Collections

Letter from E.B. Chaney to his brother about his home and selling of tobacco. Location unknown. February 18,1867.

This collection contains correspondence, ephemera, and financial documents related to Edward C. Dyer's business as an auctioneer and importer of cigars (segars) from Havana, Cuba. The majority of the documents are dated between 1853-1865 with the full scope of the collection ranging from 1808-1897. The bulk of the letters were written by John Benjamin Belt, a cigar exporter in Havana, detailing the Cuban import-export cigar trade including suppliers, brands, quality of various tobacco leaves, start-ups, and costs association with the tobacco business. The collection contains letters from Belt to his mother and sister, Elizabeth, Edward C. Dyer's wife. Dyer also had sustained correspondence with Herman Heins and George Dufour, J. Amez, James Harper, Robert Marron, and Reid and Eaton. In addition to the correspondence, there are also numerous ephemera items such as receipts, check stubs, Balance sheets, invoices, property deeds, legal documents, and estate papers. Among the receipts is a receipt for the purchase of a slave by Dyer. Finally, the collection contains several bound account books of Dyer's for various companies with which he did business.

Letter from Elianna M. J. Southall of Baltimore, Maryland, to her father (Papa), Robert Anderson in Richmond, Virginia. She requests money for guitar lessons from a Spanish teacher and mentions that she is attending medical classes at school. Writes about the lack of men at William and Mary where "only four students at Commencement" and proposed the college move to Richmond. November 9, 1833. The Anderson and Southall Families are from Williamsburg, Virginia. Includes letter from Dr. Pomfret to Dr. Swem about the provenance of the letter, April 25, 1944.

Lieutenant Elizabeth A. Feldhusen (1918-2014) was born in Brooklyn, New York and served in World War II as a nurse at field evacuation hospitals in France, Germany, and Austria. She was part of the 131st Evacuation Hospital activated out of Fort Jackson, South Carolina. After German forces signed full surrender, the 131st was ultimately assigned in Austria near a concentration camp in order to take care of recently liberated Polish and Russian prisoners. This collection includes letters from Lieutenant Feldhusen to her family, two photographs of United States Army personnel in uniform, V-Mail letters, pamphlets, and letters from German friends to Elizabeth Feldhusen's mother Anna Feldhusen (in German).