The Alfred Galpin family papers, spanning the years 1861 to 1970, are composed of correspondence, diaries, and literary publications. They are arranged into two groups: material on Alfred II in the Civil War, and material on the literary association of H.P. Lovecraft and Alfred III.
The Civil War material includes correspondence and diaries of Alfred II. From Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Milwaukee's Camp Scott, Galpin wrote his family in Appleton concerning his opinions of the war and its leaders on both sides, camp life, descriptions of local country and climate, and the movements of the regiment. A few letters written home by Galpin's younger brother Harold can also be found here, and there is one letter from Galpin's father Alfred I concerning his son's decision to enlist. Supplementing the information in this correspondence are the three diaries Alfred II kept from 1862 to 1964 and their more legible manuscript copies made at a later date.
The papers on the Lovecraft-Galpin literary association include 28 Xerox and type transcribed copies of letters that Lovecraft wrote to Alfred III between 1918 and 1936. He wrote of anecdotes re The United Amateur, poetry, and critical commentary on the works of classical and contemporary authors. The publications, 1897-1966, include Xerox copies of short stories, poems, and critical essays written by Lovecraft and Alfred III.
