The Gertrude Robbins Letters

History

This cache of letters begins with Gertrude's life before Mount Holyoke in the 1870s, and spans through her Mount Holyoke years to her teaching years in Chicago in the 1880s. Unfortunately, someone who owned these letters before me cut off all the postmarks and stamps from the surviving envelopes, so it was not possible to definitively date all the letters.

The Images

All documents have a portion of the first page scanned, and comments about their contents are included below.

A Letter from Edd to their mother, May 21, 1876: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Sep 25, 1876: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her mother, Apr 8, 1877: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jul 2, 1877: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Oct 11, 1877: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Edd to their father, Nov 10, 1877: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her mother, Feb 9, 1878: envelope Postmarked Feb 14 [1878] in Washington [PA]. Stamp missing. The original ink has faded; the inscription "mentions cremation" was done by a dealer in recent years.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Feb 27, 1878: Envelope missing. page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jun 11, 1878: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jan 25, 1879: envelope Postmarked Jan 28 [1879] in California PA. Stamp missing.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Dec 1879: envelope Postmarked Dec [1879] in South Hadley. Stamp missing; postmark damaged.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Feb 18, 1880: envelope Postmarked Feb 23, 1880 in South Hadley. Stamp missing.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her sister Chillie, Dec 1880: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away. Both this letter and the Dec 19, 1880 letter to her father were inside this envelope.; No scan. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Dec 19, 1880: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away. Both this letter and the Dec 1880 letter to Chillie were inside this envelope.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, May 18, 1881: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Clara Wood to Gertrude, Sep 26, 1881: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.; Pauline's letter, page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude's aunt to Gertrude's mother, Mar 25, 1882: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Sep 10, 1882: envelope Postmarked Sep 11 [1882] in South Hadley. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her sister Chillie, Oct 1, 1882: envelope Postmarked Nov 29 in South Hadley. Stamp cut away. Also contains May's letter from Thanksgiving, transcribed below.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Oct 23, 1882: envelope Postmarked Oct 26 in South Hadley. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Nov 8, 1882: envelope Postmarked Nov 10 in South Hadley. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her sister May, Nov 1882: envelope Postmarked Nov 29 in South Hadley. Stamp cut away.; No scan. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jan 3, 1883: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Mar 21, 1883: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Nov 1883[?]: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, circa May 1884: page 1 Envelope missing. Only the second half of the letter survives; the text starts on a page labelled "2." Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, undated [pre-1884]: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her sister Chillie, undated [pre-1884]: Not scanned. Envelope missing. Only part of the letter survives; this letter starts at page 2. Full contents of letter.
A Letter from Gertrude, undated [pre-1884]: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude's mother to daughter Lida, undated: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
Two Letters from Gertrude's mother to daughter Lida, undated: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of the letters, though only part of the first page of one letter is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude's mother to daughter Lida, undated: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude's mother to daughter Lida, undated: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, July 3, 1884: envelope Completely illegible. Transit marked Jul 5, 1884 9pm in New York on the back.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, July 8, 1884: envelope Postmarked Jul 8, 1884 in Watch Hill, RI. Envelope bears Watch Hill House return address.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie B. to Gertrude, July 12, 1884: envelope Postmarked July 12 [1884] in Wellesley Hills, Mass. Stamp damaged.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from May to Gertrude, July 13, 1884: envelope Postmarked July 14, 1884 in Covenstead NJ. Stamp missing. Transit marked on Jul 14, 1884 12pm in New York on the back.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie A. to Gertrude, July 15, 1884: envelope Postmarked July 19 [1884] in Newart NY. Stamp torn away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, Jul 16, 1884: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from A. Frances to Gertrude, July 25, 1884: envelope Postmarked July 25, 1884 in Peterborough NH. Stamp damaged.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, Jul 30, 1884: envelope Postmarked Jul 30 in Easton PA. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Greta to Gertrude, Aug 17, 1884: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away. Gertrude marked the envelope "ans." when she answered the letter and filed Greta's letter away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, Aug 21, 1884: envelope Postmarked Aug 22 in Easton PA. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie B. to Gertrude, Aug 29, 1884: envelope Postmarked Aug 29 [1884] in Wellesley Hills, Mass. Stamp damaged.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Winifred to Gertrude, Sep 17, 1884: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie B. to Gertrude, Sep 30, 1884: envelope Postmarked Sep 30 [1884] in Wellesley Hills, Mass. Stamp missing.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie B. to Gertrude, Oct 4, 1884: envelope Postmarked Oct 6 [1884] in [Wellesley Hills?] Mass.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Carrie B. to Gertrude, Oct 11, 1884 [?]: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away. Date estimated by content of the letter compared to others she wrote to Gertrude.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A letter to Gertrude from the Seminary, postmarked Oct 13 1884 in South Hadley, is completely faded out and illegible. But I've saved it in case future technology will render it readable. It had a programme enclosed for a concert on Oct 9, 1884 at the Seminary. I believe the sender was Rebecca Smith.
Another completely faded letter. In daylight it is almost legible, which makes me want to pull the previous letter too and look at them on a bright sunny day. They may yet be salvageable.
A Letter from Hilda to Gertrude, Oct 18, 1884: envelope Postmarked Oct 20 [1884] in PA.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Odessa to Gertrude, Oct 23, 1884: envelope Postmarked Oct 2? [1884] in McKeesport PA.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Rebecca to Gertrude, Oct 27, 1884: envelope Postmarked Oct 30 [1884] in South Hadley. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Rebecca to Gertrude, Mar 15, 1885: envelope Postmarked Mar 18, 1885 in South Hadley.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Edd to his sister, Nov 8, 1885: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, circa Dec 1885: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Dec 30, 1885: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away. Transit marked Dec 31 1885 in PA on the back.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Edd to their father, Jan 11, 1886: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jan 13, 1886: envelope Postmark and stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.; Not scanned; a second letter was folded in with this one. It is the letter by Helen Starrett that Gertrude mentions in the first letter. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Jan 16, 1886: page 1 Envelope missing. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.; Not scanned; a second letter was folded in with this one. It appears to be part of an older letter to her sister Chilli. Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Feb 11, 1886: envelope Postmarked Feb [1886] in Chicago. Transit mark in Pittsburgh PA on the back. Stamp ripped off.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, circa March, 1886: No envelope survives, and the letter is undated. page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Mar 26, 1886: envelope Stamp and postmark cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude's father to her mother, Oct 22, 1886: envelope Postmarked Oct 23, 1886 in Buffalo Prairie. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Nov 11, 1886: envelope Postmarked Nov 12, 1886 in Chicago.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.
A Letter from Gertrude to her father, Dec 8, 1886: envelope Postmarked Dec 8, 1886 in Chicago. Stamp cut away.; page 1 Full contents of letter, though only part of the first page is scanned.