Stevens family papers, 1884-1929 (majority within 1903-1906; 1914-1919)

Summary

Creator:

Stevens, Edith

Abstract:

The Stevens family papers consist of correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings related to the courtship of Frederic W. Stevens and Edith de Gueldry Twining and to their son Neil's experiences as a medical volunteer in France during the First World War.

Extent:

1 linear foot

Language:

English
French

Authors:

Collection processed and finding aid created by Clements Staff and Meg Hixon, November 2011

Background

Scope and Content:

The Stevens family papers (1 linear foot) consist of correspondence, photographs, and newspaper clippings related to Frederic W. Stevens and Edith de Gueldry Twining and to their son Neil, who was a medical volunteer in France during the First World War.

The 5 earliest letters in the Correspondence series (around 152 items total), written in November 1884, are addressed to Julia Twining and express condolences about her father's recent death. These are followed by a lengthy series of letters from Frederic W. Stevens to his fiancée, Edith de Gueldry Twining, prior to their wedding. He wrote daily from July to September 1903, giving his future wife updates on his daily life and on mutual friend, and his later letters include a series written in the summer and early autumn of 1906, while Edith lived at her family's summer home in Clinton, New York. These letters focus on domestic affairs and on the state of the couple's household in Morristown, New Jersey.

Neil Campbell Stevens wrote 5 letters from Europe during the World War I era, including 4 concerning his service in French hospitals during the opening and closing months of the war. In a letter postmarked 1914, he related his experiences treating French and German patients while working as a medical aide at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital.

Other items include a letter by a British soldier about military protocol affecting "this Ulster business," which was rioting centered around the Irish Home Rule controversy (April 20, 1914); a letter of thanks from Paul Salembier, a soldier with the 145th French Infantry who received a care package from the Stevens family (March 28, 1916); and a printed letter to Edith Stevens concerning the relocation of her house (November 22, 1928). The series also has 3 letters in French.

The Postcards series (33 items) contains both blank cards and cards with short messages. The majority of the items depict scenes from France, including painted landscapes as well as photographs related to World War I. French general Joseph Joffre is the subject of several photographic postcards, and some show damage done to Senlis, France, and other scenes from the western front.

A large number of Photographs (c. 120, plus 1 photograph album) portray France during World War I, and also family vacations to Niagara Falls and other lakeside destinations. Several of the war-era photographs show members of the ambulance corps, 3 showcase a bullet-strewn Model T, and others present camouflaged military installations, guns, soldiers, and scenery from the western front. Other peacetime material consists of unlabeled portraits, a picture of Barbara Stevens on a tennis court, and a photograph album containing pictures of a family vacation near a lake.

The Identity Papers series consists of 2 items. One is Neil C. Stevens's passport, and the other is his identity paper for the Hôpital Militaire du Val-de-Grâce. Both include photographs of Stevens.

The Newspaper Clippings series contains 53 clippings from The New York Times and The New York Tribune, which document several aspects of World War I. Topics include the outbreak of war, the official declaration of war by the United States, food prices on the home front, submarine attacks on American shipping, and maps of suspected military movements in both the western and eastern fronts. Other items are a political cartoon showing Napoleon chastising the Germans for their plans to invade Eastern Europe, and a report on the return of Neil Stevens from his first three months in France. Two clippings, dated April 18 and 20, 1914, relate to "The Plot Against Ulster" and the controversy over Irish Home Rule.

The Receipts series (3 items) includes a letter concerning the payment of $7 for an article printed in The Independent (March 2, 1895), a receipt for a case of tobacco shipped to Neil Stevens during his time in France (November 21, 1914), and a receipt for a donation from Barbara and Alice Stevens to the Charité Maternelle de Paris (March 5, 1917).

Among the items in the Ephemera series (11 items) are 3 calling cards, 1 invitation, a solicitation for donations to the War Children's Relief Fund, a pamphlet about Yosemite National Park, and a broadside advertising the Morristown Committee Third Liberty Loan.

Notes and Genealogy (7 items) include notes on the history of the Twining family and a typed biographical sketch of Sutherland Douglas Twining (1835-1918) with manuscript notes.

Biographical / Historical:

Frederic William Stevens was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1846, and graduated from Columbia University in 1864. A lawyer, he served as counsel for Essex County (1871-1873), judge for the District Court of Newark (1873-1875), and vice chancellor in the Chancery Court of New Jersey, a position he held from 1896 until his death on November 6, 1919. He and his first wife, Mary Worth (c. 1856-1897), married in June 1880 and had two children, Katherine (b. 1883) and Neil Campbell (b. 1887). On September 9, 1903, Stevens married Edith de Gueldry Twining. They had two children, Barbara (b. 1906) and Alice (b. 1908). Neil, a medical student at Columbia University, interrupted his studies to volunteer at the Val-de-Grâce military hospital during the first months of World War I and returned to France in 1918 as a 1st lieutenant with the United States Army.

Acquisition Information:

1997. M-3370.2 .

Processing information:

Cataloging funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC). This collection has been processed according to minimal processing procedures and may be revised, expanded, or updated in the future.

Arrangement:

The collection is arranged in the following series:

• Series I: Correspondence
• Series II: Postcards
• Series III: Photographs
• Series IV: Identity Papers
• Series V: Newspaper Clippings
• Series VI: Receipts
• Series VII: Ephemera
• Series VIII: Notes and Genealogy

The correspondence series is arranged chronologically, with undated items placed at the end.

Rules or Conventions:

Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: A Content Standard (DACS)

Related

Additional Descriptive Data:

Bibliography

"Frederic W. Stevens Dies." New York Times. November 7, 1919.

Lee, Francis Bazley. Genealogical and Memorial History of the State of New Jersey. Volume 1. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910.

Subjects

Click on terms below to find any related finding aids on this site.

Subjects:

Courtship--United States.
World War, 1914-1918--Campaigns--France.
World War, 1914-1918--Medical care--France.
Family vacations.
World War, 1914-1918--Pictorial works.

Formats:

Clippings (information artifacts)
Letters (correspondence)
Pamphlets.
Passports.
Photographs.
Postcards.
Visiting cards.

Names:

Stevens, Frederic William.
Stevens, Neil Campbell.

Places:

Morristown (N.J.)
Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.)