Collections

This collection is made up of personal letters addressed to the family of Frances Godown of Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana. The bulk of the correspondence is letters from Frances Godown and her daughter, Charlotte Godown Kelley, to Frances's other daughter, Mary Godown McLaughlin, and granddaughter, "Katsey" McLaughlin.

This collection is made up of 106 personal letters addressed to the family of Frances Godown of Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana. The first two items are letters that Frances received from a friend in Lowell, Massachusetts, who discussed the influx of foreign mill workers (May 22, 1881) and from her mother, who shared recipes ([October 28, 1892]).

The remaining items largely consist of letters to Mary Godown McLaughlin and her daughter "Katsey." Mary received 3 postcards from her husband Harry during his trip to New Mexico and California in October 1915. Her most frequent correspondents were her mother, Frances Godown, and sister, Charlotte Godown Kelley, both of Indianapolis. Godown frequently offered advice to her daughter and granddaughter, and usually reported news of family members and friends (often related to illnesses and deaths). She occasionally discussed her religious beliefs, particularly near the end of her life. She also remarked on politics, especially around the time of the 1932 presidential election. Kelley's letters refer to the difficulties she faced while caring for her ailing mother, who suffered from physical and mental deterioration, and coping with her husband's prolonged unemployment in the early years of the Great Depression. In her final letters, written in 1936, she described the grieving process following her mother's death. A small number of items were sent with newspaper clippings, usually obituaries, enclosed. The final item is a postcard that Mary Godown McLaughlin received from an acquaintance in 1946.

This collection contains correspondence between William H. Hipple of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company and the Goheen family of Geneseo, New York, following Edward L. Goheen's death in a railroad accident. The letters reflect the ongoing friendship between Hipple and the Goheens after their mutual bereavement. Also included are two additional letters to Patience Doty Goheen, Edward's mother; a newspaper clipping about Edward's death; and a broadside advertisement for a railroad ticket agent.

This collection holds 19 items related to the Goheen family of Geneseo, New York. William H. Hipple, an employee of the Texas & Pacific Railway Company, wrote 10 letters to members of the Goheen family between March and June 1874, following the death of fellow railroad employee Edward L. Goheen, as well as 1 in April 1882. Mrs. H. H. Richardson, a family friend from Chicago, Illinois, wrote 2 letters to Patience Doty, Edward's mother; Edward Goheen wrote a letter to his brother Charles A.; and [Myrtie] Culver of Marshall, Texas, wrote 2 letters to Fannie Goheen. Remaining items include 2 financial records related to the late Edward L. Goheen, a newspaper clipping with an account of Edward’s fatal accident, and a broadside advertisement.

The bulk of the collection consists of William H. Hipple's letters to the Goheen family following Edward L. Goheen's death in a railroad accident on March 24, 1874. Hipple, who worked with Edward Goheen at the Texas & Pacific Railway Company in Marshall, Texas, first provided his condolences in a two-page fragment dated March 25, 1874, and continued to correspond regularly with the Goheen family until June 1874. In his first letters, William described his affection for Edward, provided a detailed account of the accident and of Edward's burial, and discussed some of Edward financial affairs. Throughout the following months, Hipple continued to grieve with the family, and occasionally mentioned the possibility of meeting with them while visiting his own family in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He also shared some of his impressions of Texas and of local people, whom he viewed as immoral, and many letters reflect his strong religious views. In his last letter, dated April 13, 1881, he told Mrs. Goheen about the recent death of his father.

Mrs. H. H. Richardson wrote 2 condolence letters to Patience Doty Goheen on January 6, 1874, and April 6, 1874, describing her recent move to Chicago, Illinois, and providing condolences for recent losses, including the death of Edward L. Goheen. Edward had known the Richardson family prior to moving to Texas. Also included are two financial records documenting Edward's finances in the spring of 1874, as well as a letter to Fannie Goheen from [Myrtie] A. Culver, a student at Bishop Baptist College in Marshall, Texas, who wrote of a recent visit to Edward L. Goheen's grave (January 1, 1882). Culver also related that the Goheens' lawyer said they "ought to have received damages," but the railroad company had the best chances of winning a lawsuit.

The remaining two items include a newspaper clipping from an unidentified publication, printed in March or April 1874, which contains an account of Edward L. Goheen's death, and a broadside advertisement for George Babcock, a railway ticket agent. Babcock offered his services to emigrants and others who wanted to move to the western or southern states, claiming the ability to secure the cheapest tickets. On the reverse side of the broadside is a railroad map of much of the continental United States, excluding areas west of New Mexico and Nebraska.

This collection consists of 18 items related to Golden J. Wallis of the United States Navy and his wife Roberta, natives of Memphis, Tennessee. Wallis wrote 10 love letters and 1 telegram to his wife while serving onboard the USS Missouri in 1944 and 1945, and they received 4 additional letters and telegrams from friends and family. Other items are an invitation, a church program, and an unidentified wedding photograph.

This collection consists of 12 letters, 3 telegrams, 2 printed items, and 1 photograph related to Golden J. Wallis ("Goldie") and his wife Roberta, natives of Memphis, Tennessee. Golden Wallis wrote 10 love letters and 1 telegram to his wife while serving onboard the USS Missouri in 1944 and 1945, and the Wallises received 4 additional letters and telegrams from friends and family. Other items are an invitation, a church program, and an unidentified wedding photograph.

In his letters to his wife, Goldie Wallis commented on their separation and expressed his love for her; he also discussed their financial situation, including his attempts to secure her an apartment in New York City. Wallis mentioned traveling to Pacific islands and shared his relief after censorship regulations eased in September 1945. His telegram to Roberta of November 28, 1944, concerns his 3-week leave in San Francisco, California. Roberta Wallis also received 2 birthday telegrams (undated). Golden Wallis's sister, Faye Wallis, wrote 1 letter (undated), as did Billy Burk, an acquaintance who taught school in Clarksdale, Mississippi (April 7, 1943).

The collection also contains a printed invitation requesting Roberta Wallis's attendance at the Missouri's commissioning ceremony on June 11, 1944; a program for a church service held onboard the Missouri on March 25, 1945; and an undated photograph.

The Goodman-Vent papers contain letters and writings from the families of Thomas Goodman and Charles Frederick Vent, two prominent 19th century Chicago and Cincinnati businessmen. Of note are detailed eyewitness accounts the great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The Goodman-Vent papers (1,333 items) contain letters and writings from the families of Thomas Goodman and Charles Frederick Vent, two prominent 19th-century Chicago businessmen. The collection consists of 1,285 letters, a diary, an account book, 4 poems, 5 genealogical items, 33 printed items, 4 maps, and a lock of hair. Of note are detailed eyewitness accounts the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The Correspondence series (1,285 items), 1837 to 1896, centers on business, family, and social lives of Charles Frederick Vent, Thomas Goodman, and their families. Other families represented are the Chickerings and the Saxons.

The earliest letters were addressed to Vent from his family and friends during the time when he was a teacher in Massachusetts (1837), as well as his ventures in Jacksonville, Illinois (1838), Boston, Massachusetts (1842), Dartmouth, New Hampshire (1848), and Pittsfield, New Hampshire (1849). Of interest are several letters from his maternal grandfather, Jonas Chickering, the noted piano-maker, who paid for his education. In the 1850s, while Vent was working as an Ohio salesman, most of his letters were from salesmen working under him; these offer a view into everyday life in small towns in the Midwest.

From the 1860s through the end of the collection, the letters are largely to and from the Goodman and Vent families and their many well-known and influential friends. Charles Vent and Thomas Goodman discussed a wide range of subjects, including personal and family affairs; business dealings; city, state, and national politics; the Civil War; and social and religious topics. In one instance, Goodman wrote to Vent: "A collection of your letters and mine would form a pretty fair history of the family" (December 3, 1871). While not necessarily comprehensive, these items also document many aspects of Chicago and Cincinnati society during the last half of the 19th century.

The Civil War era letters contain items from both the front lines and the home front. Highlights include a gloomy eyewitness account of First Bull Run, in which friend John Hirshorne reprimanded Union soldiers for being too confident (July 24, 1861). Vent was involved in raising a brigade called the Teachers Home Guard, made up largely of teachers in Cincinnati, that was formed to fend off any potential attacks on Cincinnati. In one letter he described purchasing arms for the regiment from Colt and Justice and Ketteridge (June 1861).

Of particular note are letters that describe the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Hannah Goodman started to write one letter shortly after the fire began to spread, and provided a minute by minute account of the inferno as it blazed from the west bank of the river toward the downtown area. The family wrote updates throughout the night and for several days after the fire; these provide a detailed record of the destruction. Later letters document the families' personal struggles (tensions within the family, the death of Vent's 14-year-old daughter in 1877) and economic hardships.

• 7 letters from Vent’s schoolmate James Emerson, a noted abolitionist, who described the conditions of blacks in the South (March 18, 1855, January 13, 1856, December 21, 1856, January 27, 1858, March 16, 1860, March 1, 1866, and undated).
• Mentions of the first African Americans to be baptized in the family’s church (February 11 and October 28, 1866).

• May 30, 1861: an engraving of the Colt factory
• June 28, 1861: a letterhead engraving of the Charles Cammell and Co. Cyclops Steel Works, in Sheffield, England
• March 20, 1862: a lithograph letterhead of a riverscape in Peoria, Illinois
• 1871: a map of the "burnt district" in Chicago, Hannah Goodman to Emily Goodman Vent and Charles Vent
• Undated: a picture of a Young Ladies' Collegiate Institute and Seminary in Monroe City, Michigan

The Diary and Account Book series contains a tiny diary from March 1-19, 1877, documenting the child Kitty Vent's sickness and death. The 35-page account book documents daily cash expenses for supplies and serives but is undated and unattributed.

The Poetry series (4 items) consists of a poem from Thomas Goodman to his wife on her birthday (1890); a 20-page poetry book written by Elizabeth "Eliza" Fisher Vent of Dedham, Massachusetts, who was the grandmother of Charles Vent; a poem entitled "Going Forward"; and a poem by Annie Goodman entitled "Secrets."

The Genealogy series (5 items) contains a bound journal (51 pages, 20 blank pages) copied by Thomas Goodman Vent in 1920 from a manuscript created by Josiah Boutelle Chickering, Sarah Maria Brown Chickering, and her son Clifford Cummings Chickering. This documents the Chickering, Boutelle, Brown, Lovering, Wheeler, Vent, and Goodman families as early as 1576, with more thorough family records starting in the 19th century.

• A printed Memoranda of Anniversaries, labeled "PRIVATE," containing birth and death information of the Goodman and Vent families (1884)
• A one-page memorandum of birth and death dates for the Goodman family
• A copy of a grave marker for Mary Wright
• A 21-page genealogy of the Fisher family created by Elizabeth Fisher Vent and her daughter-in-law Melinda Chickering Vent

• Speeches Delivered at the Eighteenth Ward Republican Festival In Commemoration of the Birth of Washington (February 22, 1860)
• Items celebrating the 50th anniversary of Thomas and Hannah Goodman including a 23page printed booklet (1888)
• A 16-page printed booklet celebrating Thomas Goodman's 75th birthday
• A two-page printed "Tribute to the Memory of Rev. William Goodman" (1918)
• Education material including teaching certificates and report cards
• Fifteen newspaper clippings, including items related to Ida Saxton McKinley, wife of President McKinley
• Maps of Spring Grove and Graceland cemeteries

The Realia series contains a lock of hair (unidentified).

The Gordon-Kyle family papers contain the letters of two prominent Franklin County Pennsylvania families. The bulk of the collection centers around Reverend Jeremiah Smith Gordon, his wife, Margaret Beatty Kyle Gordon, and her brother John Beatty Kyle.

The Gordon-Kyle family papers consist of 245 letters, 8 legal documents, and 4 receipts. The letters concern family life, Pennsylvania social life, church news, preaching and religious matters, education at Princeton and Mt Holyoke Female Seminary, and travel and relatives moving out of state.

The Jeremiah Smith Gordon Correspondence subseries contains approximately 140 letters sent to Gordon. He received letters from his father, Alexander; his siblings Martha J., Mattie, David, and Humphrey Fullerton; his cousins Maggie Waddell, Sade Waddell, and Marion Gordon; his aunt, Kiziah Gordon, and various friends and colleagues. These contain basic family updates regarding births, marriages, travel, education, sicknesses (mumps, chicken pox, cholera, scarlet fever, etc.), and deaths. The Maggie Waddell subseries contains 11 items addressed to Waddell, the cousin of Jeremiah Smith Gordon.

Occasionally, the family discusses anti-slavery issues. For example, Gordon's Father, Alexander, wrote "I still hope there is Christianity enough in our Country yet to save the ship of state from turning pirate or robber by reviving the slave trade" (October 24, 1856. Also of interest is an undated letter reporting on a meeting in Hagerstown where a slave was "dressed in a fine suit of uniform representing general Scott. Several of their men was so much disgusted they left their ranks and came out for Scott" (from A. Gordon, undated).

The early letters in the Kyle Correspondence subseries are addressed to Susan Kyle of Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania, from 1801-1820, and included one letter from her sister-in-law Anny Waugh, 4 letters from brother John Coulter, and one from friend John Hutchison. Also from this time are three business letters to John Kyle of Baltimore (1807-1811). The bulk of the subseries consists of letters to and from John B. Kyle and Margaret "Peggy" Beatty Kyle Gordon, including six letters from John Kyle to his mother and sister (1848-1852), five items from Glenn in Fannettsburg to "Peg" Margaret Beatty (1855-1857), and several undated letters to Margaret from an F. Boggs. The eight business papers (1856-1864) document loans, debts, and an estate inventory officiated by John B. Kyle.

The Unattributed Correspondence and Receipts series consists of 4 receipts and 5 letters to unknown recipients.

This collection is primarily made up of correspondence between and addressed to members of the Gough family of Gort, Ireland, including George Stephens Gough; his wife, Jane Arbuthnot; and their children, Hugh, George, Rodolph, and Eleanor ("Nora"). The Gough family directly descended from Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough. Most of the letters pertain to the education and military career of the younger George Gough. The collection also includes a travel diary, documents, financial records, and notes.

This collection is primarily made up of correspondence between and addressed to members of the Gough family of Gort, Ireland, including George Stephens Gough; his wife, Jane Arbuthnot; and their children, Hugh, George, Rodolph, and Eleanor ("Nora").

The Correspondence series (740 items) largely consists of incoming personal letters addressed to Jane Gough, Viscountess Gough, and her son George. George Gough frequently wrote to his parents (most often his mother) throughout the 1860s, describing aspects of his education at Woodcote House in Henley-on-Thames, England; Eton College; and the University of Cambridge. He also commented on family news and his desire to join the military. George's later letters, written from the 1870s-1890s, concern his career with the British Army, which included service in England, India, and Africa; some of his letters from 1881 refer to political relations around the time of the First Boer War. He also wrote letters from Dresden, Germany, and from Switzerland.

Jane Gough received additional letters from acquaintances, including a group of letters expressing sympathy after George was wounded at the Battle of Abu Klea in January 1885. George Gough received letters from his siblings Hugh, Rodolph, and Nora, and from school friends and other acquaintances. One frequent correspondent, "Hubie," wrote throughout the 1860s, telling Gough about his experiences at Eton College and University College, Oxford.

The Diary (147 pages) recounts George Hugh Gough's travels in Canada and the United States during the fall of 1888. The volume covers the entirety of the trip up to Gough's return departure for Ireland, including ocean travel between Ireland and North America and railroad travel throughout Canada and the United States. Gough's entries regard daily activities, the scenery, historical context about places visited, and current events (such as the United States presidential election of 1888). The first page contains a list of visited locations and the distances between them. The final four pages contain a list of expenses incurred between September 28, 1888-November 15, 1888. A menu for passengers on the "'Allen' Line" of "Royal Mail Steamers" is pinned into the volume.

• Québec, Québec
• Montréal, Québec
• Ottawa, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• North Bay, Ontario
• Vancouver, British Columbia
• Victoria, British Columbia
• Portland, Oregon
• San Francisco, California
• Yosemite Region, California
• Ogden, Utah
• Denver, Colorado
• Chicago, Illinois
• New York City, New York

The Documents series (11 items) contains military appointments for Hugh Gough (March 15, 1843, and May 1, 1861) and George Stephens Gough (January 5, 1849), a document authorizing the recipient to raise a number of men for a military regiment (November 5, 1804), and 7 accounts for purchases made by G. V. H. Gough in March 1914. Gough paid for automobile repairs, shoe repairs, medical supplies, and food.

The Photographs series (11 items) includes nine black-and-white prints showing soldiers at leisure, soldiers with horses, and a military encampment. The remaining items are a carte-de-visite portrait of an unidentified boy and an informal outdoor picture of a boy with a dog.

The Writings, Lists, and Genealogy series is made up of 12 items. Writings include a small notebook containing French poetry, a sheet containing limericks and drawings, and an item titled "Liber secundus." Extracts and notes pertain to a House of Lords commission respecting forfeited Irish estates around the turn of the 18th century, to an "Index to the "Prerogative Wills of Ireland," and to a poem entitled "The Migration of the Sons of Umor." Lists include a "Catalogue of a Collection of Minerals and Geological Specimens arranged and sold by J. Tennant" in London, a list of clothing belonging to a member of the Gough family, a list of men involved in a cricket match, and a list of words made for an unidentified purpose. A family tree traces the descendants of Hugh Gough, great-grandfather of Hugh Gough, first Viscount Gough. One group of papers was intended to be used to record purchases in February 1862, though it contains only a heading.

Two items in the Printed Items series (11 items) pertain directly to Viscount Hugh Gough: a poem addressed to Gough and his wife during their visit to Bath on April 1, 1850, and a document regarding the construction of a memorial to Gough following his death (May 21, 1869). Other items include a "Map of the Northern Uaso Nyiro" (1914), three scorecards from cricket matches held at Lord's Cricket Ground in 1868 and 1780, and newspaper clippings pertaining to wineglasses, a funeral, and the Franco-Prussian War. The collection includes two books: a pocket-sized Book of Common Prayer that belonged to George Gough (1872) and a Catalogue of Pictures at Basildon Park, Berkshire (1910).

The Personal Stationery and Family Crests series (62 items) includes a drawing of a jester and numerous drawings and crests, most cut out of personal stationery belonging to a variety of individuals and families.

This collection is made up of incoming letters to Governeur J. Tompkins of Salt Point and Clinton, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Doty Tompkins, from friends and family members in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.

This collection is made up of approximately 190 incoming letters to Governeur J. Tompkins of Salt Point and Clinton, New York, and to his wife, Elizabeth Doty Tompkins, from friends and family members in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, and Tennessee.

Governeur Tompkins corresponded with male and female family and friends throughout the Midwest. George H. Gillins, an acquaintance, wrote around 20 letters from Prophetstown, Lombard, and Oak Park, Illinois, from 1874-1876. He commented on his work digging wells, political issues and the election of 1874, and Illinois agriculture. In his letter of April 4, 1875, he mentioned his attendance at a show featuring African-American performers. Tompkins received additional letters from his cousin, Ida Ostrom, who provided news from Paxton, Illinois, and Chicago, Illinois, where she lived around 1875.

Much of Tompkins's incoming correspondence consists of letters from two female pen-pals, Minnie Ramsay of Home, Tennessee, and Flora Belle Pearsall of Ypsilanti, Michigan. Ramsay first wrote in response to his request for a female correspondent (February 1875) and she later wrote with a flirtatious tone. Her letter of August 2, 1875, contains a secondhand account of the death of President Andrew Johnson. Both Ramsay and Pearsall discussed courtship, education, temperance, their social lives, and differences between the North and South. Pearsall mentioned the death of General George Custer in her letter of July 12, 1876, and frequently referred to religious topics and conversions. Both Ramsay and Pearsall ceased to write in 1880, shortly after Governeur Tompkins married Elizabeth W. Doty.

After 1880, Governeur Tompkins received letters from various members of the Doty family, including H. A. Doty, one of Elizabeth's parents. Most of the Dotys' correspondence pertains to family news from Kansas and Missouri; one letter includes a description of a lynching (April 4 ,1882).

Writer, lecturer, poet, and playwright Grace Adele Pierce compiled this stab-stitched volume of newspaper and other serial cuttings, autographs, manuscript texts, portraits, and drawings around 1890-1894 while she lived at home with her parents in Randolph, New York. The newspaper/serial clippings include announcements for Pierce's lectures, talks, and readings, as well as printed portraits of women writers and original poetry. Two drawings include a sailboat with very finely drawn seaweed; and a pencil portrait of Grace Pierce at her desk, reading a book (by Helen A. Winsoe). Several clipped autographs include those of Jane Mead Welch, Christine Terhune Herrick, and J. Ellen Foster. Pierce also pasted in a handwritten list of books by writer Margaret E. Sangster, titled "Best in my judgement."

Writer, lecturer, poet, and playwright Grace Adele Pierce compiled this stab-stitched volume of newspaper and other serial cuttings, autographs, manuscript texts, portraits, and drawings around 1890-1894 while Pierce lived at home with her parents in Randolph, New York. The newspaper/serial clippings include announcements for Pierce's lectures, talks, and readings, as well as portraits of women writers and original poetry. Two drawings include a sailboat with very fine seaweed; and a pencil portrait of Grace Pierce at her desk, reading a book (by Helen A. Winsoe). Several clipped autographs include those of Jane Mead Welch, Christine Terhune Herrick, and J. Ellen Foster. Pierce also pasted in a handwritten list of books by writer Margaret E. Sangster, titled "Best in my judgement."

The volume includes one pasted-in autograph letter signed by J. E. Croly, editor of The Home-Maker monthly journal, respecting a submission by Pierce (December 11, 1890).

The Grace Chandler Footlight Club scrapbook contains correspondence, photographs, plays, and ephemera related to the club's activities in the mid- to late 1890s. The amateur theatrical company performed in Eliot Hall, a theater in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts.

The Grace Chandler Footlight Club scrapbook contains around 45 pages of correspondence, photographs, plays, and ephemera pertaining to the club's activities in the late 19th century. Most items are dated between 1894, when Chandler joined, and 1898.

Chandler collected numerous programs from the Footlight Club's many performances, including several in which she participated as a member of the cast and a few that served as charity events for a convalescent home and other causes; tickets for performances and dress rehearsals are also included. Chandler received official correspondence regarding her membership and directors' reports, as well as manuscript letters congratulating her for recent performances; most are still in their original envelopes. Of particular interest is a letter from Horace Vale to "Miss Verrinder" calling off their engagement after hearing rumors of her "desperate flirtation" with another man (postmarked March 20, 1895). The album includes 7 photographs of sets on a stage. Other items include newspaper clippings, printed copies of plays, an advertisement, a dried rose, and copies of the Footlight Club's constitution as amended in December 1888 and January 1895.

The Grace D. Banker collection contains letters, photographs, and newspaper clippings written by or relating to Grace D. Banker, a telephone operator who served during World War I as part of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe with the American Expeditionary Forces.

Banker sent two letters to Georgette Poulard, an American immigrant of French origin. On April 8, 1918, in French, Grace Banker informed her friend that she did not see any submarines on the voyage to France, described her appreciation for the French countryside, and gardens, and assured her that she did not carry a revolver as she was not in danger. On September 10, 1918, Banker wrote about the news of her father's death, the picturesque quality of her surroundings, and her current lodgings in a French home. Accompanying the letters are three empty envelopes addressed to Poulard, one containing a newspaper clipping about Banker's decoration and some plant material in a small envelope labelled "My Four and Five and six/leaf clovers/Georgette/Poulard."

The collection includes a silver gelatin portrait photograph of Grace Banker in uniform, mounted in a separated trifold photo mat. A contemporary newspaper clipping, "First Passaic Girl to join the Army," includes a newsprint reproduction of the portrait; it is pasted on the damaged mat.