Collections of college and personal papers, as well as a select number of individual documents, have been briefly described in entries available for browsing and searching on this site. All collection and document descriptions contain a representative image and a summary of the contents.
Sorted chronologically
The Dickinson College catalog for the 1889-1890 academic year. Through the years, the annual catalog was variously titled "The Bulletin," "Catalogue and Register," "Course Catalog," and similar variants. The catalog typically includes the list of...
Location: Dickinsoniana Periodicals
Subject: Dickinson College Academic Affairs, Dickinson College Administration, Education
Format: Books and Pamphlets
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item:
Horatio King writes Postmaster General Donald McDonald Dickinson and thanks him for sending a copy of his annual report. King comments that he "had the great honor of occupying that position [of Postmaster General], for a short time, under that...
Location: I-Purchase-1963-2
Subject: Politics and Government
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: 
Letter from Horatio King to Donald Dickinson
Jennie May Taylor prepared this oration, entitled “Chaldni," for the commencement ceremonies held June 27, 1889. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time. Transcript included....
Location: Orations-1889-T238c
Subject: Education, Science and Technology
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "Chladni," by Jennie M. Taylor
Harriet Lane Johnston writes to Lily Macalester while on holiday in England. Addressed to "Dear Lily", Harriet chronicles her travels through the English countryside; encountering acquaintances from home, seeing icebergs, and attending a royal...
Location: MC 1998.10, B4, F16
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Travel and Tourism
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Harriet Lane Johnston to Lily Macalester
Susan Howard, wife of John T. Howard, writes to her son-in-law Horatio Collins King regarding family and church affairs.
Location: I-HartC-1981-2
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
Professor Charles F. Himes' photograph album from around 1890.
Location: MC 2000.1, B26, F1
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Format: Photographs
Time Period: 1880-1899
Professor Charles F. Himes' photograph album from 1893.
Location: MC 2000.1, B26, F1
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Format: Photographs
Time Period: 1880-1899
Moncure D. Conway (class of 1849) thanks a friend for the "encouraging letter" regarding Conway's deliberation on whether "to print the discourse" or to wait and publish "a more complete statement" at a later date.
Location: I-Friends-2001-1
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
This copy of the printed program for the commencement exercises held on June 19, 1890 shows the members of the graduating class and the speeches that they were scheduled to deliver.
Location: Dickinsoniana Programs
Subject: Dickinson College Events
Format: Memorabilia and Ephemera
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: 1890 Commencement Program
Horatio Collins King writes to Frank Hamlin, declining the latter's invitation to a Sons of Maine banquet. Collins reminisces of his days as editor of The Jeffersonian and of his old friends, most of who are no longer living. Transcript...
Location: I-BeachW-1975-8
Subject: Military Affairs and Conflict, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
Annie Besant thanks a Mrs. [Mawsou?] from Ashfield, Gateshead-on-Tyne in England for sending a pamphlet. "I am so busy [that] I am afraid I cannot find time to read the larger work of which you speak," as Besant explains.
Location: I-Friends-2001-4
Subject: Literary Pursuits, Religion and Spirituality
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Annie Besant to Mrs. Mawsou
Scholar Charles Janeway Stille writes to clergyman George Edward Ellis about Stille's biography of John Dickinson. Stille is having difficulty getting access to sources held by private collectors.
Location: I-Original-1891-3
Subject: Dickinson College Administration, Literary Pursuits
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Charles Stille to George Ellis
Jessica Dale Longsdorff prepared this oration, entitled “Shall Women Enter the Law ," for the commencement ceremonies held June 18, 1891. Longsdorff delivered her oration before commencement, on June 16, 1891. Authoring an original speech was...
Location: Orations-1891-L857s
Subject: Education, Legal Affairs, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "Shall Women Enter the Law," by Jessica D. Longsdorff
C. W. Prettyman prepared this oration, entitled “Collegiate Education," for the commencement ceremonies held June 18, 1891. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time. Transcript...
Location: Orations-1891-P942c
Subject: Education
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "Collegiate Education," by C. W. Prettyman
Thomas Miller Griffith (Class of 1858) receives this Honorary Doctor of Divinity Diploma from Dickinson College on June 18, 1891.
Location: OC 2005.4, F1
Subject: Education
Format: Certificates and Diplomas
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Honorary Doctor of Divinity Diploma - Thomas Griffith
Elizabeth A. Low prepared this oration, entitled “The Development of Science from Superstition," for the commencement ceremonies held June 18, 1891. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors...
Location: Orations-1891-L912d
Subject: Education, Science and Technology
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "The Development of Science from Superstition," by Elizabeth A. Low
Frank Moore prepared this oration, entitled “Co-Education in American Colleges ," for the commencement ceremonies held June 18, 1891. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time....
Location: Orations-1891-M821c
Subject: Education, Social Reform and Advocacy
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "Co-Education in American Colleges," by Frank Moore
Alfred Sinnett responds to Mrs. Esther Windust's question regarding a portrait of Madame Blavatsky. While he does "not possess any portraits of Madame Blavatsky taken during her youth," Sinnett suggests that Annie Besant, Bertram Keightley, and...
Location: I-Friends-1973-8
Subject: Personal and Family Life, Visual and Performing Arts
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Alfred Sinnett to Esther Windust
The Dickinson College catalog for the 1891-1892 academic year. Through the years, the annual catalog was variously titled "The Bulletin," "Catalogue and Register," "Course Catalog," and similar variants. The catalog typically includes the list of...
Harriet Beecher Stowe writes Essie King and thanks her for sending her pitctures of King's daughter. "God bless them and you and your husband," as Stowe notes.
Location: MC 1999.9, B1, F4
Subject: Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
Charles Force Deems , writes Mr. Miller to discuss Miller's lecture, "Love, Courtship, and Marriage" as well as Deem's lecture, "Before Marriage and After." Deems, a member of the Class of 1839, also notes that "the book has arrived" and has "...
Location: I-Purchase-1954-18
Subject: Literary Pursuits
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Charles Deems to Mr. Miller
Annie Besant reassures Clara Bayliss that one does not have to leave their Church when they join the Theosophical Society. However, Besant also explains that “as the Theosophical teachings flow into the life and thought, they tend to widen the...
Location: I-Friends-2001-4
Subject: Religion and Spirituality
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Annie Besant to Clara Bayliss
Professor Charles F. Himes' photograph album from 1893.
Location: MC 2000.1, B26, F2
Subject: Carlisle and Cumberland County, Dickinson College Student Life, Education
Format: Photographs
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Charles F. Himes Photograph Album (1893)
Harriet Beecher Stowe discusses her feelings about life in her old age, stating "I tell you that life to me now is but an afterglow. My sun has set. The time of work for me is over. I have written all my words, and thought all my thoughts." She...
Location: MC 1999.9, B1, F4
Subject: Health and Medicine, Personal and Family Life
Format: Letters/Correspondence
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: Letter from Harriet Beecher Stowe to Unknown Recipient
Chester N. Ames prepared this oration, entitled “United Germany ," for the commencement ceremonies held June 14, 1893. Authoring an original speech was among the graduation requirements for Dickinson College seniors at that time. Transcript...
Location: Orations-1893-A513u
Subject: Education, International Affairs
Format: Speeches and Sermons
Time Period: 1880-1899
View Item: "United Germany," by Chester N. Ames