Personal and Family Life

John T. Cuddy (1844-1864) was the son of John and Agnes Cuddy of Carlisle. Not much is known about his early childhood. At the age of 16 he enlisted in a local Pennsylvania regiment as a drummer boy and thus entered the Civil War. The collection consists of correspondence between Cuddy and family back in Carlisle; there are 82 letters or letter fragments in the collection. There are very few gaps in the flow of the correspondence. The last letter is from Cuddy to his parents, dated May 1, 1864, in which he expresses his earnest desire to come home. He would not return home, however; Cuddy was captured by rebel troops at the Battle of Wilderness on May 5, 1864, and subsequently died as a prisoner of war at Florence, South Carolina, on September 29, 1864. Also included are two tintype portraits of Cuddy in uniform.

This collection reflects the three year period in which Andrew Curtin served as minister to Russia, and is arranged in two series: Photograph Albums and Loose Photographs. The albums are housed in one document box, while the loose photographs are housed within the Dickinson College Photograph Collections as PC 2001.21. Because no definitive date has been given for most of these items, the date of the materials has been indicated as c1870. Curtin, Dickinson College Class of 1837, served as "war governor" for Pennsylvania during the Civil War and was appointed minister to Russia following his tenure as governor.

Albert L. Demaree (1894-1964) graduated from Dickinson College in 1923. This collection contains materials from his service in the U.S. Navy during both World Wars, including certificates, medals, and photographs. The collection also includes materials pertaining to his academic credentials as a graduate of Dickinson College, Dartmouth College, and Columbia University.

This collection is comprised entirely of correspondence written by Thomas William Dick during his service in the Union Army from 1861 to 1864. Originally from Centerville, Pennsylvania, Dick enlisted in the PA Reserve Corps, and, although wounded in the Battle of Wilderness, he survived to become a lawyer in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania. Dick participated in several notable battles, and his letters discuss life in a military camp, and make reference to the famous Bucktail Regiment of Pennsylvania.

The collection includes various materials gathered by Blanche, Ray, and Miriam Dum, graduates of Dickinson College in 1910, 1911, and 1913, respectively. Examples of the materials include college bills and report cards from the early part of the century, scholastic materials from Carlisle High School, and photographs.

John Price Durbin served as president of Dickinson College from 1834 to 1845. From 1842 to 1843 he toured across Europe and the Middle East, and he later published books about his travels. This collection includes a scrapbook that contains an autobiographical memoir as well as items Durbin collected during his travels. There are also several news clippings and engravings.

Robert Emory (1814-1848) taught Latin and Greek at Dickinson between 1834 and 1840 and served as acting president in 1842-43 and 1845-47. This collection contains personal correspondence, as well legal and financial documents, primarily regarding the management of land.

M. Margaret Eslinger graduated from Dickinson College in 1923.  This scrapbook contains a variety of items from her time at Dickinson College and as a graduate student at Ohio State University between 1919 and 1925. Materials include letters, grade slips, school bulletins, event programs, coursework, postcards, concert tickets, newspaper clippings, holiday cards, account books, photographs, name tags, and such objects as utensils, cigarettes, pressed flowers, pinned badges, and napkins.

The collection consists primarily of travel journals of Thomas and Jabez Fisher, sons of Joshua Fisher, a businessman in Philadelphia shipping prior to the Revolutionary War. The journals offer detailed accounts of travel to Europe in the 1760s and 1770s. In addition, a small amount of business account information is included, along with three personal journals of Sarah Logan Fisher Wister, granddaughter of Thomas Fisher.

The collection includes correspondence and manuscripts of William Righter Fisher, a Dickinson alumnus (class of 1870) and professor of modern languages (1874-1876). These papers reflect Fisher's graduate study in Germany, teaching at Dickinson, business and law, and the writings of Mrs. Fisher.

The J. William Frey Photograph Album contains photographs chronicling his year in Giessen, Germany; he titled it "'Mein Jahr in Deutschland': A Year of Attending College in 1937-1938 Nazi Germany." Captions in both English and German were written on the pages. The subjects of the photographs range from people that Frey lived and traveled with to locations in Germany, France, and Italy. The collection also contains loose photographs that have been removed from the album.

This collection includes correspondence of the Gale family including Reverend Wakefield Gale, a Congregational clergyman educated at Dartmouth and Andover Theological Seminary, his wife Mary Louise Bigelow Gale, John A. Gale, and Joseph Gale. Subjects covered include life in New York City (1825-1852) and church work.

The collection consists of the diaries of Zenanah Gilbert and Dora Gilbert Tompkins; very little else is known about either woman. Gilbert was born in Rome, New York on January 31, 1784; her family ran a guest house in town. Tompkins was born in Knoxville, Illinois, and was a schoolteacher. Gilbert's diary is dated 1805-1809 and describes the typical life of a young woman in the early part of the nineteenth century: household chores, social events, the simple joys of friendship, the depression of being alone. The diary has been written in a code created by Gilbert but has been deciphered and transcribed.

The diary of Tompkins contrasts that of Gilbert, describing her studies as well as her lessons prepared for her students; however, she too enjoyed the simple joys derived from friendship and bike riding. Tompkins mentions the explosion aboard the U.S.S. Maine on February 25, 1898 and is fearful that war is imminent. Miscellaneous items in the collection include a sample of Henry S. Chaffer's handwriting and fragments of the Gilbert family pedigree.

Lewis Daniel Gobrecht graduated from Dickinson College in 1955. This collection primarily represents his academic and extracurricular life as a student, with particular emphasis on his involvement in theatre and music activities.

Isaac Grier (c.1763-1814) was a member of the class of 1788 of Dickinson College; he studied theology under Charles Nisbet and later served as principal of the grammar school at the college from 1788 until 1790. The core of the collection consists of bound manuscripts of forty sermons given by him between 1796 and 1813. Additional items in the collection are a fragmented two-page letter addressed simply to Betty, no date given, and a fragmented two-page manuscript of a "Sermon on the Gospel Theme."

Thomas Miller Griffith (1834-1898) graduated from Dickinson College in 1858 and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from the college in 1891. He was a member of the Philadelphia conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church and served Pennsylvania congregations in Carlisle, Chestnut Hill, Churchtown, Cornwall, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Lebanon, Mauch Chunk, and Media. This collection contains correspondence, speeches, sermons and notes, preaching certificates, a Griffith family genealogy, some memorabilia from Griffith's college days, and his Dickinson diplomas.

The Thomas Hamilton Collection consists almost exclusively of letters received by James Hamilton from his brother Thomas Hamilton, both of whom were prominent figures in local politics (James in Carlisle, PA and Thomas in Greensburg, PA). The letters range in date from 1789 until 1818 and cover a variety of topics, including financial business and accounts, legal cases, local and national politics, family news and religion. The letters also reflect Thomas and James' activities as land speculators in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky.

The collection consists of materials relating to Ethelyn Hardesty's student days at Dickinson College, including a scrapbook, 1899-1902, class and lecture notes, grade reports, and a diary. After graduating in 1902, Hardesty taught high school in Lock Haven, PA. She married Dr. C. Grant Cleaver, Dickinson class of 1894. Both she and her husband were active in alumni activities.

The bulk of the diaries is a day by day account of Harnish's life in Carlisle - what he did, whom he saw, etc. Four diaries contain accounts of his years at Dickinson College: accounts of the social life, (Theta Chi fraternity), and academic information - not greatly detailed. Also included are detailed accounts of his joining the army, his search for summer employment, and his financial endeavors - particularly the Chicken Account- and descriptions of profit/expenses of raising his chickens. The diaries end with descriptions of his life as a teacher in Chicago.

The Hays family papers include correspondence, deeds, and memorabilia of six generations of this prominent Carlisle, Pa. family whose scions include General Ephraim Blaine (1741-1804), Commissary-General in the American Revolution and charter trustee of Dickinson College, and James G. Blaine (1830-1898), presidential candidate and U. S. Senator from Maine. Ephraim Blaine's account books from his war service, his will, deeds, and other papers are included. John Hays (II), great grandson of Ephraim Blaine, was an 1857 graduate of Dickinson College; many others of his family represented here were also alumni. John Hays' own papers reflect his Civil War service, his veterans' activities, literary interests, genealogy, his interest in the history of Carlisle and Cumberland county, and his varied career as lawyer, bank president, founder of the Carlisle Gas and Water Company and of the Carlisle Frog, Switch and Manufacturing Company. Also included is an exchange of correspondence between Mary Abigail Dodge and John Hays concerning her projected biography of James G. Blaine. In addition, there are significant bodies of 19th century correspondence of lawyers James Hamilton and George Metzger.

The Bevery Hess collection consists of the various papers, newspaper clippings, books, audiotapes and photographs collected by Hess during her most active period of involvement with local anti-nuclear groups. Bevery Hess was a resident of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania prior to the accident at Three Mile Island, Unit 2. After the accident, Beverly Hess became heavily involved in the local anti-nuclear movement. She was a founding member of the Susquehanna Valley Alliance and the Public Interest Resource Center (PIRC). An appendix is included, which lists the books belonging to the Beverly Hess collection.

These images are a sample of the photographs taken by Charles Francis Himes, a pioneer amateur photographer of the 19th century. Himes took this particular set of photographs while at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.

The photographs are from the Charles Francis Himes family papers. For more information about Himes and this collection, see the links under related entries.

This collection primarily provides evidence of the personal and professional life of Charles Francis Himes, student, photographer, scientist, teacher, administrator, amateur historian and father. Also found in this collection is evidence of the lives of family members including, most notably, C. F. Himes' wife Mary and her father Joseph A. Murray. Information on Dickinson College is featured prominently throughout this collection through the close association of C. F. Himes with the institution during most of his life. Beyond family and institutional history, this collection offers information on a number of social, political, economic, and historic topics. Some of these broader topics include post-secondary education in the latter half of the nineteenth century, south central Pennsylvania society, the history of photography, and nineteenth century travel.

This collection contains the papers of William Irvine, a physician during the American Revolution, and his family; the papers are housed in one document box and have been arranged into two sections: Correspondence, and Legal and Financial Papers.

The Correspondence section contains letters and notes divided into four sections: Anne Callendar (Mrs. William Irvine), Robert Callendar, Callendar Irvine, and William Irvine. Of note within the Correspondence section are letters to General John Armstrong, General Wilkins, and a set of General Orders to Carlisle. The Legal and Financial Papers section contains two legal contracts, one proposed contract, a folder of receipts and two pages of accounts. One of the account pages is for Robert Gilmore, a student at Dickinson College, under the care of Colonel Henry Lee.

The Herman Merrills Johnson papers consist primarily of financial records, bound and unbound, maintained by Johnson during his tenure as president of Dickinson College. The collection also contains correspondence, notes, manuscripts, and the bill of sale for Johnson's library following his death.