Recent Collections
Robert Roblee collection of William N. Bell family materials, ca. 1850s-1910.
Location: Museum of History & Industry, Sophie Frye Bass Library (Seattle, Wash.)
Background: William Nathaniel Bell (1817-1887) and his wife, Sarah Ann (Peter) Bell (1819-1856) arrived at Alki Beach in present-day West Seattle with the Denny party and other pioneers on the schooner Exact in 1851. The Bells, settling north of the future downtown area in what would become known as "Belltown," helped to establish the new "Town of Seattle." Sarah Ann Bell was seriously ill when Indians attacked Seattle on 26 Jan. 1856 in the "Battle of Seattle." Bell decided to move his ailing wife and his children to California. Though Sarah died in California that same year, Bell did not return to Seattle until 1870. He sold some of his now-valuable real estate, built the Bellevue Hotel at the corner of First Avenue and Battery Street, and engaged in other businesses, including developing Belltown.
Contents: Legal and business documents, correspondence, and ephemera related to the Seattle pioneer Bell family, together with photographs of early Seattle. The collection includes photographs of early Seattle; a number of land deeds and plat maps, particularly pertaining to lands owned by the Bell, Denny, and Boren families, including the original plat of Belltown, and the land deed transferring property from Carson Boren to William Bell for the residence on the site of the Hoge Building. The collection also includes tax statements and receipts and other legal documents; ephemera, including a number of calling cards and invitations collected by the Bell family; materials on the Bellevue Hotel (built by William Bell in 1890) and on President Harrison's visit to Seattle in 1891; and a biography of William N. Bell and a family genealogy, written by Bell's daughter Mary Virginia Bell Hall.
Winton Weydemeyer papers, 1908-1992.
Location: University of Montana--Missoula, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library, K . Ross Toole Archives
Background: Winton W. Weydemeyer was born 19 March 1903 in Cass City, Michigan, to Harry and Margaret Weydemeyer. He was raised in Fortine, Montana, attended Lincoln County High School, and graduated with honors from Montana State University in Bozeman. He ranched near Fortine, but is best known for his many public service activities that ranged from agriculture to bird study and conservation. He served for twenty years as Master of the Montana State Grange, eighteen years as an officer of the National Grange, and helped organize three state-wide citizen conservation organizations. As a state senator in the 1951 and 1953 legislative sessions, he established conservation education in the state's public schools. He served on many governmental and educational committees, commissions, boards and councils, and, for sixteen years, was a governor's appointee to the Montana Water Pollution Council. He received both national and state awards for his considerable service activities. Winton Weydemeyer was a lifelong student of ornithology and contributed more than 150 articles and notes to professional journals. The first article appeared in 1923 and he contributed his last published note in 1992. He also published three books: The Bird Life of Lake Bowdoin, Montana; A Grange Master's America- In Defense of Freedom; and Picture Taking in Glacier Park. His published works and bird study records reflect the meticulous attention to detail that directed his approach to science. Weydemeyer died 4 February 1993.
Contents: This collection consists of Winton Weydemeyer's bird study records including annual bird counts, Montana bird species records, Montana bird lists, migration and nesting records, and bird song notes. A series of correspondence contains communications with the University of Montana, the Bureau of Biological Survey, and fellow birders.
Richard Stotz digital photographs, 1942-1946.
Location: Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center
Background: Resident of Fremont, Ohio; served as combat photographer with the 5th Marine Division in the Pacific campaign and Japan during World War II and immediately afterwards; owner of photography studios in Fremont and Clyde, Ohio.
Contents: Digital scans (ca. 1200 photographs on 2 disks) of World War II photographs taken by combat photographer Richard Stotz; together with photocopies of miscellaneous paperwork pertaining to Stotz's service record with the U.S. Marine Corps. Places represented include Camp Pendleton, several Hawaiian Islands, and 20th Century Fox Studios located in Hollywood, Calif., where he received a portion of his training. Perhaps most important are the photographs taken during the invasion of Iwo Jima and the Occupation of Japan, showing images of Stotz's comrades, Japanese prisoners, downed military airplanes, and combat operations. Also includes photographs of Nagasaki and Sasebo, Japan between 1945 and 1946 which show the destruction caused by the atomic bombs, Japanese civilians, and a portion of the rebuilding process. The images were taken by Stotz and his fellow Marine combat photographers.
Photograph of Booker T. Washington's visit to Southern University, 1915.
Location: Southern University and A&M College
Contents: Photograph of Booker T. Washington and other dignitaries visiting the campus of Southern University. Other persons represented include Robert Russa Moton and Joseph Samuel Clark, president of Southern University.
Part of a recent outreach initiative to HBCU institutions in the United States.
John Sloan manuscript collection, 1871-1997.
Location: Delaware Art Museum, Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives (Wilmington, Del.)
Background: Illustrator, painter, etcher, teacher, writer, lithographer; lived in New York City and Santa Fe, N.M.
Contents: Collection contains catalog records, consignment books, financial and legal records, clipping files, photographs of paintings and drawings, published illustrations, correspondence with artist friends and others, photographs, published matter about Sloan and related artists, and organizational matter. Printed Matter (Series VII) includes catalogs and materials concerning The Eight. Other persons and entities represented include Dolly Sloan, Helen Farr Sloan, Will Shuster, John Butler Yeats, Robert Henri, Ashcan School, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Society of Independent Artists, Hudson Guild, and the Armory Show. (John Sloan portrait: drypoint by George Constant, undated)
George Whitefield papers, ca. 1826.
Location: Litchfield Historical Society (Litchfield, Conn.)
Background: George Whitefield (b. ca. 1814) was a Chippewa student at the Foreign Mission School in Cornwall, Conn. His Indian name was Catitugegwonhale.
Contents: Letter, calligraphy exercises, and drawings. Includes a letter from Whitefield to Rev. Amos Bassett complaining that he has been harassed and wants to go back to school in Mackinaw, and two drawings, one of two soldiers fencing, and the other a view of the Cornwall Valley. (Sketch of Cornwall, Conn., 1835, by John Warner Barber, shows the buildings used by the Foreign Mission School, to the right of the church at center.)
Lewie G. Merritt papers, 1917-1959.
Location: The Citadel Archives & Museum (Charleston, S.C.)
Background: Marine Corps officer, Citadel graduate, 1917, first American shot down in European Theater in the Libyan desert during World War II and one of the first aviators to use dive bombing.
Contents: Photographs of his Citadel and USMC career; certificates; biographical material; newspaper clippings; and memorandums concering strategic bombing survey of Guam.
C. G. Hine albums and publications, circa 1873-1931.
Location: Martha's Vineyard Museum (Edgartown, Mass.)
Background: Charles Gilbert Hine, 1859-1931, known as C. G. Hine, was a publisher and editor of insurance periodicals, an author of local history and an amateur photographer. He resided in the tri-state area and on the island of Martha's Vineyard.
Contents: This collection contains photograph albums and publications created by C. G. (Charles Gilbert) Hine between 1884 and 1928. The albums primarily pertain to the island of Martha's Vineyard, though other geographic locales and topics of interest are also featured. The works combine Hine's passion for photography with an interest in amateur bookbinding. This image from C. G. Hine's Caper Club album portrays the romantic adventure of a summer on Martha's Vineyard. It depicts a pair of young ladies on the beach with hair and skirts blowing in the breeze. The album is in the archives of the Martha's Vineyard Museum. Photo courtesy of Martha's Vineyard Museum.
James W. Powell and Julie Powell collection of Fort Oglethorpe photographs, 1900-1990.
Location: Chattanooga Public Library (Chattanooga, Tenn.)
Background: The Powells operated a bed and breakfast called the Captain's Quarters in the historic Barnhardt Circle of Fort Oglethorpe from 2005 to 2009. They collected and displayed historic photographs of the Fort. Ft. Oglethorpe functioned as a military post from 1904 to 1946. The 6th Cavalry occupied the base from 1919 to 1942; the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps/Women's Army Corps trained there from 1942 to 1945. The place became a city in 1949, and the original post is now on the Historical Register.
Contents: The collection contains black and white photos of Ft. Oglethorpe personnel and activities. Predominant visitors were Franklin Roosevelt, Bing Crosby, and Oveta Hobby. Photos include those of the WAACs, African-American troops, baseball teams, fire departments, and Post commanders.
Ralph Mitchell Weed collection, 1918-1919.
Location: University of Mississippi (University, Miss.), J.D. Williams Library, Dept. of Archives and Special Collections
Background: A Winona, Miss., native, Ralph Mitchell Weed began his military career as a private at Camp Beauregard, La., in Jan. 1918. After a period of informal training in Louisiana, Private Weed traveled to Camp Merritt, N.J., for a more intense session of formal military instruction. Finally, in June 1918 Weed was sent overseas to France to join in the conflict. Now a corporal in the 38th Infantry of the U.S. Army, Weed saw action at the Battle of the Marne, the St. Mihiel Offensive, and the Argonne-Meuse Offensive. After the war, Weed remained in Germany as a peacekeeper until July 1919.
Contents: Collection consists of correspondence, a datebook, and various documents related to the life of Ralph Mitchell Weed.
Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer collection, 1849-1973.
Location: Thomas Balch Library, Leesburg, Va.
Background: Anne Snowden Wildman Dyer, known to her family and friends as Anna, was born on 7 July 1895 in Leesburg, Va. Anna graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1917 and worked for the War Trade Board in
Washington, D.C. In 1921 she obtained a teaching certificate and began teaching in the Loudoun County schools. In early 1921 Anna made an extended trip to Egypt and Europe in the company of a college friend and her friend's mother. She made three more trips to Europe in 1923, 1925, and 1928. Her letters to her parents recount the first trip in considerable detail, and she kept diaries of all of the trips as well as taking extensive photographs. In 1932, she married Archibald Murray Dyer (1907-1970), an English journalist and author. The couple lived first in New York, where he worked as a writer for CBS and NBC. He published one novel about Japan, "The Bridge of Heaven", and wrote an unpublished novel titled, "The Lonely Command." They later moved to Leesburg to the home where Anna grew up on Edwards Ferry Road. They shared the house with Anna's sister, Christine Clagett Wildman (1898-1958). Murray Dyer died June 4, 1970 and Anna Dyer died on August 25, 1973.
Contents: This collection consists of the personal papers of Anna Snowden Wildman Dyer, including her years at Bryn Mawr College (1913-1917). There are letters she wrote her parents while traveling in Egypt and Europe in the 1920s, as well as her travel diaries. The photographs in the collection document Anna's college years, her travels, and the Wildman house on Edwards Ferry Road. A set of photographs document the military service of John Lawrence Layton (1894-1918), a pilot in the U.S. Army Service during World War I. Layton was flying with the French Escadrille No. 77 when he died in combat over France. Also included are a published novel, an unpublished manuscript, and a diary detailing the last days of World War II in Australia, all written by Murray Dyer. In addition, the collection includes material from Anna's sister, Christine Clagett Wildman.
Ralph Metcalfe interview, 1973 Feb. 7
Location: Moorland-Spingarn Research Center, Howard University (Washington, D.C.)
Background: Ralph Harold Metcalfe, Sr. (May 29, 1910–October 10, 1978) was an American track and field sprinter and politician.
Contents: Discusses reasons for entering politics. Concentrates on Congressional Black Caucus, including its relationship with President Nixon; activities to alleviate problems of Blacks; view on Congressional reform; role in 1972 National Black Political Convention; assessment of presidential candidacy of Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.); discusses home rule for the District of Columbia; comments on politics in Chicago. Transcript only. No tape available. Interviewer: Edward Thompson III.