Scope and Content Note

The collection consists mainly of correspondence and scrapbooks. The correspondence includes many letters from other authors; correspondents include:

Anderson, Rasmus B.

Sept. 7, 1882; Jan. 30, 1886; Apr. 26, 1886; Jul. 15, 1886

Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth

Feb. 1, 1886; Mar. 8, 1886

Corson, Hiram

May 7, 1883; May 19, 1883

Gale, Zona

May 16 [circa 1903]

Gregory, Charles Noble

May 31, 1882; June 29, 1888; Oct. 9, [1888]

Griswold, Hattie Tyng

Dec. 31, 1879; Apr. 27, 1884 Apr., [1888?]; [circa 1888]; Nov. 11, 1891; Nov. 22, 1904

Hoxie, Vinnie Ream

Dec. 3, 1886; Dec. 17, 1886; Jan. 8, 1887; Feb. 15, 1887

Moore, Aubertine Woodward

Jan. 20, 1886

Rexford, Eben E.

Aug. 14, 1879; Aug. 24, 1879 [fragment]

Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

Apr. 28, 1884; June 5, 1885; Nov. 9, 1904; Apr. 27, 1909; and a fragment, undated

Wilson, Robert Burns

Nov. 23, 1886; [1880s?]

One folder of letters (1887, April 6-August 30), addressed to H. H. Giles in his capacity as President of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of Charities and Corrections in 1887, contains letters from contemporaries interested in public welfare and reform, including:

Barton, Clara

July 10, 1887

Hale, Edward Everett

May 23, June 10, Aug. 20, 1887

Hayes, Rutherford B.

June 13, June 24, June 29, 1887

Another folder contains original signed poems by Ella Giles Ruddy, Sarah D. Hobart, Minnie Stebbins Savage, Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Robert Burns Wilson, and others.

There are four scrapbooks. The first contains newspaper clippings related to the activities of Mrs. Ruddy's father. The second and third include articles written by Mrs. Ruddy before her marriage; many of these are about Wisconsin and other American writers with whom she was personally acquainted, and others are local color articles about the South and other parts of the country which she visited. The fourth scrapbook contains clippings from newspapers of poems by many Wisconsin writers, including Ella Wheeler Wilcox, Ella Giles Ruddy, Eben E. Rexford, Charles Noble Gregory, Hattie Tyng Griswold, Frank and Hilda Siller, Fanny Driscoll White, Sarah Hobart, and Carlotta Perry.