TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary of the Collection
Biography of Blatchford Family Members
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Blatchford Family Papers - Additions, 1835-1948
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Lisa Janssen, 2004. ©2004. |
Descriptive Summary of the Collection |
|
| Creator | Blatchford family |
| Title | Blatchford Family Papers - Additions |
| Dates | 1835-1948 |
| Extent | .5 cubic ft. (2 boxes) |
| Abstract | Small collection of papers mainly of Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford and Edward Williams Blatchford, pertaining primarily to the opening and administration of the John Crerar Library (1897-1910) and the history and operation (1916-1918) of Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. Also pre-Civil War materials of John Blatchford and Eliphalet Wickes, and few later items from Paul Blatchford. |
| Language | Materials are in English. |
| Repository | Newberry Library, Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections |
| Collection Call Number | Midwest MS Blatchford 2 |
| Collection Stack Location | 3a 37 8 |
Administrative Information
Cite As
Blatchford Family Papers - Additions, Midwest Manuscript Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago.
Provenance
Blatchford family, ca. 1966.
Processed by
Martha Briggs, 2001.
Access
The Blatchford Family Papers - Additions are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).
Ownership and Literary Rights
The Blatchford Family Papers - Additions are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.
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Biography of Blatchford Family Members
The papers in this collection revolve around Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford (1826-1914), a Chicago manufacturer active in the religious and intellectual life of the city; his sons, Edward Williams Blatchford (1868-1956) and Paul Blatchford (b. 1859); his father, John Blatchford (1799-1855); and grandfather, Eliphalet Wickes (1769-1850).
After graduating from Illinois College in 1845, Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford became partner in a St. Louis lead pipe manufacturing concern, Collins and Blatchford, a branch of which opened in Chicago in 1854 with Blatchford in charge. This firm eventually became the E.W. Blatchford and Company. Active in the intellectual and civic life of Chicago, Blatchford directed the northwestern branch of the United States Sanitary Commission during the Civil War. He was a founding trustee of the Newberry Library and actively superintended its day-to-day operations for over two decades. In addition, Blatchford was trustee of the John Crerar Library, the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Art Institute, and the Chicago Eye and Ear Infirmary, president of the Commercial Club, and a lifelong member of the Chicago Historical Society. Also deeply involved in religious affairs, Blatchford served as an officer in the New England Congregational Church, a charter member of the Chicago City Missionary Society, a member of the Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and president of the Board of Directors of the Chicago Theological Seminary.
Sons Paul Blatchford (b. 1859) and Edward Williams Blatchford (1868-1956) were both educated at Amherst College in Massachusetts. While Paul chose to join the family business and serve as secretary to related trade associations, "Ned" spent most of his life in Palestine where he served as director of Near East Relief in charge of Armenian orphans and as a member of the United States consular staff. Paul Blatchford and his family resided in Oak Park, Illinois, and when Edward W. Blatchford returned to Illinois in 1948, he lived until his death at the University Club in Chicago.
John Blatchford (1799-1855), the father of Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford, studied at Union College and the Princeton Theological Seminary before ordination as a Presbyterian minister. From 1836-1837, he lectured at Illinois College at the request of friends Edward Beecher and Julian Sturtevant, and then served for two years as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Chicago, at that time a frontier outpost. In ill health, Blatchford returned to the East. He later was a professor of theology at Marion College in Missouri and helped to organize the Presbyterian seminary that would became the McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.
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Scope and Content of the Collection
Mainly letters and printed notices (1907-1910) addressed to Eliphalet W. Blatchford by Clement W. Andrews, Librarian of the John Crerar Library; and president's letters, board of trustee minutes, annual and semi-annual reports, newspaper clippings, viewbooks (1), photographs (1), and historical and other publications of Illinois College (bulk 1914-1918), addressed to Edward W. Blatchford who served as a trustee of the institution until his departure for Europe and the Near East in 1918.
Nineteenth century materials include four letters (1835-1840) from John Blatchford to his friend Julian M. Sturtevant at Illinois College regarding the "noble enterprise" of the college, his hopes to emigrate to the West, and the death of Sturtevant's wife; a copy of letter (1844) from Eliphalet Wickes to his grandson Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford at Illinois College advising him on the choice of a career, on expenses, and other matters; and Chicago fire-related materials of E.W. Blatchford, including a railroad pass (Oct. 6, 1871) signed by George Pullman and Blatchford, and Blatchford's own printed memoirs of the fire (1921).
Also included is Paul Blatchford's 1909 letter to his father enclosing as a birthday gift a copy of Historical Sketch of the Origin, Progress, and Wants of Illinois College (1832) that was elaborately bound by the Newberry Library's binder, John Schonenberger. This volume, together with others, has been separated to the Newberry Library book collections.
There are also several miscellaneous items, including an unidentified miniature photograph album containing tintype portraits, a printed brochure on the silver question by George Boulton (1896), a Chicago and Northwestern Railway time table and brochure containing fish and game laws (1896), a souvenir of the Jamestown Exposition (1907), and a brochure describing Fraunces' Tavern (1918).
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Arrangement
The papers are organized by Blatchford family member, and then by institution and/or type of material.
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Selected Search Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Newberry Library's public catalog. Researchers desiring additional materials on a particular topic should search the catalog using these headings.
Names
- Andrews, Clement W. (Clement Walker), 1858-1930
- Blatchford family
- Blatchford, Paul
- Blatchford, E. W. (Eliphalet Wickes), 1826-1914
- Blatchford, Edward Williams, 1868-1956
- Blatchford, John, 1799-1855
- Illinois College
- John Crerar Library
- Newberry Library
- Sturtevant, Julian M. (Julian Monson), 1805-1886
- Wickes, Eliphalet, 1769-1850
Subjects
- Chicago (Ill.)-Intellectual life-20th century
- Chicago (Ill.)-Fire, 1871
- Correspondence-Connecticut-Bridgeport-1835-1836
- Grandparent and child-History-19th century-Sources
- Libraries-Illinois-Chicago-History
- Manuscripts, American
- Photograph albums
- Tintypes
- Universities and colleges-Illinois-Jacksonville-History
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Container List |
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| Box | Folder | Contents | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Correspondence and Notices, 1916-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Minutes - Board of Trustees, 1916-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Newspaper Clippings | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Photographs (1) | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - Alumni Fund Association Annual Report, 1914, 1916-1917 | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - Book of Memorial Memberships, 1929 | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - Bulletins, 1917-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - Commencement, 1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - "The Original Campus of 'Old Illinois'" | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - President's Annual Statement, 1917-1918, 1932 | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Publications - "Views of Old Illinois Founded 1829" | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Illinois College - Reports - President, Finance Committee, 1916-1918 | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Blatchford, Edward Williams - Passavant Memorial Hospital - Report, 1917 | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - Chicago Fire - "Memories of the Chicago Fire", 1921 | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - Chicago Fire - Railroad Pass signed by George Pullman and E.W. Blatchford, Oct. 6, 1871 | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - Crerar, John - Memorial Service Program, 1889 | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - John Crerar Library - Copy by Blatchford of Acknowledgement by Mrs. Marshall Field, 1906 | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - John Crerar Library - Correspondence, Andrews, Clement, W., etc., 1907-1910 | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - John Crerar Library - Newspaper Clippings | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - John Crerar Library - Publications - Announcement of Opening, Scope, and Plan, 1897 | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - John Crerar Library - Reports, By-Laws, 1908, 1911 | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Blatchford, Eliphalet Wickes - Miscellaneous Receipts, Pass, etc. | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Blatchford, John - Correspondence - To Julian Sturtevant at Illinois College, (4 letters), 1835-1840 | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Blatchford, Paul - Correspondence - To Eliphalet W. Blatchford, 1909 | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Blatchford, Paul - Correspondence - With Illinois College, 1931 | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Wickes, Eliphalet - Correspondence - To Eliphalet Wickes Blatchford at Illinois College, Apr. 30, 1844 | |||||||||
| 2 | 27 | Miscellaneous - Gift Acknowledgments, 1906, 1948 | |||||||||
| 2 | 28 | Miscellaneous - Photograph Album Containing Miniature Tintype Portraits | |||||||||
| 2 | 29 | Miscellaneous - Printed Letter on the Silver Question, by George D. Boulton, July 10, 1896 | |||||||||
| 2 | 30 | Miscellaneous - Publications - Chicago and Northwestern Railway - Timetable, Fish & Game Laws, 1896 | |||||||||
| 2 | 31 | Miscellaneous - Publications - Jamestown Exposition, Norfolk, Va. - Confederate Souvenir, 1907 | |||||||||
| 2 | 32 | Miscellaneous - Publications - Fraunces' Tavern, N.Y., 1918 | |||||||||
Related Material
Appendix: Books and Pamphlets Removed to the Library Collections
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