The Stevens Family Papers, 1829-1922, are arranged alphabetically by type of document. They
include correspondence, a diary, an essay and teaching certificates, financial and legal
papers, genealogical information, the draft of a literary publication, and photographs.
The correspondence contains information on the activities and attitudes of family members
from 1829 to 1922 mainly in Wisconsin and New York. Especially notable are a letter by F.E.
Stevens to his sister Mary Anne, April 8, 1831, concerning contentment as the key to true
happiness, and one of September 18, 1911 discussing a trip around the world. The diary
Martha A. Stevens kept from 1857 to 1861 includes routine chronological entries, copies of
letters, and essays on such topics as "Life is What We Make
it" and "Beauty in the Heart."
The financial and legal papers are records of land transactions, including two
Revolutionary War bounty land scrips; title abstracts; deeds; indentures; and tax receipts.
There is genealogical information on the family from its American origins in 1712 to the
late 1880s. Also includes a draft of Volume 1, Number 2 of The
Literary Avalanche, a literary journal co-published occasionally by a member of
the Stevens Family.
Certificates relate to the careers and education of Ida M. and Mary Edith Stevens.
Photographs are primarily individual studio portraits, many unidentified relating to the
Stevens family. Includes 23 photographs, 7 ferrotypes, and 1 item of ephemera.
