Letter from Mrs. Francis Ward to Harriet Elmendorf "Hattie" Gould, May 16, 1894

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Date

May 16, 1894

Description

This is a letter that Harriet Elmendorf “Hattie” Gould mailed to Catherine Bogart Putman Rankin. The letter was written by Mrs. Francis Ward. She wrote to say that Clara Patterson had run away. During the Victorian Era, people communicated by writing letters to one another. People thought that a person who wrote well probably had good manners. For example, a person might feel disrespected if someone wrote a letter to them using slang instead of formal English. They might feel disrespected if someone replied late, or not at all. Catherine was responsible for Clara while she lived at Cherry Hill. Clara was a ward and domestic worker at Cherry Hill from 1884 until 1894. Clara was brought to Cherry Hill when she was 6 years old, after her mother died from tuberculosis. Clara took care of the Rankin children, and did chores like sweeping the porch. When she was 12, Clara asked to learn how to live on her own, without being a lifelong worker in someone else’s house. She was sent to work for a friend of the family, Mrs. Ward, in 1894. Shortly after, Clara left to make her own life, and found a new home with a different family. This item was added as part of the Diversity and Collaborative Knowledge Program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Type

Written Document

Region

Capital District

Era

Industrialization

Topic

Communication

Repository

Historic Cherry Hill

Identifier

5_1_May_16_1894_HEG_to_CBPR

Source

Historic Cherry Hill

Rights

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