Scope and Contents

This collection includes letters written by David Woodman to his wife Jane while he was in California in 1852-1853. His early letters describe the trip from Paw Paw, Michigan to the Sacramento area by riverboat and wagon train. Later letters tell of living conditions, social life and gold mining. Woodman became very disillusioned with California and especially with the prospects of becoming rich through gold mining. The collection also includes home remedies for diphtheria and catarrh.

Scope and Contents This collection consists of a typed transcript of the reminiscences of Virginia Norfleet which was written for her grandchildren. Mrs. Norfleet gives a highly moralistic account of life in the Tidewater area of Virginia from 1812 to 1894, with emphasis on the Civil War and its effects on living conditions. She discusses slavery and the freeing of her father's slaves after General Lee's surrender; describes the school she attended after the Civil War; and gives a brief history of Franklin,...