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Joseph Tuttle enlisted in the 5th Michigan Cavalry in 1862 and fought in several battles before being taken prisoner at Trevilian Station, Virginia, in 1864. His correspondence during the Civil War describes army life and his company's participation in battles and skirmishes. The collection also includes land deeds and indentures, tax documents, photocopies of military documents pertaining to Joseph Tuttle, newspaper clippings, family photographs, and other materials.

The papers of Joseph J. Tuttle consist of 41 letters, 15 photocopies of military documents, 37 documents, 36 tax documents and receipts, 34 items of ephemera, 8 newspaper clippings, 7 photographs, 1 Civil War military pin, and 2 miscellaneous items. These items fall collectively between the dates of October 13, 1831 and April 3, 1963, however the bulk of them fall between November 16, 1854 and August 12, 1918.

The correspondence consists of 35 letters written during the Civil War (most of which are letters from Joseph Tuttle to his sister), and 6 miscellaneous letters. Tuttle writes about army life and his company's participation in battles and skirmishes. In a letter dated Aug. 30, 1863, he describes, in some detail, the execution of 5 deserters from the Union army, and in a letter of Feb. 27, 1864, he mentions the large number of deserters from Lee's army.

The photocopies of military documents all pertain exclusively to Joseph Tuttle, including his muster in/out forms, and documents pertaining to his illness. The 37 documents include 25 land deeds/indentures in Oakland County, Michigan, 5 documents pertaining to the purchase of land in St. Cloud, Florida, 2 Hartford Fire Insurance papers, 1 death record, and 4 other miscellaneous documents. The tax documents are all property tax forms and receipts, in addition to a few receipts for the sale of goods.

The ephemera consists of invitations, birthday and Christmas cards, and calling cards. Two of the newspaper clippings relate to the Michigan Cavalry. Included in the family photographs are at least 2 photos of Joseph Tuttle. The Civil War pin is marked "Grand Army of the Republic 1861 Veteran 1866," and a ribbon commemorates the Nineteenth reunion of the 5th Michigan Association.

The Lars Gustaf Sellstedt family collection is made up of correspondence, poetry, ephemera, and other materials related to Sellstedt and his descendants, particularly his daughter Eva and her husband, Frank H. Potter. The papers pertain to Sellstedt's religious beliefs, his travels in the Caribbean, his interest in fine art, and his influence and legacy in Buffalo, New York. Other items pertain to Frank Potter's life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s and to the genealogy of the Younglove family.

The Lars Gustaf Sellstedt family collection (0.75 linear feet) is made up of correspondence, poetry, ephemera, and other material related to Sellstedt and his descendants, particularly his daughter Eva and her husband, Frank H. Potter. The papers pertain to Sellstedt's religious beliefs, his travels in the Caribbean, his interest in fine art, and his influence and legacy in Buffalo, New York. Other items pertain to Frank Potter's life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s and to the genealogy of the Younglove family.

The Correspondence series (109 items) contains letters related to the Sellstedt, Potter, and Younglove families. In the mid-1840s, Sellstedt exchanged letters with his future wife, Louise Lovejoy; some of his other early correspondence concerns religion, art, and travel to the Caribbean in late 1848 and early 1849. In the early 20th century, he received letters from acquaintances and admirers about his books From Forecastle to Academy and Art in Buffalo.

Many items from the late 19th century pertain to Sellstedt's daughter Eva and her husband, Frank Hamilton Potter, including a series of letters that Potter wrote to his parents about his life in Berlin, Germany, in the mid-1880s. Frank and Eva Potter's son, Lars Sellstedt Potter, occasionally wrote to his mother as a child. The series also contains mid-19th century letters between William K. Scott and his cousin Moses C. Younglove, mid-20th century letters about an art exhibit commemorating Lars G. Sellstedt, and an undated letter from "Santa Claus" to a group of children. The series includes 2 print narratives by Samuel Younglove, entitled "Battle of Oriskany" and "The Battle of Bennington" (June 12, 1897).

The Writings series (113 items) contains 23 essays and 90 poems. Longer essays pertain to "Architecture and Sculpture" (58 pages) and to the history of art in Buffalo, New York (2 items, 99 pages and 47 pages); at least one of the essays about Buffalo was incorporated into Sellstedt's book Art in Buffalo. Other items pertain to the politician James Osborn Putnam, an acquaintance of Sellstedt's. The poetry (90 items), much of which was written by Sellstedt, concerns love, friendship, nature, and religious subjects; at least one poem is a friend's tribute to Sellstedt. The series includes 8 published items, housed together.

The Watercolors and Sketches (5 items), attributed to various persons, depict infant children, a Roman soldier, a woman, and a home. The Photographs (19 items), comprised of card photographs and photographic prints, mostly show members of the Sellstedt family, including Lars G. Sellstedt, Caroline Scott Sellstedt, and Eva Thorén Sellstedt. The pictures are studio portraits, outdoor portraits, and snapshots taken during a fishing trip. The series contains 3 copies of a memorial poem dedicated to William Scott Sellstedt ("Willie"), each illustrated with a photograph of him.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery Exhibit Materials (around 20 unique items) include documents, promotional materials, and captions, which are related to an exhibit and reception held in honor of Lars Sellstedt in September 1972.

Newspaper Clippings (66 items) pertain to the life of Lars G. Sellstedt, including retrospectives about his life and obituaries. Some clippings concern the Albright-Knox Gallery's 1972 Sellstedt exhibit.

The Invitations, Cards, Documents, and Realia series (11 items) includes printed and manuscript invitations, a calling card, an embroidered piece of fabric, and a stock certificate for the Buffalo Cremation Company.

The Genealogy series (9 items) contains histories of the Younglove family, written by and addressed to Moses Younglove, as well as items related to the Gay family and to the life of Lars G. Sellstedt.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

This collection is made up of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and other items concerning several generations of the Lee family of New York and New Jersey from the early 18th century to the late 19th century.

The earliest items (1701-1840) largely consist of legal and financial documents, receipts, accounts, and other financial records related to Thomas Lee, his nephew Thomas (ca. 1728-1804), his grandnephew William (1763-1839), and, to a lesser extent, other members of the Lee family. Many pertain to land ownership in New York and New Jersey. Some legal documents, such as Thomas Lee's will (May 16, 1767), concern decedents' estates. In the 1820s and 1830s, the Lee siblings, including Henry, William, Cyrus, and Phebe, began writing personal letters to one another. Cyrus Lee and his wife Emily Fisher received letters from her mother, E. Fisher of Humphreysville, Connecticut. One letter contains teacher Samuel Squier's response to accusations of drunkenness and inappropriate behavior (February 25, 1774). Additional early materials include a contract related to the establishment of a singing school in Boston, Massachusetts (ca. 1745), medicinal recipes (October 31, 1789), poetry (undated), articles of apprenticeship (February 25, 1796), a daybook reflecting construction costs for a school house in Littleton, New Jersey (October 2, 1797-May 1, 1799), records of William and Isaac Lee's labor at a forge (September 5, 1809-October 24, 1914), and a manuscript copy of an act to incorporate part of Derby, Connecticut, as Humphreysville (May [4], 1836).

After 1840, the bulk of the collection is made up of personal letters between members of the Lee family. Incoming correspondence to Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee makes up the largest portion of these letters. Emily's mother wrote about life in Humphreysville, Connecticut, frequently discussing her health and that of other family members. Emily's sister Elizabeth discussed her travels in Indiana and Ohio and her life in Ogden, Indiana. After the mid-1850s, many of the letters pertain to Cyrus and Emily's son Robert. He received letters from his grandmother, aunt, and cousins. He sent letters to his sister Emily while he lived in Ogden, Indiana, in the late 1850s and early 1860s. A cousin, also named Emily, wrote to Robert about African-American and white churches in Princeton, New Jersey, and her work as a schoolteacher (February 15, 1858).

Robert Lee wrote one letter about camp life and his poor dental health while serving in the 3rd Indiana Cavalry Regiment (October 3, 1861), and Emily shared news of Littleton, New Jersey, while he was away. Cyrus's sister Phebe wrote to her brother's family during this period. After the war, Cyrus and Emily Fisher Lee continued to receive letters from Emily's mother and sister. Elizabeth Benjamin, living in Lecompton, Kansas, sent letters on January 22, 1871, and March 13, 1871, discussing the death of her son Theodore, who died of a gunshot wound. The final letters, dated as late as 1903, are addressed to Elizabeth M. Lee, likely Cyrus and Emily's daughter. Later items also include a calling cards and a lock of hair.

The collection includes five photographs of unidentified individuals, including cased tintypes of a man and a young child, each with an ornate oval matte and preserver, as well as a third similar tintype portrait of a young boy which no longer has a case. A photograph of a United States soldier is housed in a hard metal frame that includes a fold-out stand; the frame bears the insignia of the United States Army infantry. The final item is a photographic print of a man, woman, and young child posing beside a house.

The collection contains a group of 13 printed and ephemeral items, including sections of the New-Jersey Journal and Political Intelligencer (April 21, 1790), True Democratic Banner (October 9, 1850), and New York Sun (May 9, 1936). Other items of note are a colored drawing of a house (1861 or 1867), printed poems ("Napoleon Is Coming" and "The Lass of Richmond Hill," undated), a price list for the works of Emanuel Swedenborg, a Hungarian Fund bond, and an advertisement for men's shirts and shorts with attached fabric samples. Three additional items pertain to births, deaths, and marriages in the Lee family.

This collection includes correspondence, documents, and more relating to the life and career of Nannie S. Newman, a seamstress, prison matron at the Colorado State Penitentiary in Cañon City, Colorado, and beauty parlor owner in San Francisco, California. Materials relate to incarcerated women and their lives post-imprisonment, women's work, beauty culture, and family relationships. Additional material related to Newman's in-laws provide insight into the oil industry in late-19th and early-20th century America, World War I naval operations, and leisure travel.

The Correspondence Series primarily consists of letters sent to Nannie S. Newman, Ida and Jack Palmer, and later descendants of the family. The bulk of the letters were written from the 1880s to 1920s by family members and close acquaintances, and they demonstrate Newman’s extended support network. Immediate family, including her father and brother, wrote to her from Kentucky, describing the family homestead, tobacco farming, and updates on the community (for example, see Mar. 28, 1864; July 5, 1888; Nov. 6, 1890; Dec. 21, 1890; Nov. 28, 1896; Sept. 6, 1907; Feb. 27, 1910; Nov. 7, 1911; Oct. 9, 1912).

Family relationships are a dominant theme in the collection, centering around Nannie's role as a mother to Ida C. Newman, the marriage of Ida to Jack S. Palmer, Ida's death in 1906, the continuing but sometimes fraught bond between Nannie and Jack in the years following, and Jack's eventual death in 1914. On September 26, 1890, Jack wrote to Ida in the months preceding their marriage and mentioned people questioning the wisdom of him going to Colorado, suggesting Nannie Newman's eventual move there was likely tied to her daughter's doing so. Newman also received letters from various members of the extended Palmer family who were based in Titusville, Pennsylvania.

The letters regularly reflect on Newman's work. For many years she worked as a seamstress while living in Kentucky and upon her move to Colorado around 1890, but she continued making dresses and doing alteration in later years even while employed in other jobs. Correspondence touches on dresses she has produced either in a formal capacity or potentially as favors to friends and family. One letter written on May 14, 1891, from Leadville, Colorado, shares details about dressmaking in that town and expected wages, showing that Newman was thinking about the business and salary options in the area. She also received letters from others working in the field, discussing sewing machines and sewing work (see July 5, 1888; Nov. 28, 1892; Nov. 2, 1907).

In 1892, letters begin to reference Newman's work as a matron at the Colorado State Penitentiary. At least one letter appears to have been written by a former coworker at the penitentiary. Emily E. Dudley wrote from Provo City, Utah, on October 12, 1894, referencing various administrators of the prison and incarcerated women. She also wrote of Mormons in the Provo area, their disinclination to mingle with "Gentiles," plural marriages, and more. Other letters reference prison administrators and "the girls," suggesting they were written by coworkers or others associated with the prison, but additional research is required (see Aug. 3, 1895).

Newman corresponded with friends and family of incarcerated women, and the letters demonstrate the writers' gratitude for the care and interest she showed to the inmates, as well as the support she was providing to the families through written communication and occasional gifts. Several letters were written from members of the Jones family in Medicine Lodge, Kansas, who were left without support when the male head of the household was imprisoned. Newman appears to have sent updates and gifts to the wife, Bessie, and her two children, Bessie and Ethel. Their letters in return depict the realities of families struggling in the aftermath of family members' incarceration (Feb. 23, 1895; Mar. 7, 1895; Apr. 1, 1895; June 19, 1895). Newman wrote a character reference for Annie Watson and Lillie Williams who were seeking a pardon (July 23, 1894), emphasizing their respectfulness, attentiveness as mothers, and that a pardon would release the state from the cost of providing for their children. At least one other writer requested her aid in securing a pardon for a family member, assuring Newman "if they should get out I promise you they never will get into any more trouble they will lead an honest life and be respected again" (Oct. 25, 1896).

Particular interest seems to have been shown to an incarcerated woman named Maggie Montgomery (later Loullard or Larillard), who had been sentenced to ten years in prison for the murder of John Gross in 1891. One letter from Jennie Moss, dated June 24, 1892, includes an enclosure to Maggie Montgomery, advising her directly to "have a nice clean record in every respect when your case goes before the Gov . . . For Gods sake & your own do nothing foolish. I know if anything about love came up there, it would go harder against you then any thing else in the eyes of the public." Moss wrote to Newman again two years later, on November 18, 1894, describing how she came to advocate for Maggie, her pleasure with Newman's continued support, and her thoughts on "fallen women." Moss hinted that she had a possible criminal past, noting that she "lived a life of sin in the eyes of the world, But I've lived it 'openly.' I've been no whining hypocrite. The world has punished me for it." Moss reflected on the negative impact of the public's distrust in women's reformation, women's harsh treatment of each other, her fears for Maggie's future, and plans for providing for her. "You know how hard she will be pressed & how every harmless little event, will be made mountains of sin."

An additional letter written by Annie Sears on December 6, 1894, whose association with the prison is currently unknown, inquired after Maggie shortly after she was released, also mentioning an African American man who had formerly been incarcerated, attempting to contact a man for an inmate, and her good regards to the "poor unfortunate women" still imprisoned. At least two letters were written by Maggie Montgomery/Loullard upon her release and relocation to Detroit, Michigan, describing her travels, her memories of friends from the penitentiary, and her current emotions (postmark December 6, 1894; December 14, 1894). Upon requesting updates of the other incarcerated women, Loullard reflected, "I miss them, and at times when I'm lonesome I long for my little cell but I'm glad I'm free."

A group of letters written by Ellen Smith from Salida, Colorado, suggest a partnership between her and Newman to support recently released women as well as some seamstress collaboration (Sept. 15, 1895; Sept. 27, 1895; Apr. 13, 1897; Apr. 17, 1897; Apr. 22, 1897; May 4, 1897; May 9, 1897; May 18, 1897). Smith had been formerly incarcerated at the penitentiary and appears to have run a boarding house, and provided rooms for several women that Newman was helping transition back into freedom. She wrote, "...if a Decent Girl comes here I have rooms where she can be private and by her self and if a girl comes and wants to go on the row and lead a sporting life I have rooms for her to[o]" (Apr. 13, 1897). Her letters provide details about some of the women, their interpersonal dynamics, and their lives post-incarceration. In one she mentioned "Black Ida," suggesting there may have been African American inmates (Sept. 15, 1895). She also referenced two African American men inquiring after Fay, a recently released woman who periodically stayed with her, and hinted at racial tensions (Apr. 13, 1897). Subsequently she discussed firing her African American cook for being romantically involved with some of the girls, and disparaged Black Americans "as they don't count. There Friendship don't count for nothing. I make my own living and do as near right as I can and I don't care what other People says" (Apr. 17, 1897). Smith hinted at some tension between her and the prison warden, declaring, "I don't know what the Warden has against me Miss Nannie and I don't care either. I am Free now and never intend to get in trouble again" (May 4, 1897). She reiterated the feeling in her next letter, "I don't care anything about that Warden or his oppinon [sic]. I am not coming back to the Pen, so he can not have the pleasure of having any say over me. I intend to do as near write [sic] as I know how and don't care for any ones opinion" (May 9, 1897).

Other letters appear to have been written by women who had completed their sentences. They note their new residences, work, or social attitudes they were facing. Sadie L., for example, relocated to Lyndon, Kentucky, and wrote of her travel by railroad, the heavy demands of her new job, and her lonesomeness. She shared that a fellow female traveler speculated that she looked forlorn because "You love a man and he either is not worthy or he has proven false" (Sept. 27, 1895). One written by Fay Love, referenced by Ellen Smith as one of her boarders, discusses conflict with a man who financed a trip to visit Newman, but she ran out of money in Denver. "Someone sent him word that I was in Denver running all over town so he came after me." She noted that she was working "for Banker Plummer's Wife she knows you" ([18]97).

By 1906, Nannie Newman was living in San Francisco, California, and correspondence to her begins to mention her work with beauty products. People inquired how her business was faring (July 4, 1907), were purchasing or commenting on her beauty products (Sept. 9, 1907; Oct. 14, 1907; May 15, 1913; May 8, 1914; Dec. 28, 1917), and were providing advice and support when her business seemed to be slow or struggling (Feb. 1, 1908; Mar. 22, 1908). H. J. McGhan warned that Newman's "sorrowful appearance" following her daughter's death "has a tendency to drive your customers from you," and mused that the location of Newman's shop was not advantageous to business (Nov. 27, 1906). Correspondence also includes suggestions of others involved in the trade, as indicated by various cosmetics letterheads such as "Fanny Briggs Carr Face Preparations" (Sept. 13, 1906) and "Viavi Co. Manufacturing Pharmaceutical Preparations" (Feb. 20, 1908). Several letters written to Newman by Jennie and Nanie Youngblood reference taking beauty courses, cosmetic recipes, and parlors (Apr. 24, 1911; Dec. 18, 1911; Mar. 12, 1912; Jan. 6, 1913). Jennie Youngblood's letter of April 24, 1911, also references passing near Cañon City, Colorado, and seeing the penitentiary, suggesting Newman's ongoing interest in the institution, as well as a description of visiting a Mormon Tabernacle and discussing polygamy with a female Mormon.

Correspondence also reflects on the life and work of Nannie S. Newman's son-in-law, Jack S. Palmer, particularly after 1910. Letters reference his work in the oil industry, his health and travels, and commentary on his relationship with his siblings and Newman. Several indicate a strained relationship (July 21, 1911; July 12, 1912; Mar. 14, 1914). Newman also corresponded regularly with other members of the Palmer family, who provided details on life in Titusville, Pennsylvania, work in oil fields, and various travels in Alaska, California, and elsewhere.

Later correspondence predominantly relates to Thomas Leon Mitchell, who had married into the Palmer family through his wife, Virginia Palmer Davies. Two letters appear to have been written by Tom early in his life from Pleasantville, Pennsylvania (Mar. 22, 1905; [ca. 1905?]), and nine pieces written between 1915 and 1922 relate to his training and service in the United States Navy, as well as military acquaintances in the Panama Canal Zone. These include several letters describing World War I naval operations in the Caribbean, in particular while he was stationed in Martinique and Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, in 1918. From the 1920s to 1950s, correspondence primarily relates to the Mitchell family's travels, in particular to Western Canada, Hawaii, Fiji, and Tahiti.

The Documents Series includes receipts and bills, disbound account book pages, deeds and titles, certificates, medical reports and forms, and more. The bills and receipts provide details about Nannie and Ida's lives in Colorado and California, detailing their spending on fabric and sewing goods, room rent, furniture, piano lessons, and more. The disbound account book pages are undated, but they include details of client details relating to dressmaking for "Cripple Creek Ladies," suggesting they relate to Nannie Newman's seamstress work in Colorado in the 1890s. Several items pertain to Jack S. and Ida Palmer, such as an abstract of title to a lode in the Cripple Creek Mining District (1902), deeds and inventories of furniture, certificates for Jack Palmer's standing in the Titusville Council, and the sale of his interest in a patent to his sister Virginia Altamont Davies (1909). Two items relate to health matters, including an Institut Venu Carnis refund guarantee "for the development of the bust" and a typed Iritis Report.

The Writings Series consists of fourteen undated manuscript copies of poems or song lyrics; a manuscript "Endless Prayer Chain" to be copied and sent to nine people to ensure the writer receives "some great joy;" and a seven-page, unsigned manuscript memoir detailing experiences at a camp at the Balfour Mines in Colorado. The memoir describes the town, religious services, efforts to build a church, and reflections on gold and nature. The writer mused that there was "not a single woman in that first meeting… and I have been trying to figure out whether man when turned loose and put back almost into the wild, is such a bad animal after all – or whether the most of us rough fellows were not thinking of some good woman somewhere else."

The Address Book is a blank notebook distributed circa 1894 as advertising by Knight & Atmore of Denver, Colorado, specializing in "Artistic Tailoring, Superb Clothing, Exquisite Furnishings." While unsigned and undated, it was likely kept by Nannie S. Newman or Ida C. Palmer in the mid-1890s. It contains various addresses of men, women, and businesses primarily in Denver, Colorado, but with a number of Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, and other states. At least one address, that of Maggie Larillard (elsewhere spelled Loullard) in Detroit, Michigan, is of a formerly incarcerated woman.

The Diary was kept by Jack S. Palmer in 1903 while he was living in Cripple Creek, Colorado. It is a pre-printed pocket diary distributed by Gross' Buffet of St. Louis, Missouri. Entries detail correspondence, travel, hours worked and other business information, and finances. Content relating to his personal life includes mentions of Ida Palmer's health and travel, social events, births and deaths. Several mentions of "Muddie" (Nannie S. Newman), primarily indicate her arrivals and departure. In addition to brief diary entries, the volume includes various notes and memoranda, including many addresses and other contact information. Printed maps of Cuba, the United States, and the "East Coast of China and Philippine Is." are present.

The Memoranda Book is a pocket-sized blank book that is undated but appears to have been kept by Jack S. Palmer. It contains notes about names, addresses, financial details, and matters seemingly related to business. Several entries refer to a Palmer camp stool. The Wallet is made of leather, embossed with a floral design and inscribed on the inside " J. S. Palmer Cañon City Colo."

The Printed Items Series includes various newspaper and magazine clippings, printed postcards, greeting cards, announcements, and advertising ephemera. Several items relate to Nannie S. Newman's business operations, including an advertising broadside for Miss S. N. Herold, of Denver, Colorado, suggesting she may have begun her cosmetic work in Colorado. It advertises "Facial Massage. The New Art. Beauty Developed and Preserved. Keeps the Face Youthful, Plump and Rosy. Only Successful Treatment Known for Wrinkles." One of her business cards from San Francisco is present for her business in "Facial Massage and Face Treatments, Shampooing and Scalp Treatments." Five bottle labels for Newman Face Bleach, Newman Egg Shampoo, and Zymocide Hair Tonic and Dandruff Remedy indicate the types of products Newman was selling.

The Photographs Series consists of twelve cabinet card photographic studio portraits of unidentified men, women, and families; four card photographs of various sizes of unidentified men, women, and children; two real photo postcards of a building exterior and a man with his young son; a 1932 handmade Christmas card featuring three photos of a home interior; and thirteen snapshots of men, women, and groups of people, several depict a cattle ranch and the only identified figure is Minnie L. Mitchell who is shown standing with one leg and crutches. Several photos include a pencil inscription of "Newman?" on the verso suggesting they may be of Nannie S. Newman, but further research is required. This series also contains an empty Photomaton envelope from Ocean Park Pier, California.

The Miscellaneous Series includes fifteen mailing addresses written or printed on various scraps of paper, ephemera, and notes ranging in date from 1895 to 1980. The notes include definitions of card game hands; an idea for an "instant cocktail" in a gelatin capsule (May 1, 1980); travel directions; and culinary and medicinal recipes. Ephemeral items include gift and luggage tags and a library card holder.

This collection contains correspondence and other materials related to the family of Samuel Prioleau Ravenel and his wife, Margaretta Fleming Parker Ravenel. Many of the letters concern life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charleston, South Carolina, before, during, and after the Civil War (particularly during Reconstruction). Other items pertain to family news, European travel, and other subjects.

This collection is made up of correspondence, photographs, and other materials related to the family of Samuel Prioleau Ravenel and his wife Margaretta Fleming Parker Ravenel. Many of the letters concern life in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charleston, South Carolina, before, during, and after the Civil War.

The Correspondence series (215 items) comprises the bulk of the collection. Many of the earliest items are incoming personal letters to Clarissa Walton and Thomas Fleming from friends, their son. These and other early items largely pertain to everyday life and social activities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Charleston, South Carolina. The series includes a group of letters that Thomas and Margaretta Fleming Parker wrote to the Flemings, his in-laws and her parents, about life in Charleston in 1861; Margaretta occasionally referred to the war. James McCarter wrote two letters from Charleston in June 1862 about the flight of civilians from the city and other effects of the war.

Ravenel family correspondence begins in the late 1850s with letters that Samuel Prioleau Ravenel received from a correspondent in Philadelphia; at the time, he lived in Pendleton, South Carolina. Ravenel began to correspond with Margaretta Parker in 1862, and they discussed their courtship, plans to marry, and daily lives until 1865. In letters to Margaretta and, in the late 1860s, to his father, Daniel, Samuel Prioleau Ravenel often wrote about Reconstruction policies, freedmen, and other political topics. Daniel Ravenel wrote to his son and his daughter-in-law about life in Charleston.

Samuel Prioleau and Margaretta Ravenel spent much of the late 1860s in Switzerland and in Paris, France, which Margaretta described in letters to her mother Clarissa Walton Fleming. Fleming responded with news from home, including comments about the 1868 presidential election and her life in Philadelphia. Throughout the 1870s, Samuel and Margaretta corresponded with their families about Charleston socialites and family news from South Carolina and their home in Highlands, North Carolina. They often discussed the births and growth of their children. A group of letters written in 1902 concerns the death of Samuel Prioleau Ravenel. Additional items from the early 20th century concern the Ravenel family's interest in a sugar mill and other topics.

The Photographs series (5 items) contains carte-de-visite portraits of S. Prioleau Ravenel in a military overcoat (1 item), Arthur Parker (1 item), and a woman, tentatively identified as Margaretta Ravenel or "Annie" (2 items), as well as a cabinet card photograph of three men around a table, taken in Mexico.

The Printed Items series (7 items) includes copies of a Supplement to Charleston Mercury (November 30, 1867), the Charleston Daily Courier-Extra (December 3, 1867), and The Charleston Mercury (May 2, 1868). Also included are a page from The Tri-Weekly Courier (December 9, 1867), a playbill for a production of Ten Nights in a Barroom at the Wardman Park theatre (April 23, 1929), a newspaper clipping containing a copy of "Mother Shipton's Prophecy" (undated), a calling card for "Miss Loat" of Balham Hill (undated); and a single book: Mason Smith Family Letters, 1860-1868, edited by Daniel E. Huger Smith, Alice R. Huger Smith, and Arney R. Childs (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1950).

The Downs papers consist of assorted material relating to Thomas Downs of Connersville, Indiana, focusing on the period between 1903 and 1911, when he was employed as an Indian agent to the Ute, Winnebago, Yakima, and other Native American nations in the western United States.

The Downs papers includes a portion of the personal and professional correspondence of Thomas Downs of Connersville, Ind., focusing on the period between 1903 and 1911, when he was employed as an Indian agent to the Ute, Winnebago, Yakima, and other Indian nations in the western states. While there is comparatively little information on Native Americans or Native American cultures, per se, Downs' letters do provide a glimpse into the mind of one Indian agent during the first decade of the 20th century, and documentation of the strained relations between Native Americans and the federal government and the cold reality of reservation life.

There are three topics within the Downs Papers which stand out as being of particular interest. First, there is approximately a dozen letters sent to Downs and other Indian service officials relating to the "rebellion" of Ute Indians at Thunder Butte in November, 1907. These letters, along with several newspaper clippings and a memoir written in about 1911 by Florence Downs Reifel (apparently from Downs' notes) provide a sense of how the situation unfolded and the pressure Downs must have felt to resolve the crisis quickly, if harshly.

The second topic relates to Downs' 1909 inspection tour of the Round Valley Indian School in Covelo, Calif., and the reservations at Neah Bay and Yakima, Wash. Throughout the year, Downs was accompanied by his wife, Mary Jane (Jennie), and although all of the letters are signed "Pa and Ma," they were actually written alternately and independently by Thomas and his wife. Jennie Downs' letters are not particularly informative, though they contain a few useful observations on the conditions of life on the reservation and at Indian schools. Thomas' letters are somewhat more detailed, providing a good impression of the Yakima reservation, in particular, which was then being placed under a comprehensive system of irrigation. On a side note, three of Downs' letters include amusing comments on the difficulty of train travel amidst the crush of visitors to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909.

Finally, there is a small, but interesting group of letters pertaining to Thomas Downs' efforts to enroll the Winnebago Indians in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Nebraska during October and November, 1909. These include a sad letter describing the scattered and depressed condition of the Winnebagoes in Wisconsin, and a far more optimistic assessment of their kin at the Winnebago Agency in Nebraska, who had taken up farming and other "industrious" habits.

Also noteworthy are three bound "journals" kept in Indian Service notebooks and a photocopy of a fourth. Notebook 2 (Box 5) includes notes taken by Downs in the field at the Yakima Reservation in 1909, describing the status of individual Yakima (and mixed blood) men and women. Notebook 3 (Box 5) includes what appear to be essays or speeches by Downs, including one dealing with racism and citizenship, comparing the social conditions of African-Americans and Native Americans. The fourth journal, present only in photocopy (filed under correspondence for the year 1911), includes an exceptional account of the protracted illness and death of Thomas Downs, as well as an excellent Downs-eye view of the Thunder Butte incident.

The remaining correspondence in the collection includes several touching letters dictated by Thomas Downs to Florence Downs Reifel in December, 1910, when Thomas was too ill to write for himself. These copies include a dramatic letter addressed to Downs' sister, Eliza, with whom he had broken off relations 45 years previously. Through this letter, Downs hoped to mend some family fences before his death, and although Eliza's acceptance of the olive branch -- and her forgiveness (1911 January 7) -- eventually came, it seems probable that it would have arrived after Downs was too ill to read it.

Downs' children and grandchildren are less well represented in the collection, except as recipients of letters. There are some juvenile writings of his daughters, Florence and Susan Jane, and sparse materials relating to the children's education, including grade school report cards and a few miscellaneous letters from George Downs, written while in college at Purdue and medical school in Ann Arbor. Of a more personal nature are two lovely mother's day letters from Jane Reifel to her mother, Florence (1921 May 8, 1938 May 7), extolling Florence's virtues as a mother. Jane admits to having been a rebellious youth, but confesses that she now realizes how Florence's mothering had made her a solid person, unlike her social-seeking cousins. Box 3 also includes a hand-drawn mother's day card from Jane. On an entirely different note, Box 3 contains two "mash cards" -- one a calling-card-sized card printed with the words "May I C U Home?" -- with the answers "yes" and "no," printed on the ends of the card, presumably to be used by the young woman to signal her reply. The other card, "Cigar Flirtation," describes the sexual code of cigar smoking. Finally, two undated letters from Thomas Downs to his son-in-law, Jesse Rhoads, outline his specifications for a house being built for the family, including a photograph of the house and a rough floor plan.

The Downs Papers includes a large number of deeds, accounts, receipts, banking records, canceled checks, and other financial miscellany (Box 4), some leather wallets and a silver match case engraved "Capt. T.D." (Box 7), along with a few obituaries and biographical essays on Thomas Downs, his sons William (who died at 16) and George, and other family members.

This collection is made up of the papers of Arba U. Thompson and his wife Frances Warner Thompson of Farmington and Avon, Hartford County, Connecticut, as well as the correspondence of their children Herbert, William, Lewis, Leila, Charles, and Frances May Thompson. The collection also includes the correspondence of Lucelia "Leila" U. Thompson, an educator who traveled with her husband William P. Baker to India in 1853 to serve for a decade as a missionary and teacher.

This collection is made up of the papers of Arba U. Thompson and his wife Frances Warner Thompson of Farmington and Avon, Hartford, Connecticut, as well as the correspondence of their children Herbert, William, Lewis, Leila, Charles, and Frances May Thompson. The papers include 2,713 letters, plus one linear foot of diaries, legal and financial documents, school papers, a commonplace book, a notebook, poems and writings, photographs, ephemeral materials, and printed items.

The Thompson Family Papers correspondence includes a wide range of writers and recipients. A temporary, rudimentary selection of them is as follows:

• The earliest portion of the collection is largely comprised of the incoming correspondence of Frances "Frankie" Warner / Frances Warner Thompson, 1850-1851, and the often lengthy, journal-like letters of Lucelia "Leila" U. Thompson who traveled with her husband William P. Baker to India in 1853, where she served as a missionary and teacher until her death in 1864. Lucelia's letters begin with correspondence from Dwight Place Seminary, New Haven, in 1850. By 1852, she served as a teacher at Germantown in a school of Mary Fales, then in 1853 determined to travel as a missionary abroad. From 1853 to 1864, she wrote lengthy, at times journal-like letters from different locations in India, including "Ahmednuggur," "Khokar," Bhingar, "Shingvay" (illustrated letter from Bombay, January 1, 1855). Her recipients included Emmie Gallup (in Essex, Conn.), Lottie R. Andrew, and Emily Hubbard.
• After Lucelia's death, her husband William P. Barker wrote letters to their parents, daughter Mary, and niece Leila Anna. Barker wrote from Minneapolis and Cottage Grove in the 1860s and 1870s, and from Carbon, Wyoming Territory, in the early 1880s.
• Early 1850s courtship correspondence of Arba Thompson and Frances Warner.
• Early 1850s letters from Mary E. Hubbell of Ipswich, Massachusetts; Avon, Connecticut; Baltimore, Maryland; and North Stonington, Connecticut, to Abigail "Nabby" Thompson.
• Correspondence of Frances Thompson's brother "Baxter" at Yale College, beginning in 1854.
• Letters by Flora Thompson in Avon, Connecticut, to her siblings beginning in the 1850s, then from Carthage, Ohio, by the 1870s.
• Letters of Abel M. Thompson of Rockville mid-1850s
• Correspondence of Pliny F. Warner of Aledo, Illinois, a job printer and publisher of the weekly Aledo Banner, editor of the Mason County Republican out of Havana, Illinois, and then the Havana Republican.
• Letters by Frances Warner's father Milo Warner of Strykersville, New York, 1850s-1860s.
• Letters by Frances Warner's sister Cordelia Morrill of Brooklyn, Strykersville, "Shadow Nook," and Java Village, New York, 1860s-1890s.
• Post-Civil War correspondence to Frances, Abigail "Nabby", and Herbert Wilson Thompson.
• Letters to Frances and Arba from cousin Dr. C. D. Woodruff of Lima, New York.
• Letters of E. G. Warner in Amherst, Massachusetts, to cousin Leila Thompson, 1880s.
• Letters from Charles and Anna Thompson to Frances Thompson from Bridgeport, Connecticut, late 1880s. Charles K. Thompson worked for the American Gramophone Company at Bridgeport.
• Letters of H. W. Thompson, working at C. H. Smith & Co., loan brokers and western real estate out of Hartford, Connecticut, late 1880s.
• Correspondence of Edith A. Warner of Brooklyn, New York, while teaching at Granville Female College, Granville, Ohio, in the 1880s.
• By 1890, the volume of letters to Frances May Thompson, known as May, from siblings and cousins increased dramatically. In the early 1890s, May took a job as a teacher at a schoolhouse in Washington, Connecticut. While there, she received letters from Helen M. Webster (1860-1905), a supervisor at the American Asylum at Hartford, Connecticut; later, Helen married to a man named George Reed and wrote from Hill City, South Dakota, in 1896 and 1897. By the late 1890s, May received letters from her husband, who worked at Harvey & Lewis, opticians and photographic supplies. He also used New York Life Insurance Company stationery.
• Correspondence between siblings Lewis and Leila Thompson, 1900s.
• Incoming letters to Leila Thompson from Alice P. Warner of Beloit, Wisconsin, early 1900s.
• Letters between Leila and Alice H. "Claire" Alderman in Clarkston, Georgia; St. Petersburg, Florida; and elsewhere, 1900s-1910s.
• Later letters between Beatrice A. Hoskins and her mother Frances Hoskins.

The collection includes two small, unsigned diaries, dated 1848 and 1923. Legal and financial documents include 57 accounts, tax receipts, land indentures, loan receipts, four account books (1824-1927), and other papers, largely from Avon and Farmington, Connecticut. One account book, kept by Guy Thomson in 1824, includes accounts for sawing, mending a halter, plowing, mowing, planting, picking apples, making cider, shoeing horses, mending fences, and other labor, plus monies taken in from a boarder.

School papers include 10 rewards of merit, report cards, school programs, a student's notebook, and a teacher's notebook, all dating from 1851-1925. A commonplace book by Leila U. Thompson dates from the 1840s and includes poetry and excerpts, including a multi-page poem, "The Missionary's Call." A notebook, marked "O.V. Brainerd" contains page after page of scribbles.

Poems and other writings include 42 loose leaf copies of poems on subjects such as temperance, resignation, death and bereavement, friendship, sentimental and religious topics, Christmas, and other subjects. Seventeen photographs include a CDV of Fannie Warner as a young girl, and a selection of snapshots, apparently of members of the Hoskins family.

The Thompson Family Papers include a variety of ephemera and printed items, including 12 visiting cards; 33 invitations and announcements; 46 birthday, valentine, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and other holiday cards; genealogical notes; newspaper clippings, pamphlets, programs, and other items.

This collection is made up of correspondence, diaries, and other items related to Nathan Tufts, a native of Massachusetts who served in the United States Army during World War I, and his future wife, Dorothy Day of Connecticut.

This collection is made up of correspondence, diaries, and other items related to Nathan Tufts, a native of Massachusetts who served in the United States Army during World War I, and his future wife, Dorothy Day of Connecticut.

The Correspondence series (1.5 linear feet) comprises the bulk of the collection. One 1912 letter provides an account of visiting Atlantic City. Incoming letters to Nathan Tufts at the Taft School in Watertown, Connecticut, are dated as early as November 11, 1915. His correspondents included his mother, who wrote of life in New York City and Lawrence Park, New York, and Elbridge Stratton, a friend, who anticipated their matriculation at Yale. Dorothy Day received early letters from friends and family while she attended Miss Wheeler's School in Providence, Rhode Island. Friends and family continued to write letters until the late 1910s, and the Tufts received many letters of congratulation following their engagement around May 1918.

Tufts began corresponding with Day in the fall of 1916. He wrote about his experiences and activities at Yale and expressed his romantic feelings for her. After the declaration of war against Germany in April 1917, Tufts reported on his participation in drills and related activities for the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He later described his training experiences at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. In Kentucky, he commented on the Central Officers' Training School, travels in the South, fellow soldiers, camp life, and kitchen duty. After the Armistice, Tufts anticipated his return to civilian life and his future with Day; he returned to Yale in 1919 and wrote about vacationing in Maine. His final telegram is dated February 21, 1920. Enclosures include a postcard showing the Rocky Broad River (November 3, 1918) and photographs of a military camp (October 18, 1918).

The couple's other wartime correspondents included Corporal Francis Harrison, who discussed his preparation for front-line duty in France in August 1918, and "Clark," a friend of Dorothy, who served at the Plattsburgh Barracks after September 1917. Clark discussed his training at the Reserve Officers Training Camp and his later service in the 302nd Machine Gun Battalion at Fitchburg, Massachusetts. In his letter of October 6, 1917, he described his unit's preparations for military exercises in trench warfare, and his expectation that the infantry would "sit in trenches and fire once in a while" in France.

The Diaries and Memoirs series contains three items. Dorothy Day kept two daily diaries (unbound) between January 17, 1916, and August 16, 1919, writing mostly about her social life and her relationship with Nathan Tufts. She sometimes remarked on news, such as the results of the 1916 presidential election and the country's declaration of war against Germany. In 1918, she wrote about Tufts's military career; some of her entries from this period are constructed as letters to him. Day usually wrote daily entries on one side of each page, copying quotations, poetry, and other miscellany on the reverse side. A calling card, a printed advertisement, a flower, and a photograph are laid into her diary.

A spiral-bound, typed copy publication of hunting memoirs completes the series: Robie W. Tufts, Craig D. Munson, and Nathan Tufts, Gentlemen Gunners Three : A Trilogy of Upland Gunning Reminiscences. Greenfield, Mass.: Privately Printed, 1978.

The Nathan Tufts diary covers much of his active-duty service at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, and Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky. From August 18, 1918-November 14, 1918, he wrote intermittent journal entries, often addressed to Day, about his daily routine at Camp Jackson, military training exercises, other soldiers, the good reputations of Yale students and alumni, and the end of the war. Journal entries by Day, apparently mailed to Tufts, are interspersed among his later entries; her final journal-letter is dated January 23, 1919. A military pass, United States Reserve Officers Training Corps patch, and newspaper clippings (often of poems) are pasted into the volume.

The School Papers series (10 items) includes the cypher book of Nathan Tufts' grandfather Nathan Tufts (1818-1887), while he attended school in Charlestown between 1831 and 1832. Many of the mathematics exercises were associated with trade, investment, and banking--including the use of pillars of the Boston branch of the Second Bank of the United States as cylinders in a solve-for-volume geometrical problem. The remaining nine items pertain to Nathan Tufts's education at the Taft School and at Yale College's Sheffield Scientific School. A group of printed entrance exams for Yale College and its Sheffield Scientific School, dated June 1914 (1 item) and June 1915 (5 items) contain questions related to Latin, American history, ancient history, and trigonometry. A printed exam given by the college entrance examination board from June 19, 1916-June 24, 1916, contains questions about American history, the German language, and English literature. An exam requiring a translation of lines by Virgil is dated 1916. A bundle of examinations and school documents belonging to Nathan Tufts includes Yale College's semi-annual examination for June 1917, with questions in subjects such as physics, history, English, German, and Latin; a printed course timetable and list of professors and classrooms for Yale College freshman during the 1916-1917 term, with manuscript annotations by Nathan Tufts; and a typed military examination for Yale students, given on June 4, 1917 or 1918. The subjects of the military examination are hygiene, military law, topography, and field artillery regulations and drill.

The Photographs, Newspaper Clippings, and Ephemera series contains around 50 items, including visiting cards, invitations, Red Cross donation certificates, and a printed program. Many of the newspaper clippings contain jokes or brief articles about World War I. A group of photographs includes a framed portrait of a United States soldier, a negative, and several positive prints.

The Wood family papers contain correspondence and other items related to the family of James A. Wood of Lebanon, Connecticut, and his descendants from the mid-19th to the early 20th century. Much of the content pertains to education, family news, and politics.

The Wood family papers (4 linear feet) contain correspondence and other items related to the family of James A. Wood of Lebanon, Connecticut, and his descendants from the mid-19th to the early 20th century.

The Correspondence series comprises almost all of the collection. Early items are incoming letters to James A. Wood, Rebecca D. Pillsbury (later Wood), and their daughter, Helen Elizabeth Wood, from family members and acquaintances. James A. Wood's siblings wrote with updates on their lives, such as Caroline E. Wood's teaching career in numerous towns throughout New York. Rebecca D. Pillsbury also received letters from her brothers and sisters, and both Wood's and Pillsbury's correspondents discussed family matters, religion, and local news. Margaret Ann's letter of December 3, 1860, concerns her affection for a deceased baby sister, and an unidentified author's letter of September 4, 1861, describes the recent death of a grandmother. James A. Wood received an increasing amount of business-related correspondence, including letters from Charles W. Pierce, in the 1870s.

After the 1870s, most letters are addressed to Rebecca D. Wood and her daughter, Helen Elizabeth Wood. Rebecca's children often wrote letters to their mother, and Helen received letters from cousins and friends from around the East Coast. George P. Wood, Helen's brother, often shared stories of his young son James and of his life in Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D. C.; and Peekskill, New York. In one letter, George included a map showing the location of his home in Washington, D. C. (November 13, 1899).

In addition to family and social news, letters occasionally referred to current events. "Dana," one of Helen E. Wood's cousins, wrote from his United States Army post during World War I (December 28, 1917), and other friends discussed the impact of the war. Among Helen's correspondents were Ida McCollister of New Hampshire and Harry Sawyer, an old friend who shared news of his life in Kearney, Nebraska. In one later letter, George P. Wood expressed some of his political views about the 1924 presidential election (October 27, 1924). Correspondence was less frequent after Helen E. Wood's death in 1933, with most incoming letters addressed to Winchester R. Wood of Lynn, Massachusetts, a member of the family's Connecticut branch. Undated items include similar family correspondence, as well as one letter written on a printed program for the Public Meeting of the Philadelphian Society at Kimball Union Academy at Meridian, New Hampshire, on June 12, 1878.

The Essays series includes an "Autobiography of a Sofa," written by R[ebecca] D. Pillsbury, as well as a manuscript draft of the "Common School Repository...Published semi-monthly by L. J. Boynton & R[ebecca] D. Pillsbury," containing 8 pages of short pieces attributed, often only by first name, to various contributors.

Among the six Receipts, addressed to A. Wood (1 item) and Helen E. Wood (5 items) are two receipts for Helen E. Wood's educational expenses and two slips crediting her account at Citizens National Bank, Boston.

Maps and Blueprints comprise 7 items. These are several drawings of house layouts, one map showing the locations of two buildings, and two blueprints.

The Newspaper Clippings series has 6 items, one of which is an article entitled "What They Say: How Girls of Various Cities Behave When They are Kissed."

The Ephemera series contains 52 Christmas cards, greeting cards, postcards, calling cards, programs, and other printed items. Specific items include 2 Red Cross membership cards, a pamphlet advertising The Art of Living Long by Louis Cornaro, and a blank order sheet for Sears, Roebuck and Co. from the 1920s.