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The Sumner H. Cater collection contains materials related to a University of Illinois student's employment as a stereoview salesman during the summer of 1913.

The Sumner H. Cater collection contains materials related to a University of Illinois student's employment as a stereoview salesman during the summer of 1913.

The collection includes the original salesman case used by Sumner H. Cater which contains 1 stereoviewer, 24 sample stereographs (3 by Keystone View Company and 21 by Underwood & Underwood), and 3 explanation cards that help demonstrate how stereographs work. Photographic content includes 4 foreign views showing "Picking lemons" at an orchard in Sicily, "The Japanese hillside trenches," "A hospitable home in old Ireland," and "Concrete Arches" at the Panama Canal; 4 domestic views showing "A mountain of petrified water" and "'Old Faithful' geyser in action at Yellowstone National Park, the "Famous trotting ostrich 'Oliver W.'" in Jacksonville, Florida, and "Feeding the Chickens" on a New Jersey farm; and 16 views from the Underwood & Underwood "Holy Land" series mainly showing scenes from Jerusalem.

• “Keystone World Tours” by J. Paul Goode, Keystone View Company, Portland, Oregon (1 item)
• “A Pilgrimage Through Palestine,” Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1907 (1 item)
• “The Stereoscope, The Stereograph, Sun-Painting” Sun-Sculpture” by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1910 (1 item)
• “The Underwood Travel System,” Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1913 (1 item)
• “Manual of Instruction,” Underwood & Underwood, New York, 1908 (1 item)
• “Old Mother Earth’s Babies,” Keystone View Company, New York 1907 (1 item)
• “Key to 72 Travel-Tour of the World Through Stereoscope” by J. Paul Goode, Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania (1 item)
• “Keystone Cabinets and cases,” Keystone View Company, Meadville, Pennsylvania, 1905 (1 item)
• Underwood & Underwood stereoview listings (2 items)
• Two editions of "The Underwood Travel System Newsletter" listing totals from completed sales by various salesmen as well as best practices regarding sales strategies, announcements, and new photographic subjects in stock (2 items)
• Two editions of "U.T.S. [Underwood Travel System] Selling Aids" (2 items)
• Unused envelopes addressed to Keystone View Company and Prof. Ira O. Baker (5 items)
• Contract between Sumner H. Cater and Keystone View Company agreeing to terms of employment between June 10th and September 10th 1913 (1 item)
• Unused "Salesman's Weekly Report to Keystone View Company" template forms (3 items)
• Letter from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater dated April 2nd 1913 notifying Cater that a duplicate of his contract with Keystone is attached, insisting that Keystone will assist him in making the “largest amount possible from your vacation work,” and urging him to study the products on offer (1 item)
• Letter from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater dated April 19th 1913 notifying Cater that Keystone had received his "Letter of Credit" and that they were sending stereographs his way, with Panama Canal views emphasized as products he should try especially hard to sell during his pending window of employment (1 item)
• Letters from Keystone View Company to Sumner H. Cater (originally addressed to Princeton, Illinois, but remarked for general delivery in Garrison, Iowa) dated June 16th and 17th 1913 notifying Cater that records indicate they have not yet heard from him despite his window of employment having officially begun while also positing to Cater that this summer will prove to be the "best season that Keystone college men have ever known," before listing off names of other salesmen alongside how many hours they have worked and how many orders they have successfully procured (2 items)
• Letter from Underwood & Underwood to Sumner H. Cater dated June 14th 1913 and addressed to Benton, Iowa, notifying Cater that the Benton area has been reserved for himself and "Mr. Hey" and encouraging him to work thoroughly in such a large area (1 item)
• Letter from Underwood & Underwood to Sumner H. Cater dated June 16th 1913 and addressed to Garrison, Iowa, notifying Cater that they have sent him an outfit and a "Canvass and Delivery Instruction" booklet (1 item)
• Letter from the treasurer of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Y.M.C.A. to Sumner H. Cater indicating that while he made a subscription payment of $2.00 the previous fall there was still a remaining unpaid balance of $1.50 (1 item)

The Woods family papers chronicle the establishment of an important family in western Virginia during the 18th and early 19th centuries. While the bulk of the collection pertains to Archibald Woods' (1764-1846) activities as a surveyor and land speculator in Ohio County, the collection also contains several letters from later generations of the family, and documents relating to military and public affairs, including the War of 1812.

The Woods family papers chronicle the establishment of an important family in western Virginia during the 18th and early 19th centuries. While the bulk of the collection pertains to Archibald Woods' (1764-1846) activities as a surveyor and land speculator in Ohio County, the collection also contains several letters from later generations of the family, and documents relating to military and public affairs. A series of land surveys of the Ohio Valley, prepared by Archibald Woods, has been arranged and placed at the end of the collection, and two land documents relating to Woods property are also present in Oversize Manuscripts, a 1774 deed signed by Dunmore granting lands in Botetourt County and an 1820 grant signed by James Monroe for lands in Ohio.

The collection includes a petition relating to the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798. Addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of Virginia from the citizens of Ohio County, the petition includes thirty nine signatures protesting the Acts. The signers expressed their concern regarding what they saw as a violation of the Constitution, and asserted that the acts were a "serious cause of alarm" for the citizens of Ohio County, whom, they noted, continued to adhere to the Democratic principles of the American Revolution.

During the time that Andrew Woods served as sheriff of Botetourt County, 1777-1780, he kept a small, deerskin-bound notebook of his activities including receipts and notes on the collection of taxes and fees. There are also sporadic family business records. Included are an agreement for disposition of property including land, livestock, and enslaved persons (named Herod [Bin?], Sip, Ceasar, and Nanas). A copy of a contract between siblings Andrew, Martha, and Archibald (likely Andrew Woods' children) for the care of Martha Poage Woods and arrangements for the purchase of an enslaved person for Elijah Woods is also present. The contract provided for clothing, food, and shelter and, if Martha chose "to go back over the mountains," to provide an enslaved person to care for her.

Over fifty surveys and treasury warrants document Archibald Woods' importance as a surveyor and land speculator in the Ohio River Valley. Many of these can be positively traced to land that today lies in the state of West Virginia, mostly in the panhandle, but, Woods owned property throughout Ohio County, which then included parts of Ohio and a corner of Pennsylvania. A contemporary range and township map assists in situating Woods' land holdings.

Seven printed orders, each unique, or nearly unique, include information about troop recruitment and deployment during the War of 1812, and about demobilization at the end of the war. Among other documents in the collection are Archibald Woods' commissions and resignations.

There is little true correspondence in the Woods family papers, although one item, a letter from Joe Woods, is of some interest. In this letter written to his mother, Woods summarizes his reasons for transferring to Princeton, assuring her of his sound character and his decision. William Woods' ledger and daybook from 1828 and Hamilton Woods' cypher book from ca. 1820s are also present in the collection. The collection contains a photograph album with cartes-de-visite, cabinet cards, and other photos from around the 1870s and 1880s, as well as approximately 0.5 linear feet of photographs of Woods family members, particularly Ruth Woods and Charles Moss from the early 20th century, and the Woods family homestead.

Finally, the collection contains useful information about the Woods family estate, Woodsdale. Three documents from 1815-1816 provide floor plans and a record of construction costs, and there are two copy photographs of the house as it stood before its demolition in 1949. In 1976-77, Ruth Moss described the physical layout of the home and grounds as she recalled them, as well as her memories of life at Woodsdale in the early part of the century. An additional 0.25 linear feet of Ruth Moss's genealogical research on the Woods family is also present.