Found in the archives…

As the collections manager here at Glensheen, my world is mostly about the historic objects on the estate, or often the walls and the floors. While the objects are really neat to see, a lot of the time, we don’t have a story to go along with them. I have questions like —who of the family used this — or — where was this purchased — or — how was it used?

Sometimes though I get to pore over the wonderful archival materials such as letters and diaries and get a glimpse at the who and the why and the where. For example:

This fan can be seen on a picture ledge in Walter’s room. There are no labels associated with it, and while it might look interesting, until I looked in the archives I didn’t know the story behind it.

It turns out it was purchased by Chester on a visit to Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands.

Here’s the diary entry regarding the fan.

And here a photo of Chester holding the fan. So now instead of just a woven fan in Walter’s room, I have found that Glensheen’s archives opened a door to so much more.

In a letter home I discovered a charming passage showing how proud Chester was to be from Duluth. While in Java, he signed the hotel register and noted: “I always register Duluth, U.S.A”. The subsequent sentences show that once a man in their party only registered that they were from the U.S.A. Chester makes quite a big deal out of it saying “once we let Father Dyche register, but only once. He got things so mixed up, he registered U.S.A.”

In an earlier letter to Clara from Chester dated 1880 (a year before they were married), I found a very happy, exuberant Chester:

It reads: “Delightful life! Delightful world! Oh how I do enjoy it! How thankful I am that I was born! How I revel in every moment of my existence! What a pleasure it is to see others, too, in their intense happiness — Truly ‘God is love’ !

Other letters contain the day to day stuff that all husbands and wives write to each other, but I was struck but the way Chester signs his letters. The following show a softer side to the tough-minded businessman that I’ve come to know.

“love you, lots. Yours, Chester”
“…Like him [referring to their oldest son, Walter], I haven’t much to say, but unlike him I can add, I do love you. Yours, Chester”
“With much love to all of you, particularly you. Yours, Chester”

And then I found this gem….

It’s a letter from Batavia, dated April 29, 1914, when he was touring the Pacific. It’s Clara’s birthday! “My dear Sweetheart: In honor of the day I am writing you. I cabled you this morning, largely in cipher, and I hope that you can read [it].

I presume it was “in cypher” because a cabled telegraph would, of course, have been able to be seen by the sender and typed out by others along the way before it was given to Clara. One didn’t send sweet sentiments for all to read back then. Later in the letter he states: “Little did we imagine 40 years ago today, that I would be writing you from here today. As I have often said before, after we got started, it has been a mighty pleasant 40 years. & it is just as easy to love a 60 year old woman as a 26 year old one, providing it is the right one. But all of this you know and none know it so well as you.”

Staff is so fortunate to have these glimpses into the lives of the people we try to interpret everyday here at Glensheen. If you’d like to look at these resources for yourself you can find them at https://d-commons.d.umn.edu/handle/10792/1

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Milissa Brooks-Ojibway

Written by

Glensheen’s Collection Manager

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