, 85, 32 by 21.5 cm.
  • (l0) scrapbook, miscellaneous and world affairs, pp. 228, 18.5 by 31 cm.
  • (11) scrapbook, miscellaneous and Louisville, Kentucky, pp. 206, 26 by 35 cm.