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Weatherby family collection

 Collection
Call Number: RH MS 1466

Overview

This collection consists of correspondence from Edmond and Katherine Weatherby, dating from 1896 to 1905, as well as drawings by students they taught; books pertaining to Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas; certificates from the Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), of which Delia L. Weatherby was a member; and other materials from two generations of the Weatherby family. The bulk of the collection is correspondence from when Edmond and Katherine taught at the Fort Yates Indian School in North Dakota in 1904-1905.

Dates

  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1896-1976 ( 1904-1905)

Conditions Governing Access

No access restrictions.

Conditions Governing Use

Spencer Library staff may determine use restrictions dependent on the physical condition of manuscript materials.

History of the Weatherby family

Delia L. Stearns was born in 1843 in Copley, Ohio. Her father John D. Stearns had been an abolitionist and temperance worker. She married Samuel S. Weatherby in 1868. Samuel Weatherby was born in Knox County, Ohio on February 1, 1841.

The Weatherbys moved to Baldwin City, Kansas in 1870, where Samuel served as professor of languages at Baker University for nine years. He also held the role of University President in 1873-1874. Delia belonged to the Coffey County Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) chapter and served as superintendent of the press department. She was also a state reporter for the Union Signal.

In the 1880s Samuel Weatherby left his position at Baker and returned to the Methodist Episcopal ministry. The Weatherbys lived an itinerant life until Weatherby's health began failing, and then they moved to LeRoy, Kansas. The Weatherbys had three children: Olive (Weatherby) Quakenbush, Edmond Stearns Weatherby, and Leroy S. Weatherby. Samuel died July 22, 1924, and Delia died in November 1916.

Edmond Stearns Weatherby, who frequently went by E.S. Weatherby, attended university in Kansas in the late 1890s. He married Katherine Rinehardt on November 28, 1901, and the couple spent an academic year teaching at Fort Yates Indian School in 1904-1905. They moved back to Lawrence, Kansas after the year-long contract expired.

Edmond served progressively senior administrative roles at the Lawrence Business College for several decades, including superintendent, vice president, and president. Edmond and Katherine had four children: Samuel, Olive, Katharine, and Herbert.

Extent

1 Linear Feet (2 document cases + 1 oversize folder)

Language of Materials

English

Scope and Contents

The letters in the collection are organized chronologically by year and then by month. The bulk of the collection consists of letters from Edmond and his wife Katherine and are frequently addressed to "Dear folks," Edmond's parents and younger siblings. Some letters are addressed to other Weatherby family members and therefore were separated into their own folders during processing.

Commmonly discussed subjects in the correspondence include the weather, gardening, Edmond and Katharine's son, and Fort Yates Indian School, the Native American boarding school at which Edmond and Katharine taught in North Dakota in 1904-1905.

The collection also includes some pencil sketches by Native American students from Fort Yates, as well as some ephemera and other materials related to Samuel and Delia Weatherby and to Edmond Weatherby, including Samuel and Edmond's educational careers and Delia's involvement in the WCTU.

Oversize certificates have been physically separated and are located at RH MS Q445.

Physical Location

RH MS 1466

Physical Location

RH MS Q445

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, Cathie Pawlicki, 2017.

Separated Materials

Olive Weatherby scrapbook while attending KU was transferred to the University of Kansas Archives and is available in the Student Activities record group at RG 71/99/44.

Processing Information

Most folders in the collection have been stamped "Delia L. Weatherby" rather than "Weatherby family."

Title
Guide to the Weatherby Family Collection
Subtitle
Weatherby family collection
Author
Finding aid prepared by mah, 2018. Finding aid encoded by mah, 2018. Finding aid revised by mwh, 2019.
Date
2018-10-08
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Finding aid written in English.
Finding aid permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/10407/5870307213
Preferred citation
Weatherby family collection, RH MS 1466, Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas

Repository Details

Part of the University of Kansas. Kenneth Spencer Research Library Repository

Contact:
1450 Poplar Lane
Lawrence KS 66045-7616 United States
785-864-4334