Table of Contents
Welles Family Correspondence, 1825-1929
A Guide to the collection at the Connecticut Historical Society
Collection Overview |
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| Repository: | Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut |
| Creator : | Welles Family |
| Title : | Welles Family Correspondence |
| Dates : | 1825-1929 |
| Extent : | 1 linear foot (2 boxes) |
| Location: | Ms 98967 |
| Language: | English |
Biographical Sketch
J. Leslie Welles (d. 1909) married Helena Griswold . Their children included Ruth Morris, Eleanor Margaret (1887-1968), Emily Adams, Clifford Yale (ca. 1881-), and Clayton Wolcott (b. 1883).
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Scope and Content
The dealer who had this collection organized the letters according to the name of the recipient. They have since been reorganized by author, where possible, and arranged alphabetically by first name.
The collection consists of chatty family correspondence among members of the Welles family of Wethersfield. Son Clifford wrote from Pennsylvania about his surveys for an oil pipeline. He also advised Ruth about college and exercise before she left for Mount Holyoke. Based on his own letters while he was at Yale, Clifford knew money was tight, as he needed to conserve paper and reported that his socks had holes and his trousers had sprung a leak. He also pondered what to do as a career and attended Progressive Club meetings.
Emily, Eleanor and Ruth all attended Mount Holyoke College. The girls generally wrote about classes, needing money, playing sports (particularly basketball), gym class, visiting museums, etc. Most of Eleanor’s incoming correspondence was sympathy letters sent upon her father’s death in 1909. In her own letters, Eleanor mentioned how important it was to have a male companion at a gathering, but then found a sermon on the “inspiration of wifehood” highly amusing. She proudly boasted about being elected president of the debating club, and then debated the topic, “farming 50 years ago was more profitable than today.” Her later letters indicate she worked for the Office of the Surgeon General in the War Department in 1920.
Emily seemed to court trouble. In 1903, she wrote to Ruth that she had to hide her letter from the teacher and she described her escapades stealing grapes and pears. On a more serious note, she attended meetings of the Ladies’ Aid Society. She also mentions a hurricane that struck in October 1907.
Helena kept her daughters up on the family news and the progress of the garden while they were at college. In addition, she mentioned her activities with the Ladies’ Aid Society and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union.
Ruth’s incoming correspondence primarily came from friends and cousins. Her letters to her sisters included such topics as Roosevelt’s visit to Mount Holyoke, Holyoke’s President Hyde’s speech about the ideal woman and how the strain of academic work can harm their health. He advocated no exams for women. Evidently neither the students nor the faculty were amused. In 1906 Ruth taught at the YMCA in Holyoke and in 1910 traveled to Tennessee to teach at Howard College.
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Restrictions
Access Restrictions
There are no restrictions on access to the collection.
Use Restrictions
Use of the material requires compliance with the Connecticut Historical Society's Research Center regulations.
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Subject Headings
Personal Names
Subjects
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Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Item, Collection Title, Collection number (Box #, Folder #). Connecticut Historical Society, Hartford, Connecticut.
Processing Details
EAD Finding Aid created June 2011.
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Contents:
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Return to the Table of Contents Papers |
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| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Clifford Welles to parents, 1898, 1904-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Clifford Welles to sister Ruth, 1902-1904 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3-4 | Eleanor Welles incoming correspondence, 1906-1909 | |||||||||
| 1 | 5-6 | Eleanor Welles to sister Emily Welles, 1907-1910, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Eleanor Welles to sister Ruth Welles, 1903-1910, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 8-11 | Eleanor Welles to parents, 1906-1910, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 12-13 | Eleanor Welles outgoing correspondence, 1920, 1921, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Eleanor Welles report cards, 1904-1906 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Emily Welles incoming letters, (some partial pages) 1904, undated | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Emily Welles to sister Eleanor Welles, 1906-1907 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17-18 | Emily Welles to sister Ruth Welles, 1903-1907 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Emily Welles to mother, 1904-1905 | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Emily Welles outgoing correspondence, undated | |||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Helena G. Welles incoming letters from Sunday School students, 1873 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Helena G. Welles incoming correspondence from family, 1873-1909 | |||||||||
| 2 | 3 | Helena G. Welles incoming letters from sister Emily, 1904-1909 | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | Helena G. Welles to daughter Eleanor Welles, 1906-1907 | |||||||||
| 2 | 5-7 | Helena G. Welles to daughter Ruth Welles, 1903-1911, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Helena G. Welles outgoing correspondence, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 9 | J. Leslie Welles incoming correspondence, 1871, 1877 | |||||||||
| 2 | 10-12 | Ruth Welles incoming correspondence, 1903-1910, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 13 | Ruth Welles to sister Eleanor Welles, 1904, 1910-1911 | |||||||||
| 2 | 14-15 | Ruth Welles to sister Emily Welles, 1904-1913, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 16-21 | Ruth Welles to parents, 1904-1911, 1904-1911, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 22 | Ruth outgoing correspondence, undated | |||||||||
| 2 | 23 | “Fourth Book of Chronicles”, pencil sketch of tree and building, daily schedule, dance card for event at Wethersfield Grange, 1905 | |||||||||
| 2 | 24-25 | Assorted letters to Nellie Welles, to and from Elizabeth Willard, and others, 1825, 1923-1929 | |||||||||