1900-1919

Alexander Biddle, the patriarch of the collection, was born on April 29, 1819 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Thomas A. Biddle and Christine Williams Biddle. A member of a prominent and wealthy Philadelphia family, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1838 and became a successful lawyer—a profession that ran in his family and would continue in later generations. He married Julia Williams Rush in 1855—the granddaughter of Founding Father Benjamin Rush—which allows for both the Williams and Rush families to be well represented in this collection. It is Alexander, his wife Julia, and his seven children—Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford, that make up a majority of this collection.

The Biddle Family Collection is housed in 11 document boxes. This collection consists primarily of correspondence between both friends and members of the Biddle Family as well as business associates. The collection is centered around Alexander Biddle (April 29, 1819—May 2, 1899), starting with him and progressing into an emphasis on his wife and children (Alexander, Henry, Julia, Wilmer, Louis, Marion, and Lynford) as well as other family members. The Rush family, via Alexander marrying into it, is also well represented.

These materials are arranged into the following 9 categories: Correspondence, Financial Materials, Legal Materials, Clubs/Societies, Invitations, Animal Business, Ephemera, Miscellaneous, and Photographs. This collection was generously donated by Samuel and Anna D. Moyerman.

The collection consists mainly of personal correspondence: fifty letters, most of which are from Carolyn Elizabeth Roberts Ayer to her husband Joseph Cullen Ayer (b. 1839) at various points in his life, beginning before their marriage (1861) when he was at Harvard; as a medical officer in the 18th Massachusetts Volunteers (1861-63); as a land speculator in Tennessee; and as a businessman in Boston. The collection also includes other family correspondence and legal materials, the latter comprised of family deeds and the settlement of Ayer's father's (Joseph Cullen Ayer, Sr. - 1846) and his mother's (Rachael Ellis Ayer-Washburn - c. 1888) estates. Miscellaneous materials include poetry and a medical thesis by Joseph Cullen Ayer, Sr.; printed materials contain three Civil War manuals.

Robert Hale Bancroft (?-1918) was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and was educated at Harvard Law School and the University of Bremen in Germany. His travels abroad, as well as his interests in local events in Beverly, are reflected in this scrapbook dated 1864-1901. The bulk of the scrapbook consists of newspaper clippings from local newspapers; they note new inventions, the coming of the twentieth century, and his marriage to Elise Milligan. Bancroft's love of the arts is represented by the theater programs and snippets of poetry included in the scrapbook. Other items include maps, tickets and postcards from Germany, correspondence, and certificates from Harvard Law and University of Bremen.

The collection consists of the papers of Charles Gilbert Beetem, a Carlisle, PA rug manufacturer, local historian and genealogist, amateur artist, and omnivorous collector. Diaries, manuscripts, letters, advertisements, greeting cards, and extensive runs of Philadelphia and Carlisle turn-of-the-century theater programs are all included in the collection, as well as accounts of Carlisle and Cumberland County history. College memorabilia includes his own drawings for Dickinson's yearbook. The collection also contains the Conodoquinet Yacht Club Archives. Miscellaneous materials include journals and accounts for homes he designed and built as well as those for proposed real estate development in Carlisle. The correspondence reflects Beetem's longtime interest in U. S. island possessions, which is the subject of his large collection of publications and books housed in our library.

The collection contains correspondence, pamphlets, and photographs of Dr. Annie (Wood) Besant (1847-1933), a prominent and revolutionary freethinker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Besant was a Christian wife and mother who later in life became an Atheist doctor and activist. She became active in social reform after her children had been taken from her following her separation from her husband. In her later years Besant moved to India to help champion the cause of home rule in that country. The correspondence consists mainly of letters from Besant to her friends, family, and colleagues in the United States, England, and India. A particularly noteworthy letter is one written to Besant from Mohandas Gandhi. Also included in the collection are pamphlets written by Besant, a stamp from India dedicated to her honor, and several photographs of Besant.

John Black, Jr. (1842-1915) attended Dickinson College between 1858 and 1860, before returning to his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania to begin his career as a druggist. During the Civil War, Black served in the 122nd Pennsylvania Volunteers and the 47th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Militia of 1863. This small collection contains some materials documenting his family history, his high school and college experiences, and his military service and resulting pension.

The collection consists mainly of correspondence between Arba Blodget (1879-1949), a Philadelphia drama critic and playwright, and his wife Laura and her family. Blodget and his wife had been separated early in their marriage due to his traveling with a theater company; often their only means of contact was via letters. There are also a few miscellaneous materials, such as the journal kept by Blodget beginning in October 1910, and accounts of his theatrical productions. Also included in this collection is a large amount of material relating to the Spooner family, who appear to have been connected to Laura Blodget's family; Charles Spooner was involved with John D. Rockefeller in the founding of the Standard Oil Company. The bulk of the Spooner portion of the collection focuses on the personal and financial correspondence of the family.

The papers of the Board of Trustees of Dickinson College, 1833-1879, include correspondence, reports, financial statements, printed materials, and legal documents, and have been arranged into thirteen series.

Series 1 – Membership contains correspondence regarding membership on the Board of Trustees, lists of members, and attendance records.
Series 2 – Reports to the Board of Trustees consists of reports by the college president on the overall status of the college as well as reports from the heads of the college departments.
Series 3 – General Business includes bound and loose copies of minutes of the trustees’ meetings, resolutions passed by the various trustee committees, and correspondence in which general business is conducted.
Series 4 – College Personnel includes materials dealing with the college presidents.
Series 5 – Physical Plant consists of deeds, mortgages, certificates, bills, and correspondence dealing with the construction of the campus buildings.
Series 6 – Financial Affairs contains reports of the treasurer, ledger books, student accounts, and other financial materials.
Series 7 – Scholarships contains hundreds of scholarship certificates as well as correspondence and reports related to the sale of scholarships to raise funds for the college.
Series 8 – Conferences consists of materials which pertain to the control of the college by the Baltimore and Philadelphia Conferences of the Methodist Church.
Series 9 – Honorary Degrees contains correspondence relating to the granting of honorary degrees to prominent individuals.
Series 10 – Publications contains printed materials produced for use by the general community such as lists of college rules and regulations.
Series 11 – Dickinson Preparatory School contains reports of the principal to the Board as well as such financial materials as the treasurer’s list of students.
Series 12 – Dickinson Commercial College includes ledger books used in conducting the business of the commercial department of the college.
Series 13 – Executive Committee contains two bound volumes of the minutes of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees.

A fuller description of each series is given before each series inventory.

The collection contains materials relating to family life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland and in Ohio. The central figure is Daniel Bowdle (1796-1876), who as a young man moved to Cincinnati and became the successful business man of his family, with real estate and other interests. He aided his less fortunate kin in Talbot County, MD, including making provisions for the old age of James Lloyd, a beloved slave. The letters of William James Bowdle (1834-1876; Class of 1854) reflect student life at Dickinson College; letters of numerous other relatives are supplemented by genealogical notes on the Bowdle Family. Also included are papers on the settlement of the estate of Capt. Patrick Dickey, dated 1806-1841, which involve lands in Ohio and in Mason Co., VA.

This collection contains materials documenting the personal and business lives of George W. Bowman (1809-1887) and his son Harry Leader Bowman (1848-1915). It also documents the death of George's wife and Harry's mother, Ann Leader Bowman (1813-1885).

The photographs series in this collection includes images of family members and Dickinson College students. Several folders contain carte de visites of Dickinson graduates from the Classes of 1867, 1868, 1869, 1871, 1872

The Robert Bridges Papers Collection provides insight into literary works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and reflects Bridges’ long period of work as an editor and literary critic. The collection spans a date range of 1875-1937, with large portions pertaining to the early 1890s and 1900s. The collection is divided into 16 series: Administrative Records, Editorial, Literary Reviews, Prose, Poetry, Drama, Addresses and Speeches, Other Writings, President Woodrow Wilson, Princeton University, Aldine Club, Personal, Images, Biographical Materials, Publications, Photographs, Oversized Photographs, and Artifacts.

A fuller description of each series is provided in the Collection Inventory.

This collection contains 11 images believed to be owned by Brockey (Blackfeet Piegan), also known as Charles Walter Buck, and his first wife, Spyna Deveraux, both of whom attended the Carlisle Indian School. The collection also contains a copy of the Glacier County Chief, in which his extensive obituary is printed. The collection was donated by Tom and Patricia Anderson. Patricia was the great niece of Florence McKenzie, Brockey's second wife.

James Buchanan was a graduate of Dickinson College, Class of 1809, who went on to become the fifteenth president of the United States. The majority of this collection is comprised of correspondence between Buchanan and his business and political associates; over four hundred letters penned by Buchanan are included in the collection. Drafts of speeches, printed pamphlets, and various memorabilia are also represented.

This collection contains a number of items purchased as a group from Robert Rowe in 2014, and features the business papers of Milton I. Zeigler, postcards, ephemera, and publications from the Carlisle Indian School. Zeigler served as the industrial instructor for the shoe and harness department at the Carlisle Indian School from about 1901-1909. His business papers include correspondence with government agents and material suppliers as well as vouchers for expenditures during various business trips. The postcards in this collection all feature images of the Carlisle Indian School. The ephemera in this collection include commencement programs and quotation cards printed by the Carlisle Indian School Press. The Publications section includes multiple government publications about the Carlisle Indian School as well as souvenir booklets about the school and a copy of Stiya: A Carlisle Indian Girl at Home, written by school matron and printing supervisor Marianna Burgess.

Most of the materials in this collection are available online at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.

These artifacts and oversized items about the Carlisle Indian School were acquired by the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections individually and are not part of any larger collection.

These items about the Carlisle Indian School were acquired by the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections individually and are not part of any larger collection.

These photographs about the Carlisle Indian School were acquired by the Dickinson College Archives and Special Collections individually and are not part of any larger collection.

The Naomi Greensky Collection has been organized into two sections, Papers and Photographs. Most of the Papers can be categorized as ephemera and reflect extracurricular activities that Naomi participated in while at Carlisle. The papers include dance cards, holiday cards, a commencement program, and materials from Mercer Literary Society. There are also several calling cards or business cards from the Great Northern Railway and Glacier National Park. The Photographs include several postage-stamp sized images taken and developed at Carlisle Indian School’s Leupp Art Studio. The individuals pictured in the photographs are suspected to be students from the school, but most are unidentified. One young woman appears in six photographs – four as a young adult and two as a child – suggesting that she may be Naomi. A young man appears in three of the photographs, and it is likely that this young man is Naomi’s brother, Peter Greensky.

This collection contains a number of items purchased as a group from Robert Rowe in 2017, and includes a number of photographs, artifacts, and documents related to the Carlisle Indian School. The four court martials in this collection are from the year 1904, and include charges against a total of five students. The Ephemera and Publication sections include printed materials related to the Carlisle Indian School, including four schoolbooks used at the school in the 1910s. These books contain marginalia written by students. The photographs included in this collection include the E.A. Seabrook Photograph Album as well as a number of miscellaneous images. The artifacts in this section include a ceramic china dish and three brass buttons off of a school uniform.

Most of the materials in this collection are available online at the Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center.

Images of the Carlisle Indian School held by the Archives and Special Collections.

Elizabeth H. Clarke graduated from Dickinson College in 1932. This collection contains dance cards and other ephemera from her college days.

The collections consists of the diaries of Joseph Clemens and his wife, Mary Knapp Strong Clemens. Joseph Clemens was born in Cornwall, England. He left England and entered Dickinson College at the age of 28, graduating in the class of 1894. He entered the Methodist ministry and served as a United States Army Chaplain, 1901-1918. After studying at the University of Southern California from 1912 to 1922, he returned to the Far East as an evangelist and botanist, working in the Philippines and in New Guinea; it was there that he died during a botanical expedition. Joseph Clemens' diaries cover his early career as a student and chaplain: 1892-93, 1895-98, and 1902-21; Mary Clemens' diaries are from 1903 and 1905.

Moncure Daniel Conway was born into a southern aristocratic family, but ultimately became one of the nation's leading abolitionists and humanitarians. Conway was a graduate of Dickinson College in 1849 and was trained for the ministry at Harvard Divinity School. The collection consists mainly of correspondence relating to all phases of Conway's career; his student days at Dickinson and at Harvard, his anti-slavery witness, and his pastorate at South Place Chapel in London. His letters reflect his wide acquaintance with leading intellectual and political figures of his day; some of his correspondents include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Dr. Annie Besant.

The journal in this collection has been digitized and is available for reading online (see the link for related entries below).

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.

The collection documents the education and early teaching career of Velva Diven Daihl, class of 1927, and her husband, Sam Daihl. The bulk of the materials pertain to Velva's experiences as a Dickinson student and alumna. Some other items of note include photographs, a scrapbook, and a Daihl family genealogy.