ARCHIVE: Wellesley College.
[Education]. Beale Family Archive. Ca. 1890s -1920s.
Ca. 255 items, including photos, handwritten correspondence, and ephemera.
Approximately 655 items from the Lacy and Beale families of Pennsylvania. Photos, correspondence and ephemera document the lives of a turn of the century middle-class family; including a large subset of material related to sisters Lillian and Laura Lacy’s years at Wellesley and Wells College, and documenting their interest in the suffrage movement. The archive is broken down as follows:
Photos, 1890s-1920s. Ca. 215 original photographs. Approximately 70 photographs documenting school life at Wells, Wellesley, and similar institutions. 145 family images. Sizes range from wallet-size portraits to large group photos. Types of pictures include tintypes, albumens, cabinet cards, cyanotypes, and silver prints.
College Ephemera, 1901-1916. Ca. 75 items: 30 from the Lacy sisters’ adolescence in Philadelphia, and 45 dating to their years at Wells and Wellesley colleges. Printed items and handmade mementos, including invitations, calling cards, valentines, programs, and an article on the suffrage movement removed from a contemporary periodical.
Travel and Household Ephemera, 1903-1924. Ca. 60 items. Engraved, printed, and illustrated bill-heads, receipts, and orders from the household of Lillian M. Lacy, from her student days through her marriage. Travel documents from her vacations to Europe.
Incoming Correspondence to Lillian M. Lacy, 1890-1914. Ca. 238 handwritten letters, from family, friends, and acquaintances. Includes 45 letters from Laura F. Lacy to her sister, written while Laura was at Wellesley, many printed on Wellesley monogrammed paper. Laura discusses all aspects of life at Wellesley: her class schedule, exams and grades, student government, sorority parties and social life, and more. Some letters are in envelopes printed with pro-suffrage sentiments, which is explained in a letter dated Jan. 8, 1912:
In Boston yesterday, I saw a very nice looking lady selling “The Woman’s Journal” from a yellow bag labeled “Votes for W.” so I bought one and read it on the train. I shall inclose an amusing clipping or two from it. I see that they have rubber stamps that say “Votes for Women” that you can use to stamp letters with + that it is a fine way to advertise the subj. so I am going to get one.
Incoming Correspondence to Beale and Lacy family members, 1866-1922. Ca. 67 letters; addressed to Lillian’s husband, father-in-law, and other Beale men and women related to her by marriage.
Lillian M. Lacy, born in 1882 in Erie, Pennsylvania, was the daughter of Frederick Charles Lacy, a successful lumber manufacturer, and Lillian Kline. The family, including Lillian’s younger sister Laura, later moved to Philadelphia; and eventually both girls attended all-female Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Lillian graduated in 1896, and then attended another all-female school, Wells College in Aurora, New York, graduating in 1905. Laura graduated from Wellesley in 1914, but died shortly thereafter, possibly of influenza. In 1919, Lillian married Dr. John C.C. Beale, a graduate of the University of Maryland (class of 1892) and Philadelphia dentist. Beale, a Delaware native, was the son of Presbyterian minister Reverend David Joshua Beale (1835-1900) and Mary Moore Beale (1836-1924). The Beale family was greatly affected by the 1889 Johnstown Flood, and in 1890 Reverend Beale authored one of the first contemporary accounts of the disaster, Through the Johnstown Flood. By a Survivor. A Thrilling, Truthful, and Official History of the Most Appalling Calamity of Modern Times.
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