Search

The Russell A. Alger family papers contain personal and professional correspondence of Alger, who served as governor of Michigan (1885-1887), United States Secretary of War (1897-1899), and United States Senator (1902-1907). The collection also includes military correspondence related to the Spanish-American War, materials from a distant branch of the Alger family in Ohio and Missouri, and letters related to United States Representative Bruce Alger's experiences in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

The Russell A. Alger papers contain personal and professional correspondence of Russell Alger, who served as governor of Michigan (1885-1887), United States secretary of war (1897-1899), and United States senator (1902-1907). The collection also includes military correspondence related to the Spanish-American War, materials from a distant branch of the Alger family, and letters related to United States Representative Bruce Alger's experiences in the Army Air Corps during the Second World War.

The Russell A. Alger materials series contains three subseries: Correspondence, Documents, and Scrapbooks. The Russell A. Alger Correspondence subseries is made up of 5 sub-subseries.

The Russell A. Alger incoming correspondence sub-subseries (1842-1919; bulk 1863-1865 and 1885-1907) contains 1.5 linear feet of letters, documents, and other items received by Russell Alger during his lifetime, with a particular focus on his military service in the Civil War, his political activities as a leading Republican Party member in Michigan, and his service and legacy as secretary of war under William McKinley during the Spanish-American War. The earliest letters in the collection are official correspondence from military leaders about the 5th Michigan Cavalry's service from 1862-1865. Several post-war letters concern Russell Alger's reputation, which opponents called into question during his rise to political prominence.

Items from the 1880s and early 1890s include many written by the era's leading Republicans, such as Mark Hanna, James G. Blaine, and Benjamin Harrison, who wrote a series of approximately 20 letters about Russell Alger's presidential campaigns in 1888 and 1892. Much of the later correspondence relates to Alger's service as secretary of war during the Spanish-American War, with letters from military personnel and political figures including J. Pierpont Morgan, Nelson A. Miles, William R. Shafter, Leonard Wood, Theodore Roosevelt, and William McKinley. Roosevelt wrote several letters to Alger during his own military service and during his presidency, regarding various political appointments. Two letters illustrate Roosevelt's hopes that Alger will support the reinstatement of the annual army-navy football match (August 17, 1897) and canal-building efforts in Panama (June 18, 1906). Much of William McKinley's correspondence (61 items) respects Alger's service as secretary of war, and includes the president's official acceptance of Alger's resignation from the cabinet (July 20, 1899). Much of Alger's incoming post-war correspondence pertains to efforts to secure his reputation following the Spanish-American War and to his published book on the conflict.

The Russell A. Alger outgoing correspondence sub-subseries contains items written by Russell A. Alger, including a small amount of Civil War-era correspondence and a larger number of letters written during his later political career. The bulk of the series, written from 1884-1907, represents Alger's tenure as governor of Michigan (1884-1887) and as secretary of war (1897-1899). Of interest is a letter of April 13, 1898, regarding the sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbor and the declaration of war against Spain. Other topics in Alger's letters include a shipment of reindeer from Norway (March 21, 1899), affairs in Alaska, the Panama Canal, and political endorsements for both local and national positions.

The items regarding the tour of officers & soldiers in the election of 1896, & the endorsement of Russell A. Alger as a member of President McKinley's Cabinet sub-subseries contains correspondence about Russell A. Alger and William McKinley's tour throughout Michigan during the presidential campaign of 1896, and about Alger's other efforts in the campaign. Of note is a letter from Senator Jacob H. Gallinger, who wrote to William McKinley, "I express the hope that you may invite General Alger into your official family. He will make a model Secretary of War, and will be a strong and reliable man in the Cabinet" (January 23, 1896).

The Letters and Telegrams from General Miles sub-subseries contains 564 once-bound pages of chronologically ordered copies of official military correspondence exchanged during the Spanish-American War. Army generals Nelson A. Miles and William R. Shafter are the most prominent correspondents in the subseries. They provided updates on the Cuban theater of the war. The series spans the entire calendar year of 1898.

The Russell A. Alger semi-official letters, semi-official orders, and telegrams sub-subseries contains 28 bound volumes of carbon copies dating from Alger's service as secretary of war. The series contains 20 volumes of semi-official letters (March 9, 1897-July 24, 1899), 2 volumes of semi-official orders (June 4, 1898-August 1, 1899), 5 volumes of telegrams (July 9, 1897-August 1, 1899), and one volume of letters relating to the GAR (October 1, 1889-November 28, 1894).

The collection also includes 9 volumes of typed transcripts, including incoming and outgoing correspondence as well as documents and materials related to Alger's military service.

The Russell A. Alger documents subseries contains four sub-subseries.

The Russell A. Alger Civil War service documents sub-subseries includes original and manuscript copies of documents related to Alger's Civil War service record and actions during the conflict. The subseries also contains two postwar documents. One of two postwar documents is a list of Civil War battles in which Alger participated.

The Testimony of General Alger Before the War Investigation Committee is a typed copy of Russell A. Alger's testimony regarding the hygiene of American soldiers and camps during the summer of 1898, given before the Dodge Commission later that year. The testimony includes manuscript annotations.

The Gervasio Unson proclamation and affidavits sub-subseries contains the original Spanish text and a translated English copy of Provisional Secretary Gervasio Unson's proclamation and accusations regarding the treatment of guerillas in the Philippines and the general conduct of American officials in the islands. Several documents appended to the proclamation lend factual support to the various allegations.

The Correspondence and documents regarding Florida, Puerto Rico, and Cuba sub-subseries is made up of the following items: correspondence describing rail systems in Florida in the early 20th century; a report on the island of Puerto Rico made on March 14, 1898; letters related to military supplies during the Spanish-American War; several letters regarding the publication of Washington the Soldier by General Henry B. Carrington, including a printed copy of the book's preface; the typescript of an interview given by Russell A. Alger to Henry Campbell of the Milwaukee Journal, March 24, 1900; a booklet on regulations for import/export officers; and a printed copy of the Cuban census of 1900.

• Alger's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, April-June 1888
• Alger's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination, February-April 1892
• "Presented to General Russell A. Alger by the Citizens of Detroit upon his return to his home. August Second, 1899," July-August 1899
• "Politics: Detroit Newspapers," regarding Alger's campaign for Michigan's vacant Senate seat, August 1902-May 1903
• "Politics: State Papers," pertaining to Alger's campaign for Michigan's vacant Senate seat, August 1902-May 1903
• "In Memoriam Hon. Russell A. Alger," January 1907

The Alger family materials series contains eight subseries.

The Alger family correspondence subseries is divided into the seven sub-subseries: David Bruce Alger correspondence, Bruce Alger correspondence, Clare Fleeman Alger correspondence, Oberlin college correspondence and documents, Richard Edwin ("Eddy") Alger correspondence, Albert W. Alger correspondence, and Miscellaneous Alger family correspondence.

The David Bruce Alger correspondence contains numerous letters from Alger to his parents, Richard Edward Alger and Esther D. Reynolds, about David's time at Oberlin College in the early 20th century; the birth and early childhood of his son, Bruce Reynolds Alger; and about St. Louis, Missouri, in the 1920s, including descriptions of "plucky boy" and celebrated pilot Charles Lindbergh. Incoming correspondence consists of Civil War-era receipts; documents and letters of David Baker Alger; a letter from Russell A. Alger, Jr., to a sibling; a letter from an American soldier serving in France in 1917; several letters from David Bruce Alger's father written in 1943; and a 1975 letter regarding recent physical problems.

David Bruce Alger's Oberlin College correspondence and documents consist of items associated with Oberlin College in the 1910s, including ephemera. Of interest are a program from an Oberlin Glee Club concert (1912), three copies of a pamphlet for the "Eezy Cheezers," and an 1882 promotional thermometer.

The Bruce Alger correspondence consists primarily of Bruce Reynolds Alger's letters to his parents, written during his time in the Army Air Corps in the Second World War. Bruce wrote about his training at Kerry Field, Texas, and in California. In a number of letters from 1945, he described the end of the war as he experienced it in the Pacific theater. The sub-subseries also includes the annotated text of a 1937 chemistry examination from Princeton University, reports of Alger's academic progress at Princeton, and a newspaper article about his football career.

The Clare Fleeman Alger correspondence is made up of correspondence and documents related to David Bruce Alger's wife, Clare Fleeman Alger. In letters to her parents and to other friends and family, Clare described her life as a newlywed and, later, as a new mother. Miscellaneous items in this series include several religious tracts, drafts of poetry and essays, and documents regarding Bruce Reynolds Alger's academic progress at Princeton.

The Richard Edwin ("Eddy") Alger correspondence contains incoming letters, 1885-1921, written by family members to "Eddy" or "Cousin Ed." The group also includes a typed collection of several of his short poems.

In the Albert W. Alger correspondence are a number of letters written to various family members by Albert W. Alger.

The Additional Alger family correspondence, documents, and printed items consists of seven Civil War-era documents by various Alger family members, items related to the St. Louis Writers' Guild, invitations to various weddings and graduation ceremonies, a marriage certificate for Melvin C. Bowman and Mary H. Parcell, and a commemorative stamp from Lundy Island. Of note are two pages of a Civil War-era letter by John H. Houghes, who described a military engagement and the burial of a fallen soldier in the surrounding mountains. The group also contains books, pamphlets, and newspapers. Books include the Student's Reference Work Question Manual and Russell A. Alger's copy of Roswell Smith'sEnglish Grammar on the Productive System . The pamphlets are promotional material for a 1904 World's Fair exhibit, issues of various periodicals belonging to Clare Fleeman Alger (many of which contain her writing), and a copy ofAn Outline History of Richfield Township, 1809-1959 . Other items are newsletters from 1916 and 1921, with contributions by Clare Fleeman Alger; a printed map of the Alger Park neighborhood in Dallas, Texas; a newspaper clipping from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; a program from a piano recital; and scripts for two radio-based language-learning programs (French and German).

The collection includes 40 volumes of Alger family diaries. Six volumes include a book kept by David Bruce Alger and five volumes belonging to Esther Reynolds Alger, written between 1878 and 1881. Among other materials are an early item likely composed by Richard Edwin Alger (1891), a "Note Book for Sunday School Teachers and Workers" probably kept by Esther Reynolds Alger in the late 19th century, and an Esther Reynolds Alger diary from 1900.

The remainder of the series contains material, spanning 1905-1973, that belonged to David Bruce Alger. His early diaries include a "Foxy Grandpa" notebook (1905) and a series of annual daily journals written from 1910 to 1919. Two five-year diaries chronicle 1920-1924 and 1926-1930, followed by single and two-year volumes kept between 1931 and 1937. An uninterrupted series of five-year volumes covers 1938-1975, although his entries taper off around 1973. David Bruce Alger kept his diaries regularly, composing a few lines about the weather and his activities on a near-daily basis.

The Clare Fleeman Alger manuscript submission records are a series of index cards. They are filed alphabetically by poem or essay title. Each record contains the name of a work, the publication to which the manuscript was submitted, and the date. The records pertain to works written in 1917 and from 1931 to 1943. Occasional rejection letters and drafts are interfiled within the subseries.

The Receipts subseries consists of 9 items dating to the 19th century.

In the Documents subseries are manuscript copies of correspondence regarding Alger's Civil War service, made and authorized by the War Department at a later date. The subseries also includes two typed copies of Lieutenant Philip H. Sheridan's "Account of the Battle of Booneville," and two copies of a "Statement of the Military History of Russell A. Alger."

The Photographs subseries contains four photographs. One is a portrait of Russell A. Alger's wife, Annette Henry Alger, labeled "Aunt Nettie."

The Newspapers and clippings subseries contains a small number of short articles, dating primarily in the 1930s. The clippings relate to various members of the Alger family; for example, one item pertains to the death of Russell A. Alger's son, Frederick Moulton Alger, in 1934. The subseries also includes three full size Kansas City, Missouri, newspapers from 1883, 1897, and [1898].

The Allen family papers contain personal correspondence of the family of Northborough, Massachusetts, preacher John Allen. Allen and his sons, Joseph Henry Allen, Thomas Prentiss Allen, and William Francis Allen, often discussed antebellum politics and other matters, including slavery and abolition.

The Allen family papers contain personal correspondence of the family of John Allen, a preacher in Northborough, Massachusetts. He and his sons, Joseph Henry Allen, Thomas Prentiss Allen, and William Francis Allen, often discussed antebellum politics and other matters of intellectual concern, including slavery and abolition.

The Correspondence series (260 items) consists primarily of personal correspondence between family members. Thomas Prentiss Allen composed many of these letters, though his brothers and their sister Elizabeth also contributed. The well-educated Allens discussed a wide range of personal and political topics, and their letters provide a vivid picture of the politically charged antebellum era. They often shared opinions on local and national politics, emphasizing the conflicts over slavery that eventually erupted into secession and Civil War. Notably, Thomas Prentiss Allen expounded at length on Daniel Webster's famous speech urging support of the Compromise of 1850 and offered his own opinions on the political issues involved, including the Wilmot Proviso (March 24, 1850). Other letters of particular interest concern the Free Soil party and the Fugitive Slave Act (December 10, 1850 and January 9, 1851). Elizabeth Allen wrote a majority of the later items in the collection to Joseph Allen, her father, communicating a view of her life on the home front during the Civil War and occasionally mentioning the war and domestic politics.

• Fathers and Children, containing manuscript essays based on Biblical verses (September 1842)
• A Discourse on Occasion of the Death of Hon. John Quincy Adams..., by Joseph Henry Allen (1848)

The Photographs series (2 items) contains two 19th-century portraits printed on thick cards.

The Miscellaneous series (5 items) contains a newspaper clipping regarding the death of William Francis Allen, as well as four manuscripts about various topics.

This collection is made up of correspondence, documents, financial records, newspaper clippings, and other items related to Salem, New York, and its residents, primarily from the 1780s-1890s.

This collection is made up of correspondence, documents, financial records, newspaper clippings, and other items related to Salem, New York, and its residents, primarily from the 1780s-1890s. Many of the items were once bound together.

The Correspondence series is comprised of around 60 incoming and outgoing letters related to Salem, New York, and to the history of the state of New York. Early letters between residents of Salem and other locales concern a wide range of topics including education, political offices and appointments, and legal cases. After 1856, most items are incoming letters to James Gibson, a native of Salem who was state senator, judge, and president of the Washington Academy. Three letters written during the Civil War concern military commissions and officers. Many of Gibson's incoming letters, particularly later items, relate to his genealogical work; some correspondents offered or requested information about their ancestors.

The Documents series contains over 140 indentures, financial records, petitions, and other items, primarily related to residents of Salem, New York, in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many of the indentures concern land ownership in Washington, County, New York, and personal financial agreements. Other material relates to the Washington Academy, including a list of pupils. Legal orders largely concern private debts, and one document pertains to a local election. Some documents have newspaper clippings pasted onto them, and others were once bound together. One item is a diploma that the Washington Academy issued to James McEl. A group of land indentures is housed in a large bound volume.

The collection's Printed Items include articles, programs, and newspaper clippings. The majority of newspaper clippings concern the Washington Academy in Salem, New York. Other articles concern the "Bench and Bar of Washington County," the Bancroft Public Library, and the family of William Williams. Some clippings are pasted onto large sheets of paper, with manuscript annotations; a small number of complete newspapers are present. The series also has several copies of a program from the dedication ceremony of the Bancroft Public Library in July 1890.

The Photograph, Essay, Notes, and Fragments series is made up of items pertaining to Salem, New York. The carte-de-visite photograph depicts J. B. Steele. The various notes, essay, and fragments pertain to genealogy.

This collection contains material related to John W. Echols, who served as supreme president of the American Protective Association in the mid-1890s. Included are letters of recommendation, personal correspondence, a speech draft, printed circulars, and other items.

This collection contains 16 items related to John W. Echols, who served as supreme president of the American Protective Association in the mid-1890s. Included are letters of recommendation, personal correspondence, a speech draft, printed circulars, and other items.

The Correspondence series (10 items) contains 9 letters and 1 telegram. Echols received 2 letters from friends, one of whom shared an anecdote about meeting Henry Ward Beecher, and a telegram from Mark Hanna, chairman of the Republican National Committee. Echols also wrote a draft letter to Cornelius Newton Bliss, Secretary of the Interior, about his desire for Dr. George DuBose to retain his current office. Five letters of recommendation for Echols (all dated November 1890) are addressed to Pennsylvania Governor Robert E. Pattison, concerning Echols's candidacy for the office of state attorney general. The final item in the series is a typed letter that Echols received from James Sargent, in which he shared his wish for an American victory during the Spanish-American War and anticipated the continued success of the American Protective Association (May 9, 1898).

The Speech series (1 item) contains a typewritten draft of a speech by Echols entitled "National Destiny," with manuscript annotations. The speech, which Echols delivered on July 4, 1892, lauds the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers and calls for United States citizens to remain vigilant about protecting their country. The speech includes an excerpt from Joseph Rodman Drake's poem "The American Flag," and concludes with lines from "The Star Spangled Banner."

The Printed Items series (5 items) is comprised of 2 printed American Protective Association (APA) circulars, a copy of the APA Supreme Council's constitution, and 2 newspaper clippings. The circulars, distributed to APA chapters in August and October 1896, discuss the upcoming presidential election, call for the complete separation of church and state within the United States, restate the organization's core principles, and urge voters to check their congressional representatives' voting records. The second circular also discusses Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan. One newspaper clipping relates to United States Senator Patrick Walsh; the other is an obituary for John W. Echols.

The Alfred C. and Cordelia Arnold papers consists of Civil War-era correspondence that provides an intimate glimpse into the relationship of a young Connecticut couple, separated by the war.

The bulk of this collection consists of letters between Alfred “Charlie” Arnold and his wife Cordelia “Delia” Arnold. These letters offer little information on Arnold’s military activities, but do provide a glimpse of an intimate, loving relationship between a husband and wife separated by the war. The letters from Alfred trace his movements from New London, Connecticut, in 1862-1863, to New Haven, Connecticut, in 1864, and to Baltimore, Maryland, and City Point (now Hopewell), Virginia in 1865. They discuss family and friends, money issues, weather and health, and their feelings for one another.

Letters to the Arnolds from friends and family include one from Francis E. Arnold to her daughter-in-law; one from Delia's father to Alfred, and letters from Sister Jenny and their close friend Eliza.

The Semantha Atkeson papers consist of three antebellum letters of a Buffalo, Virginia (now West Virginia), teenager. The fourth item is a journal excerpt describing in detail Atkeson's experiences during the opening stages of the Civil War, and the last item is a school essay written by Atkeson.

In the collection's three letters, each one page long, Semantha Atkeson corresponded with cousins and acquaintances about daily life in antebellum Buffalo, Virginia. In her letter of August [1856], written to a cousin, Semantha discussed the teachers at her school and related the burning of her Uncle Crawford's house, as well as her grandmother's close brush with death: "…it got set afire by granmother's pipe she let a coal drop on the bed in her room there…but she did not know it till she heard the ceiling crack…and when she seen the fire she was so bad scared that she could not holloar [sic]." Semantha shared further details of her studies, which she generally enjoyed, in a short letter to Mary Pattin (March [1859]). In the third, and final, letter in the collection, dated October 27, 1860, Semantha listed and described five 1859 deaths "in our family," including two "little negro boy[s]" and "old aunt Nanny…an old negro woman who had been helpless as a child for 2 years." Semantha also provided a detailed account of the illness and death of a brother, who died of an "inflammation of the brain."

The collection also contains 8 pages from Semantha's journal, written in October and November 1861, in which she recounted her experiences during the beginning stages of the Civil War. The Atkeson family staunchly supported of the Confederacy, and Semantha's writing vividly reflected their political opinions. Semantha often mocked Union soldiers and twice wrote about taunting them by cheering for Jefferson Davis. She also witnessed a gathering of hundreds of troops for the Confederate cause, and was subject to a Union search of her family's home. Her acquaintance Mary Pattin assisted in nursing wounded soldiers during this time, and Semantha wrote about Mary's experience with two soldiers who, despite both being seriously wounded, "still continued to fight they talked and argued, until they become so excited, that they were injuring their health."

Additionally, the collection holds a school essay entitled "The Bear," written by Atkeson for an assignment and received as "very good" by an instructor.

The Philip Bacon papers contain the incoming and outgoing correspondence of Philip Bacon, who served in the 1st and 12th Connecticut infantry regiments during the Civil War. Bacon discussed Civil War-era New Orleans and the difficulties of running a Louisiana plantation during the latter part of the war.

The Philip Bacon papers contain both incoming and outgoing correspondence of Bacon. The collection contains a total of 50 letters, primarily written By Philip Bacon to his father, Richard Bacon; of his letters, he wrote six during his Civil War service, and received nine from various friends from Connecticut. In his letters to family and friends, he described the city of New Orleans shortly after its surrender and gave his opinions on the conduct of the war. On September 17, 1862, he wrote his father, "Mr. Lincoln is to [sic] slow, and at the rate we are now going on it will take twenty years to finish the war. Things look very bad to my mind so far." As the war progressed, Bacon showed a deep interest in the affairs of freedmen, and became an outspoken abolitionist. After he left the service, he focused on his two plantations in Louisiana, especially concerning his need for various farm implements and his initial difficulties growing sugar cane and cotton. Bacon became increasingly involved with the plight of local African Americans, and described their general education (January 12, 1864) and the establishment of various schools for freedmen (April 17, 1864). Other writers include eight of Bacon's Connecticut acquaintances, who discussed politics, a lawsuit (January 21, 1867), and farming.

This collection consists of 41 letters between members of the Beattie family of Salem, New York, including 24 letters that John C. Beattie sent to his wife while working at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, New York, during the Civil War.

This collection consists of 41 letters between members of the Beattie family of Salem, New York, including 24 letters that John C. Beattie sent to his wife while working at Clinton Prison in Dannemora, New York, during the Civil War.

John Beattie's letters home pertain to his daily experiences at Clinton Prison, and he reported on prisoners and conditions within the institution. He reported news of his sons, both members of the Union Army, and occasionally commented on current events, such as his wish that John Wilkes Booth had been hanged or burned at the stake rather than shot (April 27, 1865). In a letter to his sister Martha, Robert Beattie mentioned his enlistment in the "Salem Company" and his preference for enlistment over the draft (August 3, 1862). The remaining correspondence is made up of letters by members of the extended Beattie family and the family's acquaintances.

The Beatty family papers consist of correspondence and diaries that document a Pennsylvanian family's activities from May 20, 1831, to June 1, 1886. Included is a set of diaries from Mary Assheton Beatty, a short diary from her son, Joseph Henry Beatty, and letters addressed to Joseph Henry concerning the family and his activities in business and service in the Civil War.

The Beatty papers date from May 20, 1831, to June 1, 1886, with the bulk falling between February 2, 1855, and November 18, 1878. The papers touch on subjects such as the Tuscarora Academy, Steubenville Female Seminary, child rearing, homemaking, everyday life, education, and religion.

The correspondence is almost exclusively addressed to Joseph Henry Beatty (J. Henry or Henry) though a few are addressed to his parents and to his brother Reading. Joseph Henry received letters from his brother-in-law George Curwen, and letters to and from various family members relating news, giving advice, and asking questions about his schooling, his work in oil well management, his service in the Civil War, and farming. The letters also give substantial information about Joseph Henry's sister, Fanny, and her husband, Robert Holmes. A letter from George F.Curwen to J. Henry Beatty, January 12, 1861, contains a rough sketch of the layout of a plot of land [Bucks or Montgomery County?].

The diaries series consists of two sets of diaries: one written by J. Henry's mother, Mary A. Beatty, dated 1850-1854, and a 16-page diary written by J. Henry Beatty in 1855 while in boarding school. Mary's diaries detail the family's daily life as well as their experiences with education, marriage, childbirth, employment, and travel.

The miscellaneous items include several pages from The Press, a Philadelphia newspaper, regarding the oil industry in Northern Pennsylvania, a Calling card for Mr. and Mrs. Conrad Wiegand, and empty envelopes.

This collection contains one receipt, two letters to Philadelphian Emma M. Biddle from her husband Charles J. Biddle, one to Emma from her niece Agnes, and one from Ann S. Biddle to Charles Biddle, all dating between 1861 and 1862. The letters from Charles Biddle provide news about his life with the U.S. Army at Camp Pierpont, Virginia, and as a senator in Washington, D.C. The letter from Agnes is a request for Emma to pick up photographs from the McClees studio. Ann Biddle recommended an acquaintance to Charles for a military appointment. One additional item is a receipt for a payment made by Emma Biddle to a Philadelphia hoop skirt maker.

This collection contains one receipt, two letters to Emma M. Biddle from her husband Charles J. Biddle, one to Emma from her niece Agnes, and one from Ann S. Biddle to Charles Biddle, all dating between 1861 and 1862. The letters from Charles Biddle provide news about his life with the U.S. Army at Camp Pierpont, Virginia, and as a senator in Washington, D.C. The letter from Agnes is a request for Emma to pick up photographs from the McClees studio. Ann Biddle recommended an acquaintance to Charles for a military appointment. One additional item is a receipt for a payment made by Emma Biddle to a Philadelphia hoop skirt maker.

Please see the box and folder listing below for details about each item.