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Annie Sullivan Letters
Anne Mansfield "Annie" Sullivan became the teacher of Helen Keller in 1887 upon the recommendation of Michael Anagnos, director of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind in South Boston, Massachusetts, from which Miss Sullivan had recently graduated. The letters in this collection were written by Miss Sullivan to Mr. Anagnos between 1887 and 1902 and provide much information relative to Helen Keller's progress in reading, writing, and speaking during her early life in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Included are details of methods used to educate her; the publication of her first stories; and many remarks on troubling aspects of Helen's home life, such as her mother's inadequacies and her father's financial difficulties.
Ellen Tucker Emerson Letters, 1863-1865
Ellen Tucker Emerson (1839-1909) was the eldest surviving child of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Lidian Jackson Emerson. This collection contains one hundred letters all written by Ellen Tucker Emerson to family and friends. Most of the letters were written from Concord, Massachusetts, and in lively prose detail Ellen’s life in the Emerson household and in the wider Concord community. She mostly writes about her visits with her Aunt Ripley, studies, labor, recreational activities such as skating on Waldon Pond, weddings, and joining the Soldier’s Aid sewing circle during the Civil War.
Patty Rogers Diary
In her 1785 diary, Martha "Patty" Rogers (1761-1840) recorded her intimate thoughts and daily activities, expressing her concern and frustration over having to care for her sickly father and describing in detail her active social life, which included two romances. When her first suitor, the Reverend William Woodbridge. married another, Patty found solace—however briefly—with Dr. Samuel Tenney until he married Tabitha Gilman, who later became well known as a novelist.
Gale Family Papers, 1818-1851
Hannah ("Anna") Davis Gale (1818-1851) and her brother Frederick William Gale (1816-1854) were born in Northborough, Massachusetts, the children of Captain Cyrus Gale and Eliza Davis Gale. This collection consists of letters written by or to Anna and Frederick, as well as a journal kept by Anna while a student at the Greene Street School. The letters are significant for their descriptions of Worcester social life, school days, and family affairs. One letter, dated 12 August 1834, concerns a nativist-inspired attack upon a convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The journal includes detailed impressions of Anna's teacher, Margaret Fuller.
Taintor-Davis Family Papers, 1763-1917
Browse through annotated post cards collected by Mary Ellen Taintor Davis for Roger Wolcott Davis and Family in the Taintor-Davis Family Papers. This collection spans four generations and includes correspondence on farming, relationships, and recipes from the 19th century.
