Ellsworth Family Papers

Collection

Identifier: MC 1162

Staff Only
Select files to request

Scope and Content Note

The material in the first accession (Boxes 1-14) was largely collected and saved by Sarah Van Patten Ellsworth and her daughter Bessie Graham Ellsworth. Many of the pictures and scrapbooks were used as exhibit material when the Ellsworth house, "Wildwood," was opened as a private museum in 1963.

The Ellsworth family papers include correspondence, journals (including one kept by Sarah Van Patten Ellsworth in 1865-1866), scrapbooks, albums (including an autograph album of visitors to Hot Springs, 1877-1890), diplomas and certificates, business and other papers, pictures, and artifacts.

Dates

1858-1979

Creator

Ellsworth Family (Family)

Language of Materials

Materials are in English.

Access Information

Please call (479) 575-8444 or email specoll@uark.edu at least two weeks in advance of your arrival to ensure availability of the materials.

Use Information

No Use Restrictions Apply.

No Interlibrary Loan.

Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).

Biographical Note

A graduate of Rush Medical College, Chicago, Major Prosper Harvey Ellsworth (ca. 1840-1907) was a surgeon in the 106th Illinois Volunteer Infantry before moving to Hot Springs in 1866. He was an organizer and the first Secretary of the Hot Springs Medical Society. On January 14, 1873, he married Sarah Elizabeth Van Patten (died 1927), daughter of Dr. Charles Harper Van Patten. Sarah Van Patten had gone to Central America with her father about 1861 and was said to have been the first American girl (at the age of fourteen) to cross Central America on horseback. She and Prosper Ellsworth had four children: Bessie Graham (1873-1963), Frank Van Patten (1875-1957), Elmer Harvey (1878-1952), and Ernest Clarkson ([1881]-1970; the donor is his daughter-in-law). Later in life, she was active in community organizations and participated in efforts to save the Old State House in Little Rock. The Ellsworth home in Hot Springs, "Wildwood," was built in 1884 with Sarah Ellsworth's brother, Phillip Van Patten, as architect.

Extent

11 Linear Feet (18 Boxes and 18 items)

Additional Description

Arrangement of the Papers

Materials are arranged and described in four series:

Series 1. Correspondence, 1888-1946
Series 2. Journals, scrapbooks, and artifacts, 1858-1963
Series 3. Diplomas, certificates, business, and other papers, 1860-1942
Series 3. Subseries 1. Diplomas, certificates, and other papers, 1860-1908
Series 3. Subseries 2. Business papers, 1869-1942
Series 4. Pictures, 1860s-1979
Series 4. Subseries 1. Published or commercial pictures, 1868-1926
Series 4. Subseries 2. Original artwork, 1879-1979
Series 4. Subseries 3. Prints, circa 1860-1958
Series 4. Subseries 4. Albums, 1860s-1901
Series 4. Subseries 5. Lantern plates, circa 1890-1920
Series 4. Subseries 6. Glass plate negatives, circa 1870-1910

Acquisition Information

The Ellsworth Family Papers were donated to the Special Collections Department by Julia Anne Gilliam Ellsworth of Hot Springs, Arkansas on February 1992.

Additional materials (Boxes 15-18, and items in Glass Plate Negatives Boxes 1-2) were donated by Thomas Ellsworth in June 2019.

Processing Information

Processed by Nan Lawler; completed in June 1992.

An additional donation of materials received in 2019 were incorporated into the collection as Boxes 15-18, and as items in Glass Plate Negatives Boxes 1-2; processing of the accrual was completed by Katrina Windon in February 2020.