Tilghman Collection

The Tilghman Collection has about 260 books and pamphlets on American history, mostly published in the 20th century but includes some earlier imprints. Also contains papers of the Woodriff family (early settlers in the Shoalhaven district of NSW) and Tilghman, including about 380 of Tilghman's photographs of the Northern Territory 1925–1927 and Queensland 1931–1933.

Migration and immigration North America

Collection highlights

A man standing next to a hanging fish. The fish is taller and larger than him.

DC Tilghman, Groper caught off Cairns foreshore, 1932, nla.gov.au/nla.obj-142227653

Key items in the collection

Highlights from this collection demonstrate its historical significance and variety.

The Douglas C Tilghman Collection contains about 260 books, pamphlets and reprints on American history. They cover the whole period from the colonisation of America until the age of Roosevelt, with particular focus on the War of Independence, the American Civil War, the history of Maryland and family history. The bulk of the books were published in the twentieth century, but there are a few earlier imprints:

Herbert B Adams, Maryland’s Influence in Founding a National Commonwealth, or the History of the Accession of Public Lands by the Old Confederation (1877)
American State Papers, Being a Collection of Original and Authentic Documents Relative to the War between the United States and Great Britain (1795)
John Leeds Bozman, The History of Maryland: Its First Settlement, in 1633, to the Restoration, in 1660 (1837)
Francis Hall, Travels in Canada and the United States in 1816 and 1817 (1818)
Edward Hamilton, The Life of Paul Jones (1848)
Memoir of Lieut. Col. Tench Tilghman, Secretary and Aide to Washington (1876)
Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, from the Organisation to the Termination of the Proprietary Government (7 vols, 1851)
Original Papers Relating to the Siege of Charleston, 1780 (1898)
George L Radcliffe, Governor Thomas Hicks of Maryland and the Civil War (1901)
Jared Sparks, Correspondence of the American Revolution (1853)
Oswald Tilghman, History of Talbot County Maryland, 1661–1861 (2 vols, 1915).

In addition, the collection includes several journals, in particular:

Maryland History Notes (1943–1961)
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1948–1962).

The papers of the Woodriff family include:

letters of Captain Daniel Woodriff (1756–1842)
the log of HMS Endymion (1790)
Woodriff’s report on the loss of HMS Calcutta (1805)
the will of Sarah Woodriff (death 1860)
papers of Captain Daniel James Woodriff (death 1860)
his journal on HMS Bellerophon (1805)
other family documents.

The papers of Tilghman consist of:

3 typescripts on the Diocese of Carpentaria
a letter from the Confederate States Memorial Society (1963).

Paintings

The Woodriff Collection contains:

oil paintings of:
- Captain Daniel Woodriff
- Jane Woodriff
- Sarah Woodriff
- Daniel James Woodriff
three paintings by Thomas Whitcombe of a battle between HMS Calcutta and French warships (1805)
an oil painting of Abraham Lincoln and his Cabinet (circa 1865).

Objects

In addition, there is a sextant and a writing desk that belonged to Captain Daniel Woodriff.

There are about 380 photographs in the Tilghman Collection. About 100 were taken on Tilghman's 2 overland journeys to the Northern Territory in 1925 and 1927. Most of the other photographs were taken in Queensland in 1931–1933, when he was compiling The Queen State: A Handbook of Queensland and include photographs of:

Bowen
Cairns
Charters Towers
Gympie
Kuranda
Magnetic Island
Mount Isa
Palm Island
Stanthorpe
Townsville.

There are also some earlier photographs of:

Bega
Boydtown
Coolgardie
Penrith
Sydney
Yass
other subjects.

About Douglas Tilghman

The Tilghman family have played a prominent part in American history.

Remarkable Tilghmans (17th to 20th Century)

Richard Tilghman, a London surgeon, emigrated from England in 1660 and settled in Maryland.
James Tilghman (1716–1793), Richard Tilghman's grandson, was a lawyer and secretary of the land office of Pennsylvania.
William Tilghman (1756–1827), the son of James Tilghman, was also a lawyer and was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania from 1806 to 1827.
Lieutenant Colonel Tench Tilghman (1744–1786), the brother of William, became aide-de-camp to George Washington in 1776 and served with him throughout the War of Independence.
Lloyd Tilghman (1816–1863), the grandson of Tench Tilghman, was a Confederate general in the Civil War and was killed at the Battle of Champion Hill.
Oswald Tilghman (1841–1932), sone of Lloyd, also fought in the Civil War, was a prisoner for 2 years, was elected to the Maryland Senate in 1894 and was the Maryland Secretary of State in 1904–08.
Bill Tilghman (1854–1924), another member of the family, was a celebrated buffalo hunter, deputy sheriff and marshal in Kansas, Oklahoma and other parts of the Old West.

War service

Douglas Campbell Tilghman (death 1970) was a direct descendant of Tench Tilghman. He served in the Australian Imperial Forces from 1917 to 1918 and was wounded at the Battle of Hamel in 1918.

Working life

Following his return to Australia, he held managerial positions in the Primary Producers' Bank of Australia in Bega, Warwick and Dirranbandi. In 1931 he was commissioned by the Queensland Government to compile a handbook on Queensland.

Tilghman later worked in local government and was town clerk of Yass from 1944 to 1951 and town and shire clerk of Bourke from 1951 to 1955. He then retired to Berry on the south coast of New South Wales.

Interest in United States and Australian history

He had a strong interest in both US and Australian history and in his later years carried out research on the history of the Shoalhaven district and Bega and the lives of:

Hamilton Hume
Boyle Travis Finniss
Daniel Woodriff (his wife, Margarita Tilghman, was a descendant of Woodriff).

Tilghman assembled a large collection of books, pamphlets and journals, with particular strength in Americana and Australiana.

Contact with the Library

From 1949 until his death (1970) Tilghman corresponded regularly with the Library about his research and he often recommended the acquisition of particular books and journals. From time to time, he also donated issues of newspapers, printed ephemera, and copies of documents that were incorporated into the general collection.

Background to the collection

In 1963, at a ceremony at Parliament House, Douglas and Margarita Tilghman (nee Woodriff) presented the manuscripts and paintings of Captain Daniel Woodriff and other members of the Woodriff family.
In 1965 Tilghman donated his photographs of the Northern Territory.
Tilghman bequeathed his American books to the Library and they were received in 1971.

The books, journals and other printed items in the Tilghman Collection have been integrated in the general collection. Held in the Manuscripts Collection are the:

There is a summary list of the Woodriff papers in the Manuscripts Reading Room.

Held in the Pictures Collection are the:

The sextant and writing desk are kept in the Objects Collection within the Pictures Collection.

The photographs of Douglas Tilghman are also held in the Pictures Collection.

The Australiana collection of Tilghman was bequeathed to the Moore Theological College in Sydney.

This guide was prepared using these references:

Presentation of Historic Papers to the National Library, South Coast Register, 24 October 1963.
Douglas C Tilghman, Daniel Woodriff, Australian Dictionary of Biography online
Tilghman Family, Maryland Historical Magazine, vol 1, June–December 1906, pp 181–4, 280–4, 369–76.