The Harriet Douglas Whetten Papers include her Civil War correspondence, May 1862-January 1865, arranged chronologically, and her diary, July through August 1862. Typed copies of the letters are also present. On microfilm is a genealogy and both in paper form and copied on microfilm is family correspondence dating 1831-1907. The majority consists of letters from Jane Amelia Sherwood Whetten, the mother of Harriet, to her husband, John B. Whetten, and to her children. John B. Whetten was an employee of the American Fur Company for which he worked in several locations including New York, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Mackinac. Several of Jane Whetten's letters to him concern marital and financial tensions. A substantial number of the letters also concern Harriet's sister, Mary Whetten Cross. There also is in paper form a folder of ephemera and two additional volumes: John Whetten's handwritten copy of Hamlet and Mary Whetten's autograph books which contains Jenny Lind's signature.
Robert Eliot, the husband of Eliza Whetten, was an iron and produce commission merchant in Milwaukee. An Eliot account book, 1855-1858, recording business transactions with Hammond 8 Co., iron producers at Crown Point, New York, was originally part of this collection. This book has been transferred to the Robert Eliot and Norman Emmons Papers (Milwaukee Mss EV).
