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This collection contains 7 school notebooks used by members of the Gilbert and Rupley families of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to practice penmanship and mathematics. Other items include poetry, a cover sheet, and loose pages from an account book.

This collection contains 7 school notebooks used by members of the Gilbert and Rupley families of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, to practice penmanship and mathematics. The collection also includes 7 pages of poetry, 1 cover sheet, and 14 loose pages from an account book.

Sally Gilbert began her 2 penmanship books on January 10 and February 24, 1813, and practiced her writing by copying brief proverbs, short poems, and examples of financial records, such as receipts. The second volume contains 2 longer poems, along with the penmanship exercises. The cover of each book bears a printed illustration, including a man falling off of a sitting horse ("How to Travel Upon Two Legs in a Frost") and a game of "Dutch Nine [Pi]ns."

George Rupley maintained 2 schoolbooks on arithmetic in 1828 and 1829, and copied problems involving compound addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, as well as problems involving fractions. His notebooks also include some penmanship exercises and poetry, as well as a child's drawing of a man outside a house.

Frederick A. Rupley's book (1831) concerns economic mathematics under the heading "Tare and Tret," and covers topics such as calculating interest and discounts. The book also contains some drawings of plants and includes 2 poems on its back page. Sarah Catharine Rupley's notebook (1840) addresses similar mathematical concepts, and contains sections on reduction, interest, compound interest, and vulgar fractions.

The final exercise book is undated and belonged to Rebecca Margaretta (or Margaret) Rupley in the early 19th century. Exercises consist of copied penmanship examples, often proverbs; Mary Ann Rupley's name also appears on its back page.

Of the collection's 7 loose pages of poetry, 1 is dedicated to Sally Gilbert (September 15, 1812), and 1 to Sarah Gilb[ert] from Henry Hoffman (September 2, 1814). One cover sheet is addressed to Henry Himmelrich of Germantown, Ohio. The collection includes a broadsheet: A New Song, Or, The Lamentable Death of Polly: Young Peopel [sic] Who Delight In Sin, I'll Tell You What Has Lately Been,--A Woman Who Was Young And Fair, Who Died In Sin And Sad Despair!

Approximately 14 pages from an account book (1813-1814) document sales of merchandise, including some accounts recording customers' payments. Though most customers paid in cash, at least one compensated for purchases by chopping wood. A woman named Betsy Gilbert was among the merchant's customers.

Between 1835 and 1839, Hart Hosley produced an exercise and commonplace book while attending the Canton Academy in Canton, New York, and while later living in Boston, Massachusetts. The bulk of the volume consists of a translation from French into English of François Fenelon's The Adventures of Telemachus, the Son of Ulysses. Selections of poetry, proverbs, songs, and mathematics problems comprise the rest of the volume. Pressed leaves appear throughout. The covers feature printed decorative paper (possibly wallpaper) of a woman playing a lute beside a dancing cherub.

This volume was owned by successive generations of the Hoyt family in Stamford, Connecticut, and Hudson, Michigan, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Its contents include military accounts from St. Johns, Newfoundland; arithmetic problems and solutions; and drawings of animals and natural scenes, including two hunters' encounter with a bear.

This book was owned by successive generations of the Hoyt family in Stamford, Connecticut, and Hudson, Michigan, in the 18th and 19th centuries. The front cover of the hide-bound volume bears the faint remnants of the English royal arms. Writing on the inside of the front cover indicates that the volume was owned by Jonah Hoyt (or Hait) before being presented to his grandson, Fred L. Hoyt, on his 21st birthday. The early pages include 7 pages of accounts for the receipt of military stores and provisions at St. Johns, Newfoundland, between September 1762 and August 1764. The section also contains a birth register regarding the children of Jonah and Anna Polmateer Hoyt.

The bulk of the volume is mathematical problems and solutions, including exercises related to multiplication, division, fractions and decimals, currency reduction, and the rule of three (cross-multiplication). Several measurement conversion tables, brief poems, penmanship exercises, and geometric line drawings are interspersed throughout this portion of the book, which also includes signatures by Jonah Hoyt and his son Lewis. Most of the poems are brief and humorous, with longer poems concerning a visit to London and the virtue of patience. Newspaper clippings regarding the death and funeral of George Washington, the wealth of Cornelius Vanderbilt, presidential election results from 1789 to 1872, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem "Boston" are laid and pasted into the volume. A few plants are also laid in, as well as a letter from T. Andrews to Mary Andrews about life in Ypsilanti, Michigan, in February 1837. Decorated cutouts made from colored paper are pasted into the volume.

Emery Hoyt and other family members created many drawings, which appear after the arithmetic problems. Two are colored: a partially colored view of a church resembling a castle and a reproduction of an engraving showing a waterfront scene (the original engraving is laid into the volume). Most of the remaining pictures are pencil drawings and sketches of wild animals, including woodland creatures such as squirrels and deer; farm animals such as horses, cattle, and pigs; and African animals such as elephants, an oryx, and rhinoceroses. Other scenes of note show two hunters during an encounter with a bear, with one of the hunters preparing to hit the bear with the butt of his rifle; a safari hunter beside an elephant; and cavalry officers stabbing and shooting Native Americans. Also included are an outline of the state of Maine and a sketch of a sailing ship.

This collection contains materials relating to the Loomis family of Columbia, Connecticut, between the 1820s and 1890s, primarily concerning the education of the children Ormond P., Mary, Emily, Aurelia, and Dwight. Educational content includes penmanship exercises, cypher books, drawings, maps, and various mathematical and astronomical calculations.The collection also includes documentation of Ormond P. Loomis's teaching, classroom, and students for Fall-Winter 1829-1830. An estate inventory produced upon the death of their father, Elam Loomis, in 1855 is also present, as well as a partially completed family record. Several pieces of poetry, speech notes, and other writings by members of the Loomis family are also included.

This collection contains materials relating to the Loomis family of Columbia, Connecticut, between the 1820s and 1890s, primarily concerning the education of the children Ormond P., Mary, Emily, Aurelia, and Dwight. Educational content includes penmanship exercises, cypher books, drawings, maps, and various mathematical and astronomical calculations. Some of the illustrations and pen work are based on Eleazer Huntington's The American Penman and on "Aaron Yeomans Instructor." Two are datelined "Pine Swamp." The collection also includes documentation of Ormond P. Loomis's teaching, classroom, and students for Fall-Winter 1829-1830. An estate inventory produced upon the death of their father, Elam Loomis, in 1855 is also present, as well as a partially completed family record. Several pieces of poetry, speech notes, and other writings by members of the Loomis family are also included.

• Penmanship and Forms, beginning January 23, 1828 (11 pages) kept by Ormond P. Loomis, featuring elegant, different scripts and illustrations.
• Penmanship exercise by Ormond P. Loomis: "Duties of Men," February 21, 1828; with an illustration of an American eagle and shield, with an ornate oval border.
• "Miscellaneous Matters &c." cypher book with astronomical content by Ormond P. Loomis, March 20, 1828.
• Two loose sheets with illustrated projections and calculations for solar eclipses in 1831 and 1836, dated April 1 and 3, 1829, produced by Ormond P. Loomis.
• Penmanship exercise, with different versions of Ormond P. Loomis' name, phonetically spelled with Hebrew and Greek characters, May 31, 1828.
• Illustration of an American eagle with a shield and banner, made by Ormond P. Loomis 1828.
• Illustrations of modern winged cherubim, with a quotation beginning "O! Righteous! thou lovely thing!", made by Ormond P. Loomis on January 18, 1829.
• Sheet of penmanship practice by Ormond P. Loomis with quotations on verso respecting eloquence, and a statement "Andrew Jackson of Tennessee President!", June 1829.
• Illustrated projection drawn by Ormond P. Loomis of the moon's eclipse of September 2, 1830, dated March 20, 1829.
• Illustration of an eagle with a banner by Ormond P. Loomis in 1828.
• "Journal kept at the 3rd school District in the school society in Hebron", maintained by Ormond P. Loomis in 1829. Including a foldout of tabular information about daily school attendance by 10 students, and daily weather. Concludes with a statement about why Loomis decided to leave the profession of teacher. A separate list identifies male and female students in the School Society in Hebron by class status.
• Two sheets with miscellaneous astronomical calculations, canal lengths, and numerical Christian Bible information produced by Ormond P. Loomis in 1830 and 1831.
• Handmade, stab-sewn volume with poetry, literature, and biblical extracts kept by Aurelia Loomis between 1838-1841.
• "Appendix to Report on Free Schools," compiled in 1847, possibly by Dwight Loomis before his graduation from Yale Law School.
• Circa 1855 volume inventorying the estate of Elam Loomis.
• Letter from Dwight Loomis to Mary Loomis dated March 26, 1863, and a copy of correspondence between Dwight Loomis and Cyrus White including a riddle about white lies dated February 21, 1889.
• Circa 1890s bound volume of notes for a speech to the Burpee Post of the Grand Army of the Republic about the Civil War, possibly by Dwight Loomis, concerning memorialization of the Civil War dead, naturalization, suffrage, citizenship, patriotism and education.
• Undated manuscript map of England, Ireland, and Scotland drawn by Ormond P. Loomis.
• Newspaper clipping showing demographic information for the states and territories in the United States, [1822?].
• Two undated pencil sketches drawn by Emily Loomis of the exterior of buildings, including the "Mill at Hartford."
• Undated poem about Abraham Lincoln, "Hitch Your Wagon to a Star," possibly written by Dwight Loomis.
• Undated "Family Record" for the Loomis family with entries for family members and their birth dates. Includes record of Loomis P. Ormond's death.
• Undated cypher book kept by Mary Loomis with several patriotic and religious calligraphic exercises.