Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Emma Harrison McGlasson letters
Abstract
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Emma Harrison McGlasson letters
- Date
- 1876-1928, undated (inclusive)
- Creator
- McGlasson, Emma Harrison, 1859-1940
- Extent
- 0.35 Cubic Feet
- Subjects
- Correspondence.
- Church -- Social aspects.
- Family archives -- Kentucky.
- Families -- History -- 19th Century.
- Farms -- Kentucky.
- Letters.
- Love-letters
- Psychiatric hospitals -- United States
- Women -- Kentucky -- Social life and customs.
- Women -- United States -- Social conditions.
- Arrangement
- Collection is arranged by letter's author where possible, otherwise recipient. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
- Preferred Citation
- 2009ms132.0191: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Emma Harrison McGlasson letters, 1876-1928, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
- Repository
- University of Kentucky
Collection Overview
- Biography / History
- Emma Susan Harrison (1859-1940) was born in Kentucky to Robert E. Harrison (1818-1880) and Mary Hill (b. 1820); Emma was the second youngest of eight children. In 1898, she married Perry McGlasson (1857-1939) and together they had one child, Robert W McGlasson (1899-1970). Perry worked as a farmer, and the family lived in Grant County, Kentucky. Robert moved to West Virginia around 1920, where he worked as an attendant in Huntington State Hospital, by 1930 he was working as a barber. Eventually Robert returned to Kentucky with a wife in tow and remained there for the rest of his life.
- American Letters collector Wade Hall (1934-2015) was a native of Union Springs, Alabama. Starting in 1962, he lived in Louisville, where he taught English and chaired the English and Humanities/Arts programs at Kentucky Southern College and Bellarmine University. He also taught at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida. He held degrees from Troy State University (B.S.), the University of Alabama (M.A.), and the University of Illinois (Ph.D.). He served for two years in the U.S. Army in the mid-fifties. Dr. Hall was the author of books, monographs, articles, plays, and reviews relating to Kentucky, Alabama, and Southern history and literature. His most recent books include A Visit with Harlan Hubbard; High Upon a Hill: A History of Bellarmine College; A Song in Native Pastures: Randy Atcher's Life in Country Music; and Waters of Life from Conecuh Ridge.
- Scope and Content
- The Emma Harrison McGlasson letters (dated 1876-1928, undated; 0.35 cubic feet; 15 folders) comprise letters that document the lives of Emma Harrison McGlasson and her friends and relatives in Kentucky, Illinois, and Michigan in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The majority of the correspondence is addressed to Emma, coming mainly from family members. The letters discuss the health of family members and friends, births, marriages, deaths, the effects of recent weather on crops and livestock, and numerous requests for Emma to visit. In 1893, Emma spent a few months with family in Latham, Illinois, while receiving letters from family back in Kentucky. Upon her return to Kentucky, her family in Illinois wrote her to find out when she would come back to visit. There are a few letters from suitors, including future husband Perry McGlasson, that discuss their looks, income, plans to meet, and asking her to consider marrying them. Her son Robert wrote often while he was living in West Virginia, describing his current position as an attendant, supervising residents, the food he ate at the hospitals, the cleanliness, and the friendly staff and manageable patients in the ward where he worked. Additionally, there are a few letters written to Perry McGlasson, Robert McGlasson, and Henry Harrison that discuss visiting, Emma, and extended family members.
- The Emma Harrison McGlasson letters are part of the Wade Hall Collection of American letters, which includes correspondence and diaries from all over North America covering the time period of the Civil to Korean Wars. The materials were collected by Wade Hall and document everyday men and women.
Restrictions on Access and Use
- Conditions Governing Access
- The collection is open to researchers by appointment.
- Use Restrictions
- The physical rights to the materials in this collection are held by the University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Contents of the Collection
Letters from Elizabeth Harrison, 1890-1903, undated
Letters from Robert E. Harrison, 1893
Letters from Katie [Rowell] Harrison, 1893, 1917
Letters from Perry W. McGlasson, 1893-1897, undated
Letters from Robert W. McGlasson, 1916-1924, undated
Letters from Sallie Mae Ruse, undated
Letters from Shyer family, 1883-1894
Letters from Thomas Kent, 1895-1896
Letters from Daisy, 1915-1928, undated
Letters from Sallie, 1876-1883, undated
Letters to Emma Harrison McGlasson, 1878-1926, undated
Letter to Perry McGlasson, circa 1898
Letters to Robert W. McGlasson, 1907-1908
Letter to Henry Harrison, undated
Empty envelopes, 1882-1924, undated
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Table of Contents
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center is open Monday to Friday, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Appointments are encouraged but not required. Schedule an appointment here.
Researchers must have an SCRC Researcher Account to request materials. View account set-up and use instructions here.
Questions? Contact SCRC via our Contact Form.
Requests
No items have been requested.
You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.
If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.
