Collection context
Summary
- Creator:
- Smith, Maria McG. Campbell
- Extent:
- .25 cubic foot and 90 items
- Language:
- English
Background
- Scope and Content:
Contains letters from Maria Campbell Smith written to her son, Charles Evelyn Smith, while she lived in Europe, New York State, and Washington, DC. Letters discuss health, activities, marriages, and deaths of family members and friends, and social activities and gossip of the place she happens to be staying. She also comments on Charles’ attempts at business, his love affair, and his marriage to “Sue” and their eventual troubles. But the most consistent topic throughout is Charles’ gross mis-management of the money she has entrusted to him, her desperate need for him to send her money to live on, and real estate dealings he is supposed to be managing for her. Despite these difficulties, her letters are always addressed, “My dear Charley.”
These letters are annotated in pencil at the top of the first page, with phrases underlined in red throughout. Annotations list the topics covered in the letter occasionally, individual’s last names and family relationships.
- Biographical / Historical:
Charles Evelyn Smith was born in 1862 in Campbell, VA, son of Dr. Charles Henry Smith and Maria McG. Campbell Smith. He married Susan Drayton Skipwith in Richmond, VA in 1901. He worked as a merchandise broker in Richmond, VA, first at Smith, Angus, and Co., then at C. E. Smith Co. He died in Richmond in 1915.
Maria Campbell Smith, Charles Evelyn Smith’s mother, lived abroad during the years 1882-1884, living in hotels and pensions in Rome, Sorento, Florence, Venice, Lucerne, and Paris. In 1885, 1894-1896, and 1900-1907 she seems to have spent up to half of the year in hostelries such as Templeton Hall and the Fenimore Hotel in Cooperstown, Otsego County, NY and the remaining half in New York City or Washington, DC.
- Acquisition information:
- FIC; Transferred from The Farmers Museum Collection.; 1984; NM-7.84.
- Processing information:
The processing, cataloging, and encoding of this collection were made possible by a grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas.
Indexed Terms
Access
- RESTRICTIONS:
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Coll. No. 467 is open for research according to the regulations of Fenimore Art Museum Library.
- TERMS OF ACCESS:
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The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Under certain conditions specified in the law, libraries and archives are authorized to furnish a photocopy or other reproduction. One of these specified conditions is that the photocopy or reproduction is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. If a user makes a request for, or later uses, a photocopy or reproduction for purposes in excess of fair use, that user may be liable for copyright infringement. This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if, in its judgment, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of copyright law.
- LOCATION OF THIS COLLECTION:
- CONTACT:
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607-547-1400