Manuscripts
Melcena White Knauer letters to Authee Ann White Spilman
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Mary K. Browne letter to Sherman Day Thacher
Manuscripts
Browne writes that she appreciates Thacher's approving attitude on her decision to go professional. She writes that she saw him at the Davis Cup matches but didn't bring herself to his attention because she did not know yet how he felt about her decision. She is now sorry that they didn't speak. On the topic of a playing in Ojai, she feels it's out of the question do to a full schedule. She mentions that Mr. Pyle [Charles C. (Cash and Carry) Pyle] plans to play at the Coliseum in Los Angeles, but she will refer this letter to him so he can answer direct. She goes on to write that for sentimental reasons, she would love to play in Ojai where she feels so much at home "and in the one place in America I feel that young tennis has had the most encouragement." She writes that if the tour she is one were not financial in nature she might have been able to play in Ojai. She hopes that Pyle sees his way clear to let them play. Letter is written on Vanderbilt Hotel, New York stationery.
mssHM 52275
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Connelley, Janet Anne letters
Manuscripts
The Ford and Connelley family correspondence consists of letters primarily addressed to Jerome Chester Ford and his wife, Minnie Belle Ford. The letters from Ford's son, Clinton Ireton Brainerd, mostly concern his finances. In a letter dated February 28, 1938, Clinton's wife writes "I have blamed myself a thousand times over, not that I should have been so insistant [sic] about getting out of the stock market but I have been so late in doing it...However, I am convinced of one thing that something in human nature that makes you hang on when you are apparently making money to try and make a little more is hard to overcome." The letters from Margaret Jean and Janet Anne Connelley are addressed to relatives, primarily thanking them for cards and gifts received. Note: Margaret Jean is often referred to as "Peggy." Connelley's wife, Margaret, writes lengthy letters updating her parents on family and social life. The bulk of Connelley's letters are written from the United States Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he teaches. In one letter, Connelley admits "I suppose I will stay here at the Naval Academ about a year and somebody has be here, but I feel funny not to be at sea fighting instead of being here teaching" (March 17, 1942). There are also several letters written on the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Connelley blissfully writes "The wind is constant and the weather is perfect- a light blanket feels good at night. The white caps on the water are so very white against the blue of the water, it really is an intoxicating sight-diamonds against sapphires" (February 22, 1939). Additonal letters found in the collection are from other relatives.
mssFordConnelleycorrespondence
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Ella P. Starkweather letter to "Mrs. Dwight and Family,"
Manuscripts
This letter was written by Ella P. Starkweather, a school teacher, living in the town of Bridgewater, now part of South Dakota. Starkweather describes her experiences in Dakota Territory to her friends back home. To her surprise, she likes the school where she is teaching. There are new series of books, a school room that is large and pleasantly furnished. She writes that some of her students could benefit from a lesson on cleanliness: "...a few would be rendered much more attractive by a vigorous application of soap suds..." Regarding life on the frontier, she writes: "You may imagine the people here are sick of the country, and I can hardly give you an idea how happy and contented they all seem to be. They say the most scant time for provisions they have known is since I came and I know of no one suffering." She also touches upon the weather and the farmers. "The country looks lovely, farmers who had seed here and sown find everything encouraging." Near the end of the letter, she describes her layover in Sheldon, Iowa for five days and her amusement regarding a car half-filled with Bohemian immigrants.
mssHM 80839
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Connelley, Janet Anne and Margaret [Peggy] Jean Connelley letters
Manuscripts
The Ford and Connelley family correspondence consists of letters primarily addressed to Jerome Chester Ford and his wife, Minnie Belle Ford. The letters from Ford's son, Clinton Ireton Brainerd, mostly concern his finances. In a letter dated February 28, 1938, Clinton's wife writes "I have blamed myself a thousand times over, not that I should have been so insistant [sic] about getting out of the stock market but I have been so late in doing it...However, I am convinced of one thing that something in human nature that makes you hang on when you are apparently making money to try and make a little more is hard to overcome." The letters from Margaret Jean and Janet Anne Connelley are addressed to relatives, primarily thanking them for cards and gifts received. Note: Margaret Jean is often referred to as "Peggy." Connelley's wife, Margaret, writes lengthy letters updating her parents on family and social life. The bulk of Connelley's letters are written from the United States Navy Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, where he teaches. In one letter, Connelley admits "I suppose I will stay here at the Naval Academ about a year and somebody has be here, but I feel funny not to be at sea fighting instead of being here teaching" (March 17, 1942). There are also several letters written on the USS Indianapolis (CA-35). Connelley blissfully writes "The wind is constant and the weather is perfect- a light blanket feels good at night. The white caps on the water are so very white against the blue of the water, it really is an intoxicating sight-diamonds against sapphires" (February 22, 1939). Additonal letters found in the collection are from other relatives.
mssFordConnelleycorrespondence
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Ella Middleton Shute letters to Louie Earle Williams
Manuscripts
Series of letters from Ella Shute to her friend Louie Earle Williams, written when Ella was living in Wheatfields, Arizona, "12 miles from the mines" (she asks Louie to direct her letters to Globe City). Ella writes of her family life, their many illnesses ("every one here seems like dead people," she wrote in 1876) since moving "to the mines," and the cost of goods. She also writes of her son Walter (whom she refers to as Charles Clifton until 1878), including an incident where he was run over by a wagon wheel in 1879, and the birth of her son Eugene in 1878. She notes that her father, brothers Frank and Henry, and husband George are "at work in the mines," but that "we are not making any thing only a living." Frank also briefly worked at the Miami Mill Company until it burned down in May 1879. Ella speculated that it might have been arson, and lamented that the incident had caused many families to move away and had detrimentally affected the Middletons' and Shutes' mining interests. She also writes of dry conditions in August 1879, and that "the Indians ha[ve] burned every thing out and it will take a great deal of rains to bring every thing out again." Ella writes that she is unsure of the population of Wheatfields but that there are "so many young men down here that wants to get married but there is...few girls and they won't get married unless they get a rich man." She also mentions that her brother Henry and sister Hattie have gone away to school at the Picket Poste, and urges Louie to have her father move their family to Arizona. Also included is a letter to Louie from her friend Jennie A. Huckaby in Alexander, Illinois. Jennie writes that she envies Louie's work in a milliner's shop ("let's both learn [the trade] then we can set up a shop together"),that she hopes to be well enough to return home to Iowa soon, and of her "cherished wish" to go to California. She concludes that there "is nothing going on here except a negro excursion to Chicago."
mssHM 76737-76747
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Emelie Melville letter to Tempe E. Allison
Manuscripts
In this letter, Emelie Melville writes that she is very interested in Miss Allison's research, but sadly all the archives of the California Theatre were lost in the great earthquake and fire of 1906. She goes on to write that she could relates many things of interest in that regard as she was an original member of the Company. She invites Miss Allison over for a visit and would be glad to assist her in her research.
mssHM 26066