The Ben L. Wiley Papers is an artificial collection acquired from the University Museum and other sources over a period of years. There are no clear records of provenance and no indication of original order.
Items are, therefore, grouped chronologically by type.
The Correspondence Series consists mainly of family letters to Ben or his wife, Emily Davie Wiley, with the bulk of the letters to Emily during the years 1853 to 1878. There are letters from Emily to Ben while he was serving in the Civil War, but there are no letters from Ben to Emily. Also conspicuous by their absence, are diaries or journals during the period of the Civil War. The Military Records Series contains some Mexican War items, but the bulk of material is from the Civil War period, tracing Wiley s movements in and out of the service from 1861 to 1865, including special orders, letters, and receipts. The reading of material in this series gives an insight into the cumbersome bureaucracy of the War Department in the 1860s.