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The Bryant family papers contain personal correspondence addressed to Emma Alice Bryant ("Alice") of Mt. Vernon, New York, and to her parents, Emma Frances Spaulding Bryant and Colonel John Emory Bryant. Alice's friend Bernice wrote about her life at Ulysses S. Grant University in Athens, Tennessee, and Emma's sister Margaretta described her life near Earlsville, Illinois. Julius Christian Zeller and his wife Alice were newlyweds who sent news of their lives in Kickapoo, Illinois.

The Bryant family papers contain 9 letters addressed to Emma Alice Bryant ("Alice") of Mt. Vernon, New York, and to her parents, Emma Frances Spaulding Bryant and Colonel John Emory Bryant.

Bernice, a friend of Alice's, wrote 3 letters in 1892 about her experiences at Ulysses S. Grant University in Athens, Tennessee, where she was a senior. She discussed her education, social activities, news from Athens, and mutual acquaintances who attended the college, such as Julius Zeller, Alice's future husband. Her letter of June 20, 1892, encloses newspaper clippings about weddings and other events, and she described the opening of an African American Baptist church (July 30, 1892). Margaretta Spaulding, Emma Spaulding Bryant's sister and Alice Bryant's aunt, wrote letters to Emma (June 21, [1892]; August 28, 1892) and Alice (October 1894) about her daily life in Earlsville, Illinois.

Julius Zeller's 2 letters are a love letter to Alice Bryant about his previous relationship with their mutual friend Bernice and about his studies at Ulysses S. Grant University (January 15, 1893) and a letter to his mother-in-law, Emma Bryant, written shortly after his marriage to Alice ([January 23, 1895]). The second letter concerns newlywed life. Alice Bryant wrote one letter to her parents about life in Kickapoo, Illinois, shortly after moving there (January 11, 1895).