Author

Processed by: Staff, Richard N. Leigh; machine-readable finding aid created by: Christian Trombetta

Title

Catherine Peter Evans: Peter Family Photographic Collection

Date

1846-1936

Repository

University of Kentucky Special Collections

Lexington, Kentucky 40506

Conditions Governing Access note

Collection is open to researchers by appointment.

Preferred Citation Note

[Identification of item], Catherine Peter Evans: Peter Family Photographic Collection, PA72M15, Special Collections, University of Kentucky.

Extent

.5 cu. ft. (1 box): 10 items

Biography/History

Dr. Robert Peter (1807-1894)

Dr. Robert Peter was born in England in 1805 and emigrated to America in 1817. He was a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania until he attended the Rensselaer School in Troy, New York. After graduation, he taught chemistry at Western University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Peter relocated to Lexington, Kentucky to teach chemistry at Transylvania College where he also received his medical degree in 1834. Dr. Peter only practiced medicine for a short time before joining the teaching faculty of Transylvania and the Kentucky School for Medicine in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1835, Dr. Peter married Frances Paca Dallam, daughter of wealthy Lexington businessman, William S. Dallam and his wife, Letitia Meredith Dallam. From 1836 to 1857, Robert and Frances Peter had eleven children: Letitia, William, Benjamin, Frances, Johanna, Robert, Sarah, Arthur, Hugh, Alfred, and Alice. Dr. Peter oversaw military hospitals during the Civil War and later taught chemistry at what became the University of Kentucky. Dr. Peter served as a chemist for the first U.S. geological survey of Kentucky and later surveys of Indiana and Arkansas. Dr. Robert Peter died in 1894.

Frances Dallam Peter (1843-1864)

Frances Dallam Peter was born in 1843, the daughter of Dr. Robert and Frances Peter. Frances Peter kept a diary during the Civil War years that provides many valuable and unique insights into Lexington society during that period. From her house on the corner of Market Street and Mechanic's Alley in Lexington, Kentucky, Frances was able to observe the comings and goings of some of the most prominent Lexington families, including the Gratz and the Morgan families. The diary was published as A Union woman in Civil War Kentucky: the diary of Frances Peter, and was edited by John David Smith and William Cooper Jr. Frances Dallam Peter died in 1864 at the age of twenty-one from complications of epilepsy.

Scope and Content

The Catherine Peter Evans: Peter Family Photographic Collection, 1846-1936 contains ten images of Peter family members collected by Catherine Peter Evans, a descendant. Two images are full plate daguerreotypes of Robert Peter and his wife Frances Paca Dallam Peter, with some of their children. Both daguerreotypes include images of Frances Dallam Peter as a three or four year old child. The remaining images concern Alfred M. Peter, son of Robert and Frances Peter, in his later years. One image features Alfred M. Peter with the family estate, Winton, in the background.

Subjects

• Dallam family
• Evans, Catherine Peter
• Kentucky--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
• Peter, Alfred Meredith, 1857-1953
• Peter, Benjamin Dudley, 1840-1911
• Peter family
• Peter, Frances Paca Dallam, 1815-1907
• Peter, Frances Dallam, 1843-1864
• Peter, Frances Dallam, 1843-1864 - Diaries
• Peter, Letitia Dallam, 1836-1918
• Peter, Robert, 1805-1894
• Peter, William Dallam, 1838-1849

Related Material

Evans, Catherine Peter, , 72M15, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Peter, Frances Dallam. . Ed: Smith, John David and William Cooper, Jr. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2000.

, 47M68, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

, 52M51, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.

Wright, John Dean. . Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms International, 1974.

Collection Inventory