Miss Wheeler’s School

Earlier this week, we received six scrapbooks containing samples of the work of Mary (Peggy) Parsons while a student at Miss Wheeler’s School in Hartford.  Mary Parsons was born about 1897 and attended first through sixth grade at Miss Wheeler’s School.  The scrapbooks contain photographs of her class and schoolmates and various friends, plus samples of her penmanship, vocabulary work, arithmetic, records of the weather, maps, and artwork including collages, watercolors, and drawings.  There are also a few cut flowers.  It is fascinating to see Mary’s skills develop over the six years she was at school, from the scribblings of a five or six year old to the complex pictures drawn by an 11 or 12 year old.

This set of workbooks or scrapbooks is just one of several examples in our collections.  Seems like they would make a good research project on the women-run schools in Hartford in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Griswold family of Hartford

Every once in awhile I get the chance to go through some collections we have had for years but that have never been processed before. When I do, I always find something intriguing, or at least interesting. So, last week I started going through the Ogden Griswold papers. However, there are more letters between his children than there are to or from him. The most prolific letter writer was Belle (Isabella Louise, born about 1845). She wrote to her sister Lizzie (Elizabeth C., born about 1836) and to her parents, from New York City. I have not had a chance to delve into the content of the letters yet, but I hope they provide some information about why Belle was in New York while her parents, Ogden and Cynthia, were in Hartford. The bulk of the other letters in this collection are addressed to Lizzie from her brothers Roland, Hubert and Ogden DeWitt (often known by his middle name alone) and from her father Ogden. There is a story brewing here somewhere, one that I hope is strong in women’s history.

William Gillette gives instructions for his will

Yesterday, I was moving items around in the manuscript stacks and came upon an envelope that had printed in large block letters “Sealed unitl 1990.”  Well, since that was 17 years ago, I figured I should take a look.  What I found was correspondence between actor William Gillette and his lawyer at the firm Shipman and Goodwin of Hartford.  Also included were several hand written notes, one of which was rather extensive, giving particular changes he wanted to different parts of his will.  Fascinating look into his mind toward the end of his life.