Letters received, 1886-1907.

ArchivalResource

Morse, Mabel Annie, 1867-. Letters received, 1886-1907.

Letters received, 1886-1907.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/70122315

The collection consists of approx. 300 handwritten letters spanning the years 1886 to 1907, with the bulk between 1896 and 1899. The letters were written to Mabel (Rodgers) Morse of South Dakota, and later Knoxville, Tennessee, by her father, mother, siblings, and aunts in Amesbury, Mass., and provide a detailed account of domestic life in later 19th century New England through their vivid descriptions of day-to-day activities in the Rodgers home and surrounding community. Intended to keep Mabel up to date and informed about the family, the letters are an intelligent and thoughtful record of their thoughts and concerns as well as a chronicle of social and cultural life in Amesbury and the North Shore of Massachusetts. Topics frequently discussed in the letters include gardening, woodworking, and dressmaking. The letters are often illustrated with drawings or include newspaper clippings or swatches of fabric. The collection includes six letters written by Mabel Rodgers and friends that relate to a letter-writing circle called the "Friends of the Traveller"--Young people from different parts of the country corresponded by adding to the "traveller" as it circulated among them. These letters provide both an insider's view of Amesbury and its celebrity figure, the poet John Greenleaf Whittier, and a representation of social interaction between young adults in the late 1800s.

1 box (ca. 300 items) ; 27 cm.

Boston Athenaeum