Search

This collection contains correspondence between Antonio C. Maden of Cárdenas, Cuba, and Saratoga Springs, New York, and his wife, Kathleen Duryea of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. The couple exchanged letters about their lives in Cuba and New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This collection (1.5 linear feet) contains correspondence between Antonio C. Maden of Cárdenas, Cuba, and Saratoga Springs, New York, and his wife, Kathleen Duryea of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. The couple exchanged letters about their lives in Cuba and New York in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Correspondence series (around 350 items) mainly contains personal letters that Maden and Duryea exchanged from 1895-1912, before and during their marriage. In 1895 and 1896, Maden reported on life in Cárdenas and Varadero, Cuba, during the Cuban War of Independence, commenting on military developments, political issues, and his plans to travel to New York. In his letter of October 13, 1895, he enclosed a chart from the New York & Cuba Mail Steamship Co., including his notes about the journey to Cuba. Duryea wrote about her social life, friends, and family in Bensonhurst, and both frequently enclosed newspaper clippings containing quips, verses, and cartoons about relationships between men and women. In 1897, Maden moved to Tampa, Florida, and periodically visited Saratoga Springs, New York, while Duryea remained in Bensonhurst. In 1899, Maden wrote about his return to Cárdenas and his hemp plantation. After the couple's marriage, Duryea's siblings Robert, Edna, and Florence occasionally sent letters to the Madens in Saratoga Springs and Cárdenas. In one letter, Robert Dureya told his sister of their father's death (January 17, 1904). During Duryea's visits to Brooklyn, Maden provided her with updates about the plantation's production and about finances; one later series of letters concerns her poor health. Items dated after 1912, several of which are written in Spanish, include personal letters, newspaper clippings, prayer cards for Rosa Maden Samson, and a late letter to Kathleen Maden regarding a tax payment.

Documents and Financial Papers series (10 items) includes lists of the Maden family's expenses in Cuba, as well as receipts, accounts regarding the Madens' hemp plantation, and a Catholic Church document (in Latin).

The Photograph and Newspaper Clipping series (2 items) contains a black-and-white photograph of the Havana Cathedral and a clipping titled "Whining and Complaining Wives Often Drive Husbands from Home."

This collection is made up of correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, and documents related to the operations of the French Creek and Cherry Run Oil Company. The company purchased land and dug oil wells in Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1865.

This collection is made up of correspondence, financial records, meeting minutes, and documents related to the operations of the French Creek and Cherry Run Oil Company. The company purchased land and dug oil wells in Venango County, Pennsylvania, in 1865.

The earliest documents concern the company's initial expenses, a scouting mission, and founding documents. These items include receipts for land purchases near Frenchcreek, Pennsylvania, and a report regarding the costs of an examination of the company's property. On or around April 7, 1865, its founders adopted articles of association and afterward they addressed a summary of their proposed operation to Isaac Slenker, the auditor general of Pennsylvania. During the summer of 1865, John J. Glisson wrote 9 letters to the company's leaders from Franklin, Pennsylvania, and Big Creek, Pennsylvania, in which he reported on the company's local interests, equipment, wells, and finances. Brief meeting minutes are interspersed throughout the collection. Three printed and partially documents are a letter patent for the French Creek and Cherry Run Oil Company and 2 indentures for land in Frenchcreek, Pennsylvania. Also included is a map of the company's property along French Creek.

The Point Lookout Prison Camp collection includes official correspondence, prisoners' letters, sutlers' receipts, and other documents relating to Confederate prisoners of war held at the Point Lookout Military Prison, Maryland, largely between the summers of 1863 and 1864. Mary Parsons compiled detailed indices for the letters written by Point Lookout's prisoners: Prisoners' Correspondence Indices.

The Point Lookout Prison Camp collection includes official correspondence, prisoners' letters, sutlers' receipts, and other documents relating to Confederate prisoners of war held at the Point Lookout Military Prison, Maryland, largely between the summers of 1863 and 1864. The collection is made up of 770 letters and around 2,200 sutlers' accounts and receipts for goods sold to prisoners.

The Correspondence is comprised of 137 official letters pertaining largely to the disposition of prisoners; 147 letters written by prisoners of war, mostly requesting to take the loyalty oath or to be assigned duty as a non-combatant; and 486 letters by private individuals on behalf of prisoners, many seeking information, relaying information, or requesting goods to be forwarded.

Among the prisoners' letters are several discussing family hardships, bewilderment at arrest (for civilian prisoners), or simple expressions of exhaustion and a desire to find a way out of the war. The sample, of course, is biased, in that the letters in the Point Lookout Collection were all addressed to federal authorities--mostly to commandant, John N. Patterson. While some prisoners expressed an abiding loyalty to the southern cause, others complained of being drafted into the service against their will and principles, or claimed to have been so wrapped up in the emotions of the moment that they did not carefully consider their actions when enlisting. In a few cases, soldiers appeared to be genuinely disillusioned with the Confederacy. Twenty-nine of those who requested the loyalty oath can later be found serving with federal forces.

Within the prisoners' letters, the names of 255 men are mentioned in one way or another. Twelve of the men were civilians, and it was possible to identify the Confederate service unit of all but 23 of the rest of the men. The largest number of men were from Virginia, followed by Louisiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina; with considerably smaller numbers from Tennessee, Maryland, Missouri, and Mississippi; and the fewest men from South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida. While most came from Southern states, two men were born in Maine (James O. Goodale and Charles H. Small), two others in Illinois (Brice Holland and Minor Rogers/Rodgers), and at least one man from New York (Lucien A. Rudolph). Foreign-born men included Branilio Soza (Mexico), Paul Francis de Gournay (Cuba or France), Hector De Zevallos ("the West India Islands"), John Etchevery (France), Louis Tessandore/Tessandori (Tuscany, Italy), Frank Nidel/Neidell and George Tiefenbach (Germany), Thomas Larkin and William H. Smith (England), and Luke Baxter, James Fife, Patrick Cooper, Martin Griffin, and Michael Vahey (Ireland).

The prisoners' letters and letters from camp officials provide only very brief glimpses into the conditions of prison life, with very sporadic mention made of illness or crimes committed in camp.

Letters from third parties display a range of attitudes that are broadly similar to those expressed by the prisoners, with an understandable, rather heavier, emphasis on family hardship. Included in this series are numerous letters written by the wives, sisters or mothers of prisoners, but also some from women who may be inferred to have been members of relief organizations for Confederate soldiers.

The largest series of materials in the collection consists of approximately 2,200 sutlers' accounts and receipts for goods sold to prisoners.

Mary Parsons compiled detailed indices for the letters written by Point Lookout's prisoners: Prisoners' Correspondence Indices. Mary Parsons's research notes and copies are available for consultation in the Clements Library's reading room.

The Civil War Ambulance Corps records and Graham family accounts are housed in a single bound volume. Forty pages of reports concern the actions of the Union ambulance corps from 1863-1865, and 41 pages of household accounts (1870-1884) pertain to the Graham family.

The ambulance corps records (pages 1-41) consist of copied correspondence addressed to various chiefs of ambulance operations. Numerous ambulance corps commanders wrote about their activities along the front, sometimes including statistics, for battles such as Gettysburg (August 28, 1863), Wapping Heights [Manassas Gap] (September 2, 1863), and the Wilderness (July 1864). The records cover a variety of divisions of the Army of the Potomac, and several of the later reports originated from John R. Pancoast of the 110th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment. The final item in this series is dated April 22, 1865, and mentions several skirmishes during the last stages of the war.

The second part of the volume contains financial records tracking the household and private expenditures of the Graham family (pp. 43-84). Total household expenditure for this family totaled $2,018.94 in 1871, including expenses for food, fabrics, and other goods. Family members whose specific expenses were recorded include: J. J. Graham, Jane P. Graham, Anna M. Graham, George H. Graham, Carrie Bell Graham, and Rose Clarke.

The Russell P. and John A. Rich papers consist primarily of documents related to the brothers' service in the Union Army during the Civil War. The collection also includes two letters from other Civil War soldiers and a copy of Russell P. Rich's 1871 will.

The Russell P. and John A. Rich papers contain 9 documents related to the brothers' service in the Union Army during the Civil War, 2 letters by other Civil War soldiers, and a copy of Russell P. Rich's 1871 will.

Documents related to Russell P. Rich are his corporal's commission for the 123rd New York Infantry Regiment (September 15, 1862); a document regarding his permission to travel to Niagara Falls, New York, on furlough (November 2, 1864); his corporal's commission for the 95th Company of the 2nd Battalion of the Veteran Reserve Corps (July 1865); and a document about his assignment at the Hicks General Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland (August 5, 1865). Signed statements from Howard Hospital provide remarks about the condition of John A. Rich's health during the winter of 1862 (November 10, 1862, and November 17, 1862), and copies of military papers contain orders for him to guard convalescent barracks at Nashville, Tennessee (May 8, 1862, and May 21, 1862). An account for John Rich's pay and clothing is also present (July 31, 1862). James E. Barrett, a friend of Russell's, wrote a letter on February 17, 1862, about recent war developments and army life, and a friend of "Seargent E. Rich" requested paperwork for proper regimental reporting (January or June 27, 1863). The final item is a copy of Russell P. Rich's will, dated June 26, 1871.

This collection is comprised of two letters and two documents pertinent to the shipping activities of the Brig Morning Light, Captain John W. Goodridge, around Luanda, Angola, Africa, 1862-1864. They include instructions to Capt. Goodridge in 1862 with a ship manifest, a descriptive condolence letter to Abigail Goodridge regarding her husband John Goodridge's death from smallpox while on a voyage from Angola to the St. Helena Colony in 1864, and the accounts of the Morning Light from its purchase in 1862 to its sale in 1864.

This collection is comprised of two letters and two documents pertinent to the shipping activities of the Brig Morning Light, Captain John W. Goodridge, around Luanda, Angola, Africa, 1862-1864. They include instructions to Capt. Goodridge in 1862, with a ship manifest, a descriptive condolence letter to Abigail Goodridge regarding her husband John Goodridge's death from smallpox while on a voyage from Angola to the St. Helena Colony in 1864, and the accounts of the Morning Light from its purchase in 1862 to its sale in 1864.

See details about each item in the collection in the box and folder listing below.

The diary of Confederate Private Joshua Johnson, Jr., covers his service in the 13th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment between January 1 and May 18, 1862. The diary discusses treatment received at the hospital located within the converted Culpeper Court House in January 1862, picket duty near Sangster's Station, participation in the Skirmish at Sangster's Station (March 9, 1862), and encampment near the Rappahannock River. The volume also contains personal accounts dating between 1859 and 1861, a library book list, a crossed out sketch of a woman's portrait, and a quoted passage from James Kent's Commentaries on American Law. Laid into the front cover is a two-page letter, dated March 11, 1861, regarding border states, secession, and politics.

The diary of Confederate Private Joshua Johnson, Jr., covers his service in the 13th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment between January 1 and May 18, 1862. The diary discusses treatment received at the hospital located within the converted Culpeper Court House in January 1862, picket duty near Sangster's Station, participation in the Skirmish at Sangster's Station (March 9, 1862), and encampment near the Rappahannock River. The volume also contains personal accounts dating between 1859 and 1861, a library book list, a crossed out sketch of a woman's portrait, and a quoted passage from James Kent's Commentaries on American Law. Laid into the front cover is a two-page letter, dated March 11, 1861, regarding border states, secession, and politics.

This collection is made up of correspondence, documents, photographs, printed items, and genealogical papers related to Joseph LaVille Young, who served in the Virginia Militia, United States Army, and United States Navy from the 1890s to the end of World War I. Most of the materials pertain to Young's military career, particularly during the Spanish-American War and World War I.

This collection (1 linear foot) is made up of approximately 200 letters and documents, 15 photographs, 30 printed items, and genealogical papers related to Joseph LaVille Young, who served in the Virginia Militia, United States Army, and United States Navy from the 1890s to the end of World War I. The bulk of the collection is comprised of a partially disassembled scrapbook; the loose items from the scrapbook have been arranged into series of correspondence and documents, photographs, printed items, and genealogical materials.

The majority of the Correspondence and Documents relate to Young's service in the Spanish-American War and World War I. They include commissions, orders, memorandums, and financial records. One small group of items pertains to Theodore Roosevelt's efforts to raise volunteer troops during World War I, including a signed letter from Roosevelt to Young, who had wanted to raise a Virginia regiment (May 25, 1917). Joseph LaVille kept a small memorandum book while stationed in France from January to February 1918. Most of the notes concern his expenses and other financial affairs, and he also copied information about converting English measures to metric units.

Additional manuscripts include some personal letters that Young wrote to his sister Linda while in France during World War I and a small number of documents related to the military service of Joseph LaVille Young, Sr. The later letters and documents concern Young's desire to return to the military during World War II, his real estate career, and the genealogy of the Pritchard family.

The Photographs include group portraits of the "Richmond Light Infantry Blues" during their Spanish-American War service in Cuba, and studio and informal portraits of Joseph LaVille Young as a young man, a Spanish-American War soldier, a member of the United States Navy, and an older man. One image shows Young posing in front of the family home in Portsmouth, Virginia, and another shows an unidentified man flexing his biceps and upper back muscles.

The Printed Items series is made up of 9 picture postcards, featuring scenes from multiple French towns; newspaper clippings, including obituaries for the elder Joseph LaVille Young and other family members; advertisements for real estate in Richmond, Virginia; and a pamphlet titled La Langue Anglaise sans Màître (1915).

The Genealogical Papers series includes histories, tables, and notes related to the Hollowell, Bacon, Hunter, Pettit, Godfrey, Swift, James, and Pritchard families. Included is a family tree showing Joseph LaVille Young's ancestors and a binder containing information on heraldic crests.

The Henry M. Phillips collection contains materials related to Phillips's life and legal career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the mid-19th century, and to the Citizens of the Fifth Ward for the Relief and Employment of the Poor.

The Henry M. Phillips collection contains materials related to Phillips's life and legal career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the mid-19th century, and to the Citizens of the Fifth Ward for the Relief and Employment of the Poor.

A bound group of minutes and financial records (102 pages) pertains to the work of the executive committee of the Citizens of the Fifth Ward for the Relief and Employment of the Poor. The society met regularly between November 1857 and March 1858 and contributed coal and other assistance to needy Philadelphians. Henry M. Phillips's brother, J. Altamont Phillips, served on the organization's executive committee.

The collection contains a brief biography of Henry M. Phillips, written after his death; a letter to Phillips about a lot in Philadelphia; and a document permitting a visitor to see the grounds of Girard College. See the Detailed Box and Folder Listing for additional information.

The Billings family collection contains correspondence, invitations, ephemera, and other items related to Marcia Billings of Denver, Colorado; Owego, New York; and Brookville, Pennsylvania. Much of the material pertains to her social life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Billings family collection (2.5 linear feet) contains correspondence, invitations, ephemera, and other items related to Marcia Billings of Denver, Colorado; Owego, New York; and Brookville, Pennsylvania. Much of the material pertains to her social life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Correspondence series (551 items), which comprises the bulk of the collection, includes several Civil War-era letters to Mary Pearsall from her friend Emily Jewett, as well as other earlier items addressed to Marcia Billings. Most items concern the social lives of Billings's friends and family members in Denver, Colorado; Owego, New York; and Brookville, Pennsylvania, in the 1880s and 1890s. A series of 5 letters from September 1890 pertains to Colorado travel, including newspaper clippings with information for tourists. Two letters enclose photographs (January 19, 1909 and April 2, 1913) and one picture postcard shows a view of a town (August 14, 1911). Later items include letters by Marcia's husband, Benjamin Thomas, and letters to her mother, Gertrude Billings.

The Diaries series (4 items) is made up of a diary that Marcia Billings kept in 1870, the diary of an unidentified writer covering the year 1909, and 2 books containing records of correspondence and personal finances.

The School Papers series (17 items) consists of a Denver High School report card for Marcia Billings, 4 lists of examination questions from geography and grammar exams, 8 manuscript essays, and a card with the program from a "Friday Evening Club [Soiree]" held at Warren's Dancing Academy on November 30, 1882. The series also contains 3 sets of graded notes by Helen C. Jones, October 5-7, 1896, on arithmetic, history, and physiology.

The accounts and receipts in the Financial Records series (6 items) pertain to the personal finances of Marcia Billings and Benjamin Thomas.

The Photographs (6 items), taken in the early 20th century, show unidentified women. The series includes a group of photographs whose images are no longer discernible (counted as 1 item).

The Illustrations series (3 items) contains a colored drawing of a young girl sewing, a colored drawing of a woman holding flowers, and a sheet with sketches of farm animals and people.

Invitations, Responses to Invitations, Cards, and Ephemera (94 items), mainly addressed to Marcia Billings, concern events such as marriages, birthday celebrations, and casual outings. Ephemeral items include lists of dances from social events.

Printed Items (39 items) include over 30 newspaper clippings, most of which concern social events, elopements, and deaths; others contain poetry, cartoons, and news stories. Other printed items are advertisements, a poem entitled "The Mark of a Man-Child," and a poem entitled "The Type-Writer," which contains a printed illustration of a woman typing.

The Realia items are a ribbon, a sock, and an accompanying poem about a "Sock Social" held by the Ladies Aid Society.