The Curtis-Iselin Family Papers are an extensively annotated set of materials concerning Sally Curtis and Lewis Iselin. There is also considerable material and research pertaining to their friends and family. Well-researched family histories of both sets of extended families are augmented by such primary source material as Marie deNeufville Iselin's 1904 diary and photographs from Edith Roelker Curtis. Biographical material about Lewis and Sally Iselin spans from their childhoods to their later years, featuring correspondence, clippings, and photographs about their personal lives and professional careers. Drafts, publications, and photographs document Sally Iselin's publishing career; an oversize scrapbook details her work as fashion editor of Woman's Home Companion . These materials lend insight into the couture industry at mid-century. The collection also contains Sally's diaries, one from childhood, another from the war years, and one from 1950. Correspondence comprises the largest set of documents. It extends from 1933 to 1945 and consists primarily of letters exchanged between Lewis and Sally Iselin while he served for the Navy. There is a lesser amount of correspondence between the Iselins and other family and friends. There are courtship letters between Sally and Lewis from the 1930s, and the World War II letters particularly reveal the strains of wartime on family life. In addition, these letters provide a lens into the social dynamics of the "upper class." Sally and Lewis Iselin's daughter, Edith Byron, conducted substantial research on the family history. This is reflected in the many notes and histories that annotate the papers.

[NOTE: The contents list for this collection is not online. Contact the Sophia Smith Collection if you would like one sent to you.]