This collection consists of diaries, correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, and other material regarding the Ropes and Skinner families and their involvement in the American Civil War. A significant portion of this material dates from 1861-1865, including diaries from Hannah A. Ropes (matron of an army hospital), Alice R. Skinner (employee of the Freeman's Bureau), and Jairus L. Skinner (infantry captain and prisoner of war). Publications of the Grand Army of the Republic and correspondence regarding the American Civil War are also included. Additionally, this collection contains material that details the experiences of the Ropes and Skinner families in California during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Includes correspondence from members of the Perry family (related to the Ropes and Skinner families), documents from Whittier, Fuller, and Co. (employer of Jairus L. Skinner), and literary manuscripts, chiefly written by Alice R. Skinner and Jairus L. Skinner.

Hannah A. Ropes (1809-1863) was born Hannah Anderson Chandler and was married to William Henry Ropes, with whom she later became estranged from. She spent most of her life in Massachusetts and during the 1850s she spent time with her son Edward in Kansas, writing a book about her experiences. During the American Civil War, she went to Washington D.C. to serve as matron of a military hospital where she contracted, and eventually died from, typhoid.

20.48 linear feet (46 boxes)

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This collection is open for research.