The collection consists of files on French emigres to Maine, New York, the southern part of the United States (mostly North Carolina) and Pennsylvania. Includes many clippings about book reviews, articles on Louis XIV, the Dauphin, Marie Antoinette, Joseph Bonaparte (King of Spain, brother of Napoleon) and Marshal Peter Ney (soldier of the French Revolution under Napoleon Bonaparte). Also included is a booklet on the French Refugee Colony in Pennsylvania called "Azilum".
Collection Overview
Emigres by the tens of thousands, men and women of the court, noblemen, army and naval officers, priests, and loyalists were among the French who fled to this country when their lives were threatened by the Revolution and Napoleon. They settled in northern and central New York, Pennsylvania as well as various other parts of the United States. Azilum was the French Refugee Colony in Pennsylvania that was planned as a refuge for Queen Marie Antoinette and Royalist fugitives from Revolutionary Paris. Azilum was deserted when Napoleon offered the emigres full amnesty in 1803.