Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection primarily consists of 44 letters exchanged between members of the Hunter family of Wiseburg, Maryland, in 1859. Eliza Hunter ("Lida") received 19 letters from her parents, Margaret and Pleasant Hunter, when she was studying at Linden Hall Seminary in Lititz, Pennsylvania; she responded with 4 letters and 1 brief note. Other letters between female cousins and sisters concern various aspects of their lives, such as education, travel, and family news.

This collection primarily consists of 44 letters exchanged between members of the Hunter family of Wiseburg, Maryland, in 1859. Eliza Hunter ("Lida") received 19 letters from her parents, Margaret and Pleasant Hunter, when she was studying at Linden Hall Seminary in Lititz, Pennsylvania; she responded with 4 letters and 1 brief note. Other letters between female cousins and sisters concern various aspects of their lives, such as education, travel, and family news. Also included are 2 newspaper clippings and a receipt. With the exception of 1 letter written in 1856, 2 written in 1866, and 2 undated items, the letters all date between January 16, 1859, and December 8, 1859.

The Hunters provided Eliza with family and social news from their home in Wiseburg, Maryland. They often commented on health issues, deaths, and correspondence with cousins and other family members. In her letter of May 27, 1859, Eliza's mother described two deaths caused by railroad accidents. Eliza discussed some of her experiences while in school, and included details about her studies and about her social life.

Other female cousins and family members also wrote to unidentified members of the Hunter family, commenting on education, social news, visits to Baltimore, and other aspects of their lives. Eliza Hunter's cousin Annie wrote a letter from Natchez, Mississippi, about her upcoming journey home and about the recent explosion of the steamboat Princess (March 13, 1859); she also mentioned an African American man who wanted to return home with her. In 2 letters to her sister (September and December 1859), a woman named Clara mentioned her five miscarriages, her elderly mother's affairs, and the cost of feeding herself and her household (which included a nurse and food for her "woman" and 4 slaves).

Eliza also received brief letters from female acquaintances she knew from Linden Hall, who wrote of their journeys home from the school in the summer of 1859. Two newspaper clippings, one of which is dated 1866, discuss Byron Sunderland, former chaplain to the United States Senate, and a political speech by Frederick Douglass.

This volume is made up of Dr. Samuel Watson Bragg's entries regarding his obstetrics practice in Burlington and Lincoln, Maine, 1879-1909. Each entry may include the name of the mother (sometimes listed by their husbands' names, i.e. "Mrs. Rev. John Todd"), the date, the sex of the child, complications or ease of labor and delivery, notes on premature birth, whether or not the child was the woman's first or not, whether or not ether or instruments were used during the birthing process, and other information. The weight of the child was occasionally documented. Dr. Bragg also noted purposeful or accidental abortions and miscarriages, and in some cases the deaths of mothers. A photograph of Dr. Bragg in front of his office, apparently with his daughter, is pasted into the inside cover of the volume.

This volume is made up of Dr. Samuel Watson Bragg's entries regarding his obstetrics practice in Burlington and Lincoln, Maine, 1879-1909. Each entry may include the name of the mother (sometimes listed by their husbands' names, i.e. "Mrs. Rev. John Todd"), the date, the sex of the child, complications or ease of labor and delivery, notes on premature birth, whether or not the child was the woman's first, whether or not ether or instruments were used during the birthing process, and other information. The weight of the child was occasionally documented. Dr. Bragg also noted purposeful or accidental abortions and miscarriages, and in some cases the deaths of mothers. A photograph of Dr. Bragg in front of his office, apparently with his daughter, is pasted into the inside cover of the volume.

One entry respects the birth of child at seven months, who, the doctor wrote, had been "marked" because of the mother's assistance in killing a woodchuck early in the pregnancy. The child had a hole "to its brains" at the same location where the mother had struck the woodchuck with a pick (entry 20).