Old Letters Club Records, 1926-1937
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Smith College Archives Northampton, MA
Finding aid encoded using Perl scripts and edited in XMetal 2.0. Encoded by Brook Hopkins. 2003-06-03
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
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Old Letters Club Records
Creation of Old Letters Club Records
Time of Creation of Old Letters Club Records
Old Letters Club
Biographical History for: Old Letters Club Records
Biographical Note Students in the History Department founded this club with the help of Professor John Spencer Bassett in 1926. The purpose of the club was to collect a diverse group of letters, not necessarily valuable, that documented the lives of women and men throughout history. Members of the club accumulated the material in the collection over several years from various sources and donors. See Folder 1a "General Information" for more details on the club and its purpose.
Scope and Contents of the Collection The Old Letters Club records, consisting of 5 linear inches, are a small collection of letters written between 1776 and 1871, with the bulk of the collection composed in the mid-eighteenth century. Extremely diverse with many of the letters written around the Revolutionary and Civil wars by both women and men, the letters collected by the club are not only of a personal nature, but encompass business and legal affairs as well. According to the club's purpose, many of the letters provide insight into the daily lives of people at different points in history; however, none of the series of letters are complete, some of the authors cannot be identified, and none of the signatures are well-known. The collection is not arranged chronologically; instead, the club's original method of arrangement by donor and then accession is maintained. As many of the letters were given on loan to the original club, there is a gap in the middle of the collection where thirteen letters are missing as well as another gap towards the end of the collection where an additional thirty-three letters are unaccounted for. Included in the files are both the club's original index cards documenting the letters and the index cards created by an archivist while processing the collection. Some of the information differs between the cards and the file folders because of new dates and names discovered upon a closer reading of the letters. Every letter has a corresponding index card except for letter # 147. Note: This collection is part of 80. Student Clubs and Organizations
Letters--United States.
lcsh
Old Letters Club (Smith College)
United States--History--1775-1865--Sources.
general information May 1926, May 1929
index cards n.d.
Leon Camphey ? Feb. 2, 1836
? Nichols Feb. 12, 1837
G.E. Pugh Sept. 5, 1856
G.E. Pugh Feb. 4, 1856
A. Holbrook June 21, 1857
G.E. Pugh Jan. 29, 1859
Leonard Dye Feb. 18, 1862
Leonard Dye Sept. 14, 1862
Leonard Dye Aug. 7, 1862
Leonard Dye Sept. 27, 1862
Leonard Dye Mar. 18, 1863
W. Frampton ? May 16, 1863
Leonard Dye Sept. 24, 1863
Leonard Dye Jan. 1, 1864
Leonard Dye Feb. 10, 1864
Leonard Dye July 25, 1864
James Birell Apr. 28, 1865
W.W.V. Buchanan May 29, 1865
Peter Wefler July 26, 1865
F.W. Foster Jan. 31, 1866
M. Laurence July 7, 1871
W.W.V Buchanan Jan. 29, 1856
Rev. Harold Bridge Aug. 17, 1846
Samuel B. Stivers Sept. 21, 1851
Garret Howell July 16, 1854
Garret Howell Mar. 15, 1858
Alexander E. Stivers Apr. 28, 1862
Alexander E. Stivers May 20, 1862
Alexander E. Stivers July 8, 1862
Alexander E. Stivers July 14, 1862
Alexander E. Stivers Aug. 13, 1862
Alexander E. Stivers Oct. 20, 1863
Alexander E. Stivers May 16, 1864?
George Smith May 17, 1813
Samuel Hutchinson June 3, 1817
Eliza Thornton June ?, 1848
? June 30, 1848
missing n.d.
J.C. Herken n.d.
? July 7, 1834
Clementine Stanwood Aug. 24, 1840
Clementine Stanwood Dec. 29, 1840
Clementine Stanwood Aug. 5, 1841
Clementine Stanwood Aug. 25, 1841
Clementine Stanwood Nov. 8 ?, 1841
Clementine Stanwood Dec. 8 ?, 1841
Clementine Stanwood Sept. 30, 1842
Elnathan P. Hathaway Feb. 21, 1821
L.C. Paerin Feb. 7, 1838
Juda Gale May 27, 1825
L. Ingalls March 22, 1838
Rev. Whitman Metcalf n.d.
Juda Gale Dec. 9, 1823
Arrin Dodge Nov. 11, 1844
Rev. Whitman Metcalf June 16, 1825
J. Darling Oct 9, 1832
J. Darling Dec. 20, 1836
S. Phipps March 13, 1845
? June 10, 1807
Gen. Huntington Nov. 16, 1777
Tim Edwards June 17, 1776
Barnabas Deane Sept. 30, 1776
J. Trumbull July 5, 1777
Tench Tilghman Oct., 29 1779
Sam B. Webb Nov. 16, 1777
Col. Hugh Hughes June16, 1777
Samuel H. Parsons Nov. 14, 1777
J. Trumbull Aug. 2, 1777
Dan Putnam Jan. 10, 1778
Maj. Dumas Nov. 14, 1780
Oliver Ellsworth May 23, 1780
D. Humphrys May 14, 1781
Gen. Sam Parsons Jan. 14, 1781
Maj. D. Humphrys March 1, 1782
W. Rondineau ? June 20, 1786
J. Trumbull Dec. 23, 1795
Samuel Parsons Nov. 25, 1785
Daniel Putnam May 23, 1818
Daniel Putnam June 29, 1818
Judge Putnam July 8, 1818
Jennie Howell ? n.d.
Harriet ? May 5, 1848
Isaac Child March 23, 1834
D. Hutchinson July 29, 1847
Michael Egan Feb. 24, 1850
William and Ann Hayes Aug. 8, 1855, Dec. 20, 1856
James Egan Aug. 25, 1876
James Egan Mar. 11, 1849
James Egan May 22, 1876
Nathaniel West Nov. 17, 1786