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This collection primarily consists of correspondence of U.S. diplomat Christopher Hughes; his twin sister Peggy Hughes Moore; his in-laws the Moore family; his spouse Laura Smith Hughes (1792-1832); their daughter Margaret Smith Hughes Kennedy (1819-1884); and Anthony Kennedy (1810-1892), his son-in-law. The papers largely date between the War of 1812 and the U.S. War with Mexico. Christopher Hughes corresponded with U.S. Presidents, Secretaries of State, and a large circle of friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic. The papers reflect American diplomatic policy in Europe after the War of 1812, particularly in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. They also present the lives and experiences of the social and personal lives of women and children who traveled as part of the duties of an American diplomat.

This collection primarily consists of correspondence of U.S. diplomat Christopher Hughes; his twin sister Peggy Hughes Moore; his in-laws the Moore family; his spouse Laura Smith Hughes (1792-1832); their daughter Margaret Smith Hughes Kennedy (1819-1884); and Anthony Kennedy (1810-1892), his son-in-law. The papers largely date between the War of 1812 and the U.S. War with Mexico. Christopher Hughes corresponded with U.S. Presidents, Secretaries of State, and a large circle of friends and family on both sides of the Atlantic. The papers reflect American diplomatic policy in Europe after the War of 1812, particularly in Sweden, the Netherlands, Denmark, and France. They also present the lives and experiences of the social and personal lives of women and children who traveled as part of the duties of an American chargé d'affaires.

The papers also include financial papers, military documents, property documentation, materials related to the San Pedro Company, writings, poetry, sketches, photographs, ephemera, and other printed items. Among the writings is an 1840 account of a visit by Christopher Hughes to physician Fru Jansen at Catherineberg for health care; 1842 travel writing by Margaret Hughes; and manuscript and printed poetry, including dinner toasts, a valentine poem, an acrostic on Margaret's name, translations, and more.

Other selected items include pencil sketches of four of the five peace commissioners at the Treaty of Ghent negotiations in Belgium, by Dutch artist P. van Huffel, January 1815. The portraits include John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Albert Gallatin, and Christopher Hughes (as secretary of the delegation). A lithographed portrait of Christopher Hughes, by Jean Baptiste Madou, from 1829 is also present in the collection's oversize materials, with a lithograph image of "le capitole a Washington" below the portrait of Hughes. It features an autograph presentation from Christopher Hughes to Prince Henry of the Netherlands, July 12, 1845. A group of 24 photographs from the early 1930s depict the grave of Laura Smith Hughes (1795-1832) and the church where she was buried, Bromme Church in Akershof, near Stockholm, Sweden, and a variety of other people and places.

Please see the Christopher Hughes Indices and Notes for an index of letter writers and inventories of non-correspondence materials.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The content of these letters, sermons, documents, and other materials reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich (1903-1996), most prominently subjects pertinent to Christianity, home, and the family.

The Blandina Diedrich Collection is a selection of manuscript items compiled by her son Duane Norman Diedrich and dedicated to her memory. The manuscripts reflect the life and interests of Blandina Diedrich, most prominently Christianity, home, and the family. Items include sermons from prominent ministers or preachers of different Protestant denominations, documents related to church operations and discipline, letters by prominent and everyday persons respecting their faith and beliefs, correspondence of missionaries, and reflections on religion's role in all manner of human endeavor.

The collection is comprised of over 260 letters, manuscript sermons and hymns, documents, and other items. For a comprehensive inventory and details about each item in the collection, please see the box and folder listing below.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

An unnamed parent or caregiver kept notes about children in a partially used Teachers' Institute Note Book, 1886. The volume was printed in Chicago and Maquoketa, Iowa, by Donohue & Henneberry and W. M. Welch, respectively, and includes advertisements on the inside covers for educational texts and forms. Two pages of manuscript notes define musical intervals. An additional nine pages of text sporadically document the words and actions of at least two children, Harry and Inez, between the ages of 1.5 and 5.5 years old. The writer notes the ages at which children were singing, the type of art they created, the humorous questions, observations, and comments they made, and religious thoughts they vocalized.

The childhood observations about death, spirits, and God reflect a religious upbringing and household, including one entry about how Harry "was drawing a picture of a deathbed scene where angels were coming to carry the man's spirit to God in accordance with what he had been told on the subject. He said 'Mama I guess one angel holds the man's mouth open while the other takes his spirit out of him.' " Comments about dogs, toys, and imaginative games speak to youthful entertainment and play, and others are more suggestive about the conditions in the children's environment that caught their attention. Questions like "what color is the moon on the other side," or observations that a dead mouse "is kind of wilted isn't it," provide insights into what the children were seeing and wondering about.

One entry at the back of the volume reads, "J. D. McAuliff (Heals by rubbing) St. Louis, Mo."

This collection consists of eight letters written by Rebecca M. Bradford between 1853 and 1857 while living and working in Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C., and New York and Brooklyn, New York. They document her laboring as a domestic servant, residing in boarding houses while pregnant and caring for a young infant, and travelling with a baby.

This collection consists of eight letters written by Rebecca M. Bradford between 1853 and 1857 while living and working in Boston, Massachusetts; Washington, D.C., and New York and Brooklyn, New York. They document her laboring as a domestic servant, residing in boarding houses while pregnant and caring for a young infant, and travelling with a baby. She references miscarriage and the death of one of her young siblings, symptoms of pregnancy, and boarding house owners and workers helping to assist with infant care, including at least one enslaved woman in Washington, D.C. (see April 3, 1857).