Correspondence
The correspondence primarily concerns family matters and George W. Cairns' governmental positions. From 1845 to 1852 there are letters and papers to and from Cairns from his brothers, relatives, and friends at Howells and Wallkill, New York. Since George W. Cairns moved frequently during this period, in many cases the envelopes giving his present address are attached to the letters. The letters relate to business exchanges of lands and property, local news, and rural amusements. In 1850, a brother of Cairns, A. W. Cairns, journeyed from New York, via Panama, to California. Letters from him dated July 25 and September 1 [copy], 1850; January 3 and May 20, 1851; and March 21, 1852 relate his experiences in Panama and the California gold mining fields. Several of these letters are examples of pictorial stationery and pictorial letterheads.
After 1852 much of the correspondence is concerned with George W. Cairns' activities as an elected official. Many of the letters are addressed to the Register of Deeds, Pierce County, and are from absentee owners, land speculators, and prospective homesteaders from the eastern United States, Canada, Iowa, Illinois, and Kansas. Cairns generally annotated his reply on the letters and on occasion wrote out a rough draft copy of his answer.
For the period from 1870 to the 1880s there is scattered correspondence to George W. Cairns and a few copies of letters from him relating to his business as a private land and tax paying agent. From the mid-1880s through 1891 there are numerous letters to and from Cairns' children, William, Gertrude M., and Rolla U. The young people corresponded with many friends and relatives while they attended high school at River Falls and also as students at the University of Wisconsin. The letters are personal and filled with opinions and impressions of social activities and student life. For 1891 there are many letters to Gertrude M. Cairns from Belle [?], a friend living in River Falls. Belle's frequent letters give a day-by-day account of activities in River Falls.
There is only scattered correspondence for the period 1892-1958 and most of this is addressed to Gertrude M. Cairns. Miss Cairns frequently used the blank pages and obverse sides of correspondence addressed to her for rough draft copies of letters which she mailed to others. The contents and date of the incoming correspondence coincides rarely with the topic of Miss Cairns' rough drafts. In most cases these letters were organized by the date of the rough draft. The researcher is advised to check both sides of all correspondence addressed to Gertrude M. Cairns.
Diaries
Gertrude M. Cairns kept lengthy diaries for most of her life. Except for scattered fragments of early diaries ([1885], December-1886, January; [1888 or 1889], January-October; 1896, May 3-1897, December; 1898, June 21), the record of what Miss Cairns called her “Life's Book” is incomplete until 1903. From July 7, 1903, when Miss Cairns attended a national convention of the Christian Endeavor movement at Denver, Colorado, until December 31, 1936, the complete records remain however. An acute observer of her environment and life around her, Miss Cairns chronicled the minutiae of life in Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Aware of her natural surroundings, Miss Cairns noted the arrival and departure of birds, the bloom and fade of flowers, the productivity records of her hens, and the ages and illnesses of her neighbors' dogs and farm animals. Active in all the cultural and social activities in Ellsworth and surrounding Pierce County communities, Miss Cairns commented in the diaries on the caliber of local high school plays, Chautauqua and traveling art group entertainments, political speeches, sermons, and club debates. In many cases she annotated the program, playbills, and bulletins of events she attended. These records have been placed in a separate folder at the end of each annual diary. For example, all Chautauqua programs attended in a particular year are in the folder marked “Materials from Diary” at the end of that year.
In addition, in the same folder at the end of each annual diary are Miss Cairns' complete financial records as well as such miscellany as Sunday School attendance records, sales' bills from flowers, “egg records,” and the like, as such records are referred to frequently in her writings.
There is a series of additional diaries from September 23, 1855 to December 31, 1861, which may have been written by Abbie S. Leavitt, later the wife of George W. Cairns. After several years of teaching [in Maine and/or Massachusetts], she left New England and came to Wisconsin. Her trip to Cherry Valley, Illinois, and then along the Mississippi River route up to Pierce County is chronicled in the diary for May, 1857. From 1857 on, the diarist wrote about her life and experiences in Prescott, Wisconsin. Included are comments on her teaching career, social activities, and early town life. There are several acrostics in the first booklet which may assist the researcher in identifying positively the diarist and her friends.
Weather and Bird Records
Miss Cairns also kept complete records of the weather and birds as she observed them in her community. The first record is a fragment for [1889], January-October, and the bulk of the records begin in 1905. For each year and day she noted the date, the weather conditions, the temperature (both the day's high and low), the wind, the place of the observation, and any additional remarks. She also listed carefully her observations of some fifty different species of bird life. The folder of miscellaneous records (inventoried in the contents list below) gives a record of Miss Cairns' planting of sixty garden varieties of vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
Family School Notes and Papers
The notes and papers contain a record of grade school, high school, and college work for William, Rolla, and Gertrude Cairns. Gertrude--and perhaps her brothers--attended the River Falls High School at River Falls, Wisconsin. The records are organized by name of student only and include English essays, math problems and test papers, as well as papers in sociology, geology, history courses, and other subjects. Also included are notebooks from Gertrude M. Cairns' courses as a student at the University of Wisconsin for classes in Latin, literature, education, and several notebooks which were later used at various teachers' institutes held at Ellsworth. In addition are several papers read by Miss Cairns before “The Saturday Club” at Ellsworth. The topics include “The Birth of the Novel,” “John Wyclif,” “Development of Pierce County Orchards,” and others. A penciled draft of a proposed constitution for “The Saturday Club” is found in Box 16.
Ellsworth Pioneer School Girls' Club
Organized in 1915, the Ellsworth Pioneer School Girls' Club met annually at least until 1956. Membership was open to those who had graduated from or taught at the “old red brick school” at Ellsworth. For many years Miss Cairns was the club's secretary and treasurer and she retained many of the older records. The correspondence, [circa 1920's] to 1956, consists mostly of letters from members who lived too far from Ellsworth to attend the annual reunions. These letters give glimpses into the members' lives and their present homes, and comment on national events as well as include many reminiscences of childhood school days. The secretary's minutes and the treasurer's reports include commentary on the members and their activities. Three volumes are scrapbooks kept by Miss Cairns for the annual meetings. The books are filled with additional correspondence, pictures of absent members, and numerous tintypes and photographs taken in the latter nineteenth century showing the early Ellsworth homes, the students, and their friends. Also included in the scrapbooks are examples of the toys and playthings which the Ellsworth girls had made as children. For example, there are doll quilts, paper cut-out dolls, wreaths and garlands made from wild flowers, picture frames made from sea shells, examples of embroidery work, and paper May baskets. Also included are examples of the formal invitations which the Club secretary sent out prior to each annual reunion.
Other Records
Additional records pertaining to George Washington Cairns' career in local government are found in Box 15 of the collection. A complete inventory is given in the contents list below. These records include a tract book, deeds, mortgages, contracts, teaching certificates, court records, and similar matters. Included in Box 15 are numerous bills relating to Cairns' expenses in building a school at Middleton, Wisconsin.
Cairns' interest in debate and the local lyceum movements is indicated in the minutes of the lyceums at both Middleton and River Falls, Wisconsin. The minute books for both lyceums are found in Box 16. Cairns was also active in the community-sponsored River Falls Academy, and a single copy of the clerk's minutes is in Box 16. (The researcher is referred to the complete set of minutes of the meetings of the Academy, July 1, 1856-March 12, 1866, bound with other records in the collection catalogued as River Falls Mss B.)
Two folders of unmounted photographs, stereoscopic prints, and tintypes showing views of early Ellsworth, and unidentified and undated pictures of the members of the Ellsworth Pioneer School Girls' Club are included in Box 16.
Additional ephemera, such as playbills, throwaways, novelty booklets, advertisements, political handbills and the like from Ellsworth, Pierce County, surrounding communities, and national organizations were transferred to the Visual Materials Archive.
