Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Sheatsley family letters

Abstract

The Sheatsley family letters (dated 1874-1941, undated; 3.38 cubic feet; 8 boxes) comprise letters that document the activities of the Sheatsley family of Ohio in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Descriptive Summary

Title
Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Sheatsley family letters
Date
1874-1941, undated (inclusive)
Extent
3.38 Cubic Feet
Subjects
Antisemitism -- United States
Clergy -- Correspondence.
Families.
Letters.
New York (N.Y.) -- Description and travel.
New York (N.Y.) -- Social life and customs.
Schools.
Suffrage -- United States.
Sheatsley, Amanda, 1867-1957
Sheatsley, Jacob, 1859-1953
Sheatsley, Mildred A., 1892-1985
Sheatsley, Paul W., 1890-1970
Arrangement
Collection is arranged by subject and into three series: Amanda C. Sheatsley letters, Jacob Sheatsley letters, and Mildred Sheatsley letters. The Wade Hall Collection of American Letters has been processed into discrete collections based on provenance.
Finding Aid Author
Sarah Coblentz
Preferred Citation
2009ms132.0125: [identification of item], Wade Hall Collection of American Letters: Sheatsley family letters, 1874-1941, undated, University of Kentucky Special Collections Research Center.
Repository
University of Kentucky

Collection Overview

Biography / History
Reverend Jacob Sheatsley (1859-1953) was born in Paris, Ohio to Johann F. Sheatsley (1804-1880) and Dorothea Auwerter Sheatsley (1817-1903); he was the youngest of five children. He was a Lutheran minister who married Amanda Conrad (1867-1957) in 1889. The lived first in Delaware, Ohio and later moved to Columbus, Ohio. Together they had two children – Paul Weidner Sheatsley (1890-1970) and Mildred A. Sheatsley (1892-1985). Paul attended the University of Ohio where he graduated with a bachelor's in mechanical engineering in 1915; he then moved to New York City to work for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) and married Nina Baker in November of the same year. They had one son together – Paul B. Sheatsley (1916-1989). Mildred moved to New York City with her brother; however, she ended up returning to Columbus in the 1920s. She worked as a music teacher and never married.
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 Sheatsley family letters (dated 1874-1941, undated; 3.38 cubic feet; 8 boxes) comprise letters that document the activities of the Sheatsley family of Ohio in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The first half of the collection is primarily letters to Amanda from her mother, Mary, and three sisters, Nettie, Addie, and Pet. These letters discuss various topics, including finding employment, education, and marriage. The second half of the collection consists of letters from Paul and Mildred to their parents and friends, along with letters to Jacob from Lutheran ministers and elders. The topics covered in the letters from Paul and Mildred include the growth of the subway system in New York, new construction in Brooklyn, the Ziegfeld Follies at the New Amsterdam Theater, transcontinental telephone booths, the Women's Suffrage Parade, World War I, politics, flu epidemics, and employment. Some letters express feelings of xenophobia and anti-Semitism, with mentions of wanting to remove Germans out of the Lutheran church during the war and issues with the large Jewish population in New York City. The letters from members of the Lutheran church include philospohical discussions of articles written in their newsletters, questions on articles and comments by Jacob, and general discussions of the church and its members. There are some additional letters between Mildred and a male friend of hers from church that discuss household chores and family relationships.
The Sheatsley family papers 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

Amanda C. Sheatsley letters, 1883-1931, undated

Mrs. Willis Bishop to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1891, 1925-1928

  • Box 1, folder 1
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Mary E. Bowers to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1890-1894

  • Box 1, folder 2
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Addie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1888-1890

  • Box 1, folder 3
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Addie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1891-1918, undated

  • Box 1, folder 4
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Alvin Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1893-1902, 1918

  • Box 1, folder 5
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Nettie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1883-1890

  • Box 1, folder 6
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Nettie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1892-1899

  • Box 1, folder 7
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Nettie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1900-1904

  • Box 1, folder 8
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Nettie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1905-1924

  • Box 2, folder 1
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Nettie Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1925-1929, undated

  • Box 2, folder 2
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Pet Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1886-1908, 1923-1927

  • Box 2, folder 3
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Pet Conrad to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1928-1931

  • Box 2, folder 4
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Jacob Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1887-1929

  • Box 2, folder 5
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Mildred Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1913

  • Box 2, folder 6
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Mildred Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1915-1929, undated

  • Box 2, folder 7
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Mother to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1891-1905

  • Box 2, folder 8
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Mother to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1906-1909

  • Box 2, folder 9
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Nina B. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1915-1917

  • Box 3, folder 1
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Nina B. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1918-1922

  • Box 3, folder 2
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Nina B. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1923-1931

  • Box 3, folder 3
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Paul B. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1921-1929

  • Box 3, folder 4
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1906, 1915

  • Box 3, folder 5
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1916

  • Box 3, folder 6-7
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1917

  • Box 4, folder 1
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1918

  • Box 4, folder 2-3
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1919

  • Box 4, folder 4
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1920

  • Box 4, folder 5
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1921

  • Box 4, folder 6
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1922

  • Box 4, folder 7
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1923

  • Box 4, folder 8
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1924-1925

  • Box 4, folder 9
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Paul W. Sheatsley to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1928-1931

  • Box 5, folder 1
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Letters to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1883-1904

  • Box 5, folder 2
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Letters to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1915-1926

  • Box 5, folder 3
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Letters to Amanda C. Sheatsley, 1927-1928, undated

  • Box 5, folder 4
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Jacob Sheatsley letters, 1887-1939, undated

Family to Jacob Sheatsley, 1887-1908, 1922-1930

  • Box 5, folder 5
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Personal letters to Jacob Sheatsley, 1890, 1925-1937, undated

  • Box 5, folder 6
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Jacob Sheatsley professional letters, 1917-1929

  • Box 5, folder 7
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Jacob Sheatsley professional letters, 1930-1939

  • Box 5, folder 8
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Jacob Sheatsley letters re: Lutheran Literary Standard, 1918-1938

  • Box 6, folder 1
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Jacob Sheatsley letters re: Publishing, 1930-1933

  • Box 6, folder 2
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Jacob Sheatsley letters re: Sunday school, 1929-1934

  • Box 6, folder 3
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Jacob Sheatsley letters re: Sunday school, 1935-1939

  • Box 6, folder 4
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Jacob Sheatsley letters re: Wapak investigation, 1927-1928

  • Box 6, folder 5
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Mildred Sheatsley letters, 1899-1941, undated

Family to Mildred Sheatsley, 1899-1929, 1940-1941

  • Box 6, folder 6
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Helen Franks to Mildred Sheatsley, 1910-1914

  • Box 6, folder 7
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Mother to Mildred Sheatsley, 1910-1929

  • Box 6, folder 8
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1921-1929

  • Box 6, folder 9
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1930-1931

  • Box 7, folder 1
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1932

  • Box 7, folder 2
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1933

  • Box 7, folder 3
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1934

  • Box 7, folder 4
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A.G. Reuter to Mildred Sheatsley, 1935-1937

  • Box 7, folder 5
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Paul Sheatsley to Mildred Sheatsley, 1919-1920, 1933-1935

  • Box 7, folder 6
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Letters to Mildred Sheatsley, 1904-1916

  • Box 7, folder 7
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Letters to Mildred Sheatsley, 1923-1936

  • Box 7, folder 8
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Letters to Mildred Sheatsley, undated

  • Box 7, folder 9
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Nina Baker to Paul Sheatsley, 1912-1914, undated

  • Box 8, folder 1
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Russell Baker to Paul Sheatsley, 1911-1915

  • Box 8, folder 2
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Letters to Paul Sheatsley, 1902-1905, 1926-1928

  • Box 8, folder 3
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Sheatsley family letters, 1874-1914, undated

  • Box 8, folder 4
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Sheatsley family papers, 1908, undated

  • Box 8, folder 5
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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.

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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.