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

This unattributed pocket ledger was likely kept by a man laboring as a carpenter, recording debts and credits related to his work from 1855 to 1864. The writer repaired items such as gates, doors, and boats. He also documented making doors, staining wood, sawing logs, getting in wood, drawing boards, working on houses, and framing buildings. Two pages at the end of the volume record his cash accounts in 1864, distinguishing between cash on hand, greenbacks, eastern bills, and scrip. Several other pages document hours worked on projects and various dimensions of wood for projects. Four outlines of what appears to be the end of a banister or other woodwork piece are drawn in pencil near the end of the volume. A list of woodworking tools and a carte-de-visite of a woman wearing a polka dot dress are stored in the back pocket of the volume.

The Pratt family papers present a chronicle of middle-class women's lives between the 1850's and 1890's.

The Pratt family papers present a chronicle of middle-class women's lives between the 1850's and 1890's. The writers are uniformly literate and attentive, and the majority of the letters are of a strongly personal nature. While some letters stand on their own, the collection should be seen as one large, continuous document presenting a nineteenth century "woman's" life in many of its aspects, from cleaning and cooking to marriage, childbirth, child rearing, sewing, gardening, travel, music, reading, teaching, religion, death, and friendships. The composite portrait that emerges is stronger than the portraits of any single woman, though the personalities of several of the correspondents are very strongly expressed. As a result, the Pratt Papers is a valuable resource for the study of women's work, as teachers, employees, and home makers, as well as their emotional and personal lives.

The primary focus of the Pratt papers is Emma Louise Pratt (b. 1864 April 8) of Revere, Mass. The collection includes several hundred letters addressed to her, as well as some of her diaries, the diaries of her only brother, Willie (d. 1888), 1881, 1883, and 1886, and notes between Emma and her mother, Emeline. Most of the letters were written by Emma's intimate friends and family members, including several of her aunts and cousins, and these provide the main dialogue of the collection and construct a fascinating image of the development of one young woman's personal relationships during the post-Civil War period. There are four women with whom Emma most consistently corresponded: Claribel M. Tilton Crane, Emma Lois Proctor, Mabel H. Drew Croudis, and Lola V. Jefferds.

Claribel (or Clara) M. Tilton Crane was a school chum of Emma's who moved from Revere to Malden, Mass., in 1873, and a few years later to Quincy. Their correspondence began when the girls were still teenagers, with Claribel describing her new home, her school, friends, pets, clothes, and fancy work, and she and Emma occasionally exchanged riddles and conundrums. The two developed a private code, words that had special meaning to each other, and Claribel often included words at the top of her letters that have no obvious relationship to the text. Over the Christmas holidays, which coincided with her birthday, Claribel always described her presents for that year, a practice that continued even after she and Emma became adults. The subject matter of Claribel's letters changed as she grew and began working in a dry goods store in Quincy owned by her brother, Charlie. Her letters include descriptions of her work, sewing, clothes, and her married life with a man named Crane. Claribel's health was never very good and a great many of the later letters describe her various convalescences. In some of these, Claribel includes floor plans of her home as well as written descriptions.

Emma's cousin, Emma Lois Proctor, moved to LaCrosse, Wisc., when very young to live with her father, Alfred, and new stepmother. The collection includes a few letters from Mary Ann Proctor dating from the 1860's, which refer to Emma Proctor and other family members, and it appears that when Mary Ann Proctor's mother died, Emma returned east to live with the Pratt's until she grew up. Emma Proctor's early letters describe her trip to Wisconsin, her father's farm and family, her work there, her sewing and fancy work, and her efforts to become a teacher. Other members of the Proctor family had also gone west to live, some in Wisconsin, others in Chicago, or as far west as Montana and Washington Territory, and Emma Proctor kept in close contact with all. She eventually became a teacher, and considered moving to Kallispell, Mont., to join a brother and his wife and teach school. The letters she wrote during an 1890 trip to Kallispell include some fine descriptions of the state and of the Flathead Indians. She decided that she would return to Wisconsin, though five years later she returned to Montana.

Mabel H. (Drew) Croudis from Medford, Mass., was another of Emma Pratt's cousins, though from which side of the family she is related is not clear. Mabel and Emma began corresponding in 1881 and their letters continue throughout the entire collection. The two women were exceptionally close and wrote to each other with great regularity, almost every week, and visited each other often. Mabel usually addressed Emma as "Susan" and signed her letters "Betsy". Her letters are filled with family news, discussions of her work as a bookkeeper in her brother's store, and with inside jokes and stories that she and Emma shared. Because of their closeness and the regularity with which they wrote and visited, Mabel's letters tend not to provide a very complete picture of their relationship, though their intimacy comes through very clearly. It appears that neither Emma nor Mabel planned on getting married, even when they reached their early twenties, and Mabel often commented on their plans to grow old together and live in their own "snuggery." Mabel eventually married George Croudis, and this event appears to have put a strain on the friendship. Soon after Mabel's marriage, Mabel complained to Emma about never hearing from her anymore, and implored her to understand that their friendship need not change simply because she has gotten married.

Lola V. Jefferds was another friend of Emma Pratt's who, like Claribel, moved from Revere to Livermore Falls, Me. She and Emma corresponded regularly, though not quite as frequently as Claribel or Mabel. Lola was a spirited person who wrote interesting, usually very descriptive letters. Like Emma, she did not plan on marrying, occasionally expressing a disdain for the men she met, stating that she would prefer to remain single if these men were her only options. Lola's father owned a furniture store in Livermore Falls where Lola worked along with her parents. The family took charge of the local post office at some point, probably through political patronage, and Lola soon began to work there.

Emma Pratt spent a month's holiday with Lola in August, 1891. During this time, she wrote an average of two letters per day to her parents, representing some of the few extant letters written by Emma. These include descriptions of her vacation, the landscape, Lola and her family, and, above all, her homesickness and feelings of guilt at being away from her home and mother. Emma worried constantly that she should not be on vacation, but nevertheless appeared to have a good time. It is unfortunate that Emma's letters to her friends and cousins are not present, for these would be particularly helpful in rounding out the picture. From the letters written to Emma it is known that she was a very descriptive and lively letter writer. Her friends often comment on the pleasure, comfort and amusement they derive from Emma's letters. The collection includes one letter, or rather story, that Emma sent to her cousin Mabel (Betsy) describing a lawn-party at Lola's, that offers a good glimpse into the wit and powers of observation that made Emma such a popular correspondent.

Emma Pratt corresponded regularly with several other women, including her cousins Nettie Maria Fellows (47), Edith Dann (43), Georgie Renton (23), Anna Linn Renton (15), and her aunt, C. Augusta Renton (27). The collection also includes other correspondence of Augusta's, mostly with her sisters, Emeline Pratt and Olive M. Homans (29). The letters from Nettie and Edith are not very illuminating, consisting primarily of brief discussions of family and the weather. The letters from Augusta and her daughters, Georgie and Anna Linn, however, are interesting when placed together. The Rentons owned a boarding house in East Gloucester, Mass., in which all three women worked, and Augusta's letters include interesting discussions of her life as a mother, boarding house keeper, and friend. Augusta also described the health problems of her son, Freddie, who suffered from a diseased leg. Georgie and Anna Linn began to write to Emma when they were very, through the period in which Georgie entered Wellesley College as a student in the late 1880s. Augusta Renton died in 1890, leaving Georgie, Anna Linn, and a cousin(?) Edith Dann, grief stricken and doing their best to cope with Augusta's death.

The 29 letters from Emeline Pratt's sister, Olive M. Homans, are especially interesting. Olive was a lively writer with a good sense of humor and a strong sense of what she felt was right and wrong. Her correspondence with Emeline began in 1867 after she has moved to Hannibal, Mo., with her husband, Willie Homans. She describes her new home in Missouri, her friends, and vacations to Minnesota, Ohio and Michigan. Olive taught Sunday school to freedmen in Missouri.

Emma's diaries, written in 1883-1887 and 1889-1892, consist only of one page entries, and are not particularly introspective. However, there are a few instances in which Emma manages to express her feelings within this space. It is in here that Emma's relationship with her father and mother becomes clearer, as well as Emma's frustration at feeling that she is a financial burden to her father because, at the age of 19 and unmarried, she still lives at home and is not contributing to the family's income. This frustration influenced her feelings toward both her parents, though in very different ways. Emma grew very protective of her mother, and assumed the role of the dutiful daughter trying to ease her mother's burden. At the same time, she seemed to grow angrier and angrier with her father, though her basic love for him always remained. Emma expressed an interest in becoming a dressmaker, but complained that she never had the time to learn, as she was so busy with housework, church activities, and (apparently) letter writing. At the end of each entry in her diary, she kept track of the Bible verse she had read for the day.

In August, 1888, Emma's brother, Willie, died in a drowning accident. Her diary from this year is absent, however in 1889, almost every entry mentions Willie, Willie's death, and Emma's grief and disbelief that her brother was taken from her. The collection includes a substantial number of letters of condolence as well. At about this time, both Emma and Emeline began a correspondence with a woman, Emma Aldrich, whose daughter had recently died. The daughter and Willie were buried in the same cemetery, and the letters from Emma Aldrich deal mainly with the cemetery plots and the death of her daughter and Willie.

Parallel to the letters of the Pratt and Proctor family is a very significant series of correspondence relating to the Stebbins family. This series forms a self-contained body of approximately 75 letters dating between 1854 and 1869, which may have been collected by Emma or written by relatives, but connections to either the Pratt or Proctor families is unclear. The focus of these letters is a woman, Laura Stebbins, from Springfield, Mass., whose teaching career took her into positions in the Deep South in the 1850s, and to Washington, D.C., to teach freedmen in the 1860s, and also includes a number of letters from a man, Eugene, probably her brother. Laura appears to have suffered from poor health, experiencing a great deal of trouble with her eyes. It is also apparent that her family and friends admired her greatly. She was considered to be an unselfish friend and teacher, selfless, and always thinking of others. From their perspective, Stebbins was the "perfect" woman who represented the "angel in the house," so to speak.

The Stebbins correspondence includes some excellent descriptions of the life of a woman teacher during the late ante-bellum period, her attitudes toward teaching, her students, and the south, and there are several letters that concern the education of freedmen and the end of the war and early Reconstruction period in Virginia. Like Laura, Eugene worked with freedmen in Norfolk, Va., both for an unidentified employer and the Freedmen's Bureau, and his letters are packed with interesting description and thoughts about his work, his home, Laura's teaching and health, and the aftermath of the Civil War. The collection also includes several letters written to Laura from family members and friends, including two women teachers with whom Laura seems to have been particularly close, Martha E. Swan and "Jennie."

Among other items, the Stebbins letters include two particularly interesting letters from a woman, Marcia A. Gleaner, that describe her experiences as an employee in a wholesale cloak store on Broadway in New York City in 1862. In the first letter, Marcia expressed her disgust with New York City and with her working and living conditions. In the second, she described an accident at work in which a women fell down the stairs while she and the other 150 others were leaving for the day.

Finally, there is a sequence of letters that is difficult to trace to the Pratt, Proctor or Stebbins families. These are a group of letters from the French, West, and Richardson families in Oberlin and Pittsfield, Ohio, Potsdam, N.Y., Jaffrey and Rindge, N.H., Cornish, Me., and Fitchburg, Mass.. There are several interesting letters from Abijah French from California where he has gone to see his brother Levi. Levi has "gone mad" and was unable to recognize Abijah as his brother, though he was able to remember all of his brothers and sisters' names -- Abijah, Alvira, Augusta, and Maria -- as well as his parents', Richard and Percilia. Abijah also describes California and his trip westward. It is possible that these families are related to the Pratts and Proctors; there is a letter from Carrie L. Richardson from Cornish, Me. (1893 January 26) to Emma which makes a reference to Grandma Pratt and to Emma's mother's health. An expense account book and miscellaneous receipts and notes belonging to Oscar W. Grover may represent items relating to Emma Pratt's would-be, or actual, husband.

This scrapbook includes clipped articles and images, original drawings, and written entries within the pages of a 1850s blankbook of receipts. Contextual clues indicate that individual(s) added to the volume at later dates, pasting clippings over used pages, and internal evidence suggests at least one compiler may have lived in Maine. Original drawings primarily center on themes of violent encounters between scouts and Native Americans, romantic entanglements, and conflict. Sometimes illustrated newspaper and magazine clippings are pasted throughout the volume, many relating to themes of marriage, love, women, family, and memory. Several pages were used to copy a portion of an undated letter, an essay, and a manuscript poem.

The individual(s) who created this scrapbook pasted items, drew scenes, and wrote entries within the pages of a 1850s blankbook of receipts, seemingly created for use by a Boston shipping or exportation company. Contextual clues indicate that persons added to the volume at later dates, pasting clippings over used pages, and internal evidence suggests at least one compiler may have lived in Maine.

Penmanship exercises and short notes are written on many of the pages, either where no additional content has been added or where clippings have been pasted on top. The names James Randall Reeves and Orren Cunningham appear on some of these pages, as well as place names of Bennington and Windsor, Maine, possibly indicating one of the early owners of the volume. The handwriting appears to match the text that accompanies the original illustrations.

Original drawings made using pencil, colored pencil, and ink can be found throughout the volume, sometimes with dates added, ranging from 1863 to 1869. Remnants of clippings that had previously been affixed to the page indicate that an owner of the volume must have pasted items into the scrapbook at a later date than the drawings were originally produced. Many of the images depict scenes of conflict or relate to two fictional characters, Hezekiah and Ezekiel. The two men appear to be scouts, and the images depict their encounters with villains, Native Americans, and a love interest, Flora. Violence, unrequited love, and emotional disappointment are central themes, and the concept of a "gas of hope" that spontaneously streams from Ezekial's head appears several times when the character experiences excitement or distress.

• Page 1: "Back Villains for your lives, says Peter, or you shall all die at the break of day by Cats." At the base of the page: "Indifference.". The illustration shows a man carrying a revolver in one hand while a woman holds his other arm. She extends an arm out behind her towards two men following them, one with a darker complexion and a machete raised over his head and the other pointing a musket at them.
• Page 3: "As the Villains again leaped against the door, an arm was thrust through the broken hand, and a voice cried out." The illustration is a nighttime scene with three men with a battering ram striking at a closed door of a house, where a man points a pistol out of an opening at them.
• Page 6: "Rescued from fire..." (the text is partially obscured by remnants of a newspaper clipping). The drawing depicts a firefighter descending a ladder from second story that is ablaze, holding a woman in his arm.
• Page 8: "...burly scout. A Sioux Chief captured" (the text is largely obscured by affixed clippings). The drawing shows a mustachioed man in military garb, a fur hat, and a cape who is holding a knife covered in blood. He is grabbing the arm of a Native American man who has dropped his knife and who is bleeding from a wound in his arm. Two ink drawings of insects (a beetle and a dragonfly) are pasted on the page.
• Page 10: "Perrilous adventure of Hezekiah the Scout, under cover of the darkness at the haunted schoolhouse." The image is a nighttime scene of a small building with a man climbing through a window. Another man runs behind him saying, "stop villain stop."
• Page 12: "The fate of Hezekiahs beaver is inevitable" and "Wonderful adventure of the Scout, Hezekiah cries out with a loud voice Ezekiel come here, help me bind these knaves." The drawing is of a bare-chested man in a green hat, holding two Native American men by the throat, one in each hand. A pencil marking indicates the year 1865.
• Page 16: "...The robber of the Rhine" (at least one additional word is partially obscured). The drawing depicts a balding man smoking a long pipe, wearing a musket on his back, and holding a bloody sword in front of him. A pencil marking indicates the year 1866.
• Page 18: "Death of Heavy [?]" and "Desperate adventure of Hezekiah, Slatt down in Kintuck..." The image is of a shirtless man (with a green hat) facing off with a Native American man, the former wielding his musket overhead and the latter his tomahawk each to strike the other. They stand over three dead or dying Native American men.
• Page 21: "Ezekial, & he knows who, on sunday eve, at the schoolhouse coming from meeting, by cats." The drawing depicts a man kneeling beside a seated woman who is holding a handkerchief or piece of cloth. One of his hands is on her shoulder, the other holds one of her hands. Another man lies face down in the corner.
• Page 24: "Weep stricken one your sorrows will have an end." Text at the bottom of the page is largely obscured by clippings, but "Ezekiel" and "Flora" are both visible. The drawing shows an upset man with mussed hair and arms akimbo, holding a handkerchief. One of the clippings over the man's head is "FIRST LOVE." A pencil marking indicates the year 1866.
• Page 26: "A streak of hope for Ezekial." The drawing shows a smiling man wearing a yellow hat that is releasing a stream of green gas, labelled "gas of hope."
• Page 27: "weep on str[i]cken one thy sorrows shall never end." The image depicts two men standing before a small grave with headstone reading "Dead Hope." Ezekiel, wearing a yellow hat from which "gas" spews, points down to the grave, saying, "What Have You Buried There Hezekiah." Hezekiah, barefoot, wearing a green hat and ragged pants, and holding a shovel, replies, "A. Dead Hope. I. Thought. She. Loved Me. But. She Did. Not Oh. Dear. What. Shall. I. Do Boo Hoo Boo Hoo." The illustration is marked in ink: "Drawn by Ezekiel himself in 1867."
• Page 30: "N.E. View of the royal oak of Shag Town, May 2d 1867." The drawing is a landscape featuring a large barren tree with a wooden plank/case/contraption and musket leaning against it. A sun smiles in the sky.
• Page 32: "View of Mud Pond, & Poccihog Hill, Sketched on the eastern rock, At half past three O'Clock." A landscape drawing shows a lake and a heavily wooded hillside. A smiling sun is in the sky and a person rows a boat on the lake.
• Page 36: Portrait of a bearded man in military uniform, with blue and gold epaulettes.
• Page 38: "A sorrowful meeting of the two scouts, Dialogue. Ezekial - 'Oh the letter, the letter, she loves me not.' Hezekiah - "Weep not Bro Scout, I pronounce it a forgery, by cats." The image is of two men wearing hats, muskets, and powder horns. One holds a slain animal in his hand, and the other cries while holding a letter and gas spews from his hat.
• Page 40: "Tallow plenty, or courting by candle-light, Stebbins telling Flora about his farm, out west." The drawing is an interior scene of a room with wallpaper, curtains, chairs, and a table. A man and woman embrace while holding candles, and additional candles are located on the table, chair, and floor.
• Page 44: Text at the top of the page is partially obscured but reads in part, "Bachelor . . . the famous scout," while additional text at the bottom reads "The inocent subject of my contempt by day, and my dreams by night." The drawing is a portrait of a man in a rumpled green hat, shirt, and suspenders, likely representing Hezekiah. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "THE GHOST OF OAK GROVE."
• Page 46: The letters "P.L.L." appear at the top of the page, and the note "Signed in the first degree, P.L.L." appears beside a highly stereotyped pencil portrait of an African American man.
• Page 48: Portrait of a bearded man.
• Page 50: Portrait of a man with moustache and goatee, with the text, "Art. Miller, California" written beside him.
• Page 52: "Poor old maniac, but once powerful scout, now dwindled away with sorrow for the lost Flora." The image shows Ezekial holding a wooden cane and a large "grief bag" on his back that has a vent spewing gas. On the bag is a printed, pasted-on caption reading "THE HAND OF FATE". He is wearing ragged pants and his hat spews green gas. Hezekiah wears his green hat and proffers something to Ezekial, saying, "Poor old fellow you must be hungry. Can I do anything for you, you seem to be weary of life. I guess I take you to a place of safety at once." Ezekial: "Answers with great vigor. I'm not hungry it is grief that gnaws like hunger at my very vitals. No never. You are the man that ruined me, if I was a smart man as I [...] I would kill you."
• Page 54: "Ezekial goes home with -- gets near home when the old scout jumps through the gateway inclosed in a sheet, See the consequences, of his rush act." The image shows a man draped in a white sheet standing in the doorway of a round stone structure. A well-dressed man and woman run apart from each other, leaving their hats on the ground. On the opposite page, several notes are written: "The identical hat worn by Hezekiah at the siege of Tattletown"; "The hat worn by Hezekiah at the destruction of Troy"; and "The sad effects of first love."
• Page 56: A man wearing a feathered hat and cape brandishes a sword while standing with one foot on the back of a slain man who has dropped his sword. He continues to fight with a man in a robe with a cross on it. A woman sits on the ground with a hand to her head. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "WHO''S TO WIN." A pencil marking indicates the year 1869.
• Page 58: "The burly scout, the stabbed scout, & Frankrifle, outscouted, by the bank scout at the old barn . . . gets valuable information concerning the conspiracy, by cats." The image shows four men in a hayloft, one, likely Ezekial, wears a yellow hat that is expelling gas. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "HUNTED DOWN."
• Page 60: "In dishabille," and at the bottom of the page: "Stebbins - 'Get out of my bed, Oh get out of my bed!" The drawing is of a woman wearing a shift and draped with a blanket reclining in a bed. A man in a nightshirt is seated on floor gesticulating at her.
• Page 62: "Who's Been here?" The drawing shows a woman looking out the window, while a man in a nightshirt, carrying the rest of his clothes, flees from the open door. A nicely dressed man with cane approaches him. A printed, pasted-on caption reads "TAUGHT BY EXPERIENCE."
• Page 64: "My idea of domestic bliss. or High life in the Lowlands." Text at the bottom of the page reads, "Stebbins about played out. 20 years hence." The drawing shows a man holding a hatchet in one hand, while wearing ragged clothing and a green hat spewing gas. A woman hits him over the head with a broom, while many small children are strewn about the floor and pull on the adults. A pencil marking indicates the year 1864.
• Page 66: A flying lizard/dragon with a shouting sun.
• Page 90: A checkerboard.

Newspaper and magazine clippings are pasted throughout the volume. While content varies, many relate to themes of marriage, love, women, family, and memory. Poetry is heavily represented. A fair number of the clippings include jokes, humor, and wordplay. Several are directions for household maintenance or preventing pests, and a number of others relate to scientific topics.

In addition to articles and written text, the compiler also pasted in clipped illustrations from newspapers and magazines. Several feature Union Army officers, most of whom appear to have a connection to New York State. Landscapes of New York City and the Amazon River are also included, as well as several satirical illustrations and animals.

A number of the printed images relate to women, including Tennie C. Claflin, Victoria C. Woodhull, and Elizabeth R. Tilton. Rev. Henry Ward Beecher's image appears twice in the volume, including once where he is placed facing Elizabeth R. Tilton and a chain connecting the figures by the nose has been added in by pen (page 14). A short poem written in ink appears below it, reading:

Henry W. B., so buoyant with glee,

And Lizzie R. T., so innocent and free,

As happy as bees in the sweet apple trees

Raised a slight (?) breeze and made the whole world sneeze!

Several pages appear to have been used to copy a portion of an undated letter, which referenced a trip from Portland to Augusta, Maine, on the Maine Central Railroad, attitudes towards funerals, the teaching profession, arguments, and placebos (beginning page 57). Another passage appears to be an essay entitled, "to old Bachelors & maids" (pages 86-88) and a manuscript poem is written on the back inside cover that seems related to scouts and Native Americans.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, Uriah Lee's discharge papers, and a photograph.

The Uriah Lee family collection (39 items) contains 32 letters, 3 diaries, and 4 additional items (1850-1912) related to Lyman Uriah Lee of Foxcroft, Maine. Uriah Lee wrote 27 letters to his family while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War, his brother Leonard wrote 3 letters while serving with the Union Army at Fort Sumter, and family members exchanged 2 additional letters. Also included are 3 diaries that Elizabeth M. Lee kept between 1851 and 1878, a poem, and Uriah Lee's discharge papers.

The Correspondence series (32 items) contains 27 letters that Uriah Lee wrote to his family while serving in North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D. C. Lee provided details about his daily life as a soldier, and discussed soldiers' attitudes toward officers, food, and clothing; encounters with former slaves; the weather; and political issues. He also mentioned specific battles, and his letter of May 18, 1863, includes a hand-drawn map of his company's route from New Berne, North Carolina, to Washington, D. C. Leonard Lee wrote 3 letters during his Civil War military service, and discussed similar topics. In his postwar letters, Uriah Lee offered advice to his younger siblings and discussed family affairs. Anne Lee wrote a letter to Lyman Lee in which she recounted the events surrounding the death of a man named Edward, and Chauncey received an unsigned letter about his wife Eva's visit to the writer.

Elizabeth Lee kept 3 Diaries between July 1851 and November 1878, concerning her thoughts and activities as a wife and mother. Among other topics, she discussed housework, the weather, her family, social engagements, and religion. Most of her entries are brief lines about the weather and the housework she was able to finish, with details of church meetings provided every few days.

The Documents, Poetry, and Miscellaneous series is comprised of 5 items. Fanny Hosier wrote Uriah Lee a poem that reflected positively on Southern rights and secession. Uriah Lee's military discharge papers from 1863 and 1865 are also included. A piece of ephemera illustrates 4 badges of the Grand Army of the Republic.

The Joel Munsell collection contains two distinct groups of materials. The first series comprises letters and printed material related to printer and antiquarian Joel Munsell’s 1847-1850 investigation of the 1777 murder of Jane McCrea, and the second series consists of 19 letters from Munsell to Elias Nason, primarily concerning historical publications.

The Joel Munsell collection contains 26 letters, 2 essay fragments, a pamphlet, a clipping, and several transcriptions of letters, which the library acquired in two distinct groups. The groupings have been preserved as two series, within which items are arranged chronologically.

The Jane McCrea research series documents Munsell’s 1847-1850 investigation into the 1777 murder of Jane McCrea with correspondence, writings, and printed matter. The eight letters in the series concern the conflicting accounts of the murder by Epaphras Hoyt and Charles Neilson, including Munsell’s letters to each man, soliciting more information, and their responses. In his 9-page letter, dated January 30, 1849, Hoyt purported to describe the exact location of the murder, described the sources of his information, and gave his opinion on Neilson. Neilson’s much briefer letter of January 25, 1849, contradicts Hoyt’s claim that McCrea was "called by any other name than Jane" and describes gathering the information from his parents and other locals. Additionally, the collection contains a 1913 letter by J.T. Holmes that concerns reports of the McCrea murder. Also of interest are two short drafts that Munsell wrote; they shed light on his interest in the matter and express pity for McCrea, "consigned…to the tender mercies of the scribbles in all after ages, at whose hand she has been cruelly maltreated, for more than half a century." Rounding out the series is Hoyt’s version of the McCrea murder story, printed in the Proceedings of the New-York Historical Society (June 1847), and a newspaper clipping containing an 1851 eulogy for Hoyt by Luther B. Lincoln.

The Letters to Elias Nason series contains 19 letters written by Munsell to historian and Congregational minister Elias Nason between 1862 and 1866. Seven of the letters relate to various aspects of the New-England Historical and Genealogical Register, which Munsell published. Topics related to the serial include the inclusion of Dutch-Americans in the register (January 18, 1862), the publication's coverage of Boston (March 15, 1862), and the appropriateness of its commentary on current events (August 19, 1862). The remaining letters primarily concern the publication of two works by Nason, Sir Charles Henry Frankland, Baronet: or Boston in the Colonial Times (1865) and A Memoir of Mrs. Susannah Rowson (1870). Munsell wished to print the works but lamented the poor market for biographies, noting, "I have found it advantageous to disguise such books under some other name" (September 28, 1863). He also discussed errors in Nason's manuscripts (February 21, 1865), the financial concerns of printing Frankland (June 3, 1865), and the flaws in several atlases published by rival firms (November 2, 1865). Other subjects mentioned in Munsell's letters are the poor market for antiquarian books (January 18, 1862) and his views on social history: "I desire to rescue every man's memory from oblivion who has a history, and am garnering up names with facts attached to them…" (March 19, 1862).

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers consist of documents generated by the society as well as correspondence to and from various members of the society about slavery, the conditions of freemen, and other progressive issues.

The Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society papers contain only a small portion of what must at one time have been a much larger collection. As a society devoted to the immediate abolition of slavery, the antislavery movement forms the context of most of the correspondence in the collection, but the members of the society were individually and collectively involved in the education of freedmen and in other movements, including women's rights. As a result, the collection offers a broad perspective on the mentality and activity of a small group of progressive northern women involved in the reform of what they saw as the worst inequities in American society.

The Society maintained contact with several national-level leaders of the antislavery movements, and provided important financial support to Frederick Douglass, in particular. The nine letters from Douglass in the collection all relate to the assistance provided for publication of his newspaper or are requests from him for direct aid to fugitive slaves en route to Canada. A particularly affecting letter is one that he wrote from England in 1860, while on an antislavery tour. Harriet Tubman, Beriah Green, Lewis Tappan, George B. Cheever, and Gerrit Smith also appear in the collection, either as correspondents or subjects of letters. Among the more interesting of these letters is one from John Stewart, probably a free black man, addressed to Harriet Tubman; a letter from Moses Anderson, also African-American, writing about the importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin in shaping his political consciousness; Jacob Gibb's letter of introduction for a fugitive slave; and William Watkins' report on the number of fugitive slaves that have passed through Rochester into Canada in the year 1857.

British support for the Society was crucial in keeping it viable in the late 1850s, and is documented through the letters of Julia Griffiths Crofts (Leeds, England); Sarah Plummer (Dalkeith, Scotland), and Maria Webb (Dublin, Ireland). The fund-raising efforts of the society can be tracked partly through the list of goods donated for a Festival (1:77), a small collection of ephemera relating to British antislavery societies (1:82), and a list of donations from those British societies (1:28). The most significant item for tracking finances, however, is the account book for the Society (2:20), which covers its entire history. The secretaries of the Society recorded the complete finances of the organization, and provided lists of speakers at their annual events, and carefully delineated money remitted to individual fugitive slaves. Included at the end of the collection are a set of photocopies of the manuscripts (2:21) and supplemental information about the Society and its members, provided by the University of Rochester (2:22).

Freedmen's education was a major concern of the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society, and is discussed extensively by several correspondents. The single most frequent correspondent in the collection is Julia A. Wilbur, writing while working with freedmen in Alexandria, Va., 1862-1865. Wilbur writes long and vivid letters describing the miserable living conditions found among the freedmen, their want of clothing and shelter, and she describes several individual cases. Wilbur also met and became familiar with the renowned ex-slave and author, Harriet Jacobs. The situation that Wilbur describes in Virginia verges on the chaotic, with corruption at the highest levels, dissension among those in charge of contraband matters, and many in the military reluctant or unwilling to take any responsibility. She was a perceptive observer of the progress of the war, Southern citizenry, and of the destruction that the war had inflicted upon Virginia. Her official reports to the Society, which are more general and less pointed than her private correspondence, were published in the Society's published annual reports (2:1-13).

In addition to Wilbur's letters, there are six other items pertaining to freedmen's education. Three letters from G. W. Gardiner and one document signed by Lewis Overton, 1862-63, relate to the work of the Colored School, founded for freedmen at Leavenworth, Kansas, and both letters from Daniel Breed, 1863-64, include discussions of the Rochester School for Freedmen in Washington, D.C., named for the Society whose money founded it.

The printed items in the collection include fourteen of the seventeen known annual reports of the Society, a report from the Toronto Ladies' Association for the Relief of Destitute Colored fugitives (2:14), and circulars from two British societies (2:15-16). Three issues of Frederick Douglass' Paper (October 2, 1851, February 19 1858, and July 1, 1859) and one issue of The North Star (April 14, 1848) are included in Oversize Manuscripts. An issue of the Christian Inquirer (New York, July 24, 1858), having no direct relation to the Rochester Society, was transferred to the Newspapers Division. Finally, in two letters written in 1859 and 1861, Rebecca Bailey discusses her father William Bailey's newspaper, The Free South.

The Ellen Rice journal contains the daily thoughts of a deeply religious woman devoted to her sisters and family, while she worked in her sister's household.

This intelligent, articulate young woman wrote in her journal every evening, recording far more than the day's events. Although she did note newsworthy items at the local and national level, she rarely gives the reader much of a clue what she had been doing all day long. The brief moments when she allowed herself to complain about her situation make it clear she worked long days attending to the needs of her nieces and nephews, and that she was responsible for most of the family's sewing. She chose not to dwell on drudgery. Instead, she celebrated her love of God, of Nature, and of her relatives, particularly her sister Susan.

Ellen felt close to God when she was close to Nature. In springtime, living in Boston made her "feel confined in a cage and long to soar away to my native element and live in the temple of Nature" (1:32). She believed that "no one can cultivate and watch the growth of Flowers, without feeling their hearts expand and fill with thoughts of God which exerts a beneficial influence upon the character. One ray of religious love sheds a light upon the character which no sunbeam can outshine" (2:11). She was occasionally critical of the preachers who did not deliver the word of God as purely as nature did. After one sermon, she accused the preacher of not having a "deep mind," and she chastised another for using "coarse and common" comparisons and expressions, even though his ideas were good (2:21, 1:53).

Ellen continuously returned to the concept of nature as a sublime channel to God:

"What pent up feelings it awakens to roam again o'er the hills among the trees, rocks and flowers. I look upon these as not merely inanimate objects, for there seems to be a connecting link between them and our spirits a something which awakens all the fine feelings and emotions of the heart and makes us keenly sensitive to the wisdom and Goodness of God and his love and mercy to us" (1:46).

In addition to connecting spiritually with God through nature, she was attuned to spiritual connections with people, through their letters. When reading "line after line traced by the loved one's hand, the image rises before me and I hear the spirit breathing the words I read" (1:17).

She felt divided between her home with Mary and her home with her parents, but there was one steady attraction that always made her old home in Wayland more appealing -- her sister Susan lived there. "My heart whose every chord vibrates to her own, yearns to be near her and enjoy the happiness which true sisterly love only can know," she frequently declared (2:3). After expressing her excitement that Susan would soon visit her, she added, "surely it is natural that I should rejoice at the thought of meeting a Sister whose love is pure and strong and in whom I find an echo for every thought and wish" (2:39).

Tension arose when her brother-in-law refused to let her go visit Susan, even though she could easily have been spared from his house for a few days: "I think he cares but little for me or my feelings, but I will not entertain unkind feelings towards him for Mary's sake" (1:38). Even though her relationship with William was cool, she resolved that if her sister died, she would willingly "give up all my youthful hopes and pleasures and devote my life to them, for I love them too well ever to trust them to the care of another" (1:30).

There were men in her life, or wanting to be in it, but she did not really respond to them. She visited and corresponded with Jared, and initially argued that men and women ought to able to have as close friendships as women were allowed to have. "I know it is not customary but that does not prove that it is wrong," she wrote, and insisted that she "can see no reason why those of different sex cannot be friends as well as those of the same" (1:20). A few weeks later, however, she decided to break off the correspondence "for several reasons," but her true feelings for him remained obscured. After they moved to Lexington, Mr. Thayer, a traveling daguerreotypist, fell for her, and startled her with his frank declarations. She told him she did not feel she could be any more than a "common acquaintance" of his, although she was "extremely sorry to disappoint his anticipations" (2:22). He eventually left town, after urging her to reconsider, and presenting her with her likeness in a beautiful case. The third suitor, Mr. Gammell, announced that he wanted her for his "chosen companion," but she remained unmoved (2:49). The cares of her sister's household overwhelmed her, and soon after she succumbed completely.

The collection consists of six penmanship and cypher books kept by William L. Shimer, Susanna M. Shimer, and Nathan M. Shimer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1840s and 1850s and one alphabet card with lower-case and upper-case letters. The blank books include illustrated covers and several have calligraphic titles for their sections. Four of them are dated and range from 1846 to 1853. The cypher books include exercises for arithmetic, fractions, accounting, and weights and measures, with many examples relating to practical issues like farming, business, and estates. Penmanship exercises include the copying of moral proverbs, common business abbreviations, strings of letters, and phrases. Two of the penmanship books are associated with writing systems: George J. Becker's The American System of Penmanship, and Bayson, Dunton and Scribner's National System of Penmanship.

The collection consists of seven penmanship and cypher books kept by William L. Shimer, Susanna M. Shimer, and Nathan M. Shimer of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the 1840s and 1850s and one alphabet card with lower-case and upper-case letters. The blank books include illustrated covers and several have calligraphic titles for their sections. Five of them are dated and range from 1846 to 1853. The cypher books include exercises for arithmetic, fractions, practical geometry, accounting, and weights and measures, with many examples relating to practical issues like farming, business, and estates. Penmanship exercises include the copying of moral proverbs, common business abbreviations, strings of letters, and phrases. Two of the penmanship books are associated with writing systems: George J. Becker's The American System of Penmanship, and Bayson, Dunton and Scribner's National System of Penmanship.

• Uriah Hunt & Son, Booksellers, Philadelphia
• Leary's Cheap Book Store, Philadelphia
• Brower, Hayes & Co., Booksellers and Stationers, Philadelphia
• Henry J. Oerter's Cheap Book & Stationery Store, Bethlehem
• Crosby & Ainsworth, Publishers, Boston

The cover of William L. Shimer's 1848 exercise book includes an inscription "L. Shimer, Co. A 10 reg. Militia Pa." William L. Shimer's 1850-1852 cypher book includes notations that he was attending the Gen. Taylor school and was being instructed by A. Stout, as well as geometrical drawings, calligraphic headings, and a pen-and-ink drawing of an eagle's head holding a banner that reads, "Let teh Stars and Stripes proudly float over you."

The Irene Levis Roberts album, entitled "Flowers of Loveliness," contains poems by W. H. Green and A. H. Roberts of Smyrna, Delaware, and Edmund Brewster Green of New York, New York. A note about Roberts's baptism is also present.

The Irene Levis Roberts album, which has the title "Flowers of Loveliness" imprinted on the cover, includes 9 entries (17 total pages): 8 poems and 1 note. The poetry, mostly written by A. H. Roberts, concerns topics such as nature and the seasons, religion, travel, and death (see below for a full list of titles). The note by Thomas C. Murphy, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal church in Smyrna, Delaware, pertains to the baptism of Irene L. Roberts on performed on March 11, 1855. Colorful crayon scribbles appear over one of the poems and on several of the later pages.

The book contains a series of colored prints show women dressed and decorated as flowers, each representative of a virtue.

• "To My Niece," by W. L. Green, November 25, 1852 (1 page)
• "The Flight of Time," by Edmund Brewster Green, September 7, 1844 (2 pages)
• "To My Friends," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "On the Death of Mrs. S. M. of This Place," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "Lines Suggested on Witnessing the Burial of Mr. D. Carr, Respectfully Addressed to His Widow," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "The Home of the Christian," by A. H. Roberts, undated (2 pages)
• "The Hindoo Mother," by A. H. Roberts, undated (3 pages)
• "Reflections on My Past Visits to Cantwells Bridge, Addressed to E. D. Clark," by A. H. Roberts, copied by I. Roberts, May 1863 (2 pages)

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album-like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

This combination sketchbook and scrapbook belonged to J. F. Beyer, an immigrant from Germany who moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, sometime in the 19th century. The volume contains pencil sketches, pasted-in newspaper and other types of clippings, autographs and friendship-album like entries in German (Kurrentschrift), French, and English.

The newspaper clippings appear to be mostly from Worcester, Massachusetts, and contain a variety of topics ranging from social events to poetry, local news, and more. A clipping dated December 18, 1882, celebrates the Turn Verein Society's new hall, and another undated clipping describes a hot air balloon basket being woven by J. F. Byer for an upcoming marriage.

Much of the artwork within the volume is signed, and many signatures also feature the word "Basel." Of the two Stevengraph woven pieces, one is of the Pope (dated 1846) and one features a woman with the name "Halle.Hoffmann.Basel" at the bottom. Many of the sketches are of houses with trees or flowers nearby, and some are more pastoral in nature.