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Introduction
In this letter Abby Lord details her efforts to secure Thomas Dorr's personal papers, which were seized from his law office in Providence in the spring of 1842. The papers were in the hands of former Governor James Fenner, a member of Governor Samuel Ward King’s executive council. Fenner was a bitter opponent of Dorr. Lord first called on Dorr's brother-in-law Samuel Ames, the state’s quartermaster general, and was then referred to Governor Fenner. She was working closely with Dorr's friend Walter S. Burges, a prominent Providence attorney.