Collections : [University of Michigan William L. Clements Library]

This collection contains nineteen letters sent to Carlton Heath and one letter sent to Ruth Heath between 1828 and 1854. The bulk of the letters were written by Amos and Emily Pilsbury of Weathersfield, Connecticut, mostly from the Connecticut State Prison where Amos Pilsbury worked as deputy warden and warden. Amos Pilsbury discussed prison management and provided glimpses into prisoners' experiences. He wrote frankly about his political and ideological disputes with his brother-in-law, opposing his positions on the Whig party and abolitionism. Amos Pilsbury commented on his religious practices and beliefs, family news, Thanksgiving celebrations and meals, and disgruntlement over the Heath family's failures to write and visit. Five additional members of the extended Heath family wrote portions or entire letters present in the collection, mostly weighing in on family news.

This collection contains nineteen letters sent to Carlton Heath and one letter sent to Ruth Heath between 1828 and 1854. The bulk of the letters were written by Amos and Emily Pilsbury of Weathersfield, Connecticut, mostly from the Connecticut State Prison, where Amos Pilsbury worked as deputy warden and warden. Amos Pilsbury discussed prison management and provided glimpses into prisoners' experiences. He wrote frankly about his political and ideological disputes with his brother-in-law, opposing his positions on the Whig party and abolitionism. Amos Pilsbury commented on his religious practices and beliefs, family news, Thanksgiving celebrations and meals, and disgruntlement over the Heath family's failures to write and visit. Five additional members of the extended Heath family wrote portions or entire letters present in the collection, mostly weighing in on family news.

Amos Pilsbury's letters include references to his work in prison management, with detailed descriptions of religious services in the Connecticut State Prison (April 28, 1829) and various projects contracting out the labor of imprisoned people, including for the production of shoes (November 9, 1828), rifle pistols (November 24, 1837), and cane chairs (February 18, 1842). One letter was written during Pilsbury's tenure at the Albany penitentiary, where he lamented a business being lost to fire as it impacted his ability to dispose of a large order of chair seats (August 30, 1854). In several letters, Pilsbury commented on prison discipline, African American prisoners (April 28, 1829; June 20, 1836; February 18, 1842), and the high demands wardenship placed on him.

Several of Pilsbury's letters indicate the challenges political and interpersonal conflict posed for him as a prison warden at Weathersfield. He wrote on February 20, 1832, of the "Powerful efforts [that] have been made to injure me, and destroy publick confidence in the administration of the affairs of the Prison," preceding his removal from office based on accusations of misconduct by Connecticut politician Martin Welles. He wrote again on July 27, 1833, acknowledging his reinstatement, anxiety about returning, and the decline in discipline at the Connecticut State Prison during his absence. Reflecting further on the incident on December 9, 1833, he mused, "How things have changed in one short year? At that time I was spending my time in idleness having been 'reformed' out of office. At that time no report had been made concerning things charged upon me by a personal enemy and persecutor." Following a Whig victory, Pilsbury acknowledged the possibility of political shifts impacting his employment, writing, "as I was before the election, so I am now, & trust I ever shall be, a Democrat. You ask 'wheter we expect to be removed & when?' In answer I can only say, that the Whigs have the power to remove me, whether they will or not remains to be seen" (April 21, 1838).

Amos Pilsbury and Carlton Heath appeared to have had a fraught relationship, and Amos's letters reveal frustration with Heath's failure to write and visit as well as strong opposition to Heath's support of Whig politics and abolition. Amos Pilsbury acknowledged his conviction of African American inferiority, the impossibility of immediate abolition, and the impropriety of New Englanders weighing in on slavery (June 20, 1836; April 21, 1838; September 4, 1838). One relative even joked that Pilsbury's opinions had changed. "They now wish to have all former difficulties which have arisen between you in consequence of not agreeing in Party feelings put an end to … Do excuse my sad mistake ... It must be I did not look at the right words in the Dictionary… it is the reverse" (March 1, 1841). Tensions between these family members based on strongly felt political and ideological positions appear throughout the letters.

Five additional members of the extended Heath family wrote portions or entire letters present in the collection, mostly weighing in on family news, visiting Weathersfield, and disagreeing about the duration of Ruth Heath's stays with the Pilsbury family.

The Point Lookout Prison Camp collection includes official correspondence, prisoners' letters, sutlers' receipts, and other documents relating to Confederate prisoners of war held at the Point Lookout Military Prison, Maryland, largely between the summers of 1863 and 1864. Mary Parsons compiled detailed indices for the letters written by Point Lookout's prisoners: Prisoners' Correspondence Indices.

The Point Lookout Prison Camp collection includes official correspondence, prisoners' letters, sutlers' receipts, and other documents relating to Confederate prisoners of war held at the Point Lookout Military Prison, Maryland, largely between the summers of 1863 and 1864. The collection is made up of 770 letters and around 2,200 sutlers' accounts and receipts for goods sold to prisoners.

The Correspondence is comprised of 137 official letters pertaining largely to the disposition of prisoners; 147 letters written by prisoners of war, mostly requesting to take the loyalty oath or to be assigned duty as a non-combatant; and 486 letters by private individuals on behalf of prisoners, many seeking information, relaying information, or requesting goods to be forwarded.

Among the prisoners' letters are several discussing family hardships, bewilderment at arrest (for civilian prisoners), or simple expressions of exhaustion and a desire to find a way out of the war. The sample, of course, is biased, in that the letters in the Point Lookout Collection were all addressed to federal authorities--mostly to commandant, John N. Patterson. While some prisoners expressed an abiding loyalty to the southern cause, others complained of being drafted into the service against their will and principles, or claimed to have been so wrapped up in the emotions of the moment that they did not carefully consider their actions when enlisting. In a few cases, soldiers appeared to be genuinely disillusioned with the Confederacy. Twenty-nine of those who requested the loyalty oath can later be found serving with federal forces.

Within the prisoners' letters, the names of 255 men are mentioned in one way or another. Twelve of the men were civilians, and it was possible to identify the Confederate service unit of all but 23 of the rest of the men. The largest number of men were from Virginia, followed by Louisiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina; with considerably smaller numbers from Tennessee, Maryland, Missouri, and Mississippi; and the fewest men from South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, and Florida. While most came from Southern states, two men were born in Maine (James O. Goodale and Charles H. Small), two others in Illinois (Brice Holland and Minor Rogers/Rodgers), and at least one man from New York (Lucien A. Rudolph). Foreign-born men included Branilio Soza (Mexico), Paul Francis de Gournay (Cuba or France), Hector De Zevallos ("the West India Islands"), John Etchevery (France), Louis Tessandore/Tessandori (Tuscany, Italy), Frank Nidel/Neidell and George Tiefenbach (Germany), Thomas Larkin and William H. Smith (England), and Luke Baxter, James Fife, Patrick Cooper, Martin Griffin, and Michael Vahey (Ireland).

The prisoners' letters and letters from camp officials provide only very brief glimpses into the conditions of prison life, with very sporadic mention made of illness or crimes committed in camp.

Letters from third parties display a range of attitudes that are broadly similar to those expressed by the prisoners, with an understandable, rather heavier, emphasis on family hardship. Included in this series are numerous letters written by the wives, sisters or mothers of prisoners, but also some from women who may be inferred to have been members of relief organizations for Confederate soldiers.

The largest series of materials in the collection consists of approximately 2,200 sutlers' accounts and receipts for goods sold to prisoners.

Mary Parsons compiled detailed indices for the letters written by Point Lookout's prisoners: Prisoners' Correspondence Indices. Mary Parsons's research notes and copies are available for consultation in the Clements Library's reading room.

The Polly C. Bishop Mansfield Collection contains poetry and sewing produced by Mansfield while a young woman during the mid-nineteenth century. Four poems entitled "Remembrance," "Nevermore," "Friendship," and "Persevere" are written on both sides of a slim sheet of paper. Mansfield hand-sewed a stuffed fabric fish, drawing scales, gills, and eyes on it with ink. The fish is affixed with thread to a manuscript note that reads, "Sarah Heaton Stiles and Polly Bishop Mansfield had a bet on and Polly was to give Sarah a shad, in payment. And she (Polly) made this shad, perhaps about 1850-2. They were young women."

The Polly C. Bishop Mansfield Collection contains poetry and sewing produced by Mansfield while a young woman during the mid-nineteenth century. Four poems entitled "Remembrance," "Nevermore," "Friendship," and "Persevere" are written on both sides of a slim sheet of paper. Mansfield hand-sewed a stuffed fabric fish, drawing scales, gills, and eyes on it with ink. The fish is affixed with thread to a manuscript note that reads, "Sarah Heaton Stiles and Polly Bishop Mansfield had a bet on and Polly was to give Sarah a shad, in payment. And she (Polly) made this shad, perhaps about 1850-2. They were young women."

The Pöpplein & Brothers Day Book and Account Ledger are a record of business conducted by this Baltimore, Maryland, dry goods store and mercantile firm between 1806 and 1843. The volumes document client purchases, services, goods sold on commission, investments, insurance, and aspects of importing goods directly from Germany. The Pöppleins' clientele stretched as far west as Missouri and as far south as Alabama. They imported farming tools and other supplies to Joseph Bimeler at Zoar, Ohio, and pianos and parts to the Huppmanns of Baltimore. They also arranged legal and practical affairs for German and other immigrants, handled bank stock investments and dividends, and offered other services.

The Pöpplein & Brothers Day Book and Account Ledger are a record of business conducted by this Baltimore, Maryland, dry goods store and mercantile firm between 1806 and 1843. The volumes document client purchases, services, goods sold on commission, investments, insurance, and aspects of importing goods directly from Germany.

The 519-page daybook is a record of daily transactions as they occurred between 1824 and 1839. The entries typically include the date, the name of the customer/contact, the goods/services provided, and payment information. The 191-page account ledger covers 1806 through 1843. It begins with an alphabetic index, which is followed by entries arranged by customer name. The double-entries typically include date(s), goods/services provided, and method(s) of payments/credits. Regular customers' accounts were tallied annually.

The Pöpplein brothers sold goods and sent products on commission to Baltimore and Hagerstown, Maryland; Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Lynchburg, Virginia; Washington and Georgetown, D.C.; Boston, Massachusetts; New York; Alabama; Cincinnati, Royalton, and Zoar, Ohio; and elsewhere. They sold clothing, textiles, foodstuffs, writing supplies, household goods, farming implements, and more. Some examples include gloves, oil cloth, ribbon, wadding, black wadding, bolting cloth, milled and woolen stockings, iron lamps, silk, wool, gold and silver lace, Maryland tobacco, scrap tobacco, snuff boxes, hosiery, casks, coffee mills, metal leaf, quills, postage for letters, thread, and lead pencils. The accounts include the sale of a small number of books, such as Trollope's Refugee in America ("Dutchman's Fireside" copy) and a set of "Lady Guion's books" in 1821 to a female purchaser.

The store imported a variety goods from Germany and France, with a few scattered items from elsewhere in the world, such as specie from Lima, Peru, and wool from the Netherlands. One of the brothers, Andreas Pöpplein, remained in Germany to acquire goods there and ship them to the United States with the help of S. F. Seebohm at Frankfurt. Seebohm was also a customer, purchasing Maryland tobacco and, on June 26, 1822, "a Box of Natural Curiosity." Among the customers for imported goods were George, Nicholas, and Valentine Huppmann, who paid the Pöppleins for piano fortes and upright pianos from Nuremburg, piano parts, and eolinas. They also received cash loans for travel and expenses, and they paid for currency exchange shipping Prussian dollars home to Frankfurt, drayage, and insurance for shipments of pianos to New Orleans and elsewhere. The Huppmanns made regular payments to the Pöppleins as "contribution towards the meeting" (NB: the volumes do not contain any references to the purpose or nature of the meetings). Baron von Uslar Gleichen of Celle, Germany, held an account on a box Nurnbergware (January 12, 1835; ledger page 164).

Customers tended to make payments in cash and by check. However, the Pöppleins' store functioned partly as a financial institution, serving as an intermediary in buying bank stocks, handling insurance, arranging loans and barter, and securing payments through dividends. Their customers received dividends from the Mechanics Bank, Bank of Baltimore, and the U.S. Bank, which were applied directly to their accounts with the Pöppleins. In one case, Samuel Edgar & Co. settled their 1817 accounts for sundry merchandise and interest by selling "claims on Jno. McDonal Attorney at Pittsburgh for 935 Reams Paper" amounting to $2,200, in 1824. A later entry for John McDonal represents the receipt of a note from Samuel Edgars & Co., interest, and the settlement of debt by 935 reams of paper.

The Pöpplein brothers offered valuable services to Germans and other immigrants working through the United States citizenship processes. The account books include payments to Swedish, Dutch, and German consuls, costs of preparing and executing documents, obtaining abdications of allegiance and copies of citizenship papers, payments to Württemberg consul general Chr. Mayer for attesting powers of attorney, and similar services.

The volumes also contain accounting related to the Pöpplein's rental of a house to C. H. Nestmann in the early 1820s. During one stretch of time, Nestmann's rent payments were balanced against construction, repairs, and handling a flooded cellar (see ledger page 51, for example). The Pöppleins at one time took Nestmann to court for unpaid rent and afterward are Nestmann's payments on monied owed.

Joseph M. Bimeler and Zoar, Ohio, Entries:

The Pöppleins had as a customer Joseph M. Bimeler, the founder and primary financial manager of the utopian communal society of German separatists at Zoar, Ohio. From the early 1820s onward, Bimeler paid for imported and domestic dry goods, hardware, groceries, postage on letters to/from Germany, freight for shipping various goods, a barometer, scythes, pineapples, cloth, stocking weavers and needles, wool cards, and much more. The Pöpplein brothers helped Bimeler purchase Ohio lands and the accounts include paperwork costs, such as acquiring deeds and paying commission. The account books also show Bimeler purchasing U.S. Bank stock and then regularly paying for goods/services with dividends. He also paid with mailed checks and with cash in person and by mail.

• Page 94: Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering June 15, 1827-August 22, 1828. Debts include balance from page 86, payment of Thomas and George's hardware bill, Charles Simon's bill for imported dry goods, Shaw & Tiffany & Co. bill for domestic goods, John T. Barr's bill for imported dry goods, F. König's bill for German dry goods, Mathew Smith's bill for chinaware, G.H. & J.S. Keerl's bill for drugs, John Henderson's bill for groceries, and commission to Pöpplein for purchasing all of those goods. Also, duty on steelyards, an additional list of bills, and "Sundry Mdze" from Pöpplein's store. Bimeler paid with checks by mail drawn on the Western Reserve Bank at Warren, and drawn on the Manhattan Company in New York. Cash was also collected by A. Pöpplein minus commission for collecting it. Cash in bank notes.
• Page 99: Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering August 22, 1828-January 28, 1830. Debts include commission for buying unnamed products for a list of sellers, including Thomas Irwin, S. T. Walker, Anthony Moore, Jno. Henderson, etc. Postage on letters received from brother A. Pöpplein. On freight paid by A. Pöpplein for boxes, steelyards from Ludwigsburg, "Ditto for 810 sent to him by J. Seyfang being for acct of Raizers Childerns," postage to and from Wurten. Purchase of 50 shares of U. S. Bank stock, sundry machine wool cards, and a 1-year subscription to Niles Register (1 year). Bimeler's credits included cash in bank notes, cash, checks on the Manhattan Company of New York and the Western Reserve Bank, dividends collected on U.S. Bank shares, and money received by A. Pöpplein from Seyfang. Pinned to page 99 is a small manuscript pertinent to accounts of Andreas Pöpplein and Seyfang (postwagen), 1827-1828—in English and German Kurrantschrift.
• Page 123: Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering February 7, 1831-April 28, 1832. Debts include services for certifying eight powers of attorney by Ch. Mayer consul (including those of C. & J.G. Ruof, J. Kiebach, Jb. Schneider, and Barbara Ackermann), 250 pr. Steyermark Scythes imported from Germany, sundry merchandise bought from sundry persons, six pineapples, cash paid to Peter del Vechio balance due on repairing barometer, bolting cloth, cash paid to Joel Crudenten of Georgetown, D.C., for a tract of land in Ohio, cost of deed and commission, interest due, commission for collecting dividends, 200 Sickles imported from Germany plus duty, and 800 stocking weavers and needles. Bimeler's credits included dividends on U.S. Bank shares minus commission, and "By 1 Vol. Theophrastus Paracelcius which Ando. Pöpplein received of Jb. Seyfang."
• Page 157. Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering September 17, 1834-January 1, 1836. Debts to Chr. Mayer consul for certifying/legalizing powers of attorney for E. Farion, J. F. Metzger, J. G. Stanger, Walzer, Eberlein & J. Kimmerle, and Hipp. and for abdications of allegiance. Bimeler also paid C. F. Hoyer, consul at New York, for legalizing the power of attorney for J. F. Lindemann. Purchases included cash for a draft in favor of H. Niles, 300 sickles imported per his order and his account from Germany, and cash paid per his order to W. Paust's wife at Bremen. Among Bimeler's credits were a "Bill of exchange on Paris in favor of F. Schlienz for frames" collected by A. Pöpplein, dividends on U. S. Bank stock, "By our Draft for his acct on E. & J. Griffith & Co. at New York at sight," and collection made by Barbara Wagner's Power of Attorney in Germany.
• Page 168: Bimeler, Roby & Pollock of Ohio. Covering April 1, 1835-April 2, 1835. Debts. To net proceeds of two loads of bacon. Credit by cash paid per their order to Gosnell & Hamilton; C. D. & I Slingluff; N. Pöpplein Jr; and Pöpplein & Bros.
• Page 174: Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering January 1, 1836-January 1, 1838. Bimeler's debts included drafts paid in favor of John C. Rickey, Jackson & Fawcett, and J. S. Sinclair; cash paid to Ch. Mayer consul, legalizing J. G. Roth, Seb. Strobele, Ann Wilmu Jacob Gunther powers of attorney and abdications; cash advances to pay for merchandise; and cash paid to Horatiah Robby of the firm Bimeler Robby & Pollock, merchandise. Bimeler's credits included dividends on U.S. Bank stock, as well as a string of receipts ending in Bimeler's credit: A. Pöpplein received of Jb. Seyfang a draft by G. F. Walzer on a bill of Chr. Mayer, a bill of exchange received by Bimeler, drawn by Arnold & Gutman on Lazarus Arnold in Philadelphia payable eight days sight.
• Page 188: Joseph M. Bimeler of Zoar, Ohio. Covering February 21, 1838-January 1, 1842. Bimeler's debts include payment to Hoyer consul for certifying Joh: Fritchel power of attorney, cash refunded to Cathe. Kusterer which he received of her from Joh. Kapp of Stark County, Ohio, to Mayer for legalizing powers of attorney for D. Kuhnle, Christ: Meke, and Joh Jb. Ade, for Sundry merchandise bought by the firm Bimeler Robby & Polack, and on interest balance. Bimeler's credits included dividends by U.S. Bank stock, cash sent by letter, and cash received on Bimeler's account from Consul Chr. Mayer.

These are only a few notes on entries related to Zoar, Ohio, and Joseph M. Bimeler. The account books contain more.

This 18-page volume has a wallpaper cover, and it contains a variety of practical, household, and medicinal recipes. The entries pertain to printing on fabric, sheet music engraving, improvements in photography, several types of matches, adhesives, different kinds and colors of ink, hair removal, removal of freckles, soaps, pomatum and hair oil, wart salve, rouge, prevention of hair falling out, a pimple cure, blacking, white gunpowder, and more. The currently unidentified compiler drew a few entries from 1840s to 1860s published books and serials, such as Scientific American, James Booth's Encyclopedia of Chemistry, The Homestead, The Golden Rule, The Dollar Newspaper, and others. While the purpose of the volume is not explicitly clear, a few entries are for large quantities and others have notes on the difference between costs of raw materials versus sales revenue, suggesting that the compiler may (or may not) have been a huckster, peddler, or perhaps a manufacturer or wholesaler of these products.

This 18-page volume has a wallpaper cover, and it contains a variety of practical, household, and medicinal recipes. The entries pertain to printing on fabric, sheet music engraving, improvements in photography, several types of matches, adhesives, different kinds and colors of ink, hair removal, removal of freckles, soaps, pomatum and hair oil, wart salve, rouge, prevention of hair falling out, a pimple cure, blacking, white gunpowder, and more. The currently unidentified compiler drew a few entries from 1840s to 1860s published books and serials, such as Scientific American, James Booth's Encyclopedia of Chemistry, The Homestead, The Golden Rule, The Dollar Newspaper, and others.

The purpose of the volume is not explicitly clear, though a few entries are for large quantities and others have notes on the difference between costs of raw materials versus sales revenue, suggesting that the compiler may (or may not) have been a huckster, peddler, or perhaps a manufacturer or wholesaler of these products.

Please see the box and folder listing below for a table of contents for the volume.

The Quaker Collection consists of miscellaneous letters, diaries, and documents relating to the religious and social history of the Society of Friends in America during the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Quaker collection consists of miscellaneous letters, diaries, and documents related to the religious and social history of the Society of Friends in America during the 18th and 19th centuries. These items offer insights into Quaker's daily activities and concerns, such as family life, education, and attending meetings, as well as their participation in various social reform movements, such as abolition, treatment of Native Americans, prison improvements, temperance, and pacifism. The collection also documents internal divergences of American Quakerism in the 19th century, particularly the social and doctrinal disputes that culminated in the Hicksite and Wilburite schisms.

• 1707: A manuscript copy of the death warrant of William Leddra, the last of four Quakers (including Mary Dyer) executed in Massachusetts Bay colony for their religious beliefs
• July 26, 1755: A letter from Alexander Colden to Sir William Johnson voicing frustration with Quakers who refuse to support the war effort in Pennsylvania, and an announcement of General Braddock's defeat
• August 4-12 and 17, 1761: Two accounts, one by an anonymous woman, of Quaker presence at Treaty negotiations held at Easton, Pennsylvania, between the government of Pennsylvania and the Six Nations tribes. Discussed are the negotiations, Quaker-Indian interactions, and the role of Quaker women in the Society
• [After 1770]: An account by an anonymous author of a conference with Native Americans, mostly of the Minnisink Tribe
• October 13, 1829: A letter from Phoebe Post Willis of Jericho, New York, to Isaac Post on the death of John Hicks and strife between Orthodox and Hicksite Quakers
• March 10, 1843: A letter from Ethan Foster of Westerly, Rhode Island, to Thomas B. Gould on Wilburite-Gurneyite strife in his local meeting, and the disownment of Wilbur
• [After 1863 July]: A letter describing a meeting between Abraham Lincoln and five Quaker prisoners of war, who had been forced into the Confederate army, captured by the Union, and held at Fort Delaware
• Various dates: Reports, minutes, and epistles from yearly friends meetings in America and Great Britain

Rachel Ann White of Weymouth, Massachusetts, kept this diary between 1834 and 1837 while she was between the ages of 17 and 20. The diary begins with White's trip to New York City in the summer of 1834. Entries after White's return home in mid-August 1834 shorten and become more abbreviated, giving accounts of her family, social, and educational life.

Her trip to New York was spent sight-seeing and visiting with friends and family. She visited such places as Niblo's Garden Theater, a Jewish synagogue, Trinity Church, the city of Hoboken in New Jersey, Scudder's American Museum, and Castle Garden (where she saw a balloon ascension by Eugene Robinson on July 4, 1834). She described the American Museum at length in her entry of July 29, 1834, seeing such things as "all manner of birds," "beasts and fish," and a number of wax figures in a room that also contained "a great number of Indian relics consisting of canoes, paddles, ornaments…[and] the skeleton of a child found in a cave in one of our western states."

White also attended the funeral procession of the Marquis de Lafayette on June 26, 1834, and visited a relative at the Bloomingdale Asylum at the end of her trip. After visiting at the Asylum, White returned home, describing in part the damage left after the New York anti-abolitionist riots of 1834.

When back in Weymouth, she spent her time going to meetings, socializing with friends and family, taking trips to the beach, going to church, playing cards, attending lectures on temperance, quilting, and more. White mentioned her studies, which apparently included ciphers, history, and especially astronomy, the latter of which White attended several lectures on and viewed the moon through a telescope while in New York.

In 1835, White became a schoolteacher. Details regarding her social life are frequent within the volume, including a close friendship: she spoke highly of a woman named Betsey, experiencing "more joy on meeting [her] than I can express" (September 23, 1835). She wrote about Betsey's health scares that led to her death in October of 1836, for which White was present: "the cold grave has taken to its bosom, one who with a single exception, is my dearest friend. Now futurity seems a blank. I have nothing to anticipate but gloom. Oh why was she taken! Would it have been me!" (October 27, 1836).

White did not make another entry until December 26, 1836; Betsey's death affected her deeply and she has remained at home with the exception of going to meetings. The last entry on the same day mentions a debating meeting she attended: "the question was whether the signs of the times were favorable to the perpetuity of a republican form of government. Mr. Lincoln, argued, nobly in the affirmative."

Overall, entries relate to social visits, attending temperance lectures, domestic affairs, education, and entering into the profession of teaching.

The Railroad building in Québec photograph album contains 154 photographs that document a survey team operating in various remote locations in the Canadian province of Québec from May 1906 to September 1909 during the construction of the National Transcontinental Railway.

The Railroad building in Québec photograph album contains 154 photographs that document a survey team operating in various remote locations in the Canadian province of Québec from May 1906 to September 1909 during the construction of the National Transcontinental Railway.

The album (18 x 29.5 cm) has brown leather covers with "Photographs" stamped in gold on the front. Most images are dated and are arranged in roughly chronological order from May 1906 to September 1909, but there is no identification of people or places. The presence of surveying equipment in several images and the coverage of many different places on the railway’s route indicate a traveling survey team as the likely source of the photographs. The group seems to have been present at all stages of the project, from clearing the land to laying the track bed to building overpasses.

Contents consist of images of worker encampments and log cabin villages, landscapes, scenes from Québec City’s tricentennial in July 1908, railway workers and women in camp, trestle construction, unidentified towns in various stages of development, and two portraits of Native Americans. Also of interest are numerous images featuring surveying tools and equipment as well as cameras.

This atlas compiled by R. A. L. Robinson features small maps of the nations of the world, with descriptions of different societies (education, government, etc.) and comparisons to the United States.

This atlas compiled by R. A. L. Robinson features small maps of the nations of the world, with descriptions of different societies (education, government, etc.) and comparisons to the United States.

The majority of the regions represented in the volume are within Africa, Asia, and Europe. The descriptions of regions and countries include disparaging and condescending language.

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).