The manuscript collections at the Clements Library include a wide variety of materials: personal correspondence, scrapbooks, inventories, and even some photographs and printed materials that accompanied collections of handwritten items. This month’s batch of manuscript finding aids are no exception! Read on to learn about the collections that have recently been made available for research.
Printed materials relating to the writing profession from the N. G. Cabot Collection.
N. G. Cabot collection, 1915-1938
A female writer named N. G. Cabot laid 22 items into her copy of William Lewis Gordon’s How to Write Moving Picture Plays (Cincinnati: Atlas Publishing Co., 1915). Items that were originally laid into the volume include brochures, circulars, blank forms, and other printed items related to literary bureaus, playwright organizations, and businesses soliciting motion picture screenplays or selling publications on how to write them. One typed screenplay for a production entitled “Matrimonial Agency” describes settings and scenes and has pencil notes throughout.
Cox family papers, 1860s-1946 (majority within 1900-1946)
The Cox Family Papers consist of correspondence, ephemera, diaries, photographs, and photo albums belonging to three generations of the Cox-Barnard family. The correspondence includes letters Robert S. Cox (1890-1971) sent home from boarding school between 1903 and 1905; letters he received from his parents while they traveled overseas from 1905 to 1907; and letters Helen Barnard sent home while attending Wellesley College between 1916 and 1920. Additionally, the papers contain Robert S. Cox’s boarding school diaries and World War I Pilot’s Book, his son Robert S. Cox, Jr.’s World War II diaries, as well as family photographs, photo albums, and ephemera.
Gift of Robert S. Cox
“Chuckleheads” from the Cox Family Papers.
Myrtle Edeburn papers, 1888-1899
This collection consists of 12 items relating to Myrtle Edeburn, primarily concerning her work in hospitals and asylums for the insane between 1888 and 1899 in places like Pennsylvania, Illinois, Arizona, and Nebraska. The bulk of the collection is letters of recommendation written by former employers, praising her work as a nurse or attendant.
John W. and Albert D. Fisher collection, [circa 1840s-circa 1910s?]
The John W. and Albert D. Fisher Collection consists of four items—John W. Fisher’s penmanship exercise book, Albert D. Fisher’s sketchbook and card, and a photograph—belonging to the Fisher family of Rising Sun, Indiana, and Cincinnati, Ohio. In Albert Fisher’s book of approximately 30 watercolor and pencil drawings made in or around 1867, the teenage boy drew Civil War soldiers and camp scenes, boats, trains, animals, Lookout Mountain, and Charles Blondin’s tightrope walk across Niagara Gorge.
Watercolor and pencil drawing of a Civil War camp scene from the John W. and Albert D. Fisher Collection.
Example of a clipping from the Richard K. Fox scrapbook.
Richard K. Fox scrapbook, 1883-1897
An unidentified compiler used this scrapbook to house newspaper clippings and other printed ephemera concerning Richard K. Fox, the editor and proprietor of The Police Gazette. Clippings date from 1883 to 1897 and cover Fox’s personal life, business activities, and various legal and social issues pertaining to the Comstock Act.
S. Wallace Gilbert letters, 1942-1946
This collection contains letters U.S. Army private S. Wallace “Wally” Gilbert sent his girlfriend and later wife Jean Ann McDonnell of Chicago during World War II. Between his enlistment in March 1943 and discharge in March 1946, Gilbert wrote McDonnell approximately 525 letters detailing his life in the Army, studies at Haverford College, hopes for the future, and longing for home. The collection also includes a handful of documents, photographs, and other items related to Gilbert’s service.
Gift of Karen Gilbert Rock in honor of S. Wallace Gilbert and Jean McDonnell Gilbert
Victor Hunt Lowe scrapbook, [ca. 1902-1903?]
Victor Hunt Lowe, an entomologist, kept this scrapbook around 1902 or 1903, to hold notecards of his insect drawings with labels and notes about their various body parts. Examples from sea life, fruits and vegetables, and single-cell organisms are also depicted, such as sea urchins, starfish, clams, beans, lichen and moss, molds, and more.
Gift of Adam Shrewsbury
Stephen Herman Murphy diary, 1891
Wellsburg, New York, druggist Stephen Herman Murphy kept this diary between March and November 1891. In regular entries, Murphy wrote about visits with friends and family, theater and choir rehearsals, political matters, church happenings, and photoshoots. Murphy led an active social life and a typical day could include multiple visits to and from friends late into the night or early morning. Murphy specifically indicated when he spent time “alone” with male friends, but he did not elaborate on the specifics of these events.
Sing Sing Prison inventory, 1886-1887
This volume is an inventory of property and goods owned by Sing Sing Prison (Ossining, New York) in 1886-1887. The inventory was compiled by Sing Sing Prison officials and lists items such as water heaters, uniforms, beds and pillows, leg shackles, and tobacco processing machines. Taken as a whole, the volume provides insight into operations, living conditions, and inmate labor at the facility.
Gerrit Smith circulars and broadsides collection, 1838-1874
This collection contains 76 broadsides and circulars and one pamphlet authored, printed, and/or distributed by abolitionist, temperance advocate, and social reformer Gerrit Smith of Peterboro, New York. Smith’s broadsides and circulars, which span from 1838 to his death in 1874, promoted the activist’s views on slavery and abolition, Christian faith and sectarianism, prohibition, women’s suffrage, canal management, U.S. party politics (with particular attention paid to the Liberty Party), and Cuba’s Ten Years’ War. Many of Smith’s publications appeared in the form of open letters (addressed to allies and adversaries); others reprinted speeches he gave at local and national conventions.
Richard Stillwell medical notebook, 1726-1743, 1799, 1821-1828
This volume (approx. 115 pages) contains handwritten medical recipes, prescriptions, treatments, and other notes of multiple doctors, including Richard Stillwell, dating between 1726 and 1743, with at least one entry from 1799. Locations noted in the volume include Philadelphia, “Amboy” (Perth Amboy, N.J.), and “Allentown” (possibly Allentown, N.J., or Allentown, P.A.). Most recipes were written in Latin, while treatment plans and other notes were written in English. Measurements were recorded using the apothecaries’ system. Based on the various hands present, this volume was likely passed down and added onto over time. Several bookkeeping entries dated between 1821 and 1828 appear throughout the volume.
Collection processed and finding aid created by graduate intern Diana Baxter
Donald Zinn scrapbook, 1940-1966 (majority within 1941-1944)
Donald L. Zinn used this scrapbook to compile material related to the United States labor movement in the 1940s and his work as a field organizer for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.). The bulk of the content consists of union circulars, leaflets, newsletters, and other publications concerning membership drives, union elections, worker concerns, labor perspectives on World War II, and more. Newspaper clippings about labor organizing, strikes, and related issues are also included. The main geographical areas represented are Connecticut, Indiana, and Michigan.
Gift of Cindy Motzenbecker
Other new finding aids include the following:
- Book Titles Scrapbook, [ca. early 20th century?]
- Boston Theater and Travel scrapbooks, 1880-1888
- Mrs. English diary, 1850
- First Universalist Society of Susquehanna Depot and Lanesboro (Pa.) record book, 1866-1900
- Gordon family papers, 1854-1875 (majority within 1859-1875)
- Judson Hinman Day account books, 1830-1855
- Fred C. Lacy account book, 1881-1887 (majority within 1882)
- Harvard Musical Association Scrapbook, 1857-1878
- Theater scrapbooks, 1885-1912
- Jennie K. Thurston scrapbook, 1869-1876
- Travel Ephemera scrapbook, 1903-1916
- Frederick K. Wykes scrapbook, 1909-1936