Pamelia Keith Wright papers, 1876-1903 (majority within 1887-1893, 1897-1903)
0.75 linear feet
The Pamelia Keith Wright papers contain correspondence addressed by Wright to her brother, Sumner Keith, and his family in Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Though she wrote most of her letters to Sumner, she also sent news to her sister-in-law Sarah and her nephews, Edwin and Charles. Throughout her letters, she provided frequent updates on her social life in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts. Though she most often discussed visits to friends and news of their families, she occasionally mentioned contemporary political issues and provided detailed descriptions of late-19th century Cambridge. In one letter, for example, she blamed former Secretary of War Russell A. Alger for the "embalmed beef" scandal during the Spanish-American War (January 24, 1899). Childless themselves, the Wrights often entertained students from the nearby seminary at their home, and maintained a variety of other social acquaintances. Several series of letters and postcards within the collection chronicle the couple's international travels, including a lengthy voyage through Egypt and the Middle East in 1887, an 1892 journey to Scotland and England, and a 1903 trip to England; the Wrights also visited Jacksonville, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana, which Pamelia also described in detail.
The Ephemera series includes a dinner invitation for Charles Keith and a printed advertising card for Sunday services at the Church of the New Jerusalem in Cambridge.