This collection (0.5 linear feet) contains approximately 340 letters that James Edwin Lough and his wife, Dora A. Bailey, exchanged around the turn of the 20th century. During the year before their marriage, Bailey wrote to Lough about her life in Somerville, Massachusetts; Lough later wrote to Bailey about his life and work in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he was a college professor.
Dorothy Albonetta Bailey ("Dora") wrote around 280 letters to James Edwin Lough ("Ed") between September 1899 and June 1900. She commented on her life and social activities in Somerville, Massachusetts; shared her feelings for Lough; and discussed their upcoming marriage. James Lough also received letters from other correspondents, including cousins and acquaintances; his father wrote him a letter about marriage on June 22, 1900. Most items dated after June 1900 are Lough's letters to his wife from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and New York City, where he was a college professor. Lough discussed travel between Wisconsin and the East Coast, and occasionally referred to his teaching; he sometimes enclosed newspaper clippings. In a series of letters from 1905, Dora Bailey Lough provided news of their young son. Additional items include a carte-de-visite photograph of a child, made by J. W. Black & Co., a metal nameplate for James Edwin Lough, a list of addresses, and a page of the Boston Herald from October 1, 1899.
James Edwin Lough was born in Eaton, Ohio, in 1871, the son of W. H. Lough, Sr. After graduating from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, in 1891, Lough worked as a teacher in Eaton, Ohio, and as a principal in Stockton, Ohio. In 1893, he began his doctoral studies in psychology at Harvard University, during which time he taught courses at Harvard, Radcliffe College, and Wellesley College. He received his Ph.D. in 1898 and taught at the State Normal School in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, until 1901, when he became Professor of Psychology at the New York University School of Pedagogy. In the summer of 1900, he married Dorothy Albonetta Bailey ("Dora"); they had four children: Edwin Bailey (b. 1905), Barbara Esther (b. 1908), Richard Colburn (b. 1912), and Dorothea (b. 1914).