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1.5 linear feet
The Bartlett family papers contain correspondence, documents, photographs, and a scrapbook related to Lieutenant Washington A. Bartlett of the United States Navy and to his descendants, including author Lina Bartlett Ditson, his granddaughter.
The Correspondence series contains letters written to various members of the Bartlett family. The earliest items concern Washington A. Bartlett's naval career, including several letters between Bartlett and his wife Ruth. In a letter from May-June 1845, Washington Bartlett discussed political and military conflicts between the United States and Mexico. Much of his other correspondence is contained in a letter book, which covers the years 1835-1862.
Other items in the series are incoming personal and business letters to George L. Ditson, Bartlett's son-in-law. Some of these pertain to his appointment as United States Consul in Nuevitas, Cuba, a few of which are in Spanish. Later material includes a letter from Ronald Lodge to his mother, Oralie Ditson Lodge (Washington A. Bartlett's granddaughter) about his successful fitness examination for the United States Navy, enclosing a photograph of Lodge in uniform (April 17, 1917), and a letter on stationery from the White Star Line ocean liner Olympic (November 14, 1928).
The Documents and Financial Papers relate to several generations of the Bartlett family. Of note are a certificate about Washington A. Bartlett's qualification as a United States Navy midshipmen, signed by Martin Van Buren (November 20, 1839), and an authorized copy of Washington A. Bartlett and Ruth Budd Bloom's marriage certificate (June 17, 1861). The series also contains receipts and accounts.
The Writings series primarily contains typed copies of poems and stories composed by Lina Bartlett Ditson. Included are 8 poems, 1 group of poetry "Fragments," and 7 short stories. Two items, which may not be by Ditson, are in French, including an acrostic poem based on Ruth Budd Bartlett's name.
The collection's 8 Calling Cards and Invitations include manuscript and printed visiting cards for "Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett" and an invitation to the home of William H. and Frances Seward.
A single Illustration, dated August 1833, depicts the brig Mermaid at sea. A map of a portion of Albany, New York, shows the location of B. Lodge & Company.
The Photographs series has mounted and loose portraits, several cartes-de-visite and cabinet cards, a glass-plate positive of a young girl, and numerous snapshots. Early portraits depict Oralie Ditson Lodge and Lina Bartlett Ditson (occasionally in costume), and 130 20th-century snapshots were taken during a family vacation Eagle Lake in New York.
The Lena Bartlett Ditson Scrapbook contains newspaper articles, programs, and correspondence about Lina Bartlett Ditson, assembled by her sister Oralie after Lina's death. Most items pertain to Lina's artistic pursuits, such as vocal performances and published novels. Incoming correspondence to Lina and condolence letters to her family following her death are also present.
The Printed Items series is made up of postcards, newspaper clippings, pamphlets, and other items. Newspaper Clippings pertain to numerous topics, such as William S. Lodge's political career, interstate commerce legislation, labor news, and members of the Bartlett family.
- Defence of Washington A. Bartlett, Ex-Lieutenant, United States Navy: Read and admitted to Record, by Naval Court of Inquiry... New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857.
- International Association for the Total Suppression of Vivisection. "The Woman" and the Age: A Letter Addressed to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury. London: E. W. Allen, 1881.
- Olcott, Henry S. The Spirit of the Zoroastrian Religion. Bombay: 1882.
Other printed material includes poems by Barrington Lodge; engravings of Washington A. Bartlett; a colored print showing a woman in a dress that Ruth Budd Bartlett wore during a royal reception; and a campaign poster for William S. Lodge's mayoral campaign in Albany, New York.
The Genealogy series contains information about Washington A. Bartlett's descendants and allied families, particularly the Lodge family.
24 items
This collection contains 21 letters and 1 document related to the family of Luke Drury of Grafton, Massachusetts. Luke Drury received 11 letters from his son John, a merchant in Bristol, Rhode Island, between 1786 and 1790; 4 letters from his son Thomas, who lived in Providence, Rhode Island; and 2 letters from an acquaintance, Samuel Wardwell. John Drury also wrote 4 letters to his brothers Aldon and Thomas. Most letters pertain to finances and business affairs. The collection also contains a legal document between John Drury, Henry Wight, and a Massachusetts Native American tribe, as well as 2 Drury family histories written in the late 20th century.
John Drury's letters to his father mainly concern his financial and business interests in Bristol, Rhode Island, often related to Caribbean trade; his letter of December 22, 1786, discusses paper currency. John Drury wrote 2 letters to his brother Aldon, advising him to focus on his education, and 2 letters to his brother Thomas, extending an invitation to live with him and attend school in Bristol. In a document dated March 22, 1790, John Drury and Henry Wight appointed Luke Drury their attorney in a monetary dispute with the "Trustees of the Asnomisco Indian Tribe" [the Hassanamisco Nipmuc] over debts owed by James Thomas, a member of the tribe by intermarriage.
Luke Drury also received 2 letters from Samuel Wardwell and 4 letters from his son Thomas, who reported on his finances and discussed his life in Providence, Rhode Island, where he intended to study navigation and lunar observation. The collection also contains 2 bound family histories compiled by Cuma Drury Schofield: My Drury Family (1987) and My Mother's Brown Family (1990).
2,910 items (11 linear feet)
The collection is arranged first by family grouping, then by material type. These series roughly reflect the arrangement of the collection when it arrived at the William L. Clements Library.
The Dwight-Willard-Alden Family Papers are comprised of around 250 items, dating between 1752 and 1884. One fifth or so of this grouping is predominantly correspondence between Lydia Dwight/Lydia Dwight Willard, her father, stepmother, siblings, husband, and sons, 1752-1791. These intermarried families were based largely in Sheffield and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The letters include discussions about mending and cleaning clothing; feelings about their father/husband gone to serve in the French and Indian War; putting up a monument to replace faltering graves; the return of Elijah and Col. Williams from the field on account of sickness; coming and going of soldiers; moral and practical advice; teaching and boarding young students during the war; settling into (“no longer free”) married life; the death of Bathsheba Dwight; the meeting of local men in private homes and the training of minute men in Stockbridge; the prolonged case of smallpox experienced by Lydia’s son in 1785; and news of John Willard, Jr.’s admission to Harvard.
The remaining four fifths of this grouping are largely incoming correspondence of Abigail Willard Alden (1771-1832) and her daughter Abigail Alden (1809-1854). Their correspondents were located in Stafford, Connecticut; Hanover and Lancaster, New Hampshire; Lunenburg, Vermont; and elsewhere. They begin with letters from siblings and parents to the newly married Abigail Willard Alden (ca. 1800); Samuel Alden travel letters to New York City; and news of a Stafford doctor named Chandler who had promised marriage to a woman and then fleeced her for $500 before fleeing to parts unknown. A group of letters regard pharmacy matters, the burning of Samuel Willard’s drugstore (January-April 1802), and the state of Anti-Federalists and Federalists in Stafford (1802). A large portion the letters include content on sickness and health, with varying degrees of detail, including several family members sick and dying from measles in 1803. Other topics include Hanover, New Hampshire, gossip on local premarital sex; a debate on whether or not to hire a black female domestic laborer; comments on a local suicide attempt; a young woman deliberating on objections to women spending time reading novels (April 10, 1806); and treatment by a quack doctor. These papers also include two diaries, poetry and essays, two silhouettes, genealogical manuscripts, and miscellaneous printed items.
The Allen Family Papers are largely incoming letters to Sarah Jane Allen prior to her marriage to Samuel A. Freeman (around 300 items), and from her father-in-law Otis Russell Freeman (around 60 items) between 1860 and 1865. An abundance of the letters were written to Sarah while she attended the Allen Female Seminary in Rochester, New York, and afterward when she lived at Honeoye Falls, New York. They include letters from her parents, cousins, friends, and siblings. A sampling suggests that the bulk are letters by young women attempting to eke out a life for themselves through seminary education, teaching, and domestic labor. Among much else, they include content on Elmira Female Seminary, New York state travel, and female friendship and support.
The Otis Russell Freeman letters date between 1862 and 1865, while he served as a surgeon in the 10th and 14th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. He wrote about the everyday camp life with a focus on the health and sickness of the soldiers. His letters include content on the defenses of Washington, D.C., fighting at Cold Harbor and outside Richmond, Virginia, the surrender of Robert E. Lee, the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, and Lincoln's body lying in state at Jersey City. Two carte-de-visite photographs of Otis Freeman are present.
A diary kept by Sarah J. Allen began on the day of her marriage, September 26, 1865, documents her honeymoon to Niagara Falls. It ends in November 1865. The remainder of the volume is filled with recipes for baked goods, pickles, and other foods. The printed items include ephemera from Sarah Jane Allen’s tenure at Elmira Female College five issues of the Callisophia Society’s newspaper The Callisophia (vol. 1, nos. 1, 3-6; March/April 1860-January/February 1861), as well as a Catalogue of Books in Callisophia Library, December 1862.
The Samuel Alden Freeman Family Papers include approximately 300 largely incoming letters to Presbyterian minister S. A. Freeman, plus printed materials, ephemera, photographs, and bound volumes, dating in the 1810s and from the 1860s to 1880s. Correspondence of his second wife Olive dates from the 1810s in central New York. The collection includes letters to S. A. Freeman from his first wife Sarah, daughter Abigail Alden Freeman (1873-1925), and Sara Harriet Freeman (1879-1946). These materials include courtship correspondence of Sarah Jane Allen and S. A. Freeman. A considerable portion relates to Presbyterianism and at least one temperance society pledge sheet is present. Approximately 50 photographs, about half of them identified, are largely of Samuel A. Freeman and the Freeman daughters Marilla and Abigail. Among the printed ephemeral items are advertisements for programming at Corinthian Hall (probably Rochester, New York), items related to a Sunday School Association (including a printed broadside catalog of books at a N.J. Sunday School), and pamphlets on Presbyterianism. A medicinal recipe book from the mid-19th century and a commonplace book of poetry are examples of the S. A. Freeman family bound volumes.
The collection concludes with letters, photographs, ephemera, and printed items comprising the Marilla Waite Freeman Papers. Around 600 letters are largely incoming to public librarian M. W. Freeman from female educators and librarians. They discussed their profession, books, reading, and intellectual topics. A small clutch of letters, about three dozen manuscript and typed poems, and a dozen or more newspaper clippings, 1900s-1910s, comprise poet Floyd Dell’s contributions to the collection. Marilla also corresponded with poets and writers Margaret Todd Ritter, Robert Frost and Mrs. Frost, and Marie Bullock about public and private recitations and lectures. Examples of subjects covered by the printed materials include orations, educational/school/college items, library-related items, newspapers and clippings, fliers, women's clubs, New York City theater, the American Library Association, Poetry Society of America, poems by various authors, such as Ina Robert and John Belknap, visiting and business cards, and travel.
0.5 linear feet
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.
0.75 linear feet
The Florence Romaine collection (1 linear foot) is comprised of correspondence, documents, genealogies, photographs, scrapbooks, and newspaper clippings related to the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and to the acting career of Florence Smith Romaine.
The Correspondence series (59 items) contains personal letters between members of the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families; many are written in French. Most of the material is dated from 1843-1907; the collection also includes 3 early letters to members of the Brossard family, as well as postcards that Florence Smith Romaine wrote to Grace Maxwell from 1962-1963. The series includes letters to Claude Ferdinand de Brossard from various correspondents; to Ferdinand de Brossard and Jenny de Brossard Draper from their mother, Elizabeth de Brossard; to Elizabeth Brossard from her sister-in-law, Julie de Brossard; to Jenny de Brossard Draper from Seth Enos Smith; and to Florence Smith Romaine from her mother, Jenny Draper Smith, and grandmother, Jenny de Brossard Draper. Other items include 6 letters to C. C. Randall.
The Writings series consists of 3 items by Florence Smith Romaine: a rumination on night written around 1905, a play entitled "The Silver Bell of Hat-Shep-Sut's Cat," and Whistling Bill, a children's book published in 1937.
Documents are divided into three subseries: Legal Documents (7 items), Business Documents (3 items), and Awards and Diplomas (2 items). Legal documents include birth certificates, marriage certificates, and passports related to Claude and Elisabeth Brossard and their descendants, as well as a copy of Florence Smith Romaine's will. Business documents are related to Brossard family accounts. The award and diploma concern Jenny Draper's academic achievements at the Chegaray Institute and a Brossard family member's receipt of the Fleur de Lys.
The Photographs series has two subseries: Photograph Album and Loose Photographs. The photograph album (26 pages) contains 104 cartes-de-visite and tintype studio portraits, including portraits of members of the Brossard, Draper, and Smith families. Two pages from a photograph album of the Romaine family are housed separately. Loose photographs (32 items), including 2 cased items (one housed in the Graphics Division), mostly show Florence Romaine in theatrical costumes; several photographs show members of the Smith and Draper families.
Two Scrapbooks contain newspaper clippings, programs, notes, and other items regarding Florence Romaine's acting career, as well as articles, children's stories, and puzzles that she wrote for The Christian Science Monitor in 1924 and 1925. The Newspaper Clippings (3 items) concern the career of Worthington L. Romaine and the deaths of Seth and Seth E. Smith.
Genealogies and Family Histories consist of a pamphlet about the descendants of Henry and Elizabeth Smith, including Seth Enos Smith and Florence Smith Romaine; manuscript and typed notes pertaining to the Draper and Stull families and to the life of Florence Romaine; and pages from Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper's 1892 genealogy The Drapers in America.
Miscellaneous Items and Fragments (17 items) include notes and poetry (in French), 2 invitations, a copy of a recommendation letter for Father Marie-Joseph de Geramb to the governor of Cairo, and a promotional pamphlet for "Florence May Smith."
77 linear feet
[NB: This is a TEMPORARY finding aid for an IN-PROCESS collection. This current scope note pertains almost entirely to Handy family papers acquisitions of the 1980s (an estimated 60-65 boxes of the total 153 boxes). Among the in-process materials are 60 boxes of scrapbooks, largely kept by Rozelle P. Handy and Sarah V. C. Handy].
The Handy Papers document the lives and professional activities of four generations of the Handy Family of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware. The collection largely revolves around James Henry Handy (1789-1832), Isaac William Ker Handy (1815-1878), Moses Purnell Handy (1847-1898), Sarah Matthews Handy (1845-1933), Frederick Algernon Graham Handy (1842-1912), Egbert G. Handy (1858-1938), Rozelle Purnell Handy (1871-1920), Sarah V. C. Handy (1876-1963), and H. Jamison Handy "Jam Handy" (1886-1983). The Handy family were largely educated, politically active, literary southerners, who were a part of many of the social and intellectual currents of especially the mid- and late-19th century. The papers offer resources for study of the Civil War, particularly its effect on Virginia civilians and southern prisoners of war at Fort Delaware; the history of southern families; late nineteenth-century American politics; Presbyterian history; late nineteenth-century newspaper journalism; the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1892-93; and genealogy.
In its current, temporary housing (see the box listing in this finding aid), the papers include 50 boxes of correspondence, 26 boxes of family papers and topics files, six boxes of World's Columbian Exposition papers; eight boxes of photographs, plus separately housed cased images; four boxes of newspapers and newspaper clippings; 12 boxes of Jam Handy and Jam Handy Organization papers; 60 boxes of scrapbooks; and six boxes of books and serials (plus many loose books and other printed items).
The following is a former description by Curator of Manuscripts Galen Wilson, for the Handy Family Papers acquisitions of the 1980s (50-60 boxes of materials):
"Isaac Handy's fondness for history led him to the belief that he lived at an important moment in the life of the nation, and every wrinkle of the sectional crisis of the 1850s and 60s seemed to confirm. His correspondence and diaries from the eve of the war through its conclusion are a reflection of a well-educated southerner's reaction to the events unfolding about him and provide insight into the development of his political sympathies. Even after his arrest in July 1863 and his incarceration at Fort Delaware, Handy remained conscious of being part of "history in the making," not only continuing his twenty-five-year habit of keeping a diary, but in planning for a future book on Fort Delaware, soliciting memoirs of war service from his fellow prisoners. Handy saved these manuscripts, plus the correspondence he received while in prison (much of it from Confederate civilians), pasting them into two large scrapbooks. These have been disbound and the material cataloged item-by-item and interfiled chronologically in the collection's correspondence. Drafts and copies of the book which Handy wrote about his confinement, United States Bonds, are present in the collection.
Among the many individual areas of American Civil War interest are Isaac W. K. Handy's description of the battle between the ironclads Monitor and Merrimac, and the journal which Moses Handy kept during his service in the Confederate army in 1865. The soldiers' reminiscences collected by Isaac Handy at Fort Delaware include several exceptional accounts, including biographical and autobiographical sketches of M. Jeff Thompson, the mayor of St. Joseph, Missouri, turned "Swamp Rat" militia commander. Thompson played a major role during the summer of 1861 in defending Missouri's slave system from John C. Frémont's emancipation proclamation.
Other Civil War war-related materials include Isaac Handy's 1861 sermon on "Our National Sins" and fast-day sermons from the same year. The reminiscences of a myriad of former Confederate officers are scattered throughout Handy's correspondence of the late 1870s, all intended to be used in a history of the war planned by the Philadelphia Times. Also present is some documentation of Frederick A. G. Handy's father-in-law, Edwin Festus Cowherd, a Confederate soldier.
While the Handy collection provides thorough documentation of life among the eastern Handys, it also contains a significant body of correspondence from the westward sojourn of Isaac and Mary Jane Handy from 1844 to 1848. Isaac and his wife wrote over 100 letters from Missouri, in which they described the powerful ideological lure of the west, their family's adjustment to new surroundings, and the social and political climate of the old southwest. An index to these letters, prepared by Isaac Handy, is present, along with an original binding. Isaac's diary for the years spent in Missouri provides a valuable point of comparison for the letters.
Political and social commentary flows throughout most of the collection, from Jesse Higgins' campaign for reform of the federal legal and judicial systems, 1805-1806, through the fin de siècle political interests and involvements of Moses Handy.
The political impact of Reconstruction plays a major role in the collection, particularly in the letters of Congressman Samuel Jackson Randall (1828-1890) of Pennsylvania. The election of 1896 is well documented and the collection includes much correspondence with the Republican President-maker Mark Hanna. For his efforts on behalf of the Republican Party in this election, Moses Handy had hoped to net a foreign consulate through Hannah but was disappointed. Handy's transition from Confederate soldier to Republican politico is subtly documented and provides an interesting case study in political opportunism.
The Handy Family Papers are an important resource for the history of the Presbyterian Church during the 19th century. The 2nd Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., was a major focus of James Henry Handy's life, and the early history of this congregation is well documented in correspondence dating from the 1820s. Rev. Daniel Baker was the first pastor of the congregation, and although Baker's tenure was controversial, James remained a close friend of Baker's for the rest of their lives. The collection thus contains items concerning Baker and his relationship with the 2nd Church, and several letters written by him after he left to assume a pastorate in Savannah, Georgia.
Isaac Handy's vocation as a Presbyterian minister and his avocation as an historical researcher merge in this collection, deepening the documentation of the church. Perhaps spurred by being asked to contribute some biographical sketches to William B. Sprague's Annals of the American Pulpit, Handy sought out primary documents relating to the colonial Presbyterian clergy and congregations. Aspects of his own career in the church is documented through a scattered series of letters from former parishioners--many of which were received during his imprisonment at Fort Delaware--and in letters written by Isaac to his sons. A thick file of Isaac's sermons is present, several of which were published. Among these sermons is "The Terrible Doings of God" (23:31), which concerns the Yellow Fever Epidemic near Portsmouth, Virginia, in 1855. He delivered this eulogy at a Baptist church for members of several different Portsmouth churches. Handy earned acclaim during the crisis by staying to help the victims rather than fleeing to safer ground.
Isaac Handy's literary flair was inherited by Frederick and Moses, and both pursued careers in newspapers. Moses' career is more thoroughly documented than Frederick's, and much of the correspondence written between 1869 and 1890 concerns Moses' efforts in the newspaper business. There are several folders of general newspaper correspondence dating from 1865 to 1897, an entire box of unsorted clippings by and about the Handys, and boxes of mounted clippings of Moses, Sarah, and Rozelle Handy's published writings. Journalistic endeavors of other family members are also present.
One of Moses Handy's greatest claims to fame was his role as chair of Department O (Publicity and Promotion) for the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893. His involvement with the Exposition is documented in correspondence, reports, financial papers, brochures, photographs, and memorabilia. The advertising campaign begun in 1890 has been cited as the prototype of modern publicity strategies, and the Handy Papers offer an unparalleled view into the inner workings of the key department. The collection also contains information about the San Francisco Mid-Winter Exposition (1893), a sort of subsidiary event to the main Chicago attraction, and the general correspondence for 1891-93 contains some references to the World's Fair.
Isaac Handy's lifelong ambition was to publish "The Annals and Memorials of the Handys and their Kindred." Beginning in the 1850s, he gathered genealogical data on all descendants of "Samuel Handy, the Progenitor," an Englishman who emigrated to Maryland to farm tobacco. Three drafts of this work, in increasing thickness, were completed in 1857, 1865, and the 1870s. Isaac was prepared to publish the work in the 1870s and had an advertising flier printed, but when subscriptions did not meet expectations and Handy died in 1878, the project foundered. The manuscript then passed to Moses Handy, whose own intentions for publishing the book never reached fruition, possibly due to his untimely death at the age of fifty. In 1904, Isaac's youngest surviving son, Egbert, acquired the manuscript from Moses's widow, Sarah Matthews Handy, but his publication plans did not gather momentum until 1932.
With a great deal of vigor, Egbert attempted to update the manuscript, now sixty years out of date, and had a new advertising circular printed. Again, death removed the Annals' main advocate. The manuscript remained in the possession of Egbert's widow, Minerva Spencer Handy, and in the 1940s she gave it to Frederick A. G. Handy's widow, Lelia Cowherd Handy, then living in Arlington, Virginia. Before her death in 1949, Leila entrusted the material to her granddaughter Mildred Ritchie. The Clements Library acquired the manuscript from Mrs. Ritchie along with other family papers. A century and a third after Isaac began the project, the Annals were published by the Clements Library in 1992. The Handy Family Papers contain various drafts of the manuscript, plus many notes and letters concerning its publication."
[NB: This is a TEMPORARY finding aid for an IN-PROCESS collection. This current scope note pertains almost entirely to Handy family papers acquisitions of the 1980s (an estimated 60-65 boxes of the total 153 boxes). Among the in-process materials are 60 boxes of scrapbooks, largely kept by Rozelle P. Handy and Sarah V. C. Handy].
7 linear feet
The Hemenway family collection contains correspondence, documents, books, and other items related to the family of Asa and Lucia Hunt Hemenway, who served as Christian missionaries to Siam (Thailand) in the mid-19th century. Most items pertain to family members' lives in the United States after their return in 1850.
The Correspondence series is divided into two subseries. The Cotton Family Correspondence (26 items, 1819-1848) primarily consists of incoming personal letters to Frances Maria Cotton, whose father, siblings, and friends shared news from Vermont, New York, and Massachusetts. Her brother Henry, a member of the United States Navy, wrote about his travels to Cuba and Haiti on the USS St. Louis in the 1830s. The subseries also includes letters to Frances's father, John Cotton, and her husband, Joseph Reed.
The Hemenway Family Correspondence (116 items, 1857-1899) is comprised of letters between members of the Hemenway family. Lucia Hunt Hemenway wrote to her niece, Isabella Birchard, and her son, Lewis Hunt Hemenway, about her life in Ripton, Vermont, in the late 1850s and early 1860s, and corresponded with her sisters, Charlotte Birchard and Amanda Tottingham. Her letters contain occasional references to the Civil War. Other items include a letter from M. R. Rajoday to Asa Hemenway, written in Thai (March 23, 1860), and a letter from S. B. Munger to Asa Hemenway about Munger's experiences as a missionary in India (February 23, 1867).
The bulk of the subseries is comprised of Lewis Hunt Hemenway's letters to Isabella Birchard, his cousin, written between the 1860s and 1880s. He discussed his studies at Middlebury College, his decision to join the Union Army, and his service with the 12th Vermont Infantry Regiment, Company K, in Virginia in 1862 and 1863. He later wrote about his work at the King's County Lunatic Asylum in Brooklyn, New York; his medical practice in Manchester, Vermont; and his brief stint as a partner in an insurance firm in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His letter of February 16, 1877, includes a illustrated view of Saint Paul's city limits. Lewis and his wife, Maria Reed, corresponded with their children. Their daughter Clara also received letters from her grandfather Asa Hemenway.
The first item in the Diaries and Writings series is a diary that Lucia Hunt Hemenway kept while traveling from Boston, Massachusetts, to Thailand with other missionaries onboard the Arno between July 6, 1839, and September 21, 1839 (approximately 50 pages). She described her fellow passengers, discussed the religious meetings they held while at sea, and anticipated her missionary work in Thailand. A second item by Lucia Hemenway is a religious journal in which she recorded around 22 pages of Biblical quotations for her son Lewis from December 1, 1844-February 1, 1846. The final pages contain a poem entitled "Sunday School" and a list of rhymes that her son had learned.
The journals are followed by 15 speeches and essays by Lewis Hunt Hemenway. He composed Latin-language orations and English-language essays about politics, literature, the Civil War, death, and ancient history.
Maria Reed Hemenway kept a diary (39 pages) from November 20, 1875-[1878], primarily about her children's lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota, after September 1877. The final item in the series is a 47-page religious sermon or essay attributed to Asa Hemenway (undated)
The Documents and Financial Records series (7 items) includes Asa Hemenway's graduation certificate from Middlebury College (August 10, 1835); a documents certifying his position as a missionary for the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (June 29, 1839, and May 26, 1851); and a United States passport for Asa and Lucia Hemenway (December 26, 1838). Two account books belonged to an unidentified owner and contain records of debts and credits, dated December 1, 1830-December 1, 1831 (volume 1) and December 1, 1831-December 1, 1832 (volume 2).
The Photographs and Silhouettes series (9 items) includes silhouettes of Lucia and Asa Hemenway, photograph portraits of two Thai women, a portrait of an unidentified Thai man, and a portrait of King Mongkut. Two photographs show a tree and buildings near the missionary compound where the Hemenway family lived.
The Books series (22 items) includes volumes in English, Sanskrit, and Thai. Subjects include the history of Thailand, Christianity, and missionary work in southeast Asia.
A volume of Genealogy (approximately 40 pages) contains records pertaining to the births, marriages, and deaths of members of the Hunt family and their descendants, as well as a history of the descendants of Ralph Hemenway of Roxbury, Massachusetts. Manuscript notes and letters are laid into the volume.
The Artifacts and Fabrics series includes baskets, textiles from Thailand, coins, and bottles.
11 linear feet
The Lamb-Sykes family papers date from 1683 to 1947, with the bulk of the materials concentrated between 1819 and 1911. They form a record of the lives of the Lamb and Sykes families of Philadelphia, especially their financial, legal, and business activities. The collection includes approximately 300 letters; 9 linear feet of accounts, receipts, tax records, promissory notes, and legal documents; 60 account and expense books; 6 daguerreotypes; and 0.5 linear feet of school papers, family history, printed and ephemeral items, and other materials.
The Correspondence series is made up of approximately 300 letters to and from members of the Lamb, Sykes, and Norris families, between 1819 and 1907. Few writers sent more than a small number of letters to their family and friends. The correspondence reflects a variety of different activities and experiences, and many different geographical locations. Selected examples include:
- Six letters between the Carswells and the Jacksons. Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel sent four letters to Margaret and Margaretta Carswell between 1819 and 1822; Margaretta and Andrew Jackson each wrote 1 letter in 1843. These letters refer to historical events, such as the Treaty of Doak's Stand (Rachel Jackson's letter of October 20, 1820). In 1843, Margaretta wrote to Andrew Jackson about her intention to create a school for girls. The former U.S. President commended her for her proposal, and promised to spread the word amongst his female relations.
- Five letters by Margaret Carswell, cousins, and siblings to Margaretta Lamb, from West Ely, Missouri, in the winter of 1837-1838
- Approximately 10 letters between Margaretta and her husband, written when Lemuel traveled to London in the late 1830s. In these letters they discussed business and domestic life in Philadelphia.
- Four letters written by Margaretta's daughter Margaret, during her travels to France and Germany in 1846
- Six letters to Margaretta Lamb from her (former) pupils in 1851
- Five letters by Margaretta's son Samuel, written from Panama, then San Francisco, in 1854. By the following year, he moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he wrote approximately 15 letters. In his letters from San Francisco, he described the quality of life in the West difficulties finding work, and the influx of people to the area.
- Approximately 21 letters by Lemuel Lamb, Jr., in the mid-late 1850s from Detroit, Michigan; Superior, Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri; Chattanooga, Tennessee; New Orleans; Dubuque, Iowa; Pittsburgh; Marshall, Texas; and others. In letters to his mother and father, he remarked on his journey west, a cholera outbreak, his own good health, and his business affairs.
- Twenty letters to Isaac Norris, Jr., from Jennie Carlile Boyd in Newport, Rhode Island, between April and July 1890. She wrote 15 of them on mourning stationery.
- Approximately 27 letters from Harriet Lamb, Charles [Grugan?], and [Anne Grugan?] about their stay in Paris in 1851 and detailing the final illness and death of Margaret Lamb.
The Documents and Financial Records series consists of approximately 9 linear feet of financial, legal, and land documents of the Lamb and Sykes family. The series includes documents related to court cases; estate administration records for Margaretta Lamb, Franklin Wharton, Sarah Moore, and others; documents related to land holdings in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island; and papers related to trade, investment, and banking.
The Photographs series includes 6 cased daguerreotypes. One postmortem portrait of Harriet Lamb in her coffin is accompanied by Philadelphia photographer Marcus Root's receipt of sale and the undertaker's bill for funeral expenses (1853). The other daguerreotypes are undated portraits of unidentified individuals and groups.
The Poetry, Recipes, Lists, and Fragments series contains 9 poems and writing fragments, 1 medicinal recipe, 1 recipe for cream pie, 1 book of lists, and 1 blank book. One poem, dated 1850 and titled "Fools and Their Money Parted," laments a decision to provide money to family members for the purposes of investment. The medicinal recipe is a "Cure for Cancer, Erysypelas, Humours, Diseases of the Liver, & Coughs" (undated). The book of lists is a volume of approximately 80 pages, which contains lists of books, Christmas gifts, prints, the contents of trunks, and other household objects (ca. 1880s).
The Printed Materials series consists of 2 circulars, 2 books, 16 stock reports, 23 issues of the serial Infant's Magazine, 2 pamphlets, approximately 60 newspaper clippings, and 2 engravings. See the box and folder listing below for more information about these items.
The Genealogy series consists of approximately 45 genealogical manuscripts pertaining to the Lamb, Norris, Pepper, Sykes, and Wharton families. One document regards Lemuel Lamb's immediate family, with birth and death dates for most of his siblings, and for some of his brothers-in-law. The Norris family genealogical materials include a 395-page family album with original and copied 18th- and 19th-century correspondence, photos and illustrations, newspaper clippings, and other items. A booklet printed by the "Provincial Councilors of Pennsylvania" includes a history of the Norris family. A similar booklet, prepared for an October 19, 1947, family reunion, describes the genealogy of the "Pepper Clan." The Sykes family materials are made up of copies of letters and writings documenting the early history of the family and their emigration to America. The Wharton family items include copied letters and writings, and an incomplete draft of the memoirs of Robert Wharton.
The Realia series includes 2 circular medals from the Bulldog Club of America, 1924 and 1925, and a metal nameplate from the urn of "Isacco Norris," Dr. Isaac Norris, who died in Italy.
0.5 linear feet
This collection contains correspondence, financial records, legal documents, and other items related to the McViccar and Antes families of northern New York.
The Correspondence series (168 items) contains 1 letterbook and 167 personal letters that members of the McViccar and Antes families received from 1802-1901; most letters are dated 1817-1845 and 1865-1894. The earliest items pertain to Elizabeth Todd McViccar of Cambridge, New York, and her sons, John and Peter. John McViccar received personal letters from acquaintances and family members, including his brothers-in-law, Palmer, Halsey, and Nathaniel Townsend. John McViccar also received a series of letters from his brother Peter, who described his journey from New York to Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia in 1821. Peter McViccar continued to write about life at the college until the mid-19th century. One of Peter's letters contains ink drawings of Mount Vernon, the United States Capitol, and government buildings in Washington, D.C. (December 22, 1821).
On September 4, 1832, John McViccar wrote to his brother Archibald about the death of his young daughter, Louisa. John T. McViccar wrote several letters to his parents, John and Rhoda McViccar, relating his experiences at school in the 1840s. Other correspondents mentioned subjects such as travel to the South and discussed political issues. Most items dated after 1850 are related to the Antes family of Cicero, New York. Harriet (or "Harriette") Fiske McViccar wrote to her cousin, Mary McViccar Antes, wife of Evert Antes, with news from Fayetteville, New York (September 16, 1856). M. M. Duncan, an acquaintance of Mary Antes, discussed her employment and aspects of domestic life.
John McViccar's letter book (approximately 66 pages) contains copies of his personal and professional letters, dated September 8, 1818-October 3, 1840. He commented on aspects of his daily life, his finances, and his business affairs. Some of the letters from 1823 concern Elizabeth McViccar's estate.
The Legal and Financial Documents and Invitations series (64 items) concerns members of the McViccar (earlier items) and Antes (later items) families. Financial records include wills, receipts, and indentures, many of which relate to land in Onondaga County, New York. Evert Antes received several preaching licenses in the late 1800s; the series also contains 2 marriage certificates. Later items include a military discharge for Paul J. Antes, who served with the 3rd New York Volunteers during the Spanish-American War.
The Genealogy, Poetry, Obituary, and Visiting Card series (12 items) includes a newspaper obituary for John McViccar, genealogical notes about the McViccar family, essays by Evert Antes, and a calling card.
Three Photographs are portraits of Nancy Barkly Antes Benedict: one is a carte-de-visite, one is a large card photograph, and one is a tintype.
0.25 linear feet
This collection (78 items) is made up of correspondence, legal and financial records, and other items related to the Clark family of Montgomery County, Georgia.
The Correspondence series contains 27 letters between members of the Clark and Purvis families. The first item is a 1-page letter that William S. Clark wrote to his father while serving with a military unit on Jekyll Island, Georgia, in January 1861. Margaret Clark also received a letter from a nephew about his life in Patroon, Texas, in April 1882, as well as letters from nieces and nephews about their lives in Seward, Georgia. The letters from 1885-1887 largely concern Thomas R. Clark's legal difficulties after he shot a member of the Troop family, an African American family who lived near the Clarks. His mother, who hoped that the case could be settled out of court, offered advice and later reported to relatives that the matter had cost him $60. Margaret and Thomas Clark also received letters from members of the Purvis family. The final item is a letter that Alma Clark wrote to Ellen Murray in April 1939.
The Legal Documents series (23 items) contains contracts and other documents related to the Clark family and to land in Georgia. Ten indentures and deeds are dated before 1853, mainly in Telfair County, Georgia; one includes a sketch of a plot of land in Wilkinson County, Georgia (June 20, 1807). Four items relate to African American laborers who worked for Nimrod Clark, including 2 receipts for the sale of a female slave (October 16, 1844, and October 10, 1853). Nimrod Clark and Mary Clark, a "freed laborer," made a contract in April 1866, and a judge apprenticed Caroline Clark, an 11-year-old African American girl, to Nimrod Clark in December 1866. Other items pertain to Georgia property and to Lewis P. Allard's discharge from the United States Army (June 9, 1865).
Financial Documents (17 items) include 3 Confederate war bonds (1862-1864), 13 receipts pertaining to members of the Clark family, and a small hand-bound volume with undated accounts and genealogical notes about members of the Clark family.
The Portraits and Photographs series (4 items) contains a drawn portrait of a soldier, a tintype print of a soldier, and two cartes-de-visite of Abraham Lincoln and his family.
The Ephemera series (7 items) includes 2 buttons from the "Dragoons Infantry" (1860), printed pages from a Bible class curriculum, and a school copybook.