This collection is made up of correspondence and receipts related to Juliette F. Gaylord's work with the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, during the Civil War. Gaylord, the group's secretary, corresponded with members of the United States Sanitary Commission's New-England Women's Auxiliary Association and with Hannah A. Adams, a Fitzwilliam native who worked in the South during the war.
The collection is comprised of 1 letter to "Mrs. Cahill;" 1 letter and 1 receipt addressed to the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society of Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire; 1 printed report; and 12 letters and receipts addressed to Juliette F. Gaylord. Gaylord received correspondence from the New-England Women's Auxiliary Association's executive committee about their efforts to procure flannel and other items for Union soldiers. In her letter of March 10, 1865, F. P. Fox thanked Gaylord for a recent report about the religious composition of the Fitzwilliam Society. Later correspondence pertains to a proposed lecture series and includes a printed questionnaire about potential locations. Other items concerning the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society include receipts for in-kind donations to the United States Sanitary Commission and a printed monthly report by the New-England Women's Auxiliary Association (November 20, 1864).
Hannah A. Adams wrote 2 personal letters to Juliette Gaylord in March 1864 about her work in St. Louis, Missouri, and Huntsville, Alabama, where she participated in relief efforts for soldiers. Adams discussed her desire to assist the soldiers, her intention to relocate to Nashville, and black residents' reactions to the arrival of Union troops in Huntsville.
Juliette Foster Hyde was born in Norwich, Connecticut, on March 26, 1833, the daughter of Augustus Hyde and Fidelia W. Foster. She had two brothers, Eugene Augustus Hyde (1825-1872) and Frederick Griswold Hyde (1847-1890). She graduated with a high school certificate from the State Normal School in New Britain, Connecticut, in 1850, and she received a teacher's certificate from the same institution in 1853. On June 12, 1861, she married William Luther Gaylord (1831-1882), who was a pastor in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire (1861-1867); Nashua, New Hampshire (1867-1870); Meriden, Connecticut (1870-1875); and Chicopee, Massachusetts (1876-1882). They had three children: Mary Foster (1866-1917), Joanna Lanman (b. 1869), and William Standish (b. 1874). During the Civil War, Juliette Gaylord was the secretary of the Ladies' Soldiers' Aid Society in Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, which collaborated with the United States Sanitary Commission's New-England Women's Auxiliary Association. Juliette Hyde Gaylord died on March 17, 1875, in Meriden and was buried in Yantic Cemetery in Norwich, Connecticut.
