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This collection contains letters that Robert E. and Elizabeth Elder of Urbana, Illinois, wrote to their children William and Emma in the 1880s. They shared news of friends and family members and discussed livestock and crops.

This collection (76 items) contains letters that Robert E. and Elizabeth Elder of Urbana, Illinois, wrote to their children William and Emma in the 1880s. They shared news of friends and family members and discussed livestock and crops. Robert Elder composed most of the letters, which also include some brief contributions from his wife. The Elders often discussed news of their son Erwin, who had a nearby farm; Erwin's daughter Nettie, and neighbors, including members of the Clayton and Ruggles families. Robert Elder reported on prices for hogs and cattle and Elizabeth Elder discussed fruit production and canning; in one letter, she shared her suspicion that the 1885 fruit crop would consist primarily of raspberries and plums due to the destruction of peach trees. In his letter of October 18, 1886, Robert Elder described the destruction caused by a recent severe storm, which uprooted trees and destroyed at least one house. Undated items include a letter by Elizabeth T. Elder reflecting upon the recent death of her husband.

The Otto C. Thompson family photograph album contains group and individual portraits of family members, pictures of farms and scenery in rural Indiana, and views of downtown New Albany, Indiana, taken during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Otto C. Thompson family photograph album (16.5cm x 30cm) contains 130 photographic prints taken from September 14, 1898, to 1916. The album covers are missing. Pictures are pasted one or more to a page, and most are captioned. The majority of images were created from 1898-1913.

The photographs depict middle-class life in the Midwest with portraits and views of urban and rural scenery, family and business activities. Included are views of downtown New Albany, Indiana in the early 20th century, and views of two of the city's Presbyterian churches. Other locales include Lafayette, Indiana; Borden, Indiana; and Mitchell, Indiana. Of particular note are a group of three images showing the exterior, interior, and signage of Otto C. Thompson's gramophone dealership at 107 East Main Street. A page of notable portraits of men includes a mail-carrier and a hunter with ammunition belt. Other portraits show Sherley Thompson as an infant and toddler, children bathing in a washtub, and photographs of various individuals family groups taken outdoors, sometimes doing farm work or posing by houses. A large group appears gathered around an early automobile and another posed at the time of a funeral. Other vehicles pictured include an interurban electric car in a snowy winter landscape, paddlewheel riverboats, and steam trains in motion along the countryside and emerging from a tunnel. A group is shown riding a miniature train in front of St. Louis Union Station. Some images feature farm animals such as horses, cows, pigs, sheep, and chickens, and others were taken during the flood of 1913.