Skip to main content

Hope Luder Civil War Letters Collection

 Collection
Identifier: RH-A-3474-AC-2011-069

Scope and Contents

The first folder contains a mail-order book promoting two books form from the Women’s Christians Temperance Union along with the envelope that came with it.

The twelve letters have been split up into four groups. The first being a letter to Ellen Webster from her father Henry Vansyth (pretty sure that’s what it is) talking about how he had trired to visit her but was not able to find her home.

The second group is two letters to James Wilson from his brother Oscar and Charles. Charles is in the Union army talks about that his Brigades had about 3,900 casualties, and that from the original 4,500, only 600 are left. The letter from Oscar is a little more casual except that he informs James that their brother Albert had died at a Tennessee hospital. On the lighter side though, Oscar also informs James that his sister Caroline is getting rather upset the he has not written to her and wants James to write to her immediately.

The third group of letters are all to Ellen Vancise from her brother Abram who is a soldier in the 113th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company H, 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 14th Army Corps. All the letters tend to focus on how he is, where he is, and other day-to-day routines.

The last group of letters is to Ellen Vancise and his father (name unknown) from Henry Vancise who is a soldier in the 15th Michigan Volunteer Infantry, Company C. The letters are similar in content to that of his brother Abram. An interesting side note about Henry was that he was underage when he joined the Union Army, but died on September 9, 1865 and is now buried in Detroit, Michigan.

Dates

  • Creation: 1892-1879

Extent

6 folders

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The collection is composed of twelve letters, a few envelopes, and a book mail-order form compiled by Hope Luder from 1862 to 1879.

Physical Description

The collection is composed of twelve hand written letters, two envelopes without a letter, and a mail-order book form with envelopes. The condition of the letters ranges from fair to poor in which some are falling apart. Some of the letters that have fallen apart have been encapsulated, but the others should still be treated with care.

General

Also included is a hand written letter from Mrs. Luder to the Archives and some information on the Wilson’s and a transcription of a few of the Vancise letters. Notes made by Steven Watters on Abram and Henry Vancise as well as information on Henry Vancise from Ancestry.com are also included.

Genre / Form

Title
Hope Luder Civil War Letters Collection Finding Aid
Status
Completed
Author
Steven Watters
Date
2011-06-23
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script
Language of description note
English

Repository Details

Part of the Western Michigan University Archives & Regional History Collections Repository

Contact:
Charles C. and Lynn L. Zhang Legacy Collections Center
1650 Oakland Drive
Kalamazoo MI 49008-5307 US
(269) 387-8490