Biography Collection, 1771-1995 (bulk 1920s-70s) : Scope & Contents of the Collection

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Portrait of Kitty Merion, 1911

This collection consists of biographical material related to both well-known and unknown women and men whose lives spanned the years from 1771-1970s. Notable individuals represented include Mary McLeod Bethune, Bernard Baruch, Lizzie Borden, Eleanor Butler and Sarah Ponsonby (The Ladies of Llangollen), Tennessee Claflin Cook, Grace Coolidge, Angela Davis, Mary Daly, Hannah Dustin, Dorothy Gish, Julia Ward Howe, Anne Hutchinson, Mother Jones, Helen Keller, Florynce Kennedy, Joan Little, Eleanor Roosevelt, Alice Roosevelt Longworth, Florence Luscomb, Rosa Luxemburg, Marie Antoinette, Margaret Mead, Pauli Murray, Anna Lord Strauss, Rose Pastor Stokes, Annie Sullivan Macy, and Victoria Woodhull.

For the most part, there is only a small amount of material on each individual. Files are organized alphabetically by name. Materials typically include published and unpublished biographical sketches, books, correspondence, diaries, genealogies, newspaper clippings, photographs, and published and unpublished writings. The files of individuals such as Lizzie Borden and Angela Davis also include legal documents. Davis' file (the largest in the collection) also contains memoranda, postcards, political buttons, leaflets, petitions, newsletters, trial bulletins, press releases, and political cartoons which document the movement organized to agitate for a fair trial and freedom for Davis and other political prisoners.

Some lesser-known individuals include interesting and significant material as well, such as Ferdinanda Wesselhoeft's personal letters detailing daily life in Germany during the period 1842-1884; the letters and journals of Anna Green Winslow and Mary Hutchinson Parmele dating from the 1770s and 1780s; and correspondence to Ethel Clyde from such famous individuals as Pearl Buck, Albert Einstein, Helen Keller, Pauli Murray, Norman Thomas, Mary van Kleeck, Margaret Sanger, and A.J. Muste. Finally the collection contains a small number of collected biographies including those that document the lives of women associated with Princeton University, White House brides, "women who wanted to be men," and living daughters of presidents.