MS 0761.1
Journals and Notebooks , 1842-1877
4 folders
Chronological
Forms part of the MS 0761, The Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2000/04/28
Description:
The notebooks and journals consist of four
volumes. Two notebooks date from Hartwell's years
as a student at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary,
1845-1848. One of the seminary notebooks contain
notes reflecting her study of Milton's "Paradise
Lost" from 1847, while the other is a herbarium,
containing pressed plant specimens, including
specimens added while she was in China. The third
journal chronicles her journey to China from
October 5, 1858 - February 28, 1859 and her daily
life in Foochow from March, 1859-October, 1871.
She keeps track of the journey by noting the
longitude and latitude each day, shipboard
illness, weather, and daily activities on the
ship, the "Empress". After arriving in China, she
comments on Chinese daily life, the people and
the customs she encounters, as well as makes
notations about mission daily life, including the
illness and death of neighbors. She also notes
the amount of letters she received and sent to
relatives and friends from 1859 until her
departure from Foochow in 1871. An account book
listing the expenses of Lyman Peet begins in
June, 1842 and ends in September, 1877 and lists
all living expenses while in China as well as
expenses incurred while living in West Haven,
Connecticut from 1871-1877 including household
expenses, groceries, books, wet nurse payments,
furniture, and payments to missionaries.
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MS 0761.2
Correspondence , [1850-1870]-1904
18 folders
Chronological
Forms part of the MS 0761, The Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2000/07/31
Description:
The correspondence consists of both manuscript
letters and typed transcripts of correspondence
to Hartwell written between 1848-1885. These one
hundred thirty six letters deal with family news,
community news and births and deaths while she
was at Oak Hill Seminary, Duquoin Female
Seminary, and Foochow, China and also the period
of time following her return to the United States
in 1871. Correspondents include her sister,
Sarah Plimpton Benham, her brother-in-law, Lucius
Benham, her brother, the Reverend Salem Plimpton,
and friends like Eliza Paine Warner, as well as
students from Duquoin Female Seminary. Topics
include the death of her sister, Cate and several
others from typhoid fever, the Duquoin Female
Seminary controversy due to principal Eliza
Paine's marriage without asking permission from
the Board of Trustees, and family and daily news
from Massachusetts and Vermont. The forty-three
letter Plimpton-Peet correspondence chronicles
the transition of a proposed marriage based on
mutual convenience to one which "speaks right to
my heart" over a five month period from
1858-1859. There are fifteen letters written by
Hartwell between 1850-1904 which include ones
written during her teaching at Oak Hill Seminary,
some written in tandem with her sister, Sarah.
Lyman Peet correspondence consists of two letters
written by O. Cowles, who introduced Peet to
Plimpton in 1857. All transcriptions of letters
were completed by Hartwell's great-granddaughter,
Winifred Pickett Corbett.
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MS 0761.3
Plimpton Family Correspondence , 1849-1871
4 folders
Chronological
Forms part of the MS 0761, The Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2000/07/31
Description:
The Plimpton family correspondence consists
chiefly of forty four letters written by Sarah
Plimpton Benham and twenty five letters by her
husband Lucius Benham, in West Haven, Connecticut
to the Reverend Salem and Beulah Plimpton in
Wells River, Vermont with some return
correspondence primarily from 1850-1871. There
are other letters present from brother Vernon in
Sturbridge, Massachusetts, mother Hannah
Plimpton, and one letter from sister Cate, who
died of typhoid fever and one from brother Samuel
who wrote from New Orleans, enroute to the 1849
California Gold Rush. He later died from
consumption during his Civil War service. Topics
discussed are farm life, hiring of hands, death
of community members as well as the death of
their sister, Cate, and of Sarah's daughter, and
of Hartwell's daughter. Children, the weather,
and daily life in Massachusetts and Vermont are
also discussed. Some Civil War news is mentioned,
too. The transcribed letters include two copies
of letters which reside in Old Sturbridge Village
from Sarah Plimpton. One letter is to "H.
Louisa" dated February 7, 1848, the other is
written to "my dear sisters at Holyoke Sem. in
Room 22" dated February 22, 1848. All
transcriptions of letters were completed by
Hartwell's great-granddaughter, Winifred Pickett
Corbett.
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MS 0761.4
Biographical Information , 1885-1909
4 folders
Chronological
Forms part of the MS 0761, The Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2000/04/28
Description:
The biographical information consists of
background information including a Plimpton
family genealogy, a "Jubilee Notes" celebration
book, copies of articles from "The Missionary
Herald" and from a book entitled "The Social Life
of the Chinese", as well as an obituary for
Hartwell. The copy of the genealogy includes
historical notices about the Plimpton or
Plymptons in America and the Plumpton family in
England by Levi Chase and published by the
Plimpton Mfg. Co. of Hartford, Connecticut, 1884.
The Jubilee Notes, 1904, was produced by the
Foochow College Press, A.B.C.F.M., in honor
Hartwell's eightieth birthday and in celebration
of Charles Hartwell's fifty years in China.
Entries include reminiscences from friends and
family, press notices, and the program for the
day of celebration. The first biographical
folder contains handwritten notes about Hartwell
and the Plimpton family, and an article regarding
Charles Hartwell, an Amherst College graduate,
class of 1849. The second folder of background
material was compiled by Hartwell's
great-granddaughter, Winifred Pickett Corbett,
and consists of photocopied pages of "The
Missionary Herald" from 1859-1871 relating to the
Foochow Mission and photocopied pages from The
Social Life of the Chinese by Rev. Justis
Doolittle, 1865 relating to physical setup of
Foochow City and the mission as well as an
obituary from the Foochow Messenger dated 1909.
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MS 0761.5
Photograph , ca. 1903
1 folder
Chronological
Forms part of the MS 0761, The Hannah Louisa Plimpton Peet Hartwell Papers
Restrictions: Unrestricted
Last Updated: 2000/04/28
Description:
The photograph, a portrait of the Hartwells
(Louisa and Charles) ca. 1903, is 2.5 by 3
inches, with an inscription on the back.
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