Manuscript
travel Diary of Clare A. Whedbee, octavo, 79 manuscript, plus 10 pages
of notes at beginning written in Italian on historical subjects, plus blanks; entries
dated 1 November 1913 to 9 May 1914; bound in limp cloth, spine cocked, chipped
at spine, worn at corners and edges, scuffed on covers, otherwise good, one
leaf loose, written in pencil in a legible hand. The trip appears to be a Mediterranean voyage to Gibraltar,
Portugal (Madera), Spain (Cadiz, Cordova, Seville), Algeria (Algiers,
Constantine), Morocco (Tangiers), Italy (Palermo, Trapani, Taormina, Syracuse,
Naples, Rome, Florence, Milano, etc.) and from Florence, she appears to have
boarded trains driving through Switzerland to Belgium where she apparently was
to catch a ship back to the United States.
23 letters, 77 pp., not dated; written by
Clare A. Whedbee to her fiancé, later husband, Michael Ernest Jenkins; while
the letters are not dated, some letters mention their daughter Claire (who was
born in 1924) and some letters Clare signs the letters as his wife (they
married in 1918), other letters are signed with her maiden name, thus the
letters likely date from the 1910s-1920s; a couple of letters are posted from
“Woodfield’s” and “Highland Lake” both inns at Flat Rock, North Carolina; one
letter is from New Orleans; the letters are not dated and do not have
envelopes, but it would appear that Clare is away home visiting family in North
Carolina, writing to her husband in Baltimore, telling him of the trips in the
mountains she goes on, golfing, swimming in the lake, includes mostly family
social history, news of parties, dinners, outings, family health, etc.
60 miscellaneous incoming letters, 161 pp.,
dated 15 April to 8 July 1918, several not dated, written to Chare A. Whedbee, from friends and family congratulating her on her
engagement and marriage; several letters have mentions of World War One.
8 incoming letters, 26 pp., 6
envelopes; written to Clare A. Whedbee, dated 7 April 1907 to 25 April 1919
(two undated); from various family and friends; one of the letters of 1907 is
written by someone named “Donaldson,” who is in Japan and describes a Shogun
tea ceremony they attended; another letter congratulates her on completing the
Red Cross “Preparation of Surgical Dressings” course.
34 photographs, black and white
snapshots, not dated, various sizes; two are real photo postcards, dated 1907 and
1908, others c1910s-1920s.
60 pieces of printed and manuscript
ephemera, including: telegrams, used envelopes, short manuscript postcard size
note cards, calling cards, invitations, newspaper clippings, 3 manuscript
poems, Red Cross certificate, various dates, c1900-1920.