Emily Hockaday Blair collection, 1888-1894
38 items
This collection consists of letters, manuscript maps, embroidery, and a photograph and calling card produced by or relating to the young Emily Hockaday Blair of Columbia, Missouri. The bulk of the collection is comprised of letters Emily wrote to her parents, Frank and Florence Blair, often addressed using nicknames "Faver" and "Murgee" or "Mudgie," and sent to them at various places like New York, Illinois, Missouri, and Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). In addition to commentary about Emily's daily experiences, hopes for visits, education, and acknowledgment of gifts, the letters also demonstrate her evolving handwriting. In her letter of November 11, 1892, Emily mentioned visiting local asylums and acquiring souvenirs from them. An undated letter includes several drawings of figures, including one of a Native American woman, and another includes a copy of a Rose Hartwick Thorpe's poem, "The Queen's Gift." Two maps that Emily drew as school exercises are also present--one of the United States of America (March 13, 1893), and another of New England (March 20, 1893). On occasion, other family members who were helping to care for Emily wrote brief notes within the correspondence, and an Aunt Lizabeth penned some letters dictated by Emily.
- One of Emily Hockaday Blair's calling cards, inscribed "To Mudgie & Faver"
- A cabinet studio portrait of Emily as a young child, taken by the photographer Douglass in Columbia, Missouri
- A handkerchief embroidered by Emily as a New Year's gift for her parents in 1892