Collections

The William Ellery Channing collection contains eight personal letters written to Channing, a Unitarian preacher, by Andrews Norton and George Armstrong, who discussed a range of religious topics related to Unitarian theology and transatlantic cooperation between Unitarian societies.

The William Ellery Channing collection contains eight personal letters written to Channing, a Unitarian preacher, by Andrews Norton in Cambridge, England, and George Armstrong in Crossdoney, Ireland, who discussed a range of religious topics related to Unitarian theology and transatlantic cooperation between Unitarian societies. In his two letters, Norton focused on the relationship between Unitarians in the United States and those in Great Britain and, to a lesser extent, throughout Europe. He encouraged cooperation with like-minded groups and wished to compile biographical information about local believers. George Armstrong, who later moved to Bristol, England, composed five letters, in which he shared his thoughts on Channing's writings and those of other Unitarians, and on many theological matters; he also remarked briefly about British politics. Less frequently, he expressed his opinions on Americans and on slavery, which he fervently opposed. In one 17-page letter, Armstrong responded directly to a discourse recently published by Channing, challenging some of his views and presenting detailed insight into Armstrong's religious philosophy (May 29, 1834).

This collection contains 16 letters that Captain William H. Fields wrote to Charles L. Bowden and Urney Fields Bowden of Macon, Georgia, while serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II. He mentioned his participation in military combat and described his life in the Hawaiian Islands, where he held an administrative position. The collection also includes a letter from a mother to her son.

This collection (17 items) contains 16 letters that Captain William H. Fields ("Will") wrote to Charles L. Bowden ("Charlie") and Urney Fields Bowden of Macon, Georgia, while serving in the United States Marine Corps during World War II, as well as a letter from a mother to her son. Fields wrote about his participation in military combat and his life in the Hawaiian Islands, where he held an administrative position.

Captain William H. Fields wrote to the Bowdens from January 3, 1943-April 30, 1945, while serving with the V Amphibious Corps near Honolulu, Hawaii. He commented on life in Hawaii, reported the contents of his care packages, and responded to their news. In one letter, Fields mentioned having been in "the thick" of combat (January 3, [1943]); censorship restrictions prevented him from disclosing additional information. He mentioned his commendation for his administrative work and voiced a desire to join the staff of General Holland McTyeire Smith (August 11, 1944). Fields also wrote an undated letter from Fort Sill, Oklahoma. An additional letter from a mother to her son concerns an argument with the family's housekeeper and other news from Macon, Georgia (September 28, 1942).

This collection is made up of incoming letters and legal memorandums to William F. Joy of Boston, Massachusetts. His correspondents primarily discussed oil and real estate in and near Stryker, Ohio.

This collection is made up of incoming letters and legal memorandums to William F. Joy of Boston, Massachusetts. His correspondents primarily discussed oil and real estate in and near Stryker, Ohio. William F. Joy received around 34 letters from January 4, 1865-July 27, 1866, primarily related to the area around Stryker, Ohio. Joy's correspondents, who included Converse L. Chase, C. Blinn, and C. S. Tuttle, reported on the progress of oil wells in the area and on competing prospectors. Chase, a lumber dealer, also commented on the cost of lumber. Some correspondents mentioned a mineral spring in the area, and the collection includes 3 small printed reports about an analysis of the spring by University of Michigan professor Silas H. Douglas (February 1870). Other letters, and 2 memorandums related to legal agreements, concern the ownership of property in Williams County, Ohio, and Crawford County, Ohio. One undated document is an inventory of mill machinery, and another is a printed prospectus for the Rocky River Oil Company in eastern Ohio.

The William G. Henderson papers consist of letters from a young soldier in the Civil War to his family in Connecticut. Henderson described camp and hospital life, and discussed his views on the war and incompetent Union leadership.

The William G. Henderson papers consist of letters from a young soldier in the Civil War to his family in Connecticut. Henderson described camp and hospital life, and discussed his views on the war and the incompetent Union leadership. On January 20, 1863, Henderson wrote:

"But it is rather vexing to men that left their business and came here in order to end the war to be kept month after month scouring brass, washing white gloves, carrying knapsacks, and the like. We are doing fancy soldiering, that is all while the Rebs don't stop to see whether a man's gloves are perfectly white or not if he can only fight."

In his letter of Jan. 22, 1863, Henderson stated that he was not fighting for racial equality, but did believe that the cause of the war was right. He constantly voiced his disapproval of Union general's management of the war. By February 22, Henderson had landed in the Fort Worth military hospital with ear aches and ear discharge. He remained in the hospital for the remainder of the next three months, and in his last letters stated that he was getting better. The collection's final item is an unattributed poem commemorating Henderson's death (May 4, 1863).

The William H. Anderson Family Papers are made up of 177 letters, one manuscript map, 28 printed items, two photographs, and other materials of this Londonderry, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts family. William Anderson wrote around 150 letters to his family and friends while at primary school in Londonderry, New Hampshire; Pembroke Academy in Pembroke, New Hampshire; Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; Kimball Union Academy in Meriden, New Hampshire; and Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut. Anderson's correspondence includes 12 descriptive letters home from the Sligo cotton plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, where he worked as a teacher from 1859 to 1860, with content on plantation life, the enslaved workers, cotton processing, and educational matters. The remainder of the collection is William Anderson's post-Civil War letters, written while a lawyer in Lowell, and letters of Anderson's aunts Annis Nesmith Davidson and Anna B. Davidson Anderson Holmes from Londonderry and Wyoming County, New York.

The William H. Anderson Family Papers are made up of 177 letters, one manuscript map, 27 printed items, two photographs, and other materials of this Londonderry, New Hampshire, and Lowell, Massachusetts family.

The Correspondence Series. William Anderson wrote around 150 letters to his family and friends while at primary school in Londonderry, New Hampshire (5 letters, 1849-1850); Pembroke Academy at Pembroke, New Hampshire (15 letters, 1852-1853); Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts (3 letters, 1853); Kimball Union Academy at Meriden, New Hampshire (19 letters, 1854-1855); and Yale College at New Haven, Connecticut (60 letters). The letters from Londonderry, Pembroke, Andover, and Meriden are filled with details about his curricula, course work, school uniforms, teachers, boarding houses, school uniforms, secret societies, local politics and political events (Whig and Democratic; he ran into Franklin Pierce on October 25, 1852), updates on friends and family, visits to nearby towns, and more. Anderson helped offset the cost of his education by taking on various farm jobs. Detailed letters to his parents, brother, and friend Mary A. Hine from Yale College similarly include content on curricula, course work, professors, societies, examinations, graduation, finances, and other aspects of being a student in higher education.

Upon graduation from Yale, he began work at the Sligo Plantation near Natchez, Mississippi, where he taught a school comprised of students from Sligo and the nearby Retirement Plantation, from 1859 to 1860. During this time, he wrote 12 letters home to his parents and to his future wife Mary A. Hine. He arrived at Bennett's Retirement Plantation in early September 1859, and shortly thereafter settled in at David P. Williams' Sligo Plantation. He described his relative isolation, loneliness, teaching and wages, corporal punishment, thoughts on slavery and the enslaved men and women on the plantation, games he played with his scholars, travel between the Sligo and Retirement plantations, and leisure activities such as hunting and horseback riding. In late December 1859, he provided a lengthy description of a (largely) steamboat trip to New Orleans with his students for Christmas.

Anderson noted that no poor white people lived between Sligo and Natchez; he was uncomfortable with the aristocratic lifestyle of white people living in the south, and expressed this view on multiple occasions in his correspondence (see especially September 30, [1859]). Although his father appears on list of members of the American Anti-Slavery Society, William H. Anderson did not write with disgust at slavery, but rather used racist epithets, accepted the "servants" who assisted him in various ways, and wrote unmoved about abuse doled out to children (see especially June 9, 1860). In one instance, he wrote about enslaved women who gathered near to the house in the evenings before supper to sing and dance (October 25, 1859). One of the highly detailed letters in the collection is William H. Anderson's description of the use of the cotton gin on the Sligo Plantation, which includes remarks on its history, its functioning, the various jobs performed by enslaved laborers, and the rooms in which the jobs took place. He included calls made by enslaved workers between floors of the "gin house" and the roles of elderly men and women in the grueling labor ([October 1859]). In 1860, Anderson planned to take a summer break in Tennessee and then teach another year, but on the death of his oldest scholar Susie (14 years old) by diphtheria, Williams decided against having a school the next year (July 4, 1860).

The remaining letters by William H. Anderson, dated 1861-1887, contain scattered information on family matters, such as visits and health. He wrote little of his law practice or his life in Lowell, Massachusetts. Anderson's correspondence includes a variety of printed letterheads and one inset map: a rough floorplan of the Brother's Society Hall (January 14, 1856); the printed letterhead "INGENIUM LABORE PERFECTUM" "YALE" of Sigma Delta (ca. August/September 1856 and July 10, 1858); a partially printed letter sheet beginning "IN order to secure the regular attendance...", respecting Anderson's discipline (July 20, 1857); and the printed letterhead "STEVENS & ANDERSON, Attorneys and Counsellors at Law" Lowell, Massachusetts (August 16 and September 27, 1872).

The collection includes around 25 letters by William Anderson's aunts Annis Nesmith Davidson (1801-1877) and Anna B. Davidson Anderson Holmes (1798-1875). Anna wrote alternately to her sister Jane Davidson Anderson and her sister-in-law Annis Davidson, from Londonderry, New Hampshire; Pike, New York; and Genesee Falls, New York, between 1828 and 1874. Her letters pertain largely to domestic life, boarders, troubles keeping hired girls (including Irish girls) to help with housework, news of family births, marriages, and deaths, local ministers, and her children's schooling. The few letters by Annis Davidson from Pike and Genesee Falls, New York, regard family updates and visiting.

The collection's Map, Receipt, and Photographs include a partially printed receipt for William Anderson's tuition and fees for the term ending April 14, 1857. The pencil map identifies particular buildings in New Haven, Connecticut, around where College, Temple, Church, Orange, and State streets intersect with Chapel and Crown streets. The photographs are cartes-de-visite of William Henry Anderson and "Annis Davidson Anderson Holmes" [most likely Anna B. Davidson Anderson Holmes].

The Printed Items are made up of materials largely pertaining to William Anderson's time at Yale College. These include:

• BROTHERS IN UNITY. Prize Debate in the Class of 1859, January 12, 1856. William H. Anderson listed as a participant.
• JUNIOR EXHIBITION. Class of 1859, April 6, 1858, invitation to Mary Hine, with William H. Anderson listed as a speaker.
• JUNIOR EXHIBITION. YALE COLLEGE, April 6, 1858 (E. Hayes, printer), program.
• INITIATION, June 11, 1858, program, with manuscript annotations identifying an oration delivered by W. H. Anderson.
• James Robinson & Co. (Boston, Mass.) printed letter requesting information about academies, [1858].
• FIFTY-NINE. 'Oυ δοκέιν αλλ' είναι. Presentation Songs, June 15, 1859 (Morehouse & Taylor, printers).
• YALE COLLEGE. PRESENTATION OF THE CLASS OF 1859, June 15, 1859 (Morehouse & Taylor, steam printers).
• "Esto Perpetua." '62. Pow-wow OF THE CLASS OF '62, June 15, 1859 (Morehouse & Taylor, printers).
• '59. OWLS FROM THE NORTH!, July 17, 1859, flier/advertisement.
• DE FOREST ORATIONS, June 17, 1859, flier.
• CATALOGUE OF THE OFFICERS AND STUDENTS IN YALE COLLEGE . . . 1859-60. New Haven: E. Hayes, 1859.
• JUNIOR EXHIBITION, April 3, 1860, order of exercises. New Haven: E. Hayes, 1860.
• '61's INITIATION OF '62, pink heavy-stock card with a printed image of two anthropomorphic donkeys boxing.
• CLASS CIRCULAR, March 20, 1862, seeking feedback from 1859 graduates in anticipation of their triennial meeting.
• Class '63 Day, June 19, 1863, heavy-stock card invitation.
• SONGS FOR THE THIRD ANNUAL SUPPER OF THE Yale Alumni Association, January 27, 1868.
• "INGENIUM LABORE PERFECTUM" Sigma Delta symbol of a wreath surrounding a crown.
• Annis Davidson visiting card.

The remaining printed items include four copies of an engraved portrait of William H. Anderson by W. T. Bather of N.Y. and published by The Lewis Publishing Co., and five newspaper clippings.

William Handy received 4 letters from family members in the early 1850s. His aunt, his father, and a sibling discussed the health and news of family and acquaintances.

William Handy received 4 letters (9 pages) from his aunt Louise (January 30, 1851) and his father, Lewis Handy (September 27, 1851; October 30, 1851; and April 14, year unknown). A sibling contributed to Lewis Handy's letter of October 30, 1851. Handy's aunt reported on her lodgings in "Rochester," where she was sitting in an ailing man's room while writing the letter, and requested news of the Handy family. She cautioned William about falling in love and wrote that she "should rather fall into a hogshead of molasses" (January 30, 1851). Lewis Handy wrote an extended account about the illness and death of his son Jason, William's brother, in his letter of September 27, 1851, and later discussed the possibility of finding work on a whaling voyage to pay some of his debts (October 30, 1851). He also wrote about his daughter Almira's fragile health and expected death (April 14, year unknown).

William Harrison Barber was a private in the 47th Pennsylvania Regiment of Volunteers (1862-1865), who wrote letters during and after the Civil War documenting his military and personal life and his business activities. Of particular interest is a letter describing a railroad trip between Allentown and Baltimore, and letters to his sons explaining his views on fatherhood and business.

The William Harrison Barber papers is a small collection of correspondence and documents from during and after the Civil War. The Civil War material includes personal letters to his mother; a 15-page letter to a friend that describes a railroad trip from Allentown, Pennsylvania, to Baltimore; Barber's discharge letter, which has a drop of blood on it from a fist fight with another solder; and a letter of dishonorable discharge for three men (Barber is not one of them) for cowardice in battle. Of special interest is a letter to William from his brother Joseph, December 10, 1861, which includes a full-page pencil sketch of the layout of Fort Ethan Allen in Arlington, Virginia.

The post-war papers document Barber's personal life and business activities, primarily through letters to his family. Letters to his sons, including a farewell letter written on his deathbed, contain explanations of his ideals of fatherhood and the values of business in life.

The Documents series consists of an essay entitled The Ideal Manager, a speech to his employees called Words to Working Men, and documents granting Barber power of attorney from sisters Matilda and Hannah.

• Sketch of Camp Sedwick, signed by Tom Barber, [1870s]
• Page 1 of an unfinished autobiography started by Barber
• Prayers (3 items)
• Inheritance law extracts (3 items)
• Poem: "Charity"
• List of flowers and their meanings

This collection contains letters from Susan Channing to her son William H. Channing, a prominent Unitarian Religious leader in America during the 1840s, 1850s, and 1860s. Also included are letters from relatives and friends of deceased Civil War soldiers, sent to Channing while he was stationed as chaplain at the Stanton Hospital in Washington D.C.

The William H. Channing collection is comprised of 34 letters. Many of these were written by William Henry Channing's mother, Susan Channing, who lived in Brattleboro, Vermont. She reported family events and illnesses, expressed her dismay at her son's letter writing habits, and wrote of her concerns for her son and his family. In a letter dated November 8, 1845, she encouraged William to leave a copy of his papers in a safe place and to consider purchasing a life insurance policy, for which she offered to pay. In an 1847 letter, Susan mentioned the publication of the first volume of Channing's memoirs. In later letters, she described her growing interest in politics and in reading newspapers.

An 1843 letter from J.D. Channing to Susan Channing describes the meetings of a new "church of united brethren and Christian friends," organized in New York by William Russell, at which William H. Channing preached. The letter also mentions Ralph Waldo Emerson's attendance at the meeting and his visit afterwards.

During the Civil War, Channing served as the chaplain of Stanton Hospital. There he received five letters from relatives and friends of deceased soldiers thanking Channing for his kind letters.

The William H. Coats papers are made up of incoming correspondence to Coats from his mother and acquaintances, who wrote about life in Connecticut and Michigan during the Civil War, and documents related to his studies at the Connecticut Literary Institution and other aspects of his life.

The William H. Coats papers are made up of incoming correspondence to Coats from his mother and acquaintances, who wrote about life in Connecticut and Michigan during the Civil War, and documents related to his time at the Connecticut Literary Institution and other aspects of his life.

The Correspondence series (24 items) contains letters to Coats from friends and family members. Acquaintances in New York, Connecticut, and Michigan corresponded with Coats throughout the Civil War period, providing updates on their daily lives and, in one case, offering humorous advice on dealing with women (March 20, 1861). Schuyler Grant wrote a letter from Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he attended school, and shared news of mutual acquaintances who had recently graduated from the University of Michigan; he also requested career advice (May 7, 1864). His letter of June 1, 1865, discusses events that followed Confederate troops' surrender and optimism about Reconstruction. The Hines family of Binghamton, New York, wrote to Coats about an employment opportunity that Coats accepted in the summer of 1863. Later items include 4 letters by Abby L. Coats, who wrote to her son about family health and news of North Stonington, Connecticut, and 1 by "Ella," a friend, who congratulated him on his upcoming marriage (March 8, 1868).

The Ephemera and Documents series (5 items) includes a "Notice of Enrollment" informing Coats of his eligibility for military service (July 15, 1864). Other items are a school report from the Connecticut Literary Instutition (March 22, 1859), printed programs, and calling cards for residents of East Saginaw, Michigan.

The collection consists of 26 items, the majority of which are 14 love letters written by Staff Sergeant William H. Davis to his wife, Elnora Benford Davis of Detroit, during his Army service between 1940 and 1944. Other documents include change of address notices, visitation requests, union dues receipts, and an income tax stub. One ration book granted to Elnora Benford Davis contains a partial sheet of ration stamps for "BCN Cooperative." One snapshot photograph shows an unidentified African American woman, possibly Elnora Benford Davis.

The collection consists of 26 items, the majority of which are 14 love letters written by Staff Sergeant William H. Davis to his wife, Elnora Benford Davis of Detroit during his Army service between 1943 and 1945. Other documents include military change of address notices and visitation requests, union dues receipts, and a W-2. One ration book granted to Elnora Benford Davis contains a partial sheet of ration stamps for "BCN Cooperative." One snapshot photograph shows an unidentified African American woman, possibly Elnora Benford Davis.

The first of the letters, dated July 2, 1940, is written to Miss E. Elnora Benford ("Billie") during her visit to relatives in Milledgeville, Georgia, and references a violent encounter with "a white fellow." Subsequent letters written while Davis served abroad include requests for items from home, news of family and friends, and expressions of affection for "Buster." In his last two letters, he questions Elnora's faithfulness and ultimately agrees to end the relationship. The bulk of the letters were sent as V-Mail.