Summary Information

Title: Hitty Wenzel Potter Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1840-1911

Creator:

• Potter, Hitty Wenzel, 1820-1864

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 147

Quantity: 0.8 c.f. (1 flat box)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Transcribed and original letters written by Potter mainly from Wauwatosa, Wisconsin to family members in Massachusetts, and a few letters directed to her. The letters describe the life of a woman in territorial Wisconsin: household duties, raising children, religious and social life, and tending the sick. There is also mention of runaway slaves; national politics; outbreaks of cholera, smallpox, and scarlet fever; the local economy; descriptions of the family's land and livestock holdings; and attitudes towards new immigrants. Also in the collection are two letters (1885 and 1891) to Susan Potter DeGraff from two of her brothers (Hitty's children); several schoolgirl compositions; a 1911 clipping from a Wauwatosa newspaper giving details of the family history; and a typed copy of an 1864 manuscript about the history of the Johnston and Upson families. Most of the letters are photocopies of transcriptions, but sixteen are original letters.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00147

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