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Nellie Day Lawrence papers

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Held at: University of Delaware Library Special Collections [Contact Us]181 South College Avenue, Newark, DE 19717-5267

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Delaware Library Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Nellie Day Lawrence (born 1865) was an active member and club officer of the Turner Grange, Order of the Patrons of Husbandry, in Turner Center, Maine. At the Turner Grange, Lawrence was involved in organizing events like the annual Flower Show. Lawrence also served as one of the editors of the

Grange Banner, an amateur newspaper created by Turner Center locals for the benefit of the community. She was president of the Turner Natural History Club in the 1930s.

Lawrence was born in Buckfield, Maine to parents Almond Curtis Day (born 1838) and Clara (neé Bradford) Day (born 1839). Almond Day was a farmer, agriculturalist, and a Maine legislator in 1897. The Days were both schoolteachers and Universalists. Lawrence had two sisters, Elsie and Clara, and a brother named Wallace. Lawrence and Wallace became actively involved at the Turner Grange, serving as Grange officers and committee members.

Lawrence attended Hebron Academy, graduating in 1887. She may have been a teacher at the Leavitt Institute. Lawrence married Walter Lawrence (born 1866) in 1894. By 1910, the Lawrences lived in Turner, Maine with a fourteen-year-old son named Almore D. Lawrence.

Information derived from dealer description.

The Turner Grange was organized in Turner Center, Maine, in 1874. Intended to improve agriculture and farming, the Turner Grange was a fraternal organization for men, women, and children. Most farmers in the early 1900s belonged to the Grange, exchanging ideas and techniques about farming. Members attended official meetings twice a month, which consisted of lectures, discussions, singing, readings, and a dinner for families.

French, W. R. A History of Turner, Maine, from its Settlement to 1886. Portland: Hoyt, Fogg & Donham, 1886.Turner Museum and Historical Society. "Turner Grange #23, Turner Center, ca.1910, Description." Maine Memory Network. Accessed September 18, 2019. https://www.mainememory.net/artifact/30860.

The Nellie Day Lawrence papers consist of articles and drafts (approximately 1889-1890s), manuscript copies of the

Grange Banner (1889-1892), printed ephemera related to the Turner Grange and Maine schools (1885-1942), correspondence (1880s-1930s), and other writing (approximately 1879-1890s). The collection includes manuscripts of poems and multiple working drafts of articles submitted to the Grange Banner. Topics range from musings on the weather and animals to life in Maine, farming, the World's Columbian Exposition, the local State Fair, challenges faced by women, education, and narratives of travel and adventure.

Articles and drafts consist of stories, poems, and accounts likely intended for publication in the

Grange Banner. The collection also contains four compiled handwritten issues of the Grange Banner (some of these appear to be incomplete). In some cases there are two copies of an article, which are likely the author's original submission and a copy made by Lawrence. While some of the submissions can be found in the extant issues of the Grange Banner, the majority of the articles do not appear in the issues in this collection.

Ephemera related to the Turner Grange and Maine schools consists of Turner Grange program booklets (1891-1914), brochures and magazines related to Maine public schools (1885-1916), Turner Natural History Club Exhibit and Flower Show programs (1934-1942), and copies of the

Leavitt Angelus, a quarterly publication by students at the Leavitt Institute in Turner, Maine (1901-1918).

The correspondence consists of letters sent to Lawrence by her family and friends. The bulk of the correspondence spans from 1886 to 1908 and 1930 to 1939, with an absence of letters in between. The majority are accompanied by original envelopes. The letters are written by family members and friends living in New England states. The letters range in content from descriptions of everyday life and health, to responses about events occuring at the Turner Grange, and content for the

Grange Banner. A large portion of the correspondence is letters from friend Nellie B. (from Lynn, Massachusetts) and from Lawrence's siblings.

Other writing comprises diary entries about a trip in Maine, articles, fragments, writings by Lawrence (likely from her school days, circa 1879), and a complete manuscript issue of the

Pearl, a newspaper that may have been edited by Lawrence. The Pearl contains articles similar in subject matter to the Grange Banner. Authorship of the articles and fragments varies.

Box 1: Shelved in SPEC MSS record center carton Box 2: Shelved in SPEC MSS half record center carton

Purchase, 2014.

Processed and encoded by Kristen Nassif, September, 2019.

Publisher
University of Delaware Library Special Collections
Finding Aid Author
University of Delaware Library, Special Collections
Finding Aid Date
2019 September 27
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Use of materials from this collection beyond the exceptions provided for in the Fair Use and Educational Use clauses of the U.S. Copyright Law may violate federal law. Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. Please contact Special Collections Department, University of Delaware Library, https://library.udel.edu/static/purl.php?askspec

Collection Inventory

Articles and drafts, approximately 1889-1890s.
Box 1 Folder 1-3
Scope and Contents

Most of these articles were intended for publication in the

Grange Banner, but it is unclear if all of them were. Folder 3 contains article drafts that appear in an issue of the newspaper from 1889.
Issues of the Grange Banner, 1889-1892.
Box 1 Folder 4

Turner Grange programs, 1891-1914.
Box 1 Folder 5-9
Brochures and magazines, 1885-1916.
Box 1 Folder 10
Scope and Contents

Issues of The

Hebron Semester (Fall term, 1885), The ELHS Oracle (Feburary 1909 and March 1915), and Farmington Normal (June 1915), and pamphlet: "A Course of Study for the Public Schools of Turner, Maine" (1907).
Turner Natural History Club programs, 1934-1942.
Box 1 Folder 11
The Leavitt Angelus, 1901-1918.
Box 1 Folder 12-15

1886-1901.
Box 1 Folder 16-23
1902-1939.
Box 2 Folder 1-14
Family, 1880s-1890s.
Box 2 Folder 15
Undated.
Box 2 Folder 16-17

Diary entries, approximately 1879-1890s.
Box 2 Folder 18
Scope and Contents

The diary entries are likely in Lawrence's hand and recount travels throughout Maine.

Articles, approximately 1879-1890s.
Box 2 Folder 19
Scope and Contents

Includes two separate articles, likely by Lawrence. One is a critical editorial about animal trapping. The other is a travel account.

Fragments, approximately 1879-1890s.
Box 2 Folder 20
Scope and Contents

Consists mostly of writings about school life. The writings are by various hands.

Issue of the Pearl, approximately 1879-1890s.
Box 2 Folder 21
School writings by Nellie Day Lawrence, circa 1879.
Box 2 Folder 22

Print, Suggest