Title
Text
Ingersoll, Robert Green (1833-1899)
Family papers, 1854-1970 [1862-1935]
15.5 linear feet (30 manuscript boxes + 29 oversize bound volumes and 2 oversize folders)
Civil War soldier, lawyer, author & lecturer, well-known proponent of agnosticism. Also represented are his brother, wife, in-laws, children & grandchildren, and other family members. Ingersoll practiced law in Peoria, Ill., Washington, D.C., and New York City. During the Civil War, he organized and commanded the 11th Illinois Cavalry. He was active in Illinois and national Republican politics. For over 30 years he lectured and wrote about agnosticism, religion and other subjects. His brother, Ebon, was a lawyer and congressman. His son-in-law, Walston H. Brown, was a financier and railroad builder. His daughters, Maud I. Probasco & Eva I. Brown, and sister-in-law, Sue M. Farrell, were active in women’s suffrage, anti-vivisection and other progressive movements.
Correspondence, business records, financial and legal documents, lectures & other literary productions, scrapbooks on various topics, printed material, military documents, a small genealogical file, a diary, and museum exhibit materials & memorabilia. Topics include Ingersoll’s Civil War activities, law practice, political activities, lectures on various subjects, and family relationships. The legal and business documents deal mostly with railroad and mining companies. Most prominently represented family members include Ingersoll’s wife Eva A., brother Ebon, daughters Eva I. Brown & Maud I. Probasco, and housekeeper Sue Sharkey. Major topics include family matters and the female suffrage & anti-vivisection movements. Also included are museum materials from the Robert G. Ingersoll Birthplace.
Numerous photographs, broadsides, published materials and artifacts have been transferred out of the collection.
Selections from the collection have been published in:
Ingersoll, Robert Green. 1951. The Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll. Edited by Eva Ingersoll Wakefield.New York: Philosophical Library.
Access: Open for research
Acc. Nos.: 1947, 1951, 68-77, 72-34, 73-82
Processed by: Paul Spence (1971), and John Stassi (1999)
Dsh/2010
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 2 Biographical Sketches
For the last 9 years of his life, Colonel Robert Green Ingersoll lived together with his extended family at the Dobbs Ferry-on-Hudson estate owned by his daughter and son-in-law, Eva R. Ingersoll & Walston H. Brown. Represented in these papers are the members of that household. These also include his wife, Eva A. Ingersoll, their daughter, Maud Ingersoll (later Maud Ingersoll Probasco), their grandchildren, Eva Ingersoll Brown (later Eva I. Wakefield) & Robert G. Ingersoll Brown, Mrs. Ingersoll’s mother, Harriette E. Parker, her sister and brother-in-law, Sue M. & Clinton P. Farrell, their daughter, Eva Ingersoll Farrell, and Sue Sharkey, a family member by adoption. In addition, some of the papers of the Colonel’s brother, Ebon C. Ingersoll, and his family are in this collection.
Robert Green Ingersoll (1833-1899) was born in Dresden, N.Y. on August 11, 1833, the youngest of five children of Mary Livingston (1799?-1835) & Reverend John Ingersoll (1792-1859). Ingersoll’s father was a Congregational minister who moved his family often. Over the years they lived in several places in New York, Ohio and Wisconsin before arriving in Illinois in 1843. Robert attended Illinois schools, and taught school (1852-1853) at Mount Vernon and Metropolis in Illinois, and at Waverly in Tennessee. Later, he studied law at Marion in offices of Willis Allen and was admitted to bar in 1854. He began his law practice, in partnership with his brother, Ebon, at Shawneetown. They moved toPeoria in 1858, where Robert distinguished himself as a lawyer.
When the Civil War began, Robert assisted in organizing the 11th Illinois Cavalry, of which he was colonel until 1863. After the war, he became active in politics. He was appointed attorney general of Illinois, 1867-1869, and was an unsuccessful candidate for nomination as governor in 1868. As a delegate to the Republican convention at Cincinnati in 1876, he presented the name of James G. Blaine in nomination for the presidency. Robert moved to Washington, D.C., in late 1877 or early 1878 to rejoin his brother, Ebon, in a partnership that lasted until Ebon died in 1879. Robert transferred his legal practice to the larger field of federal litigation. In a famous case, he served as counsel for the "Star Route" conspirators, T. W. Brady and Stephen W. Dorsey. In 1885, Robert moved to New York where he was counsel in several other high profile cases over the years.
Though his father was a fundamentalist Christian, Robert questioned the basis of the Christian religion and took to himself the word "agnostic" to describe his rationalistic philosophy. In 1860 he began to lecture on agnosticism and other related subjects. For nearly 4 decades, he toured the country, speaking in almost every city or town large enough to have an auditorium or theatre. Until the end, he had an audience drawing power greater than any other public speaker of his day.
In 1862, Robert married Eva Amelia Parker, daughter of Harriette E. & Benjamin Weld Parker of Groveland, Ill. They had two daughters, Eva Robert and Maud Robert. Robert Green Ingersoll died on July 21, 1899, inDobbs Ferry,New York.
Eva A. Ingersoll (1841-1923), wife of Robert Green Ingersoll, was a freethinker like her husband. He called her “a woman without superstition.” She was born May 4, 1841, in Groveland, Ill., and married Ingersoll on February 13, 1862. After his death in 1899, she joined with her daughters in promoting various social causes and preserving the memory of her husband. She also filed several lawsuits in the first decade after his death to recover unpaid legal fees. She died February 2, 1923.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 3 Biographical Sketches
Ebon C. Ingersoll (1831-1879) was Robert Ingersoll’s brother and closest friend. They studied and practiced law together in Illinois until 1864, when Ebon was elected to Congress. At the end of his congressional service in 1871, Ebon continued to practice law in Washington, D.C. Robert joined him there in 1878. Ebon was married to Mary Carter. They had 3 children: Nellie, John Carter, and Mary. Ebon died suddenly on May 30, 1879.
John C. Ingersoll (1860-1903) was the son of Mary and Ebon C. Ingersoll. In 1897, thanks to help from his Uncle Robert, he secured a position as U.S. Consul in Copenhagen. Later he served as Consul in Cartagena, Colombia. He died of malaria in Colon,Colombia, on June 6, 1903.
Eva Ingersoll Brown (1863-1928) was the elder daughter of Eva A. and Robert G. Ingersoll. Like her father, she was an agnostic. She was an also an activist in movements for world peace, child welfare, equal suffrage and prison reform. She was the founder and president of the International Child Welfare League, and was a charter member of the League to Enforce Peace. She was one of the organizers of the Hudson River Equal Franchise Association and marched in the first suffrage parade in this country. She organized the first permanent orchestra in New York City, with Anton Seidl as conductor. She was active in caring for soldiers during the Spanish-American War and World War I. On November 13, 1889, she married Walston Hill Brown in New York City. They had two children, Eva Ingersoll & Robert G. Ingersoll. She died in Greenwich,Conn., on August 28, 1928, just a few weeks after her husband’s death.
Walston Hill Brown (1842-1928), son of Augustus and Sarah Hill McLaughlin Brown of Cincinnati, lived most of his life in New York City where he was a financier and railroad builder. He was a member of the firm, Merriman & Brown, which built the Sioux City & St. Paul Railroad. Later he formed the firm of Brown, Howard & Co., which built the Lake Erie & Western, the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, the Michigan & Ohio, and many other railroads, and the first tunnel under the East River in New York. He was senior partner of Walston H. Brown & Brothers (bankers), and president of Walston H. Brown Construction Company. Walston died after a long illness on August 3, 1928, at Riverside, Conn.
Eva Ingersoll Wakefield (1891-1970) was born Eva Ingersoll Brown, daughter of Eva I. and Walston H. Brown, grand-daughter of Robert G. Ingersoll. She was actively interested all her life in world peace, world government and animal welfare. In the 1920s, she announced her intention to write a biography of her grandfather and began to collect and organize his letters and papers. She became an authority on his life and works, and edited The Letters of Robert G. Ingersoll, which was published in 1951. She was also secretary of the Robert G. Ingersoll Memorial Association, which maintained the Robert G. Ingersoll Birthplace museum in Dresden, N.Y. During the 1920s, Eva was married for some years to McNeal Swasey. In 1932, she married Sherman D. Wakefield, an encyclopedia editor and author. She died in Fairfield, Conn., on April 1, 1970.
Robert G. Ingersoll Brown (1893-1968) was a real estate broker in New York City when he died on May 1, 1968. Earlier he had worked for his father’s firm, Walston H. Brown Construction Company. He was a founder of the American Indian Defense Association. In 1937, he married Elizabeth Tilden Sabin. She died a few years before he did.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 4 Biographical Sketches
Maud Ingersoll Probasco (1864-1936), the younger daughter of Robert G. Ingersoll, was, like her sister Eva, an agnostic and a social and political activist. She was an officer in the Woman Suffrage Party, and a member of several other suffrage societies in New York. She founded the Vivisection Investigation League, and was a member of several other state anti-vivisection societies. In 1912, she was a delegate to the New York State convention of the National Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. She was an advocate for world peace and a promoter of child welfare. On December 30, 1912, she married Wallace M. Probasco. She died inNew York on February 12, 1936.
Clinton P. Farrell (1850-1925) was Robert Ingersoll’s brother-in-law, lecture tour manager, and the authorized publisher of his works. In addition to those, he published “liberal and scientific books” written by other authors. Clint was born in Peoria, Ill. He was married to Sue M. Parker, the sister of Mrs. Robert G. Ingersoll. He died inRye,N.Y. on April 22, 1925.
Sue M. Farrell (1856-1940), Robert Ingersoll’s sister-in-law, was a social activist who joined her nieces in working for most of the same causes. She served as president of both the Vivisection Investigation League and the American Humane Society. She and Clint had one daughter, Eva Ingersoll. She died on November 27, 1940.
Eva I. Farrell, Clint & Sue’s daughter, was married to Sydney S. Gaskins when she died in 1938.
Harriette E. Parker (1815-1903), Robert Ingersoll’s mother-in-law, was the widow of Benjamin Weld Parker (1814-1876). She died in the Dobbs Ferry,N.Y., family home on July 27, 1903.
Sue Sharkey (1846-1925) lived in the Ingersoll household for over 60 years. She served as housekeeper and as governess to Ingersoll’s children and grandchildren, who sometimes called her “Tuda”. Born in Peoria, Ill., she followed the Ingersoll family to Washington and New York, where she died in Maud Ingersoll Probasco’s home on November 19, 1925.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 5 Scope and Content
The Robert Green Ingersoll Family Papers, 1854-1970, consist of 15.5 linear feet of correspondence, business records, financial and legal documents, literary productions, scrapbooks on various topics, printed material, military documents, a small genealogical file, a diary, and museum exhibit materials & memorabilia. These papers are arranged into five series which include: Robert G. Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899; Eva A. Ingersoll Papers, 1876-1927; Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952; Biographical, Topical & Miscellaneous Materials; and Ingersoll Birthplace Memorabilia, 1878-1970. Oversize bound volumes are shelved on the bound volume shelves. Oversize manuscript folders are filed in the oversize cases. Photocopies of the identifying parts of the oversize documents they contain are filed in their folders of origin in the main part of the collection.
Series I: The Robert G. Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899 (Boxes 1-17 and Oversize Bound Volumes 1-26 & 28-29), includes the following files: Personal Papers, 1862-1899; Legal & Business Papers, 1855-1898; Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1895; Printed Legal Briefs, Abstracts & Other Legal Documents, 1871-1899; Lectures & Other Literary Productions; and Miscellaneous Printed Materials.
The Personal Papers, 1862-1899 file (Boxes 1-5) consists mostly of correspondence but also includes financial documents (cancelled checks, receipts, an insurance policy, etc.) and military papers (orders, passes, etc.). The earliest correspondence in this file consists almost entirely of letters from Robert G. Ingersoll to his brother, Ebon, and other family members. Later materials consist mostly of letters written to Ingersoll. More of Ingersoll’s outgoing personal correspondence can be found in the Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1895 file (see below). Basic themes in Ingersoll's correspondence are the Civil War, politics, and the lectures. His Civil War letters, most of which are addressed to his brother Ebon Clark Ingersoll, relate events at Shiloh, Tennessee, and Corinth, Mississippi. Several of the letters are from Benton Barracks at St. Louis, where he was paroled after being capturednear Lexington, Tennessee. During the war years Ingersoll changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican. A few of the political letters in the collection concern his attempt to gain the Republican nomination for governor in 1868. Others concern his success as an orator at the 1876 Republican National Convention, where Ingersoll nominated James B. Blaine for the presidency in a flight of oratory since known as “The Plumed Knight Speech.” There are also letters concerning his support of James A. Garfield in the campaign of 1880.
The greater part of the 4,000 letters in Ingersoll's personal correspondence files are directly related to his lectures on religion and humanism. The letters come from all parts of the United States, as well as Canada, England, and India, and reflect the attitudes of a varietyof persons who had heard or read Ingersoll's anti-theological views. Ingersoll lectured in almost every state; in some of the larger centers, he spoke once or twice each year. Among the societies and editors responding to his arguments are the Free Religious Association of America, American Secular Union, The Labor Sunbeam, the Hindu Tract Society, the Philosophic Club of India, United Relief Works of the Society for Ethical Culture, Harlem Free Kindergarten Association, School of Religious Science, Svobodná Obec (Bohemian Freethinker's Congregation), The Monist, Freethought Magazine, Militant Church of Chicago, Free Religious Association, and the National Association of Colored Women.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 6 Scope and Content
Series I: The Robert G. Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Among the correspondents are:
A-D: Emma Abbott, Amelia Edith H. Barr, Clark Bell, James Gillespie Blaine, Paul Blonët, Charles Bradlaugh, William Browne, Henry R. Brush, Lloyd Stephens Bryce, Paul Carus, John Chapman, Alexander Clark, Dudley H. Chase, Sarah Brown Ingersoll Cooper, Rufus C. Crampton, Eugene Victor Debs, Thomas Dixon Jr., Mary Abigail Dodge, Paul Laurence Dunbar,
E-H: Stephen Benton Elkins, Henry Martyn Field, Joseph Wilson Fifer, Paul Leicester Ford, John Watson Foster, Paul Revere Frothingham, James A. Garfield, Lucretia R. Garfield, Frank Gilbert, H. L. Green, Walter Quintin Gresham, John Spafford Harris, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, George Jacob Holyoake, Archibald Hopkins, Edward Howard House, Thomas Henry Huxley,
J-O: S. B. Jehangier, K. Kamlakar, William Pitt Kellogg, Mrs. John A. Logan, George Bailey Loring, William E. Mason, Lillian Rozell Messenger, Fearnleigh Leonard Montague, V. C. Narasimha Charia, Albert Parker Niblack, Laurance James Nicolson, Richard J. Oglesby, Henry Steel Olcott,
P-W: C. Ponnarangam Pillai, John Sargent Pillsbury, Parker Pillsbury, Ede Reményi, Charles Allen T. Rice, Jeremiah McClain Rusk, William Edwin Safford, Minot Judson Savage, Daniel Edgar Sickles, John Sherman, Douglas Sladen, Edwin Stevens, RichardWigginton Thompson, Elihu Benjamin Washburne, and Elizur Wright.
The Legal & Business Papers, 1855-1898 File (Boxes 5-7 and BV 15, 18, 19, 21-26, 28, 29) contains correspondence, briefs, checks, receipts, subpoenas, deeds, legal petitions, certificates of incorporation, mining maps & deeds, letterpress copybooks of a strictly business/legal nature, a ledger, an account book, and a daybook. The actual dates of materials within any given folder in this file may vary from those listed in folder title because later or earlier documents are clipped together by subject or legal case. Additional outgoing business & legal correspondence can be found in the Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1895 file (see below). The legal and business documents in this file deal primarily with railroad and mining transactions. Letters are scattered throughout, but the bulk of the material consists of deeds, certificates, minutes of meetings of company stockholders, contracts, articles of incorporation, accounts, and typescripts of court hearings. Some of the railroad companies referred to are the Peoria & Rock Island, the Cincinnati Lafayette & Chicago Short Line, the Houston & Texas Central, and the Chicago & North-Western. An unsigned paper of 1871, based on facts taken from the unknown writer’s diary, gives a "Brief history of passage of Texas Pacific Rail Road Bill through the National Congress".
At least two-thirds of the materials in this file concern mining interests. Included among them are deeds, maps, by-laws and minutes of initial stockholders’ meetings, distribution of stock and financial statements, expenditures, monthly reports, and certificates of incorporation. Firms represented are the Casse Grande Land and Improvement Company, Ivanhoe Mining Company, Little Bear Mining and Milling Company, Monte Negro Mining Company, Old Thirteen Mining Company, Pinafore Mining Company, Schwarzberg Robert Green Ingersoll Page 7 Scope and Content
Series I: The Robert G. Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
The Legal & Business Papers, 1855-1898 File-cont.-Mining Company, Sierra Negra Mining Company, Sovereign Mining Company, Tangier Mining Company, Teneriffe Mining Company, and the Wall Street Mining Company. Ingersoll’s business dealings with Stephen W. Dorsey are documented by a 15-page letter, 1884 Dec. 20, from Ingersoll to Dorsey; a large group of documents, dated 1884-1893, regarding the transfer of ownership of the Palo Blanco Cattle Company from Dorsey to Ingersoll; and a report in chancery, Colfax County, territory of New Mexico, Palo Blanco Cattle Company vs. Stephen W. Dorsey.
Other items of interest include: a letter (1884 March 1) from James G. Blaine to Ingersoll; two letters written to or by the inventor of the USS Monitor, John Ericsson, concerning the invention of torpedoes and the building of battleships (1883 Jan. 17, Admiral David D. Porter to Ericsson; 1883 Dec. 24, Ericsson to Ingersoll); and a paper by the Mexican Trust and Investment Company concerning the basis of an international plan for financing American and Mexican securities.
The bound volumes in this file consist of eleven unrelated items. Among the miscellaneous ledgers are a fee book, 1855-1859 (BV 18); a personal account book, 1887-1895 (BV 22); and a stock ledger for the Ivanhoe Mining Company, 1881-1883 (BV 21). The letterpress books in this file include: letters to clients, May-October, 1866, Ingersoll and Puterbaugh (BV 19); Ingersoll's legal accounts receivable, 1890-1893 (BV 29); letters of George Kimball, chief engineer, T.C. & St. L. R.R. [Toledo, Cincinnati and St. Louis Rail Road?], April-October, 1882 (BV 25); letters of C. P. Farrell, agent for Ingersoll's lectures; December 1892-1894 (BV 28); Ingersoll's letters, Sun Gas Lamp Company, 1887-1888 (BV 23, photocopies, originals destroyed); Ingersoll’s letters, Steel Co., 1880 (BV 26); and Ingersoll's letters, Northern Pacific Reduction Company, 1890-1892 (BV 24).
The Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1895 file (BV 1-14, 16, 17) contains copies of Ingersoll's outgoing correspondence. Business letters predominate, but personal & legal letters areincluded. Among the recipients of Ingersoll's letters are:
A-G: John Bassett Alley, James G. Blaine, Lawrence Barrett, Lloyd Stephens Bryce, William E. Chandler, Roscoe Conkling, Shelby M. Cullom, Eugene V. Debs, John F. Dillon, Stephen W. Dorsey, John Randolph Dos Passos, Thomas Thompson Eckert, Charles Foster, Walter Q. Gresham, Frank Gilbert
H-W: O. A. Hadley, Thomas J. Henderson, Jacob Holyoake, Howell Edmunds Jackson, William Pitt Kellogg, Aloysius Leo Knott, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, Ward H. Lamon, Robert Todd Lincoln, George Washington McCrary, Courtlandt Palmer, Ede Rememyi, John Sherman, William T. Sherman, Henry Moore Teller, Samuel H. Treat, and Bluford Wilson.
The Printed Legal Briefs, Abstracts & Other Legal Documents, 1871-1899 file (Boxes 8-11 & BV 20) contains, in addition to printed briefs & abstracts, Congressional publications, appeals,arguments, contracts, deeds and mortgages, most of which are associated with cases in which Ingersoll appeared as counsel. Folders are arranged alphabetically by name of the state which case was heard. The contents of New York folders are alphabetically by name of litigant.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 8 Scope and Content
Series I: The Robert G. Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
The Lectures & Other Literary Productions file (Boxes 11-17) contains holograph copies, typescripts, corrected proofs, amended reading copies, notes, and fragments of lectures, essays, autograph quotes, epigrams, poems, and political miscellany. Most of the materials in this file were written by Ingersoll. Some of them are organized into scrapbooks; a few others are in the form of postcards or clippings. The first folder in the file contains lecture tour schedules and itineraries. Some of the manuscripts have been cross-referenced to the volume & page of Ingersoll’s Works containing the published version. Other examples of Ingersoll’s literary productions can be found among the newspaper clippings and other materials of Series IV and the museum exhibits of Series V (see below).
The Miscellaneous Printed Materials file (Box 17) contains books, pamphlets, programs, personal calling cards, membership cards, tickets and passes owned by Robert Green Ingersoll. Of special interest is a ticket to the memorial services held in the President’s Gallery in the Capitol for assassinated President James A. Garfield.
Series II: The Eva A. Ingersoll Papers, 1876-1927(Boxes 17-21), includes the following files: Correspondence & Other Personal Papers, 1876-1927; Letters from Robert to Eva, 1878-1896; Legal
Papers, 1906-1908.
The Correspondence & Other Personal Papers, 1876-1927 file (Boxes 17-21) consists mostly of correspondence addressed to Mrs. Ingersoll. Well over half of this correspondence consists of letters sent by friends and admirers from all over the world after the death of her husband.
A few of these letters claim to be messages from his spirit; most contain tributes to him or questions about his views on various issues. Most of the remaining letters are from her husband, daughters and other relatives and discuss Robert’s lecture tour activities and other family matters. This file also contains Mrs. Ingersoll’s will & estate papers, funeral tributes written in her honor, and calling cards, membership cards and other miscellaneous documents.
The Letters from Robert to Eva, 1878-1896 file (Box 21) consists mostly of letters Robert wrote to his wife while he was on lecture tour. A few of the letters are addressed to his daughters. They discuss audience reaction to his lectures, ticket sale receipts and other business matters, and family matters. There are other letters from Robert to his wife in the Correspondence & Other Personal Papers file (see above). This file contains items that Mrs. Ingersoll’s daughters separated from her other letters because of their intimate nature. They were acquired separately from Mrs. Ingersoll’s grandchildren when they found them hidden away at the old Dobbs Ferry family residence.
The Legal Papers, 1906-1908 file (Boxes 21) contains two documents, a printed brief and findings of fact, that probably relate to lawsuits filed by Mrs. Ingersoll in an attempt to recover her late husband’s unpaid legal fees.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 9 Scope and Content
Series III: Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952 (Boxes 21-27 and Oversize Bound Volumes 27 & 28), includes the following files: Ebon C. Ingersoll & Family, 1854-1903; Mr. & Mrs. Walston H. Brown & Family, 1875-1952; Maud Ingersoll Probasco, 1885-1935; Mr. & Mrs. Clinton P. Farrell & Family, 1879-1928; Harriette E. Parker, 1863-1903; Sue Sharkey, 1875-1904; Unidentified Individuals, 1855-1926.
The Ebon C. Ingersoll & Family, 1854-1903 file (Box 21) contains correspondence, an autograph book, cancelled checks, receipts and other financial papers, briefs, deeds and other legal documents that relate to Ebon’s business interests, law practice and family relationships. Ebon’s son, John, is represented by letters written to his parents and by a few documents derived from his consular service inCopenhagen andCartagena.
The Mr. & Mrs. Walston H. Brown & Family, 1875-1952 file (Boxes 22-23, BV 27) contains the papers of Walston H. & Eva Ingersoll Brown, and their children, Eva Ingersoll Wakefield & Robert G. Ingersoll Brown. The bulk of this file consists of correspondence. These materials are divided among 4 sub-files.
The Walston H. Brown sub-file contains business and personal correspondence, cancelled checks, a letterpress copybook, and personal calling cards. Among the earliest letters in this file are several addressed to Walston’s mother and sister.
The Eva Ingersoll Brown sub-file contains correspondence, part of a diary (dated Dec 1886-Feb 1887), a notebook and other miscellaneous papers. The earliest letters in this file are mostly from her father and other family members. Some are addressed to her and her sister Maud. Letters addressed to both Mr. & Mrs. Brown are also filed here. The correspondence and other materials in this file mostly concern family matters, Mrs. Brown’s social and political activities, and the life and works of her father, Robert G. Ingersoll. Mrs. Brown is also the subject of some ofthe materials in Series V (see below).
The Eva Ingersoll Wakefield sub-file contains correspondence, notes, clippings, a notebook and miscellaneous printed materials. Letters addressed to both Eva and her brother Robert are also filed here. Most of the earliest correspondence comes from relatives and friends. Of special interest are 25 picture postcards, most of which are views of New York City in 1902, sent to Eva by her Aunt Maud. Most of the later materials document Eva’s interest in her grandfather’s life, letters and philosophy.
The Robert G. Ingersoll Brown sub-file contains correspondence and a press release. Topics include family matters and Robert’s association with the American IndianDefense Association.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 10 Scope and Content
Series III: Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952
The Maud Ingersoll Probasco, 1885-1935 file (Boxes 23-25) consists almost entirely of correspondence addressed to Maud. A few of the letters are addressed to Mr. Probasco. Letters addressed to both Maud and her sister Eva are filed with Eva Ingersoll Brown’spapers. The materials in this file document Maud’s family relationships and social & political activities. These last include her involvement in the anti-vivisection and women’s suffrage movements, and interest in child welfare, prison reform and other progressive issues. Her correspondents include noted actress and anti-vivisection activist Minnie Maddern Fiske, and women’s suffrage movement leader Ida Husted Harper.
The Mr. & Mrs. Clinton P. Farrell & Family, 1879-1928 file (Box 25, BV 28) contains the papers of Clinton P. & Sue M. Farrell, and their daughter, Eva I. Farrell. The bulk of this file consists of correspondence; it is divided among 3 sub-files.
The Clinton P. Farrell sub-file contains correspondence, a letterpress copybook, and a publisher’s catalogue. Most of these materials concern Farrell’s activities asIngersoll’s lecture tour manager and publisher.
The Sue M. Farrell sub-file contains correspondence, including letters addressed to both Mr. & Mrs. Farrell. Topics include family matters, brother-in-law Ingersoll’s death, and Mrs. Farrell’s involvement in the anti-vivisection and women’s suffrage movements. Frequent correspondents include Minnie Maddern Fiske and Ida Husted Harper (see also Maud Ingersoll Probasco file).
The Eva I. Farrell sub-file contains correspondence and stage play programs. Besides family matters, these materials document Eva’s participation in various dramatic presentations including those of the Ingersoll Dramatic Club.
The Harriette E. Parker, 1863-1903 file (Box 26) consists of correspondence that documents her family life and social activities. Some of the letters are written by her son-in-law, Robert G. Ingersoll.
The Sue Sharkey, 1875-1904 file (Boxes 26-27) consists mostly of correspondence. Some of these letters document her relationship with Robert Ingersoll and his family. Others, full of news of their activities, come from her brother, Edward, and several young nieces, nephews and cousins, most of whom live in Peoria or Pontiac, Ill. Also found among her letters are several locks of children’s hair.
The Unidentified Individuals, 1855-1926 file (Box 27) contains correspondence of which both the author and recipient have no recognizable connection to any of the otherindividuals represented in these papers.
Robert Green Ingersoll Page 11 Scope and Content
Series IV: Biographical, Topical & Miscellaneous Materials (Boxes 27-29) includes the following files: Ingersolliana; Newpaper Clippings, 1865-1939; Printed Materials Arranged by Topic; Miscellaneous Materials.
The Ingersolliana file (Box 27) contains correspondence, clippings, printed materials, genealogical materials, manuscripts & a scrapbook that concern Robert G. Ingersoll’s life, works, and philosophy. These take the form of memorials and tributes produced on various occasions, greeting cards, pamphlets, programs, original poems and speeches, etc. Of special interest is an original poem, dated Nov. 9, 1925 signed by Edgar Lee Masters;humorous Xmas cards showing the devil whispering into Ingersoll’s ear; and an Ingersoll Chronology compiled in 1947 by Ernest E. East from these papers and various published sources.
The Newspaper Clippings, 1865-1939 file (Boxes 27-28) is arranged chronologically. Many of the clippings dated after Ingersoll’s death in 1899 were provided by clipping services. They cover Ingersoll miscellany printed in papers all over the country as well as news of the activities of his wife, daughters and other relatives. Other clippings concern the social and political issues that were of interest to Ingersoll’s daughters.
The Printed Materials Arranged by Topic file (Boxes 28-29) consists of periodicals and clippings from them, pamphlets, booklets, etc. Among the topics covered are R.G. Ingersoll and his philosophy, anti-vivisection, women’s suffrage, religion, world peace, and the National Progressive (Bull Moose) Party. The file includes numerous complete issues of The Freethinker (London), The Truth Seeker (New York), and several other rationalist, humanist, and progressive publications.
The Miscellaneous Materials file (Box 29) contains programs, picture postcards (photocopies, originals transferred out), calling cards, commemorative ribbons, print blocks, a book slate and a rubbing. The lectures and musical presentations described in the programs folder occurred after Ingersoll’s death. The book slate contains a fragment of a letter written in chalk.
Series V: Ingersoll Birthplace Memorabilia, 1878-1970 (Boxes 29-30) contains exhibition materials acquired from the Ingersoll Birthplace Museum in Dresden, N.Y., when the museum was closed in 1973. Most of the materials are reproductions of correspondence, writings, clippings and other printed materials that were mounted and framed. Most of the writings are incomplete. Also included are pamphlets and other materials produced by the associations that operated and funded the museum, and obituaries, funeral tributes & other materials concerning Ingersoll’s daughter, Eva Ingersoll (Mrs. Walston H.) Brown.
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 12
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Personal Papers, 1862-1899
1 1 1862
2 1863-1864
3 1865-1868
4 1869
5 1870-1876
6 January-June 1877
7 July-December 1877
8 1878
9 1879
10 1880
11 1881
2 1 January-May 1882
2 June-December 1882
3 1883
4 1884
5 January-June 15, 1885
6 June 16-December 1885
7 1886
9 1887
10 January-May 1888
11 June-July 1888
12 August-October 1888
13 November-December 1888
14 January-February 15 1889
15 February 16-March 20 1889
16 March 21-April 1889
3 1 May 1889
2 June 1889
3 July 1889
4 Aug 1889
5 September-December 1889
6 January-June 1890
7 July-December 1890
8 January-April 1891
9 May-December 1891
10 January-February 15 1892
11 February 16-April 15 1892
12 April 16-December 1892
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 13
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Personal Papers, 1862-1899
3 13 1893
14 January-June 1894
15 July-December 1894
4 1 January-May 1895
2 June-December 1895
3 January-March 1896
4 April-August 1896
5 September-December 1896
6 January-June 1897
7 July-December 1897
8 January-June 1898
9 July-December 1898
10 January-April 1899
11 May-June 1899
12 July 1899 & Undated
13-14 Undated Correspondence
5 1 Fragmentary Letters, 1877-1899 & Undated
2 Miscellaneous Papers [Correspondence, Notes, Lists, Prescriptions, etc.,
Mostly Fragmentary]
Legal & Business Papers, 1855-1898
Oversize BV 18 Daybook: Ingersoll Bros., 1855-1859
3 Warranty Deed, December 6, 1859
Oversize BV 19 Letterpress Copybook: Ingersoll & Puterbaugh, 1866
4 1870-1871
5 1872-1873
6 1874-1875
7 1876-1878
Oversize BV 15 Letterpress Copybook: R.G. & E.C. Ingersoll (Legal), June 10-September 2, 1878
8 1878-1882
9 1879
10 1880 [Some Items Dated 1875-1878, 1888]
Oversize BV 26 Letterpress Copybook: Steel Co. (C. D. Schubarth, Treasurer), August 1880
11 January-June 27, 1881 [One Item Dated June 21, 1880]
12 June 28-June 30, 1881 [Some Items Dated June 2-27, 1881]
Oversize BV 21 Stock Ledger: Ivanhoe Mining Co., June 1881-July 1883
6 1 July-November 3, 1881 [Many Items Dated 1882]
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 14
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Legal & Business Papers, 1855-1898
6 2 November 4-December 1881 [Some Items Dated Earlier; Others Dated 1882]
-- Letterpress Copybook: Pinafore Mining Co., 1881 [See Oversize BV 3]
Oversize BV 23 Letterpress Copybook: Monte Negro Mining Co., 1881-1882; Sun Gas Lamp Co., 1887-1888 [Photocopies; Original Destroyed]
-- Letterpress Copybook: Teneriffe Mining Co.,1881-1882 [See Oversize BV 4]
-- Letterpress Copybook: Sierra Negra Mining Co. and Other Mining Companies, 1881-1882 [See Oversize BV 5]
-- Letterpress Copybook: Schwarzberg Mining Co., Nov 19, 1881-Feb 25, 1882 [See Oversize BV 2]
3 January-March 1882
4 April-December 1882
Oversize BV 25 Letterpress Copybook: Railroad Business (Letters Signed by Geo. H. Kimball,
C.E.), April-October 1882
5 January-December 1883
6 January-December 1884
7 January-December 1885
8 Transcript of Testimony, Day v. Bankers & Merchants Tel. Co, October 9, 1885-October 2 1886
9 1886-1887
-- Letterpress Copybook: Sun Gas Lamp Co.,1887-1888 [See Oversize BV 23]
Oversize BV 22 Personal Account Book (RGI), January 1887-June 1895.
10 1888
11 January-March 7, 1889
12 March 8-June 1889
13 July 1889
14 August-December 1889
7 1 1889 (Estate of George M. Chapman)
2 January-December 1890
Oversize BV 24 Letterpress Copybook: Northern Pacific Reduction Co., 1890-1892
Oversize BV 29 Letterpress Copybook: RGI, Record of Cases, Legal Accounts Receivable, 1890-1893
3 January-December 1891
4 1892-1894
Oversize BV 28 Letterpress Copybook: RGI, C. P. Farrell, Agent [Lecture Bookings, etc.], 1892-1894
5 1895, 1897
6 1898
7-10 Undated Legal & Business Papers
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 15
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Letterpress Copybooks, 1881-1895
Oversize BV 16 October 24 1882-December 19, 1884
Oversize BV 1 R.G. Ingersoll’s Letter Book, No. 1, Apr 7-Oct 15, 1886
Oversize BV 2 Robert G. Ingersoll, Letter Book No. 2, Oct 18, 1886-Mar 2, 1887 [Also Contains Letters from the Schwarzberg Mining Co., Nov 19, 1881-Feb 25, 1882; & A Legal Brief: Frederick Bill v. John G Farnsworth, Receiver, the United Lines Telegraph Co., the Farmers Loan & Trust Co., et al., Undated]
Oversize BV 3 Robert G. Ingersoll, Letter Book No. 3, Mar 3, 1887-Sep 2, 1887 [Also Contains Letters from the Pinafore Mining Co., 1881]
Oversize BV 4 Robert G. Ingersoll, Letter Book No. 4, Sep 1, 1887-Jan 25, 1888 [Also Contains Letters from the Teneriffe Mining Co., 1881-1882]
Oversize BV 5 Robert G. Ingersoll, Letter Book No. 5, Jan 26, 1888-Aug 26, 1888 [Also Contains Copybook Letters from the Sierra Negra Mining Co. and Other Mining Companies, 1881-1882; Laid In Letters Dated Feb 1877 & Jun 25, 1875; and Form Letters from the Law Firm of Paine & Grafton, Undated.]
Oversize BV 6 Letters, 6, R.G.I., Aug 24, 1888-Jan 26, 1889
Oversize BV 17 Robert G. Ingersoll, Private Letter Book No. 1, May 23, 1889-Oct 22, 1891
Oversize BV 7 Robt. G. Ingersoll, Business Letter Book No. 9, Sep 23, 1889-Jan 27, 1890 [Also Contains 2 Laid In Copybook Letters from Other Volumes]
Oversize BV 8 Robert G. Ingersoll, Business Letter Book No. 10, Jan 28, 1890-Jul 1, 1890
Oversize BV 9 Robert G. Ingersoll, Business Letter Book No. 11, Jun 30, 1890-Dec 6, 1890
Oversize BV 10 Robert G. Ingersoll, Letter Book No. 12, Dec 6, 1890-Mar 12, 1891
Oversize BV 11 Feb 2 1892-May 31, 1892 [Also Contains 9 Laid In Copybook Pages, Numbered 4 Through 12, of Letters Dated 1892-1893 from Other Volumes]
Oversize BV 12 Robert G. Ingersoll, No. 16, Jun 1, 1892-Nov 22, 1892
Oversize BV 13 Jan 24, 1893-Aug 14, 1894
Oversize BV 14 Aug 14, 1894-Apr 11, 1895
Printed Legal Briefs, Abstracts &Other Legal Documents, 1871-1899
8 1 Connecticut, 1885-1886 & N.D. (10 BV)
Oversize BV 20 Ingersoll Bros., Puterbaugh, McCune, et al. [Combinations Vary]. Briefs & Abstracts of Cases Appealed to theIllinois Supreme Court, 1859-1868
2 Illinois, 1871-1886 & N.D. (14 BV)
3 Illinois, 1871-1886 & N.D. (12 BV)
4 Indiana, 1889 (1 BV)
5 Iowa, 1886 (1 BV)
6 Louisiana, [1885?] (1 BV)
7 Massachusetts, 1888 & N.D. (2 BV)
8 Mississippi, N.D. (2 BV)
9 Montana, 1896 (1 BV)
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 16
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Printed Legal Briefs, Abstracts &Other Legal Documents, 1871-1899
9 1-30 (BV) New York, 1884-1895 & N.D. (Aron-Farmers’)
10 1–33 (BV) New York, 1884-1895 & N.D. (Farmers’-Wilson)
11 1 Ohio, N.D. (2 BV)
2 Pennsylvania, 1887-1895 (2 BV)
3 U. S. Supreme Court, 1876-1897 (13 BV)
4 Miscellaneous Appeals, Arguments, Briefs, Contracts, Deeds, Mortgages, etc. 1871-1899 (22 Items)
5 Congressional Publications, 1876-1891
Lectures & Other Literary Productions
6 Colonel Ingersoll’s Lecture Tours: Schedules & Itineraries
7 “Some Mistakes of Moses”
8 “The Gods”
9 “Shakespeare”
10-11 “Superstition”
12 “What is Religion?”
12 1 “What Must We Do To Be Saved?”
2 “The Foundations of Faith”
3 “Individuality”
4 “Talmagian Theology”
5 “Why I Am An Agnostic”
6-7 “Voltaire”
8 (BV) “Voltaire” [Scrapbook]
13 1 “Abraham Lincoln”
2 “About the Holy Bible”
3 (BV) “The Holy Bible” [Scrapbook] “TheLiberty of Man Woman and Child”
[“Heaven and Hell”?]
4 “A Few Reasons For Doubting the Inspiration of the Bible”
5-6 “A Thanksgiving Sermon”
7 “Rome or Reason: A Reply to Cardinal Manning” “Suicide of Judge Normile” “Athletics among the Ancients”
14 1 “The Appeal to the Cemetery”
2 “Declaration of Independence [Centennial Oration]” “Decoration Day Oration”, 1882 “Decoration Day Oration”, 1888
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 17
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Lectures & Other Literary Productions
14 3 “A Tribute to Roscoe Conkling”; “A Tribute to Anton Seidel”; “A Tribute to Mrs. Ida Whiting Knowles”; “A Tribute to Dr. Thomas Seton Robertson”;
“A Tribute to Courtlandt Palmer”; “A Tribute to Philo D. Beckwith”
4 (BV) “A Tribute to Philo D. Beckwith” [Scrapbook]; “We Do Not Know, We Cannot Say Whether Death Is A Wall…”; “What Has Theology Done For Geology, or Astronomy, or…”
5 “Ernest Renan”; “Myth & Miracle”; “A Lay Sermon”; “Orthodoxy”; “The Ghosts”; “The Gods”; “Fear and Faith”
6 “Thomas Paine”
7 “Is It Ever Right For Husband or Wife To Kill Rival?”; “Music, Noblest of the Arts”; “The Stage”; “Address to the Actors’ Fund”; “The Ideas about Marriage”
8 “Reply to Dr. Lyman Abbott”; “Limitations of Toleration”; “The Great Infidels”; “Trial of C. B. Reynolds for Blasphemy”; “The Devil”; “Liberty Is the Breath of Progress”; “The Jews”
15 1 “Divorce” [Reply to Justice Bradley] “The Christian Religion”
2 “Is Corporal Punishment Degrading?”; Preface to Henry M. Taber’s “Faith or Fact”
3 (BV) “Life” [Scrapbook]; “Let Us Smoke In This World…”; [“Lawrence Barrett”]
(From a Disassembled Scrapbook Which Also Contained 1 Photograph, 4 Letters, & 3 Promissory Notes)
4 “Robert Burns”
5 (BV) “Robert Burns” [Scrapbook]; “Henry Ward Beecher and Colonel Robert G.
Ingersoll Meet on a Common Platform…”, New York Herald, October 31, 1880. [Handwritten Transcript]; “No Free Speech in the South” [a Newspaper Clipping Containing an Annotated Fragment of a Lecture]
6-7 “What I Saw inEngland,Ireland,France”
8 “My Reviewers Reviewed”
16 1 Campaign Speech 1876; “The Campaign of 1896” Political Miscellany [Notes, Essays, etc.]
2 Poems-Mss.
3 Epigrams, Verses, “No Door!” [BV]
4 Autograph Quotes [Acc. No. 72-34]: “Shakespeare Gave Me Another World…”; “The Good Also Live and Toil…”; “The Laugh of a Child” [Oversize Ms.]; “What is Religion?” [Oversize Ms.]; “Liberty” [Oversize Ms.]
5 Printed materials: “A Tribute to John G. Mills”; “My Creed” [“Vivisection”], Letter to Philip G. Peabody, May 27, 1890; “Let Us Proudly Remember…”
“Tobacco”; “What Is ‘Inspiration’?”; “The Origin of Hell” [Postcard]
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 18
Container List
Series I: Robert Green Ingersoll Papers, 1855-1899
Box Folder
Lectures & Other Literary Productions
16 5 Printed Materials: “A Plea for the Children” [Postcard]; “Woman and the Bible” [Postcard]; “What I Want For Christmas” [Clipping]
6 Lectures? Unidentified Mss. [Fragments]
7-9 Unidentified Fragments of Lectures, Essays, Notes, etc.
17 1 Unidentified Fragments of Lectures, Essays, Notes, etc.
2 Printed Fragments of Lectures, Notes, & Miscellaneous Compositions
3 Miscellaneous Essays, Poems & Notes of Uncertain & Non-Ingersoll Authorship
Miscellaneous Printed Materials
4-5 Books, Pamphlets, etc. Owned by Robert G. Ingersoll
6 Programs, 1886-1898
7 Membership Cards & Other Cards, Tickets & Passes Owned by RGI; Personal Calling Cards
Series II: Eva A. Ingersoll Papers, 1876-1927
Correspondence & Other Personal Papers, 1876-1927
8 Correspondence, 1876-1878 & 1882, 1885-1890
9 Correspondence, 1891
10 Correspondence, 1892-1899
11 Correspondence, July 21, 1899
18 1 Telegrams, July 21-Aug 1899
2-4 Correspondence, July 22, 1899
5-6 Correspondence, July 23, 1899
7 Correspondence, July 24, 1899
8 Correspondence, July 25, 1899
9 Correspondence, July 26, 1899
10 Correspondence, July 27, 1899
11 Correspondence, July 28, 1899
19 1 Correspondence, July 29, 1899
2 Correspondence, July 30-31, 1899
3 Correspondence, July (Undated) 1899
4 Correspondence, Aug 1-2, 1899
5 Correspondence, Aug 3, 1899
6 Correspondence, Aug 4-6, 1899
7 Correspondence, Aug 7-11, 1899
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 19
Container List
Series II: Eva A. Ingersoll Papers, 1876-1927
Box Folder
Correspondence & Other Personal Papers, 1876-1927
19 8 Correspondence, Aug 12-16, 1899
9 Correspondence, Aug 17-21, 1899
10 Correspondence, Aug 22-31, 1899
11 Correspondence, Sept 1899
12 Correspondence, Oct 1899
13 Correspondence, Nov 1899
14 Correspondence, Dec 1899
15 Undated Sympathy Letters, [1899?]
16 Correspondence, 1900-1901
20 1 Correspondence 1902
2 Correspondence 1903
3 Correspondence 1904-1905, 1907
4 Correspondence, 1908
5 Correspondence, 1909-1910
6 Correspondence, 1911-1914
7 Correspondence, 1916-1923, 1924, 1927;Holiday Greeting Cards, Undated;
Funeral Tributes, Estate Papers, Will, 1923; Membership Card, Entry Tickets; Personal Calling Cards; Travel Souvenirs
8 Sympathy Cards, 1899-1923
21 1 Correspondence, Undated
2 Correspondence, Undated & Fragmentary
Letters from Robert to Eva, 1878-1896
3 1878-1879
4 1882
5 1885-1891
6 January-October 1895
7 November 1895-February 1896
Legal Papers, 1906-1908
8 Supplemental Brief, October 1906; Findings of Fact, August 1908
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 20
Container List
Series III: Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952
Box Folder
Ebon C. Ingersoll & Family, 1854-1903
Ebon C. Ingersoll
21 9 Personal Papers, 1854-1879; Estate Papers, 1879-1884
10 Legal & Business Papers, 1866-1879
11 (BV) Autograph Album, ca. 1867 [Acc. No. 68-77]
John C. Ingersoll
12 Papers, 1884-1903
Mr. & Mrs. Walston H. Brown & Family, 1875-1952
Walston H. Brown
22 1 Correspondence, 1875-1889
2 Correspondence, 1890-1926
Oversize BV 27 Letterpress Copybook: W. H. Brown, Private No. 5, Aug 21, 1891-Sept 19, 1892
3 Correspondence, Undated; Personal Calling Cards
Eva Ingersoll Brown
4 Correspondence, 1877-1889; Diary, 1886-1887
5 Correspondence, 1891-1919
6 Correspondence, 1920-1923
7 Correspondence and Other Papers, 1924-1928 and Undated; Notebook, Undated
Eva Ingersoll Wakefield
8 Correspondence, 1900-1916
9 Correspondence, 1920-1932 and Undated; “Carpenter’s ‘Pagan and Christian Creeds’” by Eva Ingersoll Swasey [Clipping from The Truth Seeker, July 2, 1921]; The Ingersoll Calendar, MCMXXI
23 1 Clippings, Notes & Printed Matter, 1876-1952; Notebook, Undated
Robert G. Ingersoll Brown
2 Correspondence, 1902-1929; Press Release, 1923; American Indian Defense Association Invitation, 1924
Maud Ingersoll Probasco, 1885-1935
3 Correspondence, 1885-1887
4 Correspondence, 1890-1893
5 Correspondence, 1894-1898
6 Correspondence, Jan-July 23 1899
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 21
Container List
Series III: Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952
Box Folder
Maud Ingersoll Probasco, 1885-1935
23 7 Correspondence, July 24-Dec 1899
8 Correspondence, 1900-1901
9 Correspondence, 1902
10 Correspondence, 1903
24 1 Correspondence, 1904-1905
2 Correspondence, 1906-1907
3 Correspondence, 1908-1909
4 Correspondence, 1910
5 Correspondence, 1911
6 Correspondence, January-December 11 1912
7 Correspondence, December 12-31 1912
8 Correspondence, 1913-1915
9 Correspondence, 1916-1919
10 Correspondence, 1920-1923
25 1 Correspondence, 1925-1929
2 Correspondence, 1930-1935; Personal Calling Cards;Holiday Greeting Cards
3 Correspondence, Undated
4 Correspondence, Undated & Fragmentary
Mr. & Mrs. Clinton P. Farrell & Family, 1879-1928
Clinton P. Farrell
5 Correspondence, 1879-1895
Oversize BV 28 Letterpress Copybook: RGI, C. P. Farrell, Agent [Lecture Bookings, etc.], 1892-1894
6 Correspondence, 1899
7 Correspondence, 1900-1921 and Undated; C. P. Farrell, Publisher, Catalogue, Undated
Sue M. Farrell
8 Correspondence, 1892-1899
9 Correspondence, 1901-1903
10 Correspondence, 1904-1928 and Undated
Eva I. Farrell
11 Correspondence, 1884-1903; Stage Play Programs, 1894-1896 and Undated
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 22
Container List
Series III: Family Members’ Papers, 1854-1952
Box Folder
Mr. & Mrs. Clinton P. Farrell & Family, 1879-1928
Harriette E. Parker, 1863-1903
26 1 Correspondence, 1863-1895
2 Correspondence, 1896-1897
3 Correspondence, 1898-1903
4 Correspondence, Undated
Sue Sharkey, 1875-1904
5 Correspondence, 1875-1879
6 Correspondence, 1880-1881
7 Correspondence, 1882-1884
8 Correspondence, 1885-1889
9 Correspondence, 1890-1891
10 Correspondence, 1892
11 Correspondence, 1893
27 1 Correspondence, 1894-1896
2 Correspondence, 1897-1899
3 Correspondence, 1900-1904
4 Correspondence, Undated and Fragmentary [Hair Clippings Found Among Sharkey’s Letters]; Personal Calling Cards
Unidentified Individuals, 1855-1926
5 Correspondence, 1855-1926;Holiday Greeting Cards, Undated
Series IV: Biographical, Topical & Miscellaneous Materials
Ingersolliana
6 Memorials, Tributes, etc., 1897-1947 and Undated
7 (BV) Scrapbook: Clippings re Ingersoll Monument inPeoria,Ill., 1911
8 Miscellaneous Ingersolliana
9 Genealogical Materials
10 Ingersoll Chronology [Compiled by Ernest E. East, June 1947]
Newspaper Clippings, 1865-1939
11 ca. 1865-May 1899 and N.D. & Fragments From Before Ingersoll’s Death
12 July 22, 1899-1909
28 1 1910-1925
2 1926-1939 and N.D. & Fragments From After Ingersoll’s Death
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 23
Container List
Series IV: Biographical, Topical & Miscellaneous Materials
Box Folder
Printed Materials Arranged by Topic
28 3 Articles about R.G. Ingersoll, 1882-1897
4 Articles about R.G. Ingersoll, 1899-1905
5 Articles about R.G. Ingersoll in The Freethinker, October 1904-August 1905
6 Articles about R.G. Ingersoll in The Freethinker, September-December 1905
7 Articles about R.G. Ingersoll, 1909-1924 and Undated
8 Anti-Vivisection, 1896-1924 and Undated
9 National Progressive (Bull Moose) Party
10 Religion, 1900-1931
29 1 World Peace, 1906-1940
2 Women’s Suffrage, 1912-1923 and Undated
3 Various Other Topics, 1903-1931 and Undated
Miscellaneous Materials
4 Programs, 1899-1932 and Undated
5 Picture Postcards [Photocopies]; Calling Cards; Commemorative Ribbons (3 items); Rubbing (Monogrammed Initials RGI); Pencil Sketch [Transferred to AV Section]
6 Print Block, Brass (For Calling Cards); Print Block, Copper/Wood (Pic of Building); Book Slate (With Text of Letter)
Series V: Ingersoll Birthplace Memorabilia, 1878-1970
7 “The Laugh of a Child”; “Love”; Brochure: Robert G. Ingersoll Memorial
Association (2 Copies); Membership Certificate: Ingersoll House Association, with Envelope; Brochure: “Ingersoll for the Hall of Fame”; List of Officers and Committees, Ingersoll House Association, 1926; Pamphlet: “Help Nominate Robert G. Ingersoll for the Hall of Fame” (6 Copies); Eva Ingersoll Wakefield Obituaries: Bloomington Pantagraph, Apr. 4, 1970; Peoria Journal Star, Apr. 3, 1970; New York Times, Apr. 2, 1970
8 Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, New York, to A. M. Steng, Esq., Aug. 29, 1892. 4 p. [Original Letter]
9 Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Buffalo, N.Y., to My Dear Colt, Feb. 24, 1878. 1 p.
Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Chico Springs, N.M., to My Dear Mrs. Shairwald[?],
Oct. 25, 1884. 1 p.; Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Boston, Mass. to Dear Children [Eva and Maud Ingersoll], May 11, 1884. 2 p.; Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Chicago, Ill., to Dear Children [Eva and Maud Ingersoll], Jan. 31, 1880 2 p.
10 Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Washington, D.C., to Mr. Barrett, June 14, 1880 4 p.
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 24
Container List
Series V: Ingersoll Birthplace Memorabilia, 1878-1970
Box Folder
29 11 Newspaper: The Freethinkers of America, No. 1, 1928, Extra. 2 p.; Clipping: The Freethinkers of America, n.d., re Luther Burbank Memorial, May 22, [1927]. 2 p.; Obituaries: Eva I. & Walston H. Brown, Clippings From Various Publications, 13 p. [Photocopies]; "Refugees to March in Van of Women's Parade for Peace," New York Evening Journal, Aug. 27, 1914. [Photocopy];"Big Gathering View Dedication of Tablet in Ingersoll Dwelling" [Photocopied Clipping], N.P., Aug. 11[1929]; "Ingersoll's Home Doomed by Hotel," New York Evening Post, [Dec. 4, 1924 Photocopy]
12 Invitations to Events Honoring Mrs. Walston H. (Eva I.) Brown, 1929 [2 items]
Program: Memorial Service for Mrs. Walston H. (Eva I.) Brown, Apr. 9, 1929 [2 Copies]; Marriage Announcement, 1943; "The Immortality of Love" [Clipping from Ingersoll Memorial Beacon, n.d.]; "Life"; "The Creed of Science"; "The Laugh of a Child"; "Love"
30 1 Tributes to Mrs. Walston Hill (Eva Ingersoll) Brown, 1928; Press Notices Mrs. Walston H. (Eva I.) Brown, 1888 [Typed Copies]
2 Broadside: “House Rules” [For the Ingersoll House], Wm. L. Sharp, Dresden, N.Y., April 3, 1922; Donor List for the Ingersoll House, n.d.; Newspaper Accounts of the Robert G. Ingersoll Memorial House from the Age of
Reason
3 Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, N.P., to Rev. W. F. Crabbs, May 7, 1879. [Page 1 Only];
Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Washington, D.C., to Hon. Thomas Donaldson and Others of the Clover Club, Jan. 17, 1883. 2 p.; Letter: R. G. Ingersoll, Chicago, Ill., to Dear [Daughter] Eva, Nov. 26, 1882. 2 p.; Letter: R. G. Ingersoll,New York, N.Y., to Edward F. MacClennen, Dec. 14, 1891
[Page 1 Only]
4 “Rights and Duties Spring From the Same Source…” [Original Essay Fragment]; “The Common Man Lives Only in a Dim Impoverished Now…” [Original Essay] Photo of Eva I. Brown with Letter from Helen H. Gardner [Original Documents]; Poem: “The Birthplace of Col. Robert G. Ingersoll” by Mrs. Henry Armstrong; Quotes from Shakespeare; Poem: “O May I Join the Choir Invisible” by George Eliot; Letters: Tributes to Mrs. Walston Hill (Eva I.) Brown, Written to Her Daughter, 1928-1929; Letters to Mrs. Walston H. (Eva I.) Brown from Her Father, Robert G. Ingersoll, 1884-1895; Article about Mrs. Walston H. (Eva I.) Brown, by Jenny June, from Godey’s Ladies Book, Feb[?] 1881; Poem: “Eva Ingersoll Brown” by Mrs. Henry Armstrong; Telegram: Robert Ingersoll Brown, New York, N.Y., to Joseph Lewis, Dresden, N.Y., Aug. 13, 1954 [Original Document]; Tribute to Mrs. Walston Hill Brown by Frank O. Lowden, Oregon, Ill.
Robert G. Ingersoll Page 25
Container List
Series V: Ingersoll Birthplace Memorabilia, 1878-1970
Box Folder
30 5 “Superstition”; "The Holy Bible"; "Voltaire"; Letter: Maud Ingersoll Probasco, n.p., to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis, n.p., 1934 May 12; "Which Way"
"The Heretics and Heresies of Today" or "Liberty: A Word Without Which All Other Words Are Vain"; “The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child”
6 “Abraham Lincoln” [Fragment, p. 16½]; “O Liberty, Thou Art The God Of My Idolatry…” [Fragment]; “The Foundations Of Faith”; “A Thanksgiving Sermon”; “Life”; “If This Bible Is True…” [Fragment]; Letter: Thomas A. Edison,Orange,N.J. to Joseph Lewis,New York,N.Y., 1925 Oct. 6
7 “That Which Has Happened To All Happened To Me…”; “Happiness Is The Only Good…”; “Individuality”; “What Is Religion?” [2 pieces]; “The Birthplace of Bruno” [3 Pieces]
8 “Iter Revolvire” [Original Document]; “Hope” [Original Document]