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

The Eggleston family collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other items related to Ambrose Eggleston, Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston (or Egleston), Melville Eggleston (or Egleston), and Samuel Eggleston. The bulk of the collection is comprised of letters to Ambrose Eggleston from family members, who responded to genealogical inquiries about their family histories.

The Eggleston family collection (0.5 linear feet) contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and other items related to Ambrose Eggleston, Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston (or Egleston), Melville Eggleston (or Egleston), and Samuel Eggleston. The bulk of the collection is comprised of letters to Ambrose Eggleston from family members, who responded to his genealogical inquiries about family history.

The bulk of the collection is made up of items collected by Ambrose Eggleston . The Ambrose Eggleston Correspondence subseries contains around 250 letters to Eggleston, dated September 14, 1850-December 13, 1864, and May 2, 1900. The bulk of the correspondence is dated 1859-1864. Eggleston received letters from over 131 family members, who provided information on Eggleston (and Egleston) family history. Eggleston regularly corresponded with Elijah Eggleston of Hartford, Connecticut, who shared news of his genealogical findings. One late letter pertains to Murray E. Poole's genealogical research, which he conducted after Ambrose Eggleston's death.

The Ambrose Eggleston Genealogies subseries (16 items) contains undated biographical sketches of, and notes about, various members of the Eggleston family and allied families. Two items pertain to Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston.

The Ambrose Eggleston Newspaper Clippings subseries (4 items) is made up of newspaper articles attributed to Elijah Eggleston, dated July 19, 1859-October 7, 1859. The articles concern historical publications, patent medicine, a murder case, and the Putnam Phalanx, a military unit.

The Nathaniel and Melville Eggleston series pertains to Nathaniel Hillyer Eggleston (or Egleston) and his son Melville. The Nathaniel and Melville Eggleston Correspondence subseries (17 items) contains 5 letters by Nathaniel H. Eggleston (December 20, 1841-September 5, 1859); 9 letters to Melville Eggleston (July 9, 1886-November 9, 1924), and a letter to "Mama" about a leg injury, including 2 diagrams (February 9, 1898); the series also contains 2 undated items. Nathaniel Eggleston and his wife Sarah wrote to family members and an acquaintance about life in Hartford, Connecticut, and in Madison, Wisconsin, after the family relocated in the 1850s. A letter to Eggleston's mother includes an announcement of Melville Eggleston's birth (July 27, 1845); one letter includes a newspaper clipping mentioning Nathaniel Eggleston's admission to the Union Congregational Church in Madison (July 22, 1859). Melville Eggleston received letters relating to subjects including his master's degree from Yale College (July 9, 1886), genealogical inquiries and family history, and club membership. Two undated items are a German-language postcard from "Lilian" to an uncle, and a typed extract of a letter by Nathaniel H. Eggleston.

Nathaniel and Melville Eggleston Newspaper Clippings (12 unique items) include 10 unique obituaries for Reverend Nathaniel Hillyer Egleston, published during the week after his death in August 1912. Burrell's Press Clipping Bureau collected and mounted 8 of the clippings. The other articles relate to the death of William H. Sheldon (undated) and to a performance of Oedipus Rex at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City (April 28, 1914).

The Nathaniel and Melville Eggleston Ephemera and Report Card (3 items) relate to Williams College. Items include an invitation to a "Class Day," a grade report for Nathaniel H. Egleston, and a commencement program for the class of 1906, which included Nathaniel Hillyer Egleston.

The Samuel Eggleston Documents series contains 13 land deeds and indentures (April 16, 1772-July 18, 1850) pertaining to land that Eggleston owned in Dutchess County, New York.

The Eliphalet Davis records are comprised of the business and personal receipts of Eliphalet Davis, a soap manufacturer in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Eliphalet Davis records are comprised of the business and personal receipts of Eliphalet Davis, and includes a license from the Internal Revenue Department allowing Davis to carry on business as a soap manufacturer in Cambridge, Mass. Among the receipts are a few bills to his clients, but the majority are billed to and paid by Davis. The receipts are often itemized, making it possible to sketch the growth of an increasingly successful business.

The more modest bills give way to bills for thousands of printed labels for his soaps, often on special colored papers with colored ink designs and lettering. The soaps had various names, ranging from the mundane "diamond soap" to the more imaginative "veritable swoon," and Davis also started selling "Saponaceous Dentifrice" in the 1850s. Another mark of his success is that at about the same time that he paid for advertisements in New England newspapers he started paying various express services, presumably for shipping quantities of his stock to eager long distance buyers.

In addition to supplies for his business he bought basic provisions. Foodstuffs included figs, raisins, oranges, molasses, salmon, coffee and tea. In an early example of the benefits of recycling, Davis received a discount on his porter by providing his own bottles. His clothing purchases included a bonnet, moleskin hat, alpaca vest and doeskin pants. A violin and four marble hearths were two of his more luxuriant purchases.

There are several distinctive letterheads of Cambridge and Boston businessmen, especially for printers and engravers. Most printing services were performed by Dutton & Wentworth, and the principal engraver was Nathaniel Dearborn. Both businesses were in Boston, as was Ammi Cutter & Cummings, who "constantly keep for sale, LIVER OIL and BLUBBER..... Also, NEATSFOOT OIL, and the best of Winter and Summer Strained SPERMACETI OIL, TALLOW, &c." Davis bought quantities of oils, tallow and ashes in order to make his soaps.

The Elisabeth Barnett Fisher Papers consist of the family letters of Elisabeth Fisher along with financial records, photographs, ephemeral items, and eight miscellaneous items. The most common themes of the letters are family news and finances, fashion, religion, courtship, marriages, deaths, and opinions about the Civil War.

The Elisabeth Barnett Fisher Papers consist of 63 letters to Elisabeth Fisher, 25 financial records, two photographs, 13 ephemeral items, and eight miscellaneous items.

The primary correspondents of the letters in the Correspondence Series are: Gabriel G. Barnett (brother), Hester Ann Barr (sister), Mary A. Hochstetler (sister), Caroline Barnett (sister), Cal M. Barnett (sister), Sarah Barnett (sister-in-law), David D. Barnett (brother), Susannah Fair (sister), E.H. Barnett (sister-in-law), Sarah Ann Senff (cousin), and Jacob Barnett (father). The majority of the 63 letters in the collection were written during the Civil War by family members (48) and friends (15). With the exception of 19 letters from her brother, Gabriel G. Barnett, and 7 letters from her sister, Hester Ann Barr, no other correspondent wrote more than 5 letters; consequently, the subject matter in the collection is very diverse. However, the most common themes throughout the correspondence are family news and finances, fashion, religion, courtship, marriages, deaths, and attitudes and opinions about the Civil War. The solders letters are typically brief and primarily consist of descriptions of camp life. Several of the letters from home include patriotic exhortations; one describes a patriotic rally and another reveals the anti-Lincoln sentiments of an 1860 Democrat. The letters also demonstrated the economic hardships the family suffered as a result of the war.

The Financial Papers Series includes tax bills, receipts, and records of Elisabeth's bills paid for by her son, Erwin G. Barnett, successor to his father’s harness business.

The Photographs, Documents, and Ephemera series contains: 3 'flirtation' cards; a funeral card for the death of a 13 year-old girl; a calling card; 2 cartes-de-visite of a young girl and young man; a Reichsbanknote; several newspaper clippings; Valentine Fisher's confirmation certificate; and George W. Rulow's post of the Grand Army of the Republic transfer card.

The Miscellaneous Series holds two notes on the Barnett/Fisher genealogy.

• Rough pen illustration of two swans, January 15, 1860.
• Pen illustration of a feather, May 28, 1860.
• Rough pen illustration (of a chicken or a saddle), December 31, 1860.
• Pen sketch of a plant, June 6, 1861.
• Pen illustration of a bearded man with hat, January 13, 1864.
• Pen illustration of feathers, undated.
• Two miscellaneous cards have printed illustrations of flowers on them.
• Printed image of an ark, plus additional religious imagery on confirmation document of Valentine Fisher.

The collection also includes several patriotic letterheads and envelopes.

This collection contains a journal and recipe book, family photographs, and other material related to Elizabeth Coffin Tuttle of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Lancaster, New Hampshire.

This collection (23 items) contains a journal and recipe book, family photographs, and other material related to Elizabeth Coffin Tuttle of Newburyport, Massachusetts, and Lancaster, New Hampshire. Tuttle kept a Journal and Recipe Book (44 pages) between around 1875 and 1882. From January 11, 1875-July 16, 1875, she regularly wrote brief diary entries about food purchases, weather, and other topics. Though Tuttle continued to make brief notes about cattle prices and other financial transactions as late as 1882, the remaining pages are largely comprised of manuscript recipes giving instructions for making cakes, pies, puddings, other desserts, and a cure for smallpox. Two newspaper clippings are pinned into the volume: a recipe for "pop corn candy" and an obituary for Henry Lunt. Two late pages contain knitting instructions, and two additional small clippings are pasted into the volume's back cover.

Elizabeth Coffin wrote a 2-page Essay entitled "Account of a Freshet" on October 15, 1857. The manuscript is about a flash flood in northern New Hampshire following heavy rains.

The Photographs series (19 items) contains several types of materials. The photograph album holds 12 black-and-white photographs of Tuttle family members, such as "Mama Tuttle," in an informal outside setting; one shows a horse-drawn carriage. Of the 5 tintypes, 3 are housed in stamped metal frames, one with pictures of a drum and cannon and the words "The Union Now and Forever." The other 2 tintypes are pictures of a young boy and a young girl. The 11 card photographs show Winifred, Bert, and Edith Tuttle in 1888; a group of young women; a group of schoolchildren; the Atlantic Ocean; a farmhouse in Amesbury, Massachusetts; 3 structures in Newburyport, Massachusetts; a carriage parade; and 4th of July celebrations in Lancaster, New Hampshire. Two 20th-century color snapshots are pictures of the Theodore Atkinson Coffin house in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and another residence.

The Printed Items series is comprised of the following two items: a newspaper clipping about the death of Robert Tuttle and a pamphlet by Edward Melcher entitled A Sketch of the Destruction of the Willey Family by the White Mountain Slide, on the Night of August 28, 1826 (1879).

This collection is made up of personal letters to Elizabeth Hollister Lyons, whose friends and family members discussed their lives in Connecticut and Illinois. Some correspondents taught school and others commented on topics such as sewing, religion, and health.

This collection (182 items) is primarily made up of personal letters to Elizabeth Hollister Lyons, whose friends and family members discussed their lives in Connecticut and Illinois. Her correspondents included her sisters Artemisia (18 items, 1851-1902), Clara (20 items, 1852-1862), Emily (6 letters, 1853-1856), and Sarah (27 items, 1847-1871); her brother Lee and his wife Caroline (18 items, 1847-1867); and her parents Horace and Artemisia (18 items, 1849-1864).

Elizabeth's sisters Artemisia and Emily provided news of Salisbury, Connecticut, with additional comments from "Arte" about experiences teaching school. Clara wrote about sewing, dressmaking, and domestic life in Brooklyn, New York; one of her later letters refers to Salisbury residents serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. Lee Hollister and his wife Caroline discussed their life in Illinois, where Lee taught school. Letters by a fourth sibling, Sarah Hollister Walker, pertain to her life in Metamora, Illinois, and to local religious issues. Horace and Artemisia Hollister, Elizabeth's parents, gave news of family and friends in Salisbury, discussed political issues, and mentioned the possibility of moving to Illinois with their children.

The remaining letters, from other family members and friends, concern the writers' lives in New England and the Midwest. Additional items include a printed letter to members of the First Presbyterian Church of Fort Dodge, Iowa; Mary Lyons's diploma from the Normal Institute of Humboldt County, Iowa; a document regarding the disposition of Walter Lyons's estate; and miscellaneous notes.

The Elizabeth Rous Comstock papers contain letters and writings related to Comstock's family, her Quaker ministry, and her social reform activities. The letters span her entire career with the greatest concentration of correspondence centering on her work with the Kansas freedmen's program and her family life. In addition to the Elizabeth Comstock material, the collection includes content related to her daughter Caroline, her grandchildren, and papers related to the Kempton family.

The Elizabeth Rous Comstock papers (282 items) contain letters and writings related to Comstock's family, her Quaker ministry, and her social reform activities. The letters span her entire career with the greatest concentration of correspondence centering on her work with the Kansas Freedmen's Association and on her family life. In addition to the Elizabeth Comstock material, the collection contains content related to her daughter Caroline, her grandchildren, and to the Kempton family.

The Correspondence series (151 items) contains 123 items related to Elizabeth Comstock and her family. The bulk of the collection consists of letters written by or addressed to Elizabeth Comstock between 1847 and 1890.

• Elizabeth’s correspondence with her friends, acquaintances, and immediate family, particularly with her husband, daughter, and sister Caroline.
• Correspondence related to Elizabeth’s work with social reforms and social justice, primarily concerning her relief work in Kansas in 1879 and 1880.

The family and friends correspondence primarily relates to everyday life, such as work, homemaking, visiting, family life; contemporary issues such as the Civil War and slavery; and news of friends and family, including illnesses, marriages, and deaths. Elizabeth wrote many of the letters, which document her perspective on her work, her marriage and relationship with her husband, and on religion and the Society of Friends. Elizabeth’s preaching, charitable work, and travels are often mentioned in these letters, including her trip across the Atlantic in early 1884. These letters cover both theoretical discussions of religious topics and discussions of the Society of Friends, its policies, and its schools. A subset of these letters regards Caroline De Greene’s serious illness and "mental suffering" in 1870, which may have been related to childbirth. Also of note is a letter from Elizabeth Steere that describes her experiences living in the remote Minnesota Territory (December 9, 1856).

The second group of Elizabeth's correspondence mainly consists of letters between Elizabeth and Joshua Longstreth Bailey, a dry goods merchant and philanthropist, who assisted her in her work with the Kansas Freedmen’s Relief Association from 1879 to 1881. Elizabeth discusses the logistics of supplying newly arrived African Americans with food, shelter, and a means of subsistence, and relates information about the migrants and their experiences in both the South and in Kansas. Elizabeth shares, in depth, her perspective on this large migration, which she refers to as "the Exodus." An item of note is a letter from John W. Snodgrass proposing a plan to buy land to aid resettled former slaves in Kansas (May 3, 1881). Other items concern Comstock's work to improve the lives of former slaves and prisoners during the Civil War, including a letter from Ed Howland who wrote to Comstock of a "plan before Congress to change the whole plan of taking care of colored people" (February 3, 1865). B. Dornblaser, the warden at the Illinois State Penitentiary, wrote to Comstock about pardoning Frederick Marx from Kentucky who was "tricked" into buying a stolen mule (April 5, 1865). She also communicated with Thomas Story Kirkbride, superintendent of the Philadelphia Hospital for the Insane (March 6, 1870).

The collection also contains material related to her daughter Caroline and to Elizabeth's grandchildren. Much of this is correspondence between Caroline and members of her family, regarding news, daily life, traveling and visiting, religion, work, and school. Of interest are letters of reference for Caroline "Calla" De Greene in support of continuing her education and recommending her for positions teaching French and German at the college level (May 2, 1893, July 11 and October 5, 1898, May 10, 1905, and March 19, 1906).

The Kempton Family material consists of 26 letters, which largely concern religious issues, everyday life, and news of family and friends. These include the 7 earliest items in the series, from 1827-1828, with the rest scattered throughout.

The Commonplace Book and Diary series (2 items) contains an 1839 commonplace book (52 pages) of poems and essays inscribed as belonging to Charity Kempton. Many entries center on the theme of a loved one leaving on a sea voyage. These include passages called "Seamen's Hymn," "Matrimonial Chart," and "The Old Oaken Bucket." The second item is Elizabeth Comstock's 34-page travel diary (8 blank pages) during the summer of 1878. It contains Biblical verses, brief descriptions of places she visited, notes on her activities, and notes on religious services she attended.

The Poems Series (10 items) contains handwritten copies of poems, all of which are religious in nature. Included among the 9 unattributed poems are a cautionary poem on dancing and drinking, a 16-page poem called "The Ministry of Angels," and a poem entitled "One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism: A Dialogue in Verse." The single attributed poem is a copy of William Cowper's "God Moves in Mysterious Ways."

The Corrections for Caroline Hare's Life and Letters of Elizabeth Comstock series (1 item) is 7 pages of notes and corrections for Caroline Hare's biography of Elizabeth Comstock (see the Related Materials section for information on the Clements' copy of this book). The comments range from grammatical edits to insights into personal events and her ministerial efforts.

The Miscellaneous Writings series (25 items) contains non-correspondence material including: religious quotations, miscellaneous notes jotted down on scraps of paper, Friends meeting minutes, recipes, and essays on religion and marriage. Most of these items are unattributed but are likely from Elizabeth Comstock, Chastity Kempton, and others. Of note is a three-page item containing "Dying expressions of Soldiers," including the last words of a soldier on the Battlefield of Fredericksburg (December 13, 1862), and those of a man about to be hung in Nashville, Tennessee. This series also contains instructions for refining sugar, and remedies for common maladies, such as heartburn, dysentery, snake bites, and nausea, "By the celibrated Indian Doctor John Mackintosh, of the Cherokee Nation; None of which have ever before been communicated to the world" (undated).

The Documents series (11 items) contains various official documents related to the Comstock and Kempton families.

• Elizabeth Comstock's ancestors’ 1740 marriage covenant between William and Mary Moore
• A deed from Isaac Steer to Aaron Kempton in Woodstock, Michigan (1845)
• A handwritten pass from Philip Henry Sheridan allowing Comstock and her companion Mary B. Bradford to travel by rail to Baltimore, through enemy lines (December 9. 1864)
• A document entitled "The Colored Exodus. A Statement of Monies Received from Various States, Canada, and England.
• Elizabeth's sister Lydia Rous' last will and testament (March 5, 1889).

The Accounts series (6 items) contains 3 lists of books to be sent to various Friends libraries and associations, 1 list of donated goods such as fabric and clothes addressed to E. Smith of Victoria Road, an 1875 bill for goods, and an item documenting money owed with interest for an unspecified purpose.

The Printed Ephemera series (24 items) includes miscellaneous printed material: passes to cross Union and Confederate lines during the Civil War; 8 "Bible Reading Leaflets;" two Quaker related essays; a fragment of a book labeled "Self-Communion" (pages 3-10); 4 poems (prayers); 4 event cards; and a catalogue for mechanical farming equipment. The collection also holds one of Comstock's hymn books entitled, Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs (Words Only) , by P.P. Bliss and Ira Sankey. The handmade cover is reinforced with a portion of a postcard stamped March 9, 1878 (95 small pages of hymns).

The Newspaper Clippings series (50 items) is composed of printed items related to the Kansas Freedman's Relief program. These include several essays and articles written by Comstock and her colleagues, as well as newspaper stories about Comstock's activities aiding African American "refugees" in Kansas, who were suffering from sickness, poverty, and unemployment. Many of these include pleas for charity. The clippings come from newspapers across America, as well as from England.

The Prints and Photographs series (8 items) consists of 7 photographs, including 2 of Elizabeth and 1 of her daughter Caroline, one print of the residence of R. Hathaway in Rollin, Michigan.

• Elizabeth Comstock, taken in Philadelphia for De Greene, undated
• Elizabeth Comstock portrait, hand colored and in a small square wooden frame (Behind his photograph, as part of the backing, is a small picture of 7 angels with trumpets, clipped from a postcard).
• Carrie Wright De Greene O'Harrow, 1881
• Freddie Hare at age 4 ½, August 1874, labeled "for Carrie" (Carte-de-visite)
• Unlabeled picture of a girl, undated
• Woman reading (likely Caroline Hare), accompanying the letter dated February 22, 1882 (Carte-de-visite taken by J. Cooper)
• A portrait of a woman in a small metal frame accompanying the letter from March 16, 1870.

• A machine catalogue with images of: Cooks Sugar Evaporator, Cross-Cut sawing machine, a victor mill, vertical mill with sweep below, and a back-geared mill
• Ink sketch of Caroline Hare’s home in letter, February 13, 1870
• An engraved portrait of Comstock in a newspaper clipping from early 1881

This collection contains correspondence related to the family of Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child, granddaughter of politician Theodore Sedgwick and wife of Harvard professor Francis James Child. The collection also includes several photographs and printed items.

This collection (1 linear foot) contains correspondence related to the family of Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child, granddaughter of politician Theodore Sedgwick and wife of Harvard professor Francis James Child. The collection also includes several photographs and printed items.

The Correspondence series, which comprises the bulk of the collection, contains letters the Sedgwick family wrote to and received from family members and friends, as well as several poems. From 1826-1842, Robert Sedgwick, his wife Elizabeth, and their daughter Elizabeth ("Lizzie") corresponded with family members including Catherine Maria Sedgwick of Stockbridge and Lenox, Massachusetts, and Jane Minot Sedgwick of New York City. Most of the early correspondence pertains to the writers' social lives and family news, and to travel around New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Catharine Maria Sedgwick also reported on acquaintances such as the actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whom she deemed "fated to suffer" (May 27, 1834), and the writer and social theorist Harriet Martineau (November 2, 1834).

The bulk of the remaining correspondence is dated 1855-1885 and pertains to the relationship between Lizzie Sedgwick and her husband, Frank James Child. Child wrote to Sedgwick from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Paris, France, and received letters from Sedgwick and others. The couple's other correspondents included at least one writer in Italy who commented on their relationship and health, family news, and the Civil War. Postwar correspondence includes letters to Susan Ridley Sedgwick Butler. Three late postcards to Mrs. G. A. Stanger of Springfield, Massachusetts, concern her son Herb's experiences in Georgia while serving in the armed forces during World War I.

The Photographs series (5 items) contains 3 photographs of Helen Child (later Sargent), a photographic print of Elizabeth Sedgwick Child, and a photograph of the Child family's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Printed Items (9 items) include a certificate regarding Francis Child's qualifications as an instructor of Greek at Harvard University (September 22, 1846), 2 illustrated Christmas cards (1881 and undated), a copy of the Boston Daily Advertiser (August 1, 1884), an obituary for Francis Child from The Nation (September 17, 1896), and copies of the poems "From My Arm-Chair" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and "The City of the Living" by Elizabeth Akers Allen. The series also includes a biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes that George B. Merrill presented to the Harvard Club of San Francisco on October 18, 1894, and an advertisement for the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women.

Eliza O. Perkins Burke's letters and papers document the life of a military officer's wife before and during the Civil War, and her friendships with fellow military wives.

Most of these letters are addressed to Eliza Perkins Burke, excepting a handful written to Mary, an invitation to Capt. Perkins to play billiards, and a certificate of merit presented to Edward while he was at St. Louis University. This is a scattered, spotty correspondence, but there are a couple cohering elements. Many of the women writing to Eliza were also married to military men. They had become friends on Sullivan's Island, while their husbands, many of whom were in the 3rd Artillery, were stationed at Fort Moultrie in the 1830s and early 1840s. The Civil War is another theme around which several of these letters cluster, although only one letter is from an actual soldier. The other coherent grouping is a series of six letters from Rosalie Smith, who was trying to obtain a divorce and chafing under the necessity of depending on her sister's husband for financial support.

The letters from fellow military wives show how close the women had become while together on the island, and there is a sense, especially during and after the Civil War, that these friendships were doubly valuable because they reminded the women of better times. Many of the wives did not see each other again after leaving Fort Moultrie, or only enjoyed infrequent visits. Although they only wrote to each other occasionally, they expressed great nostalgia for the time shared on Sullivan's Island. Often a milestone -- birth, death, or wedding -- prompted the letter, and the author often described her children's progress.

Judith Chiffelle, who had probably been on Sullivan's Island with her brother Thomas, was an anomaly. While the rest of the women were married to military men, Judith was single. She taught school in Baltimore and was raising her dead sister's children while their father ran his business in St. Louis. She wrote, "this I know will astonish you. I like to be an independent old maid, I will never marry. I have taken an oath to live single for my dear childrens' sake" (1854 December 17). Two years later her tone is less triumphant: "what a change a few years make in our life -- I struggling along trying to make a living hard work & keeping school " (1857 February 2). She admits that she would "long ago have laid down this weary head" had it not been for the children.

The Civil War era letters include one from Caroline Carson, a southern woman who suffered multiple hardships. Her husband died, "the plantation was sold according to his directions," and then her father's house, where she had stored her possessions, was burned: "Everything I had in the world was burnt up -- Books and pictures, china, glass linen all my little effects which I valued, and hoped someday to get around me again" (1862 February 4). "I hope in this horrid war no thing of the kind will happen to you," she continued. Another letter, from a northern lady, shows the less direct effect the war had on women who were not in the midst of the fighting. Rather than wondering where to live, Annie Eustace pondered what to wear: "in this time of our country's great troubles, we should think of something else, beside dress and party giving . . . I spend very little time and thought about fine dress, and making a show; I have lost all taste for such things (1862 May 6). There is also one letter from Eliza's soldiering nephew David P. Hancock while he was at Fort Ontario in Oswego, New York, recovering from a wound and anxious to get back to the field (1862 May 12).

The other clutch of letters is certainly the most intriguing one. Rosalie Smith was living, along with her mother, at her sister Ann Eustace's house in Dixon, Illinois. Rosalie bridled at having to depend on Judge Eustace, whose wealth had been severely reduced by the depression of 1857, but she saw no alternative until her brother Joe returned from Mexico with funds. In response to Eliza's suggestion that she get married, Rosalie wrote, rather obliquely, "this would be a long story and probably uninteresting on paper, but should I ever see you, I will give you some of my reasons for remaining in 'meditation free'" (1859 November 30). By the next year, Rosalie's reasons for resisting her reliance on her brother-in-law had increased: "Judge Eustace's relatives have always annoyed me by reports of our entire dependence on him, making things at times, very disagreeable to all" (1860 October 27). This letter also alludes to a Mr. Sheridan, who was apparently Rosalie's husband, whom she now wished to divorce. She was worried that he would "use every effort to annoy, and keep me bound; money only, will be the great lever by which it can be accomplished." She moved to Chicago with her sister's family, and she happily discovered that "a residence of two years, will grant me a divorce, provided Sheridan does not make application to live with or support me; so on this account too, I am anxious to keep quiet, that he may not know where I am, to molest me" (1860 December 3).

The Ella Benedict collection contains 27 letters addressed to Benedict from several female friends during the late 1860s. The content concerns the daily activities of the women, including cooking, courtship, and social events, such as picnics, fairs, sporting activities, and dances.

The Ella Benedict collection contains 27 letters addressed to Benedict from several female friends, who described their daily activities. Two women, Rhoda Golibart and Addie T. Moore of Port Deposit, Maryland, wrote the majority of the correspondence, and others wrote from various locations in New York and Maryland. In their friendly letters, full of local news, Ella's correspondents discussed a variety of topics, including cooking, courtship, and social events. Occasionally, the women alluded to sporting activities, including horse racing (September 21, 1865), ice skating (November 22, 1866), and "Base Ball" (June 2, 1867). Several of the letters pertain to fairs, picnics, and dances, which provided the women an opportunity to discuss various gentlemen.

This collection contains Ella St. John Whallon's personal correspondence, including letters from friends and family members in Michigan and love letters from her husband, James M. Whallon of Dowagiac, Michigan. The collection also has letters to Lizzie Wittle of Columbia, Pennsylvania, from Edward E. Seifred, a member of the United States Army's 18th Infantry Regiment who served in the Philippines during the early twentieth century. Other items include financial documents, tintype photographs, a commemorative ribbon, and a leather postcard.

This collection (63 items) contains Ella St. John Whallon's personal correspondence, including letters from friends and family members in Michigan, as well as love letters from her husband, James M. Whallon of Dowagiac, Michigan. The collection also has letters to Lizzie Wittle of Columbia, Pennsylvania, from Edward E. Seifred, a member of the United States Army's 18th Infantry Regiment who served in the Philippines, and another correspondent, dated between 1903 and 1909. Other items include financial documents, tintype photographs, a commemorative ribbon, and a leather postcard.

The Correspondence series (58 items) contains correspondence related to Ella St. John Whallon and Lizzie Wittle. During the final years of the Civil War, Philena Hood of Saline, Michigan, wrote to Ella St. John about her experiences in school; one of her letters encloses a small piece of fabric (October 16, 1864). Several of Ella's cousins wrote to her during the late 1860s, mostly about family news from Clinton and Lansing, Michigan. One cousin, Wallace J. Hunt, commented on his experiences while serving with the Union Army in Winchester, Virginia; his letter of January 31, 1865, encloses a tintype photograph.

From 1871-1874, James M. Whallon wrote 27 letters and postcards to Ella St. John, pertaining to his life in Dowagiac, Michigan, his feelings for Ella, and their anticipated marriage. After their wedding, he sometimes wrote brief postcards while traveling. In 1872, Ella wrote 1 letter to James and received 2 letters from her mother. In August 1876, a relative wrote to Ella about his experiences at the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. She received a postcard from her brother Frank in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1917, and a partial letter from a friend in 1923.

The second group of correspondence is comprised of 5 letters to Lizzie Wittle of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Edward E. Seifred wrote 3 letters while serving with Company I of the United States Army's 18th Infantry Regiment in Manila, Philippines, in 1903 and 1904. He discussed his feelings for Wittle, proposed marriage, and reflected on his life as a soldier. In 1909, she received 2 letters from "Andrew," who explained his decision to delay marriage until achieving financial security and reported on a couple who had eloped in York, Pennsylvania. Undated items include a leather postcard addressed to Lizzie Wittle with an ink drawing of a bulldog on the back.

Five receipts are integrated with the correspondence, including documentation of wages paid to James M. Whallon during his Civil War service (October 24, 1863) and 4 receipts for Samuel St. John's contributions to a church building (1869-1872).

The Photographs series (3 items) contains a tintype portrait of Ella St. John Whallon, a tintype portrait of Samuel St. John, and a carte-de-visite portrait of Ella St. John Whallon.

Ephemera items include a poem that Philena Hood wrote for Ella St. John, with a pencil drawing of a bird on the back, and a ribbon from the 11th Michigan Cavalry Regiment's 1889 reunion in Battle Creek, Michigan.