Complete transcriptions of each letter accompany full-color digital images of each, enabling easy reading and comprehension of the ornate handwritten script. The digital collection also includes biographical information about Dawson and selected correspondents, finding aids, a thesis written about Dawson by a Xavier University student in 1958, documents describing the time period, and newspaper announcements about the collection.

Dawson's papers have been housed at Xavier for decades and until now have never been digitized or fully cataloged online. This digitized collection will serve Ohio students, teachers, and others studying and teaching nineteenth century U.S. history and particularly the Jacksonian era, and will be of value to U.S. presidential scholars around the world.

The digitization and transcription of the collection was made possible through a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), awarded by the State Library of Ohio in 2010. The original collection of letters was gifted to Xavier University in 1934 by Joseph Debar, a prominent Xavier alumnus and descendent of Moses Dawson.

(Xavier University is a private university located in Cincinnati, Ohio, providing a liberal arts education in the Catholic, Jesuit tradition. Founded in 1831, the university is the sixth�]oldest Catholic university in the nation.)