Harris Family Papers

Much of the correspondence in this collection dates from the first and second decades of the 20th century, and would be useful for researching the kinds of products people ordinarily purchased for their homes and farms in the early 20th century. The correspondence between Katherine and George Harris, as well as their files of business letters, contains this sort of information. In addition to providing information about products, this collection of papers would be fairly useful to researchers studying daily routines and typical social activities of small town life at the turn of the century, also, attitudes toward marriage and the “roles” of husbands and wives both at the turn of the century and in the 1930s and 1940s.

Katherine Carr Harris wrote many letters to George Harris during the years of their engagement while she was in Yellow Springs and he, embarking on his career as an attorney, was in Georgia. Though it is clear from her correspondence that Katherine did receive many letters from her fiancé during this period (circa 1902-1903), few have survived. However, George seems to have been a faithful letter writer to family members and friends throughout his life, and particularly in the 1940s and 1950s, often wrote to his wife on a daily basis. Inversely, few letters from Katherine to her husband exist for this later time period. No regular “pattern” of seasons spent together or apart in Yellow Springs, Ohio and McRae, Georgia emerged from the letters, but it is clear that they were often apart for many months at a time.

The bulk of correspondence in Series I: George Harris’s Papers, 1902-1964, are in Subseries IA: Personal Correspondence, 1902-1964 containing Katherine’s early letters to George (1902-1904), in which she expresses concern about his future and her preference that he establish his own law practice instead of working “on salary” for someone else. Along with local news and discussion of social activities in Yellow Springs, Springfield, and Xenia, she mentions decided and interesting reasons for their wedding (though they actually married in winter), and occasionally refers to purchases she was making for their future home. (Note: Her business correspondence, Series II, is especially useful regarding the latter, as it provides evidence of her choices in furnishings, linens, household supplies, and decorations; many items were purchased through mail order. Items in this file date from 1903 to 1950.)

Other personal correspondence in Subseries IA includes letters mainly from George Harris’s relatives: his brothers; his father and stepmother; and his maternal aunt, Anna Peacock Otis, who was a teacher in New York City, and says of herself that she was born twenty-five years ahead of her time. Her letters, though full of family news, do provide insight into the life of a single “career woman” in the early 1900s; she did not marry until very late in her life.

George Harris’s business correspondence (1903 to 1958, but mainly from the early years) in Subseries IB: Business Correspondence, 1903-1958, reveals how and what kinds of household and farm supplies were purchased in the first decades of this century. There are extensive lists of items – from the most basic, including food and toiletry items, to heavy equipment – ordered from the Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward Companies. There are also several interesting booklets (circa 1903, with letters) from architectural firms, showing the kinds of homes they would build, floor plans, costs, etc. Other business correspondence includes letters, invoices, and brochures from lumber companies, tiling and mantel companies, brick and cement companies, a tin and stove company, a carriage builder, farm equipment manufacturers, the Medical Association of Georgia, nurseries and livestock companies, a Cincinnati gun maker, the National Cloak and Suit Company, and many others. There are also a few letters and printed items relating to Harris’s political interests which reveal some of the social attitudes and legislative “Causes” of the period between 1908 and 1910.

In Series II: Katherine Carr Harris’s Papers, 1898-1960, Katherine Carr Harris’s letters from her husband written in the 1910s, 1920s, and 1930s reveal a rather tender concern for their children even in the face of financial difficulties, his struggles to keep the farm going, and his own health problems. In the 1940s, his letters are filled with stories about a young toddler, “the Minnix baby,” whom he dotes on almost as a substitute for his own grandchildren living far from Georgia. He occasionally mentions his opinions about “modern” methods of caring for infants, and judging from the books he ordered, appears to have been genuinely interested in children throughout his life. Maintaining the farm, both physically and financially, seems to have been difficult for reasons beyond his control, and his letters thus paint a generally dismal picture of farming.

Another major group of personal correspondence in this series consists of Bessie Totten’s letters to Katherine Carr Harris, dating from 1910 to 1960. A cousin of Katherine’s, Bessie Totten was active in local (Yellow Springs) affairs, which she writes of often, and in 1953 received an honorary Doctor of Humanities degree from Antioch College for her work in developing and preserving their collection of “Antiochana”.

Series III: Mr. and Mrs. George Harris’s Correspondence, 1904-1953, consists of letters written to both Mr. and Mrs. Harris, some from their children and their spouses, and others from friends and relatives.

Series IV: Robert Harris’s Papers, 1930-1937, contains only one file. The first of these, Robert Harris’s personal correspondence, includes letters from friends and a few from his brother, George. The dates of these letters range from 1903 to 1937. Robert Harris’s business correspondence, consisting almost exclusively of order forms and acknowledgement carbons from the Telfair Pecan Co. were removed from this collection because their research value was minimal.

Series V: Ladley Harris’s Papers, 1928-1941, is one file containing letters from his father and boyhood friends, dating from 1928 to 1937, his 1932 high school commencement program, and a sketch he made of an old spring house. The letters from his friends provide some insight into typical “boys’ activities” (Scouts, fishing, etc.) and expressions of friendship (nicknames, ways of conversing) of the period.