Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Waterhouse Family
- Abstract:
- The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers is comprised of photographs of members of both the Waterhouse and Mills families, and two letter books and a diary written by three members of those families.
- Extent:
- Containers: 1 manuscript box Volume: .35 cubic feet
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Waterhouse-Mills Fmaily Papers, [Folder number], Edith C. Smith Collection, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San Jose State University, San Jose, California
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers is comprised of one diary, two letter-books, 69 photographs, and 47 empty envelopes addressed primarily to Lyra Mills, and span the years of the 1890s to the early 1900s. Many of them items in this collection seem to have been collected by Lyra Mills, marked with stamps stating the material was found in “L.M.’s trunk” and dated 1932.
The diary in this collection was kept by Leof M. Waterhouse and contains sporadic entries through the years 1901 to 1905, and primarily discusses activities, events and people associated with the Waterhouse and Mills families. One of the two letter-books contains correspondence written by Leof’s husband George B. Waterhouse and the other contains correspondence written by her father, W. S. Mills, during his last year as manager at the Eldorado Canyon mine in Lincoln County, Nevada.
One group of photographs includes pictures of Ketchikan, Alaska, where George B. Waterhouse worked for a few years in the early 1900s. The other group of photographs is primarily portraits of members of the Waterhouse family, mostly four siblings and their descendents. One of the four siblings seems to have been George B. Waterhouse’s father.
The empty envelopes are mostly addressed to Lyra Mills, span the years of the mid-1890s to the mid-1920s.
- Biographical / historical:
-
The Waterhouse and Mills families were joined together through the marriage of Leof Mills to George B. Waterhouse in the late 1880s. The Waterhouse family was originally from Long Island, New York, and the Mills family had been living in Chicago, Illinois when Leof and George married. The Mills family owned property in Illinois, Minnesota and Alabama in the late 1800s, while the Waterhouse family primarily owned property in New York.
By the late 1890s, George and Leof Waterhouse, along with Leof’s mother and sister Lyra, had purchased and owned an orchard in Saratoga, California. One of the children of George and Leof was Clark Booth Waterhouse, whose photographs from a 1916 state-wide tour are owned by the Sourisseau Academy, and are in the Clark B. Waterhouse Photograph Collection.
- Acquisition information:
- The Waterhouse-Mills Family Papers was acquired by the Sourisseau Academy in 2005, and is a part of the Edith C. Smith Trust Collection.
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research.
- Terms of access:
-
Unless otherwise noted, all photographs in the collection are the property of the Edith C. Smith Trust. Neither the original photographs nor the digital images in the catalog may be reproduced, published, or used on the Internet without the expressed, written permission of either the Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History. The credit line, "Courtesy of the Edith C. Smith Trust Collection, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History" should accompany any such use.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item], Waterhouse-Mills Fmaily Papers, [Folder number], Edith C. Smith Collection, Sourisseau Academy for State and Local History, San Jose State University, San Jose, California
- Location of this collection:
-
One Washington SquareSan Jose, CA 95192-0117, US
- Contact:
- (408) 808-2064