Collections

This collection contains correspondence, documents, newspaper clippings, and other items pertaining to the personal and financial affairs of actor Edwin Forrest, his close friend James Lawson, and members of the Lawson family.

This collection (1 linear foot) contains correspondence, documents, newspaper clippings, and other items pertaining to the personal and financial affairs of actor Edwin Forrest, his close friend James Lawson, and members of the Lawson family.

The Correspondence series (268 items) largely consists of personal correspondence between Edwin Forrest and James Lawson. Forrest discussed his theatrical career and his travels in the United States, England, and Ireland; Lawson provided financial and personal advice, sometimes regarding Forrest's marital difficulties. Few of the letters from the Civil War period mention the conflict; in one letter to Lawson, Forrest commented on the possibility of reconciliation between the North and South. After 1865, Forrest's letters focus primarily on his declining health, though he continued to travel into the 1870s. Catherine Forrest also wrote occasionally to James Lawson about finances.

The series also contains letters that James Lawson wrote to his daughter Nellie after Edwin Forrest's death, as well as other Lawson family correspondence. James Lawson's letter of August 10, 1885, describes a funeral procession honoring Ulysses S. Grant. Others wrote about family news and deaths.

An undated Speech (21 pages), unsigned and delivered to an unidentified audience, concerns the history of Yonkers, [New York].

The Legal and Financial Documents series (33 items) contains accounts, an account book, receipts, insurance records, legal documents, and legislative resolutions related to the financial affairs of Edwin Forrest and James Lawson. Some items pertain to real estate transactions between Edwin Forrest and a religious group, and others concern the establishment of the Edwin Forrest Home. A series of legislative resolutions and a group of court records document disputes over Forrest's estate, sometimes involving his ex-wife, Catherine Norton Sinclair. An undated copy of James Lawson's will is also present.

The Photographs series (13 items) contains card photographs and cartes-de-visite of members of the Forrest and Lawson families. One item provides details about items present in Cornelia B. Lawson's home in Yonkers, New York.

Newspaper Clippings (44 items) include obituaries for members of the Lawson and Sandford families, articles about Edwin Forrest's theatrical career, and articles about disputes over Forrest's estate.

The Ephemera series (9 items) contains name cards, advertisements, the back part of a notepad with postage rates printed on it, a blank coloring page, and a printed map of Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, marking several lots within the Blackwell estate.

Fragments (8 items) include manuscript notes about Lawson family genealogy and other subjects.

This collection contains correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and other material related to the family of Frederick Kislingbury, who died during Adolphus Greely's expedition to the Arctic in the early 1880s. The majority of the material pertains to disputes over Kislingbury's estate, the custody of his children, and his sons' later lives.

This collection contains correspondence, legal documents, financial records, and other material related to the family of Frederick Kislingbury, who died during Adolphus Greely's expedition to the Arctic in the early 1880s. The majority of the material pertains to disputes over his estate, the custody of his children, and his sons' later lives.

The Correspondence and Documents series (around 500 items) comprises the bulk of the collection. Before embarking on Adolphus Greely's Lady Franklin Bay Expedition in August 1881, Frederick Kislingbury signed several personal checks, received postcards from the Army Mutual Aid Association, and corresponded with acquaintances about his finances. On August 17, 1881, he wrote a letter to his sons about his upcoming voyage, and he marked the expedition's proposed landing point on a printed map of the Arctic regions. Soon after his father's departure, Harry H. G. Kislingbury received letters and legal documents regarding a package that his father had sent to him before leaving for the Arctic. Several other letters pertain directly to the expedition. In a letter to Kislingbury dated January 20, 1882, Adolphus Greeley criticized Greely's sleeping habits during his "enforced stay with this command" and discussed the circumstances that led to Kislingbury's initial dismissal for insubordination in 1881. A copied letter from Captain W. M. Beebe about the Neptune's attempted rescue mission (July 17, 1882) and a printed letter confirming the failure of the 1883 relief expedition (September 14, 1883) are also present.

The bulk of the series is made up of incoming letters, legal documents, and financial records to Charles Lamartine Clark, a Detroit resident who served as Kislingbury's estate executor. The material primarily concerns the estate's finances and the custody of Kislingbury's sons. Clark often corresponded with the Army Mutual Aid Association, and the collection has a copy of its 4th annual report (1883). John P. Kislingbury and William H. Kislingbury, Frederick Kislingbury's brothers, wrote to Clark from Rochester, New York. They argued over custody of the Kislingbury children, their brother's funeral and burial, and his financial affairs, though their later correspondence was more cordial toward Clark. Clark also owned an account book covering Kislingbury's relationship with Riggs & Co. from 1881-1884. Some items from 1885 concern a pension that the United States Congress awarded to his sons and related efforts to certify their ages.

After 1885, Harry H. G. Kislingbury wrote letters to Clark about his experiences at the Michigan Military Academy in Orchard Lake, Michigan. Clark also received letters about Harry's conduct from the school's superintendent. Harry later wrote about his life in San Francisco, California, and Flagstaff, Arizona, in the late 1880s.

Wheeler Kislingbury wrote several lengthy personal letters to Charles L. Clark in 1913 and 1914, mentioning his life in San Francisco, California, expressing regret over his uncles' actions following his father's death, and discussing the possibility of publishing his father's diary. Additionally, one letter describes an encounter with Adolphus Greely in which the officer refused to talk to Wheeler after discovering that he was Frederick Kislingbury's son (May 7, 1913). Douglas E. L. Kislingbury wrote a brief personal letter to Clark from Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1917, and Wheeler wrote 2 letters to Clark's wife from Winslow, Arizona, in 1919.

Henry H. G. Kislingbury kept a Diary (100 pages) while traveling from New York to San Francisco onboard the St. Mark between December 6, 1886, and April 22, 1887. Kislingbury wrote about the ship's crew, the weather, the scenery, and the captain's family, who were passengers on the voyage.

The Cass School (Detroit, Mich.) and Michigan Military Academy Papers pertain to the education of two of Frederick Kislingbury's sons. Two report cards from the Cass School in Detroit, Michigan, provide information on Walter Kislingbury's academic progress in 1883. The remaining 25 loose items are report cards and receipts concerning Harry H. G. Kislingbury's academic progress, conduct, and finances during his time at the Michigan Military Academy, 1884-1886. He also kept an account book while attending the school.

The Photographs series (5 items) contains portraits of Charles L. Clark, his wife Georgina Frazer Clark, and a group portrait of Clark with Walter Frederick Kislingbury and Wheeler Kislingbury. Frederick Kislingbury carried the carte-de-visite of Charles L. Clark during the Greely expedition.

A manuscript Menu lists the meals consumed by the Greely expedition on each day of the week.

The Printed Items series is comprised of 2 items: a copy of the Sunday Morning Herald with an article about Frederick Kislingbury's death (July 20, 1884) and Harry H. G. Kislingbury's copy of Emory Upton's Infantry Tactics Double and Single Rank. Adapted to American Topography and Improved Fire-Arms (Revised edition, 1884).

The Hoit Family Papers are made up of correspondence, diaries, documents, financial papers, photographs, and other items related to the family of New Hampshire state legislator Daniel Hoit (1778-1859) and Sally Hoit (1786-1837); their children Julia Maria, Eliza Flanders, portrait painter and artist Albert Gallatin, and Reverend William Henry Harrison Hoit; and their children-in-law Ira A. Bean, Susan Ann Hanson Hoit, and Enoch P. Sherman. The family was based in Sandwich, New Hampshire.

The Hoit Family Papers are made up of 965 letters; 21 diaries, account books, and notebooks; 11 speeches, poems, and other writings; 49 documents and financial papers; six photographs, and other items related to New Hampshire state legislator Daniel Hoit (1778-1859) and Sally Hoit (1786-1837); their children Julia Maria, Eliza Flanders, portrait painter and artist Albert Gallatin, and Reverend William Henry Harrison Hoit; and their children-in-law Ira A. Bean, Susan Ann Hanson Hoit, and Enoch P. Sherman. The family lived primarily in Sandwich, New Hampshire.

The Correspondence Series contains 965 letters, including 39 by Sarah "Sally" Flanders / Sarah "Sally" Flanders Hoit, dating between December 3, 1803, and January 30, 1837. She wrote largely from Loudon and Sandwich, New Hampshire. In her courtship letters to Daniel Hoit, she offered her thoughts on marriage, the state of their relationship, the future, virtue, and remarks on living a good life. After their marriage, the topics of her correspondence turned to the health and welfare of their family. To her daughters Eliza and Julia she gave motherly advice while they attended a female academy in Concord, New Hampshire (beginning in 1822).

Sally Flanders's husband Daniel Hoit authored around 300 letters from June 6, 1808, to June 19, 1859. He sent over half of them to his wife, Sally Hoit (between 1808 and 1835), and his daughters Julia Hoit Sherman (between 1821 and 1859) and Eliza Hoit Bean (between 1822 and 1856). In them, he showed concern for the education and welfare of his children and family, and advised his wife on home and financial matters. Daniel appears to have had a close relationship with his daughter, Julia. In over 70 letters to her, he reflected on the importance of parenthood and morality; discussed politics, his speeches, elections, and other business matters; and praised her for her academic prowess. To Eliza, he sent 37 letters on the health and welfare of family members and friends. Many of these were co-authored by other Hoit family members. Daniel Hoit's letters include content respecting the state legislature and a small number of items during and after the War of 1812 pertain to recruiting. He remarked twice on local extramarital relationships (June 18, 1815, and June 20, 1830) and attended public Shaker worship in Concord, New Hampshire (June 20, 1814).

The Hoit's oldest child, Eliza Flanders Hoit / Eliza Flanders Hoit Bean, sent 22 letters between April 27, 1822, and September 16, 1859. She wrote the first six letters to her mother and sister while attending school in Concord, New Hampshire, from April to September 1822. The remainder of the letters date from 1836 to 1859, mostly from Urbana, Ohio. These letters focus on the health of friends and family, housework, and her spiritual life. She wrote several travel letters to her father from Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania. Her husband Ira A. Bean wrote 30 letters, December 30, 1828-December 30, 1863, regarding his business and political endeavors, largely to his father-in-law, Daniel Hoit.

Julia Maria Hoit / Julia Maria Hoit Sherman sent around 110 letters to her mother, father, siblings, and other family members between February 3, 1827, and March 24, 1876. The majority of them originated from Sandwich, New Hampshire. In her often-lengthy correspondence, she discussed fashion, gossip about friends and family, weddings, marriages, clothing, and current events. She was independent and highly opinionated about the social behaviors of those around her. Particularly notable is her criticism of the fashion and diet of the women in Boston (1829). The Hoit Family Papers also contain around 50 political, financial, and property-related letters of her husband, Enoch P. Sherman, dating between June 9, 1828, and February 6, 1843, and around 10 from their son, Daniel H. Sherman between 1849 and 1873.

The Hoit's oldest son Albert Gallatin Hoit / Albert Gallatin Hoyt wrote approximately 110 letters between November 27, 1820, and October 21, 1853. His earliest correspondence, largely to his parents and sisters, covers his time at Effingham Academy, Wolfeborough & Tuftonborough Academy (1825), and Dartmouth College (1826-1829). In 1829, he established a school at Newport, Connecticut, but quickly found himself in debt. Struggling to remedy his plight, he took a trip to Rochester, New York, in 1830, where he decided to embark on a career as a portrait painter. He then wrote from Portland and Bangor, Maine, until 1839 when he settled in Boston with his wife Susan. His letters regard his everyday life, education, career, and relationship with his father. Susan A. Hanson Hoyt, originally of Conway, New Hampshire, wrote approximately 40 letters between March 28, 1837, and February 11, 1873. They focus on health and her daily routine, anxieties about her husband Albert's career as an artist, the art scene in Boston in the early 1840s, and the activities of her husband. Albert traveled a great deal, and stayed in Europe from 1842 to 1844 to paint. Susan also wrote about her stillborn children (i.e. March 30, 1845), concerns over the presidential election of 1844, sewing, dressmaking, and her efforts to learn how to draw. By 1853, she moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts, with her husband. In a series of letters from there, she wrote about the sickness and death of Albert in 1856. She then returned to Conway. In early 1872, she traveled to Minneapolis where she apparently remained.

William Henry Harrison Hoit / William Henry Hoyt's approximately 70 letters date from May 13, 1826, to November 15, 1882. Beginning at around age 11 with letters from school at Wolfborough & Tuftonborough Academy (where he studied along with his brother Albert), informed his parents about his studies and asked them to send books and educational advice. He then wrote to his parents, sisters, and brother-in-law while studying at Dartmouth College (1827-1831). From 1835 to 1836, he sent letters from the Episcopal Theological Seminary in New York, and, by 1838, he settled in to his parish at St. Alban's, Vermont. His conversion from the Episcopal Church to Catholicism in the later 1840s is the subject of a portion of his correspondence. The collection includes three letters by William Hoyt's wife, Anne Deming Hoyt, dated October 6, 1838; March 30, 1856; and July 11, 1867.

The collection's remaining 190 or letters are from almost as many correspondents. They are addressed to members of the Hoit family, particularly Sally, Daniel, Eliza, and Julia, from various members of their extended family and business associates. Updates on deaths, marriages, health, education, and children predominate in the letters by women. Of interest are letters pertinent to Albert Hoyt's debt in the early 1830s and five letters from Julia's niece, Frances Prescott, a teacher in Ellenburg, New York. She briefly remarked on her school and wages (late 1850s).

The Diaries, Account Books, and Notebooks Series includes 10 daily diaries and account books of Daniel Hoit (1814-1817, 1851-1859), one diary by Sally Flanders Hoit (1823, 1830), two diaries of Ira A. Bean (1829-1859), one volume of notes and accounts of Enoch P. Sherman's estate (1843-1849), three sparse diaries and two notebooks by Daniel H. Sherman (1870, 1873, 1878, 1900, and 1918), and one daily diary of Julia M. Hoit Sherman (1884).

The Speeches, Poems, and Other Writings Series includes a poem by William Burleigh to Mr. and Mrs. Hoit (March 4, 1812) a fragment of a verse by Sarah F. Hoit (undated), three essays by Albert G. Hoit (two from his school days and one entitled "Early Recollections" (undated), and a written renewal of vows to God by Julia M. Hoit on her 24th birthday (November 15, 1831). Also present are a temperance address by Ira A. Bean (October 1823), an incomplete address to the Franklin Society (November 1, 1824), and a 4th of July 1834 temperance speech by Daniel Hoit.

The Hoit Family Papers contain 49 Documents, Accounts, and Receipts, dating from [1809?] to 1863. The various financial papers include good documentation of the Hoit children's educational expenses and Albert G. Hoit's expenditures and debts of the later 1820s and early 1830s. Among the documents are Enoch P. Sherman's June 11, 1840, resignation from a colonelcy in the 19th Regiment New Hampshire Militia.

The Photographs Series is made up of seven carte-de-visite photographs, all bearing Civil War era tax stamps. Identified individuals include "Mrs. E. G. Weaver" and "A. J. Church & wife & daughter."

The collection includes two Maps:

• Rand Avery Supply Co. Map of Lake Winnipesaukee and Surroundings issued by Passenger Dept. Concord & Montreal R.R. [Boston]: Concord & Montreal R.R., 1891.
• [Tamworth Township, Carroll County, New Hampshire], 1870s.

The collection also contains 14 Printed Items, among which are The Dairyman’s Daughter (religious tract, 1831), a copy of a bill to extend an 1838 act to grant half-pay and pensions to certain widows (1841), Final Notes on Witchcraft in Massachusetts by George H. Moore (1885), a program for the Semi-Centennial celebration of the New Hampshire Conference Seminary and Female College (1895), The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, by Mrs. Hannah More, and a children's book Jocko and Minette (1846). See the box and folder listing below for a complete list of the printed materials.

This collection is comprised of correspondence, diaries, documents, financial papers, and other materials of the family of stonecutter and marble worker John M. Ramsey, his wife Cyanea, and their children. The family lived in Greenfield, New Hampshire; Milwaukee and Port Washington, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around 60 Civil War letters and one diary of the Ramseys' son Henry, who served in the 16th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and around 10 letters of a cousin Ridgeway P. Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included. Particularly notable are 96 daily diaries of the Ramsey daughters Emily S. and Cyanea H., kept largely while they lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1870s-1920s.

This collection is comprised of 1,182 letters; 98 diaries; 210 documents; 468 receipts, checks, and account books; seven school papers and writings; three photographs; 34 printed and ephemeral items; and other materials of the family of stonecutter and marbleworker John M. Ramsey, his wife Cyanea, and their children. The family lived in Greenfield, New Hampshire; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Grand Rapids, Michigan. Around 60 Civil War letters and one diary of the Ramseys' son Henry, who served in the 16th Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and around 10 letters of a cousin Ridgeway P. Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included. Particularly notable are 96 daily diaries of the Ramsey daughters Emily S. and Cyanea H., kept largely while they lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1870s-1920s.

The Correspondence series includes 1,182 items and opens with the 1827-1830s letters of Caroline and Hannah Ramsey of Greenfield, New Hampshire, and a sister, Sarah Marshall, of Augusta, Maine. A group of letters pertain to the courtship and marriage of John M. Ramsey and Cyanea Stevens--including a letter from Cyanea's parents Lemuel and Reliance about Cyanea's request for their approval of the wedding (August 5, 1836). Letters of the 1850s include correspondence of Collins Hinckley Stevens, regarding the death of Cyanea's mother Reliance in 1858, and incoming letters to Emily Ramsey from her schoolmates. A selection of letters to Emily from E. H. Langdon, a schoolteacher in Milwaukee, are present.

In the 1860s, sisters Emily, Frances "Fannie", and Cyanea carried on correspondence with each other and with friends and family, including:

• "Hannah" from the Baraboo Female Seminary (Sauk County, Wisconsin) in 1863
• Fannie to Emily while visiting Stoughton in 1863; Fannie's correspondence while attending the Ripley Female College, 1865-1866; her letters while staying with family in Greenfield, New Hampshire; and correspondence while in Chicago for medical reasons
• Ora Stevens in Nashville and Louis H. Stevens of Manchester, Vermont
• Friend "Louise" in Hartford, Connecticut (who moved to Bay City, Michigan, and married Edwin Wood)
• John M. Ramsey's nephew David Butler Ramsey (1829-1899), from Chicago and Milwaukee, many written while working in the law offices of Palmer, Hooker & Pitkin, later Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company
• Female friends and family to Emily and Fannie, written from Evanston, Illinois; Milwaukee and Ozaukee, Wisconsin; and Poultney, Vermont

The Ramsey family correspondence includes around 60 Civil War letters of Corporal Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry. He wrote from Camp Randall, the steamship Planet, Camp Sabin, Camp near Grand Junction, Camp near Memphis, Camp near Lake Providence, Louisiana, Camp Randall, and Vicksburg. In the mid-1870s, Henry was admitted to the Michigan Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and the family received letters from Dr. E. H. VanDensen about his progress, especially around 1876. Around 10 letters of a cousin Paul Ridgeway Cragin, of the 32nd Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, are included.

Cyanea's and Emily's other correspondents from the 1870s to the 1930s include but are not limited to:

• Friends, cousins, and other relatives, including the Stevenses in Vermont; Persis Moore of Niles, Michigan; "Augusta" of Allegan and Otsego, Michigan; Almira Marshall in Owasso, Michigan; Frederick Marshall of Saginaw, Michigan; "Lizzie" in Woburn, Boston, and Framingham; Elvira Elizabeth Ramsey in Greenfield, New Hampshire; "David" in Greenfield; Murray J. Hoppock of Fremont, Michigan; and many others
• William H. Ramsey, Jr., a cousin, employed at the Ozaukee County Malting Company at Port Washington, Wisconsin, in the late 1880s; and as Secretary and Treasurer of the Wisconsin Chair Company in the 1890s
• Grand Rapids attorneys More & Wilson and bankers Edward M. Deane and Company, following the death of their father in 1897
• Gertrude P. Newton (Mrs. E. B. Newton) from Newton's Ranch, Colusa, Kansas, early 1900s
• Cousins James and Sarah (Saidee) Baker, from Ancón, Canal Zone, Panama, 1921-1935

The Diaries series includes 98 daily diaries, 96 of which were kept by sisters Cyanea H. and Emily S. Ramsey between 1873 and 1935, while the two lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The remaining two diaries include Henry C. Ramsey's Civil War diary for the year 1864 and a partial 1921 diary kept by [Howard Stevens?] in a pre-printed 1894 pocket journal. Henry Ramsey's 1864 pocket diary includes entries covering the 16th Regiment Wisconsin Infantry's movements from Vicksburg to Tennessee, to Georgia, with accounts of Kennesaw Mountain and the battle of Atlanta. The diary also covers his experiences as part of Sherman's march to the sea.

The Documents series is made up of 210 legal and financial documents pertinent largely to land and property in New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Michigan, between 1786 and 1919 (bulk 1825-1911). Additional items include tax documents, stock-related items, and other materials.

The Financial and Business Papers includes 300 receipts, around 160 bank checks, and eight account books. The receipts date between 1831 and 1928, pertaining largely to John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting business. Additional receipts relate to personal property and tax payments. The 160 checks are drawn largely from Grand Rapids, Michigan, banks between December 1869 and October 1880. The account books include:

• [John M. Ramsey?] Account Book, 1830-1836. Comprised largely of accounts related to farm labor (haying, plowing, tending stock, etc.) in Greenfield, New Hampshire.
• John M. Ramsey Ledgers and Account Books, 1854-1886 (7 vols.). Consisting of the accounts of John M. Ramsey's marble and stonecutting businesses. One undated, illustrated manuscript book of monuments designed by N. Merritt for J. M. Ramsey, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is included with the account books.

The collection's School Papers and Writings (7 items) include John M. Ramsey's teacher's book, November 1830-February 1831; a fragment of mathematical rules by J. M. Ramsey; a chronological table by Emily Ramsey, 1851; a reward of merit for Mary Ramsey; two penmanship exercises; and a manuscript issue of The Literary Chip Basket (vol. 111, no. 11), Port Washington, 1861, with list of contributors including Fanny Oatman and Emily Ramsey.

The Photographs series includes one carte-de-visite of Henry C. Ramsey of the 16th Wisconsin Infantry; and one carte-de-visite and one cabinet card of unidentified individuals.

The Ephemera and Printed Items series is made up of invitations, Nashua Manufacturing Company employee regulations (August 31, 1837), advertisements for marble and other products, and torn pages from the History of Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, ed. Hurd, 1885.

The collection also contains items pertinent to Genealogy (6 items) and an Address Book, Fragments, and Envelopes.

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.