Summary Information
Harriet Douglas Whetten Papers
1831-1907
- Whetten, Harriet Douglas, b. ca. 1822
New York Mss G; Micro 388
0.4 c.f. (1 archives box) and 1 reel of microfilm (35mm)
Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)
Correspondence, 1862-1865, and a diary, 1862, of Whetten, a Civil War nurse, together with papers of her family. Whetten served as a nurse on hospital ships out of New York and Philadelphia, 1862-1865, and later as nurses' superintendent at the Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C. Also included is correspondence of various members of the Whetten family, 1831-1907, who were related to John Jacob Astor and who had tangential connections to Milwaukee through Robert Eliot. Ephemera in the collection consists of John B. Whetten's hand-printed copy of Hamlet and a handmade autograph book presented to Mary by her father in 1846. It contains an 1851 Jenny Lind signature.
English
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-ny00g ↑ Bookmark this ↑
Biography/History
Biographical information concerning Harriet Douglas Whetten is not readily available. She was the daughter of John (1763-1845) and Jane Amelia Sherwood Whetten and was born prior to 1822. After the Civil War she married a Mr. Gamble and lived for a time at Intervale, New Hampshire.
From 1862 to 1865, Miss Whetten served first as an army nurse on the hospital ships out of New York and Philadelphia and later as nurses' superintendent at the Carver Hospital in Washington, D.C. Her Civil War letters and diary have been edited and published in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, Volume XLVIII, nos. 2-3 (Winter, 1964-65; Spring, 1965).
Scope and Content Note
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).
Administrative/Restriction Information
Presented and loaned for copying by Eliot Fitch, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October and November, 1964 and 1975. Accession Number: M64-314, M64-346, M64-364, M75-146
Processed by Jack T. Ericson, October 23, 1965. Additions interfiled by Carolyn Mattern, February 14, 2001.
Contents List
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New York Mss G
Box
1
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Harriet's Civil War diary, 1862 July-August (Vol. 1)
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Box
1
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Harriet's Civil War correspondence, 1862 May-1865 January
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New York Mss G/Micro 388
Box
1
Reel
1
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Family correspondence, 1831-1907
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Micro 388
Reel
1
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Genealogy
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New York Mss G
Box
1
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Ephemera
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Box
1
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John Whetten's handwritten copy of Hamlet (Vol. 2)
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Box
1
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Mary Whetten's autograph book (Vol. 3)
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