Manuscripts
Cora A. Juel letter to Augusta Bjeldanes
Image not available
You might also be interested in
Image not available
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
Image not available
Berenice J. Scoville letters to Anne Kerckhoff
Manuscripts
In these two letters, Berenice J. Scoville describes her experience in the San Francisco earthquake and its aftermath. Shortly after the earthquake, Scoville and her family were forced to evacuate their house on Pacific Avenue; their house was saved and they were later allowed to move back. She describes the destruction around her, including the building in which she worked, which was one of the first buildings to burn down, the conditions in the city, and the continued threat of fire.
mssHM 67916-67917
Image not available
Jane Elizabeth Bayard Wilson letter to Caroline A. Bayard
Manuscripts
In her letter written from Monrovia, Liberia, Jane Elizabeth Bayard Wilson describes her life in Monrovia and her travels in Liberia, including a visit to New Georgia. She also mentions James Eden, a Black missionary who came to Liberia in 1833. The letter is addressed to her cousin Caroline A. Bayard in Philadelphia.
mssHM 84006
Image not available
Hannah Milhous Nixon letter to Elisabeth F. Payne
Manuscripts
In this letter, Hannah Nixon describes Seattle and the backyard of her son (Edward) and daughter-in-law's (Gay Lynne Nixon) house. She mentions her grandchildren and notes that Gay is taking a teaching course and "Eddie" must log a certain amount of flight hours in addition to his teaching and lecturing.
mssHM 30951
Image not available
Sarah Bixby letter to Martha Hathaway
Manuscripts
In this letter addressed "Dear Sister Martha," Sarah Bixby writes from Rancho San Justo in San Benito County, California. She describes the cold weather, and tells of the recent wedding of Margaret Hathaway, who, Sarah writes, has moved from "the heights of the betrothed young lady to the every day duties of the plain married woman, and now is her time, to make her mark in the world, by making her husband happy and her home attractive." She wonders "if Margaret will be a good correspondent now that she is married." The rest of the letter concerns family members and mutual acquaintances. Also included are three black-and-white portrait photographs: one of Mr. & Mrs. Lewellyn Bixby, one of Martha Hathaway, and one of Mrs. Jotham Bixby. Photos have identifying information on backs.
mssHM 15208
Image not available
Mary Jane Brooks letters to Thomas and Priscilla Marsh
Manuscripts
In this first letter (HM 19797, dated 1853, September 14), Mary Jane Brooks describes her journey to California "according to agreement" to her sister Priscilla and her husband Thomas Marsh. Much of this letter contains Brooks' description of Kingston, Jamaica, where she stopped en route to California. She laments that she has not yet found a man to run away with her. HM 19798, written August 12, 1886, and includes an envelope. Brooks is still in San Francisco, and writes of people she is seeing and letters written and received. The last letter in this sequence was written 1886, September 2. Brooks writes that she has reached her sixtieth birthday, but feels "old beyond my years." She discusses the possibility of getting her share of the farmstead left by her father, and hopes her sister will cooperate.
mssHM 19797-19799