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The Hopkins family papers contain wide variety of materials relating to the Hopkins family of Vermont and California. A few of the wide variety of topics covered include the Episcopal Church, student life at the University of Vermont, the 1849 Gold Rush and 19th-century life in California, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, art, and music.

The Hopkins Family papers document the activities of several generations of the Hopkins family of Vermont and California, whose members included prominent 19th century artists, musicians, religious figures, and writers. Among its notable figures are John Henry Hopkins (1792-1868), the first Episcopal bishop of Vermont; John Henry Hopkins, Jr., best known for writing the song "We Three Kings"; and Caspar Hopkins, a writer, early explorer of southern Oregon, and miner and entrepreneur during the California Gold Rush. Perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of the Hopkins family was the wide extent of their collective talents and experiences. As a result, their collection touches on numerous historical subjects, including the Episcopal Church, the insurance business in California, shipping, Vermont in the 19th century, California during and after the Gold Rush, gothic architecture, classical and religious music, education, and family life during the 19th century. Spanning 1800 to 1932, and comprising four linear feet of material, the collection contains a huge variety of material, including correspondence, documents, printed matter, drawings, manuscript and printed music, photographs, broadsides, pamphlets, monographs, periodicals, and maps.

The Correspondence series contains approximately 400 incoming and outgoing letters, spanning 1824 to 1932, with the bulk concentrated in the years between 1830 and 1890. Caspar Hopkins contributed the largest number of letters to the collection, writing approximately 25%; followed by his brother, John, Jr., (15%); his mother, Melusina (10%); his wife, Almira (5%), and his father, John, Sr., (5%). Caspar wrote frequent letters to his wife and family, and they document many stages of his life, such as his 1849 voyage to California via Mexico and his participation in the Gold Rush as a speculator and businessman, his exploration of the Umpqua River in southern Oregon in the early 1850s, and his career as president of the California Insurance Company in the 1860s through the 1880s. His Gold Rush letters in particular contain incisive comments on the miners he encountered and on their way of life. On October 14, 1850, he wrote a letter to "Friend Clarke," describing frontier conditions, the attitudes of settlers, and the habits of Native Americans in the Klamath River Valley. Many letters also discuss religious and intellectual matters, two areas of interest for Caspar.

Bishop John H. Hopkins' letters span 1831-1866 and contain a great deal of advice to Caspar, as well as his thoughts on religious matters, the Civil War, family affairs, and many other topics. In a few early letters written to Caspar when he was a young man, John described his views on the raising of children and gave advice on being successful (December 11, 1850); he lamented Caspar's lack of interest in the ministry as a career (February 20, 1851). Other letters by the bishop touch on the satisfaction of worship (August 17, 1854), contain pro-South speculation as to the causes of the Civil War (May 28, 1861), and mention his upcoming golden wedding anniversary with Melusina (March 10, 1865). In a letter of August 10, 1866, John addressed Caspar's growing skepticism toward organized religion, urging him to return to the church "to which you and your dear family rightfully belong," despite its "earthly" defects. John Henry Hopkins, Jr., wrote several dozen letters, primarily concerning his experience as a member of the clergy, touching often on pedagogical subjects which ranged from arguments on why Lincoln was a bad president to theological discourses, some even written in Latin. On February 25, 1844, he wrote a particularly good description of student life at the University of Vermont, and bemoaned the "inveterate practice of loafing into each other's rooms in study hours" and "lolling on each other's beds." The Hopkins women are also well-represented among the letter-writers. Melusina Mueller Hopkins, the wife of Bishop Hopkins, wrote numerous letters to Caspar, which include biographical information about Caspar's siblings and father, as well as other family news. Others female writers include Amelia Muller (Melusina's sister), and Caspar's sisters Caroline Hopkins Canfield and Matilda Hopkins Camp.

The Bishop Hopkins' Sermons and Pastoral Letters series contains ten manuscript sermons (including one fragment), two printed sermons, and two printed pastoral letters. The manuscript items note the various dates on which Hopkins read them before his congregation; he frequently performed them multiple times between 1824 and 1862. The printed sermons and pastoral letters all date to the period of 1850-1855. They touch on numerous religious and scriptural themes and shed light on the Episcopal Church in Vermont and Hopkins' own views on morality, the meaning of life, and the role of the church. Many additional items written by Hopkins are housed in the Book Division, and listed under "Additional Descriptive Data."

The Caspar Hopkins' Writings and Documents series contains one linear foot of material, dating from Hopkins' college years (1845-1847) to the end of his life in the 1890s. Containing both manuscript and printed items, it includes four subseries. The General Writings subseries consists of 24 items, including essays that Hopkins wrote for classes at the University of Vermont, several plays, and articles that he wrote on topics as diverse as divorce law, happiness, American government, and the insurance agency. The second subseries, Berkeley Club Writings, contains 16 manuscript essays that Hopkins wrote between 1873 and 1889 for presentation to the social and intellectual organization, the Berkeley Club. They pertain to such topic as evolution, agnosticism, religion in public schools, and marriage and divorce. The Autobiography subseries consists of three copies of Hopkins' self-published biography, written in 1889, which provides biographical information and insightful commentary on himself and various other members of the Hopkins family. The final subseries, Documents, includes three documents relating to Caspar Hopkins dated between 1873 and 1893: a publishing contract, a printed petition, and a will.

The Printed Matter and Clippings series contains miscellaneous printed items related to or collected by members of the Hopkins family, dating ca. 1850 to ca. 1940. The series comprises printed playbills and concert programs, newspaper articles relating to members of the family, and other printed material. It also includes an undated phrenology chart for Caspar Hopkins. Two printed broadsides in this series are housed in the Graphics Division. For more information, see "Separated Materials" under "Additional Descriptive Data."

The Genealogy series contains manuscript and printed information on various lines of the Hopkins family, gathered primarily in the early 20th-century.

The Music series includes manuscript and printed music played or written by various members of the Hopkins family. Among the many items of interest are a volume of music written by Bishop John Hopkins; a set of scores written and copied by Caspar Hopkins while in California, 1861-1865; and two ca. 1800 books of German songs belonging to the sisters of Melusina Mueller, Charlotte and Theresa.

The Art series contains the drawings, sketches, watercolors, and hand-colored botanical paintings produced by Bishop John Hopkins, his mother (Elizabeth Fitzackerly), and his children. Included are six volumes of drawings and watercolors by the bishop, which depict scenes he encountered while traveling in upstate New York in 1825, gothic churches, landscapes, and human hands. Of particular note are nineteen large plates from Hopkins' 1834 Vermont Flower Book, nine of which his children hand-painted, as well as a letter from William Bayard Hopkins, laid into the volume, describing their habit of working together around the dining room table. Also of interest are botanical paintings by Hopkins' mother, Elizabeth Fitzackerly, dating to the late 18th- or early 19th-century.

The Photographs and Maps series includes approximately 50 photographs of various members of the Hopkins family, including John Hopkins, Sr.; Melusina Hopkins; Caspar Hopkins; John Henry Hopkins; Jr.; Frances (Hopkins) Hinckley; William Bayard Hopkins; and various family groups, landmarks, and homes. Formats include cartes de visite, cabinet cards, tintypes, and a glass plate positive. Also present are two large views of San Francisco shortly after the destruction of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The collection also includes three maps, housed in the Map Division. They include an 1849 sketch of San Francisco by Caspar Hopkins; a map of Penobscot County, Maine (ca. 1900); and one of the Union Pacific Railroad and its rail connections (1872). For more information, see "Separated Materials" under "Additional Descriptive Data."

The papers of Horace Mann (1796-1859), lawyer, congressman, and educational reformer, contain correspondence and documents spanning his early legal career to the years before his death, as well as miscellaneous quotations, notes, and photographs.

The Horace Mann papers date from his early career as a lawyer until 1857, two years before his death (plus a single outlying 1876 item). The collection contains 51 letters (1823-1876), 83 bills/receipts (1824-1833), 15 legal documents (1824-1837), 2 promissory notes (1826; 1829), 4 graphic items, 1 printed bibliography, and 6 autographs, notations, and miscellaneous items.

Beginning with a letter to Ira Barton, in which he praises Barton's oration at the previous year's Independence Day celebration (March 20, 1823), the forty-eight outgoing letters of Horace Mann cover a variety of topics. Eloquently written, these letters provide information about Mann's own thoughts and perspectives. Many of them contain responses to requests to give lectures and others pertain to his perpetually full schedule. They include remarks regarding opposition to the Massachusetts Board of Education in the years following its formation, discussions with P.M. Upson (a Eutaw, Alabama teacher) about his annual reports and the Common Journal (1845), suggestions to J.B. Vandever for the construction of a school (1851), plans and details surrounding the formation of a teachers' institute at Fitchburg, Massachusetts (in correspondence with Charles Mason, 1845), comments on his nomination to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1848, efforts to procure funds to send Mr. Pierce to the World Peace Convention in 1849, friendly conversations with and advice to Samuel Downer, Jr. (from Antioch College, 1854-1857), and other subjects.

Horace Mann did not write two of the letters in this collection. One, by Edward Everett, nominates an unnamed person to a position on the Massachusetts Board of Education (to fill Edward A. Newton's vacant seat). The other, written in 1876 by Mary Mann to Miss Jacobson (who was inspired by Horace Mann's work), encloses a fragment from one of his manuscripts.

The 83 bills/receipts include itemized fees for Horace Mann's services as prosecuting attorney for clients in Norfolk County. Each of these financial documents include fees for writs, entry and court dues, travel expenses, trial attendance, and individual tasks, such as receiving and swearing in the complainant and summoning witnesses.

The 15 legal documents are miscellaneous, related to almost as many different court cases. Most of them regard financial claims and are signed by Horace Mann as attorney for the plaintiffs. One document stands out above the others: the appointment of the first Massachusetts Board of Education, dated May 25, 1837. Signed by Edward Everett and Secretary John P. Bigelow, this item names James G. Carter, Emerson Davis, Edmund Dwight, Horace Mann, Edward A. Newton, Robert Rantoul, Jr., Thomas Robbins, and Jared Sparks to the Board. It bears the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Four graphic items in the collection include three portraits of Horace Mann and a single negative. These images are: one reproduction of an illustration; one hand-colored and mounted albumin print (oval vignette); and one modern photographic reproduction of an earlier touched-up reproduction of a daguerreotype (with an accompanying negative).

The collection contains a printed 31-page "Bibliography of Horace Mann," prepared by Horace Mann’s son, Benjamin Pickman Mann, December 9, 1896. This bibliography was published in the US Bureau of Education, Report of the Commissioner for 1896-1897, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C., 1898).

A small selection of quotations, notations, autographs, and miscellany completes the collection. One signed quotation reads: "I would rather imitate the actions of one good man than to possess the autographs of all the great men in the world." Another small sheet contains the autographs of several Massachusetts Congressmen. Other miscellaneous items include fragments of papers on the responsibilities and jurisdiction of a town's school committees and rules for proper behavior.

The Howard F. Barnum World War I photograph album contains 216 items relating to Barnum's service during the war. A majority of the collection are personal photo-postcards of his time overseas and postcards from his travels with the Army of Occupation in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Also included are photographs, letters, a print, and ephemera.

The Howard F. Barnum World War I photograph album contains 216 items relating to Barnum's service in the American Expeditionary Forces. The majority of the collection is comprised of personal photo-postcards of his time overseas and postcards from his travels with the Army of Occupation in France, Germany, and Luxembourg. Also included are photographs, letters, a print, and ephemera.

The album begins with 92 personal photo-postcards, many of which have a short handwritten caption on the front. The majority were taken while Barnum was stationed near the Rhine River, in Mayen, Germany. They show daily life, the ammunition dump, M.O.R.S. details, studio portraits, monuments and castles along the Rhine, and a Rhine River boat tour. One image is of the men he served with, "Billet #6," and lists the name and hometown of each man. There are a few images included from his training at Camp Hancock in Augusta, Georgia.

Seemingly unrelated to Barnum’s service, are five photos likely taken in the United States of construction on a neighborhood street. Following, are an image of captured American soldiers, one of a simulated gas attack, and 15 smaller images similar in content to the photo-postcards. Most of these smaller images have handwritten captions on the back.

This album includes a total of 78 picture postcards include a complete collection of 20 black and white views from the painting Panthéon de la Guerre. Other locations depicted include Paris, Southampton, Koblenz, and Camp Dodge and Rock Island in the United States

The last portion of the album contains ephemera from Barnum's military service, with the exception of one letter from August 6, 1905 written by Barnum to his mother while on vacation with his father and brother. Other items include the board game Trench Checkers, a Third Army Carnival program, a Mother’s Day pamphlet, an honorable discharge chevron, a USS Santa Paula billet card, and a "Souvenir Roster of the New York Masonic Club of the Army of Occupation."

The Jacob Butler Varnum papers contain letters and documents related to Varnum's career as a factor at United States Indian trading posts in Sandusky, Ohio, and Fort Dearborn, Chicago; as a captain in the 40th Massachusetts Infantry during the War of 1812; and as a Washington D.C. merchant after he left government service. Included are letters and instructions from government officials concerning trade with Indians, as well as letters from Varnum to his father, Senator Joseph B. Varnum, concerning his activities as factor.

The Jacob Butler Varnum papers (79 items) contain letters and documents related to Varnum's career as a factor at United States Indian trading posts in Sandusky, Michilimackinac, and Fort Dearborn, Chicago; as a captain in the 40th Massachusetts Infantry during the War of 1812; and as a Washington D.C. merchant after he left government service. The collection is comprised of 59 letters, 1 diary, 13 documents and financial records, and 5 miscellaneous items. Included are letters and instructions from various government officials concerning trade with Indians in Ohio, Michigan, and Illinois, as well as five letters from Varnum to his father Senator Joseph B. Varnum (ca.1751-1821) concerning his activities as factor.

The Correspondence series (60 items) comprises the bulk of the collection. Forty-nine items document Varnum's governmental career spanning 1811 to 1826, during his service as Indian trade factor in Sandusky, Michilimackinac, and Chicago; and as captain of the 40th Massachusetts Infantry during the War of 1812. Varnum received instructions from various Indian agents and government officials concerning the regulation of trade with the Munsee, Ojibwe (Chippewa), Ottawa, Sioux, and Wyandot Indians, among others. Many letters came from the United States Office of Indian Trade at Georgetown, including four from Indian Officer John Mason (1812 and 1815), and 21 letters from Superintendent of Indian Trade Thomas Loraine McKenney (1816-1822). These contain discussions of trade operations, types of merchandise, questions arising about the sale of goods, and instructions for the reporting of financial accounts. Also of note are five letters from Varnum to his father, Joseph Bradley Varnum (1750-1821), in which he described his experiences at Sandusky and at Michilimackinac, as well as with the business of the trading house at Chicago (December 3, 1811; January 14, 1812; May 21, 1816; November 3, 1817; March 1, 1818).

• August 8, 1811: Joseph Bradley Varnum to John Mason, accepting the appointment of his son as agent of the United States Indian trading house at Sandusky, Ohio
• March 1, 1818: Varnum to his father predicting the outbreak of a great war with the Indians "from the Simenoles to the Sioux"
• February 8, 1820: Thomas L. McKenney letter to Jacob B. Varnum, giving instructions about the handling of money given to Varnum by Government Indian agents

Most of the 1823-1826 material concerns government reimbursements for military expenses at Fort Dearborn. The collection contains 11 letters documenting Varnum's post-governmental career as a merchant in Washington D.C. and Petersburg, Virginia (1826-1860).

• February 1827-August 1832: Five items regarding Varnum and John Biddle concerning mutual business interests in Detroit
• December 17, 1833: John H. Kinzie to Varnum concerning Chicago lands owned by Kinzie, a fur trader

The Diary series (1 item) contains a 26-page notebook with Varnum's description of his trip from Chicago to Dracut, Massachusetts, by way of Detroit and Buffalo (August 17-October 22, 1822), and from Detroit through New York and Philadelphia, to Washington D.C. (May 28-June 22, 1823). Varnum reported on his manner of travel (horse, ship, steamboat) and his travel route, describing stops at many of the major towns along the Erie Canal. He commented on the towns that he passed through including Rochester, New York, which had grown considerably since the opening of the Erie Canal (page 6). He also noted prices for room and board. The final five pages contain financial accounts for Varnum's military expenses incurred from 1813 to 1815.

The Documents and Financial Records series (13 items) contains material documenting Varnum's finances and his service in the War of 1812.

• June 8, 1813: Affidavits (and a fragment of the same item) documenting the capture of Joseph B. Varnum's trunks, taken by the British as they were being transported from Michilimackinac to Detroit
• 1814: Six military district orders related to promotions, responsibilities, and discipline in the 40th Massachusetts Infantry, in which Varnum was a captain under Acting Adjutant General George P. Peters
• August 22, 1815: Copy of a bond oath signed by Varnum as factor for Indian trade at Chicago, and a copy of his father, Jacob Butler Varnum's oath of office
• 1816-1827: Four financial records of debts and receipts for goods purchased by Varnum
• Undated [1808]: Deposition of Richard Smyth regarding the sale of a lot in Detroit owned by Varnum's father-in-law John Dodemead

The Miscellaneous series (5 items) contains 3 envelope covers, one of which includes a recipe for a "Lazy Daisy" cake (c.1930). Also present are a photograph of a man and two women outside of a tent next to a car (c.1930), and a typed 13-page biography of Joseph Bradley Varnum, undated and unattributed.

This collection consists of two letters from Jacqueline Onassis to Douglas Mansell, thanking him for the 4th grade field trip he led at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's shipyard in Hoboken, New Jersey. In one letter, she enclosed 19 handwritten reflections by the students about the shipyard visit. The field trip was for Onassis's son, John F. Kennedy, Jr., and his class at the Collegiate School for Boys in New York. Five photographs depicting the class and their chaperones at the shipyard, featuring Onassis and her son, accompany the correspondence.

This collection is made up of autobiographical manuscripts, correspondence, documents, and family photograph albums related to James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of the items pertain to Pond's service during the Civil War and both father and son's lecture business.

This collection is made up of autobiographical manuscripts, correspondence, documents, and family photograph albums related to James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of the items pertain to Pond Sr.'s service during the Civil War and both father and son's lecture business.

The Pond Family Papers series includes one box containing miscellaneous correspondence ranging in date from 1896-1932, Civil War related material, autobiographical sketches, family photographs, and personal photograph albums.

The Civil War related material includes a few items relating to James Pond's Civil War service in the 3rd Wisconsin Cavalry, among which are a typescript of official reports relating to the massacre at Baxter Springs, Kansas, a printed poem on the massacre, and a printed notice of the death in the 1880s of William T. Brayton of the 3rd Cavalry. Pond also collected other reminiscences of the war, including an autobiographical account of Mrs. Horn, wife of a Missouri surgeon, which includes a description of Quantrill's raiders pillaging town and taking her husband prisoner, and a memoir of Edward P. Bridgman, a soldier in the 37th Massachusetts Infantry who served with John Brown in 1856, and may have known Pond.

More than half of this series consists of autobiographical manuscripts, parts of which, at least, were published as magazine articles. Most of these focus on his early years (prior to 1861) when he and his family were living a marginal existence in frontier Wisconsin and when he was a young man in search of a livelihood. The collection includes three major manuscripts, each present in several copies or versions, all of which are related to each other - "A Pioneer Boyhood," "The American Pioneer: My Life as a Boy," and "Pioneer Days" - plus there are less polished manuscripts of childhood and Civil War reminiscences. All appear to have been written initially in 1890, though some copies were apparently made several years later. In addition, there is an autobiographical sketch "How I got started in the Lecture Business" in which he describes his part in Anna Eliza Young's "apostatizing" and entering onto the lecture circuit.

The collection also contains 5 photograph albums. These volumes contain over 800 personal photographs taken between 1896 and 1902, including many pictures of family members at leisure both indoors and outdoors and Pond's business acquaintances from his lecture agency. Travel photographs include views of Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Winnipeg, Manitoba, as well as a group of pictures taken during a visit to England, Switzerland, and Germany in 1901. European items include a series of colored prints, located in Volume 4. The albums contain images of locomotives, railroad cars, and steamships. Volume 1 contains images of the inauguration of William McKinley and Volume 2 contains images of crowds gathered for a GAR parade in Buffalo, New York. Throughout the albums are glimpses of various lecture tours and clients including John Watson (Ian Maclaren) and Anthony Hope in Volume 2 and Francis Marion Crawford in Volume 3. Other notable figures include Sam Walter Foss and William Dean Howells in Volume 1, Charles W. Blair and Edward William Bok in Volume 3, and Sir Henry Morton Stanley, Charles William Stubbs, Robert Stawell Ball, Horace Porter, Frank Thomas Bullen, and Israel Zangwill in Volume 4. In addition to the albums, there are loose photographs of family, James B. Pond Jr., and the Adventurers' Club of New York. Oversized photographs are housed in Box 3.

The Pond Lecture Bureau Papers series consists of one box containing client files (arranged chronologically), loose photographs, and ephemera. Much of the content consists of correspondence between clients/prospective clients and photographs of clients (likely for promotional material). This series spans from 1877 to the 1940s covering periods of ownership from both James B. Pond, Sr. and Jr. Some of these clients are as follows: Henry Ward Beecher, Reverend Joseph Parker, Thomas DeWitt Talmage, Leon Pierre Blouet, Reverend John Watson (Ian Maclaren), William Winter, Edward Rickenbacker, Harry A. Franck, Gunnar Horn, Maurice Brown, and Major Radclyffe Dugmore. Unidentified oversized photographs and a scrapbook are housed in Box 3.

The James H. Baker collection contains items related to his Civil War career in Company C of the First Regiment of United States Sharpshooters. The collection includes photographs, ribbons, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook, among other items.

The James H. Baker collection contains items related to his Civil War career in Company C of the First Regiment of United States Sharp Shooters. The collection includes photographs, ribbons, newspaper clippings, and a scrapbook, among other items. A small, leather-bound Notebook lists members of Company C of Hiram Berdan's 1st United States Sharpshooters Regiment, including their dates of resignation or death. The book also contains a short history of the company and an extensive list of engagements at which the company was present. The notebook also includes a short note regarding the history of a "Stars and Bars" banner acquired by James H. Baker, with accompanying song lyrics. A short newspaper clipping entitled "Eli Perkins Gets a Good Story from Gen. Sherman" and a number of pressed leaves are also included among the notebook's contents.

Four Photographs include three Civil War-era portraits and as well as a later, black and white portrait. At least one of the older items is of James H. Baker.

• Berdan's U. S. Sharp Shooters [Reunion] (1891)
• Berdan's U. S. Sharp Shooters [Reunion] (1894)
• The Governor's Guard of Memphis, Tenn. (1894)
• "I Will March for Sound Money" (1896)
• Large American flag, Berdan's U. S. Sharp Shooters [Reunion] (1896)
• 17th Reunion Co. B. 2nd U. S. Sharp Shooters (1897)
• 7th Annual Reunion Berdan's Sharp Shooters (1897)
• 1st Michigan Sharp Shooters Association 25th reunion (1908)
• U. S. Berdan S[harp] S[hooters] (1908, 3 items)
• Small ribbon with American flag decoration (undated)
• Large yellow ribbon reading, "Marshal" (undated)
• Lansing Republicans (undated, 2 items)

• A card certifying Clarence O. Skinner's membership in the Civil War Book Club
• A photograph of University of Michigan swimmer James Skinner, taken from Michigan: Champions of the West
• Printed program from the "First Reunion of Co. K Berdan's Sharpshooters," 1889
• Printed "Address of Comrade Judge Charles J. Buchanan" at a reunion of Berdan's Sharp-Shooters' Association, 1908

Newspapers and Clippings include an item describing the presentation of a ceremonial sword to James H. Baker, a photographic portrait of Baker printed just after his death, and a copy of the New York Herald from August 1, 1863.

Essays and Reminiscences include a rewritten copy of "Grandfather's Best Story of the War," detailing the involvement of a man nicknamed "California Joe" during the early years of the Civil War, and two copies of a typed biography of James H. Baker that focuses on his Civil War service.

A Scrapbook compiled in the 20th century contains a number of items related to James H. Baker's Civil War service. Items within the scrapbook include numerous letters written by Baker to his parents, wife, and sister, documents, and newspaper clippings. Many of the newspaper clippings date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and detail reunions of Berdan's regiments. The scrapbook also encloses a copy of the Philadelphia Inquirer (September 26, 1861), and includes a photograph of Clarence O. Skinner taken in Ringen, Germany, in 1919.

This collection contains correspondence, speeches, ephemera, and photographs related to James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Naismith's incoming correspondence includes letters about the history of basketball in locations across Canada and the United States, and his typed speech notes primarily concern the relationship between athletics, morality, and religion.

This collection contains correspondence, speeches, ephemera, and photographs related to James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Naismith's incoming correspondence includes letters about the history of basketball in locations across Canada and the United States, and his typed speech notes primarily concern the relationship between athletics, morality, and religion.

The Correspondence series contains 44 letters, including 27 Naismith received about the history of basketball and the implementation of basketball programs. Between 1917 and 1939, Naismith collected responses to his inquiries about basketball from Canada, Uruguay, and universities within the United States. These letters often reported the dates of the first recorded local basketball games, and some described early equipment and rules. A letter from Edmonton, Alberta (October 15, 1929) concerned the development of women's basketball, and one from Osage City High School stated that theirs was the first high school in Kansas to have a basketball team (March 22, 1932). Some correspondents inquired about Naismith's experiences with the game, shared their own experiences, or discussed rule changes.

Letters written after Naismith's death are commemorative, including one signed by members of the Wheelchair Bulldozers, written on stationery bearing the team's logo (November 6, 1948). Additionally, Raymond Kaighn, the last surviving member of Naismith's first basketball team, wrote 8 letters to Kenneth Crouch between April 16, 1958, and July 28, 1962, reminiscing about his experiences and extolling Naismith's contribution to the world of sports. The collection also holds four letters Naismith wrote, providing his thoughts on the center jump ball rule (January 7, 1930), requesting information on Canadian basketball (with two responses, December 15, 1930), describing the game around the time of its invention in 1891 (February 4, 1939), and addressing his wife about personal matters (undated).

The Speech Notes and Essays series contains 7 typed speeches delivered by Naismith, with his manuscript annotations. The speeches pertain to the historical and contemporary relationship between athletic activities, morality, and religion, such as the role of athletic and physical education in moral and ethical development. Naismith lamented the commercialization of basketball and discussed the effects of the radio on the presidential election of 1928 (October 1928). One undated essay relates to sexual immorality among soldiers in the United States military.

Photographs and Ephemera include one photograph each of James Naismith and Raymond Kaighn, a souvenir program, a magazine article, and an invitation.

An inventory of items in the final two series appears in the Detailed Box and Folder listing below.

This collection is made up of correspondence and photographs related to James Shearer's life in South America in 1921 and 1922 as an agent for the Bay City Industrial Works. Shearer's letters to his family concern his trip from New York to Chile; daily life and customs in Santiago, Chile, and other locations; and visits to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil.

This collection is made up of correspondence and photographs related to James Shearer's travels and life in South America in 1921 and 1922.

The Correspondence series (67 items) includes letters that Shearer wrote to his family in Bay City, Michigan, between June 27, 1921, and September 3, 1922. Shearer's first letters concern his voyage from New York City to Santiago, Chile, by way of the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Ecuador, and Peru; he described his trip through the canal and other aspects of the locales he passed or visited. The bulk of the correspondence pertains to Shearer's life in Santiago, Chile, which he discussed in his frequent letters to his mother and, less often, his sister-in-law Winifred. He wrote about local customs and language, his work and the economy, historical influences on Chilean culture, and other aspects of his daily life. Shearer traveled in Peru and Bolivia in February and March 1922 and briefly returned to Santiago before traveling by railroad to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in June 1922. He compared Buenos Aires to Santiago and mentioned his attempts to locate potential clients for the Industrial Works of Bay City, Michigan. In the fall of 1922, he also wrote from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The Writings series (2 items) includes an undated description of the collection's contents written by Shearer, with brief notes about his work at the time, and a typed article regarding earthquakes in Coquimbo and La Serena, Chile.

The Photographs and Postcards series (77 items) consists of 40 photographic prints, 28 picture postcards, and 9 photographic negatives; the negatives correspond to a group of prints. The photographs, which include Shearer's captions, show scenes from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, including views of the Coquimbo harbor, views of railroad lines running through mountains, overhead views of cities and surrounding scenery, and street-level pictures of buildings and street scenes. Some images feature groups of people and, in one instance, a flock of llamas; 3 show a well-dressed man holding open a very large, manuscript musical book. The series includes a portrait of James Shearer from his South American trip and a formal portrait of Shearer taken in 1956. The postcards, many of which have captions by Shearer, feature pictures of Santiago landmarks; Chilean railroads; the town of Sewell, Chile; Chilean women; a mountain monument in Mendoza, Argentina; La Paz, Bolivia; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Some of the postcards and photographs have numbers written on the back that appear to correspond to Shearer's letters.

This collection is made up of correspondence and other items related to Philadelphia resident James Shields, particularly concerning his interest in 19th-century American author Eugene Field.

This collection (59 items) is made up of correspondence and other items related to Philadelphia resident James Shields, particularly concerning his interest in 19th-century American author Eugene Field.

The Correspondence series (45 items) contains incoming and outgoing letters of James Shields, primarily from July 1917-October 1932. Many are the writers' responses to Shields's inquiries about Eugene Field manuscripts and writings, Field's possible acquaintance with Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, and the possible location of a Field death mask. Some of Shields's correspondents had been personally acquainted with Field. An article about Hearn from The New Republic (October 7, 1972) is enclosed with Shields's draft letter of December 10, 1917. Later items, dated 1939-1942, pertain to a donation that Shields made to the Free Library of Philadelphia and the publications of the Aitkin-Kynett Company.

The Eugene Field Manuscripts (5 items) include fragments of 4 personal letters that Field wrote to his "Aunt Alice" from October 1894-October 1895, mostly about family news. The series also contains a manuscript copy of Field's poem "The Dreams."

The Poetry, Photographs, and Ephemera series (14 items) includes pamphlets containing remarks about Eugene Field by Eugene V. Debs and a brief poem by Field, a manuscript poem about hermit crabs attributed to Francis Sedgwick Child, a brief essay about Ralph A. Lyon, a name card, and other items. The photographs include images of a woman laying flowers on Field's grave and of Francis Wilson playing theatrical parts "Young Rip" and "Old Rip."