Collections

The bulk of this collection is made up of letters written by Elizabeth (Bobbi) Feldwisch to her parents in Hawaii while she was a student at the College of William and Mary. In most of the letters she is referred to as Bobbi. Some of the subjects include sorority and fraternity life, dances, the different classes Bobbi is taking, Williamsburg events and places, and the various places she visited while on break from the classes at William and Mary, including Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The earliest letter in the collection covers her departure from Hawaii. There are also some letters to her by her mother and father as well as a few black and white photographs of Bobbi on board her ship departing from Honolulu wearing a Hawaiian Lei, in front of the Wren Building, and other Williamsburg locations.

This collection contains five diaries, 1899-1904, of Reverend H. Grundy from Oshkosh, Wisconsin and LaSalle, Illinois. According to the diaries, Grundy was pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Oshkosh in 1899 and the Congregational Baptist Church in LaSalle from 1900 to 1901. Reverend Grundy then moved to Chicago, Illinois to become a pastor there. In the diaries, Grundy wrote about performing weddings and funerals, names of those parishioners who were "saved" by him, travel destinations, visiting with members of his church, and other aspects of his daily life. The entries for the 1899 diary are short, while the entries of the other diaries are longer.

For access to the digitized diary see "Digital Material" menu below.

Collection of letters by Rev. Thomas Steadman and his wife, M. L. Steadman, three of which date from their time in America, to his friend and father-in-law, W. Kitson; and from M. L. Steadman to her mother, Mrs. W. Kitson of Brixton Hill, Surrey, England. The letters provide commentary about their travels in America, including Chicago, Missouri, and Kentucky, Mrs. Steadman's opinion of revival meetings in western New York, possibly conducted by Charles G. Finney and Jedediah Burchard. The first letter by Thomas Steadman touches on the Anti-Slavery Meetings of 1832 in Exeter, England and Thomas Clarkson.

Diary, 1865-1867, of Warren Bates Osgood (1844-1880), a Methodist preacher based in the Chicago, Illinois area. During the period in which this diary was written, Osgood was working as a teacher to support himsself through his studies. The diary contains detailed, daily entries by Osgood related to religion, methodism, looking for a teaching position, the treatment of individuals who have fallen ill, the differences between the North and South after the Civil War, and various sermons he has preached. Many names of fellow theologians and others are mentioned. There are also several clippings from various newspapers and journals related to religion and the Bible that are glued over some of the diary entries. Towards the back of the diary is a listing of Bible scripture passages for his sermons, accounts of how much Osgood was paid for his sermonsand when and where they were delivered, and lecture notes about theology.