Charles Babbitt Family Papers, 1852-1996, bulk 1917-1922

Title:

Charles Babbitt Family Papers, 1852-1996, bulk 1917-1922

Creator:

Babbitt, Charles H., 1869-1952
Babbitt, Ethel Berner, 1896-1973

Accession / Call Number:

2014.104

Object ID:

2014.104

Date:

1852-1996

Physical Description:

11 boxes ; 4.59 linear feet

Scope and Content:

The Charles Babbitt Family Papers contain correspondence, writings, ephemera, and photographs. The bulk of the Charles Babbitt Family Papers consist of almost daily love letters between Charles Babbitt (1869-1952) and his eventual second wife, Ethel Berner Babbitt (1896-1973), written between 1920 and their marriage in 1922. Besides their love for each other, they talked about what they were doing every day, what they were reading and thinking. Charles said little about his professional activities, but Ethel described her life at Bishopthorpe Manor, a boarding school in Bethlehem, PA, where she taught during the academic year 1920-1921. From the summer of 1921 until her marriage in January 1922, she lived with her father, where she had grown up in Hazleton, PA, and described earning money by giving private elocution and dramatic reading lessons. In addition to Charles and Ethel Babbitt's love letters, the collection contains two other couples’ courtship letters. Carlos Babbitt (1834-1910) and Martha Jane Holton (1835-1913) were Charles Babbitt's adoptive parents. Their letters were written between 1852 and 1856. Another set of courtship letters were between John Berner (1857-1932) and Matilda "Tillie" Williamson (1862-1917), Ethel Berner's parents. They were in the Hazleton, PA, region; John seems to have worked as a white-collar employee in one of the mines there. The letters are from the 1880s. Female members of the extended families of the Babbitts, Holtons, and Bumpus families wrote to each other about family news and daily activities. There are also many of these letters, though it is difficult to sort out the exact connections among the writers. The collection also contains some ephemera. Charles and Ethel Babbitt were enthusiastic readers and theater goers. There are many ephemera files with programs, reviews, and newspaper clippings about those matters. They also cut out and saved humorous poems, jokes, and cartoons, which are among the ephemera. Both Charles and Ethel Babbitt wrote several paged manuscripts about their courtship. His is titled "Was It Chance or Was It God?" [Box 3, Folder 15]; hers, "The Account of a Blue Bird" [Box 6, Folder 2]. In her later years, Ethel Babbitt traveled and kept diaries of her trips. Present in the collection are her accounts of a trip around South America by freighter in 1964 and of a tour of the Soviet Union in 1966. Photographs in the collection are primarily of Charles and Ethel Babbitt and document their lives until the mid-1920s as well as their camping trips, homes, cars, etc. There are scenes of Nashua and of that town after the hurricane of 1938, as well as images of Manchester and Stoddard with some images dating to 1996. This collection has many portrait photographs, some of which are identified, though there are also many unidentified and undated images. Ethel Babbitt's photographs from trips in the 1930s are also present, but there are none from the 1964 and 1966 trips.

Subjects:

Correspondence , Courtship , Dead , Diaries , Dwellings , Families , Human skeleton , Love-letters , Maps , Mountains , New England Hurricane, 1938 , Photographs , Portrait photography , Theater , Travel , United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865 , World War, 1939-1945

Locations:

Hazleton, PA
Manchester, NH
Nashua, NH
South America
Soviet Union
Stoddard, NH
White Mountains, NH

People:

Babbitt, Ada Bumpas, 1873-1920 , Babbitt, Carlos, 1834-1910 , Babbitt, Charles H., 1869-1952 , Babbitt, Ethel Berner, 1896-1973 , Babbitt, Martha J. Holton, 1835-1913 , Berner, John, 1857-1932 , Berner, Matilda, 1862-1917 , Whittemore, Emma Blanchard, 1843-1910 , Whittemore, Joel, 1841-1908

Organizations:

American Red Cross
Babbitt family
United States. Army. Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment, 81st (1861-1865)

Credit Line:

Gift of the Babbitt-Morrison family.

Restrictions:

Available for research.

Level Description:

Collection