Abstract

Five letters, dated 29 August 1883-9 January 1884, and an addressed envelope from Chicago wigmaker Addie L. Contrelli to her customer and friend Lenette E. Wilson of Algona, Iowa. In the letters, Contrelli discusses the braids, switches, and waves that she is making for Wilson and her friend and comments on the financial state of her wigmaking business. Four letters were written from Chicago, while the final letter in 1884 was written from Mason City, Iowa.

Abstract

Manuscript diary of S. M. Bower, a lightning rod salesman, recording his travels in the Midwest (primarily Illinois) in 1869. The diary includes notes on Bower’s cash accounts and expenses and his daily journal records of work, in which he includes names and addresses, towns visited, weather, and other incidents. Bower also recorded cures for various human ailments, such as hangovers, and ailments in horses, for example, "For cold in Horses" and "cure for poll evil".

Abstract A manuscript diary written by Edward Teal of Stall & Teal, a business located in Mission, Illinois in La Salle County. The journal documents finances, farming, family genealogy, daily activities, and issues pertaining to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as Teal was a practicing Mormon. The first portion of the journal documents the business-related transactions and accounts. On pages 93 and 94, Teal compiled a short genealogical record of marriages and births. The diary...