Edith Pilcher's seminal book Castorland-French Refugees in the Western Adirondacks 1793-1814 is a reliable source of Castorland materials. She summarized Hough's translation of Journal of Castorland, which includes the New York company's Constitution. Numismatists have relied on this paragraph in the Constitution.

The Constitution is bound with other documents in a volume known as the Journal of Castorland. Its discovery was described by Edith Pilcher.

The Journal of Castorland was written primarily by Simon Desjardins. He explored the vast wilderness, procured local laborers, supervised their work, and reported his transactions and discoveries and difficulties back to Chassanis in Paris. The accounts ring true. In them Desjardins described life on the American frontier as seen through the eyes of a French aristocrat. In 2010 John A. Gallucci published a vastly improved translation of Castorland Journal. Gallucci's translations provide cross-cultural insights that expand and clarify the Castorland story. His painstaking research is reflected in his Appendices and Notes, essential reading for students of American history alongside the Lewis and Clark journals and Michel St. Jean de Crèvecoeur's American writings. Castorland Journal, an Account of the Exploration and Settlement of Northern New York State by French Émigrés in the Years 1794 to 1797. Edited and translated by John A. Gallucci, Cornell University Press, 2010.

In response to Pete Smith's article on William Sumner Appleton, curators Anne Bentley and Mary Yacovone of the Massachusetts Historical Society would like to assure E-Sylum readers that reports of the Appleton Collection's demise are premature!

Although some medals from the collection were indeed sold at Stack's in the early 1970s, most of the American colonial and later medals and NE silver coins collected by Appleton are still at the Massachusetts Historical Society and are available for research. Indeed, new medals [ex-Appleton and not] are added to our online catalog weekly.

For those interested in discovering what Appleton medals survive here, a search in our library catalog ABIGAIL, the Library Catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society (masshist.org) will reveal our progress to date. Simply type appleton AND medals AND 1905 into the search box and select to the right. This is a moving target as we aren't finished recataloging the numismatic collection.

For those interested in the Samuel Appleton medal-created for the Massachusetts Horticultural Society (not the Historical Society)--here's a look at the obverse and reverse of the medal given to us by-yes-William Sumner Appleton.

Anne E. Bentley adds:

Pete adds:

To read the earlier E-Sylum article, see:
WILLIAM SUMNER APPLETON (1840-1903)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v27/esylum_v27n04a17.html)