Title: William B. Cairns Papers
Inclusive Dates: 1885-1891
Inclusive Dates: 1898

Creator:

• Cairns, William B., 1867-1932

Call Number: River Falls Mss Q

Quantity: 0.2 c.f. (7 volumes in 1 archives box)

Repository:

Housed at the University Archives and Area Research Center, Chalmer Davee Library, University of Wisconsin-River Falls, ; 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-River Falls, Chalmer Davee Library / River Falls Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Six diaries, 1885-1891, kept by Cairns while he was a student at the University of Wisconsin interspersed with terms of teaching near Ellsworth and at Fairchild, Wis., and at an army post at Fort Grant, Arizona; plus a printed copy of Cairns' Ph.D. thesis, 1898.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-rf000q

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This small collection concerning William Cairns, Ellsworth, Wisconsin, contains six diaries Professor Cairns kept while he was a student at the University of Wisconsin. Although he frequently mentions his classes and professors, the diaries are mainly an account of his own personal activities. They indicate an emphasis on courses in English and literature, portending, perhaps, his position as a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin a decade or so later.

Mr. Cairns' attendance at the University was interrupted several times by the necessity to earn extra funds so that he could continue his education. In the winter of 1885-1886 he taught in a rural school near Ellsworth; the following winter he was at the University, but substituted as a teacher at Fairchild between December and March. In the fall of 1887 he went to [New Mexico?] to teach at an army post. Although the diary for 1888 is not here, one assumes that he returned to the University at some time the following year.

The seventh volume in the collection is a copy of Professor Cairns' Ph.D. thesis, On the Development of American Literature from 1815 to 1833, published as a bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, March, 1898.

Attention is called to the papers of Gertrude M. Cairns (River Falls Mss I), sister of William Cairns. This collection contains letters William wrote to his parents between 1885 and 1891, and several of his school records. The inventory for the Gertrude M. Cairns papers gives information on the Cairns family and the background of William Cairns.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Mrs. Philip Wilkie, Waukesha, Wisconsin, Feb. 13, 1963, through the courtesy of John Lankford.

Processing Information

Processed by Margaret R. Hafstad, February 20, 1963.

	Diaries
Box   1 Volume   1	1885
Box   1 Volume   2	1886
Box   1 Volume   3	1887
Box   1 Volume   4	1889
Box   1 Volume   5	1890
Box   1 Volume   6	1891, January 1 - July 19
Box   1 Volume   7	Ph.D. Thesis: On the Development of American Literature from 1815 to 1833