Series 3. Family papers [MSS 2/241-03]

Series 3 contains Mitchell family correspondence and papers. Included in this series are the papers of S. Weir Mitchell's father, John Kearsley Mitchell (1798-1858), and his son, John K. Mitchell (1859-1917), who were both physicians. In addition to providing specific information about the Mitchell family, the papers in Series 3 provide general information about life in Philadelphia during the nineteenth century. (For additional information on the Mitchell family, consult Appendix A.)

Subseries 3.1 contains John Kearsley Mitchell's diary from an 1817 voyage to China; in the diary, he recounts the trans-Atlantic journey, describes the native people of Sumatra and Java, and explains the Malay language. Also present are numerous letters from John Kearsley Mitchell to his wife, Matilda, many of which send reports from Canton, China, where he was stationed. These letters reveal a great deal about social conventions, courtship, and the status of physicians during the early nineteenth century. Subseries 3.1 also includes John Kearsley Mitchell's correspondence with Michael Faraday, William F. Johnston, David Rittenhouse Porter, and Richard Rush; the finding aid contains an item-level calendar of this correspondence. Matilda Mitchell's (1800-1872) papers, including numerous letters to her husband and her son, S. Weir Mitchell, are in Subseries 3.2.

Series 3 contains letters from Mitchell's sister, Elizabeth Kearsley Mitchell (1825-1874), to her family and to her friend, Bessie Kane. Also present are S. Weir Mitchell's letters to his family written while he was studying and travelling abroad during 1850 and 1851; these letters contain descriptions of English hospitals, surgical techniques, and physicians, and accounts of Mitchell's daily life and medical studies in Paris. This series contains nearly one hundred letters from Mitchell to his son, John K. Mitchell, most of which were written during the 1870s when John was attending St. Paul's School in New Hampshire. Mitchell's letters from his 1901 trip to Japan are also in this series.

Series 3 includes a small amount of correspondence from S. Weir Mitchell's younger sisters, Sarah Mitchell Neilson (1831-1906), called "Saidie" by her family, and Letitia ("Tish") Mitchell Harrison (1832-1914). This series also contains the papers of S. Weir Mitchell's brothers; included are Robert Walsh Mitchell's (1836-1872) letters to his family from Panama, where he worked on the Panama Railroad in the 1850s, and military records from his service as an army captain during the Civil War. Also present are letters and personal papers relating to Edward Donnaldson Mitchell's (1843-1864) service as a medical cadet during the Civil War. Included are several letters to William W. Keen, whom Edward befriended during the war.

Mary Cadwalader Mitchell (d. 1914) became S. Weir Mitchell's second wife in 1875. Her papers, in Subseries 3.10, consist of letters to S. Weir Mitchell and to her daughter-in-law, Anne K. W. Mitchell. Also present is her essay describing an African-American servant who worked for the Cadwalader family when Mary was a girl. The collection includes two letters written by Maria Gouverneur Mitchell (1876-1898), S. Weir Mitchell's daughter, who died of diphtheria at the age of twenty-two. Present in Subseries 3.12 are John L. Cadwalader's (1837-1914) letters to his sister, Mary Cadwalader Mitchell, and brother-in-law, S. Weir Mitchell.

The papers of S. Weir Mitchell's son, physician John K. Mitchell (1859-1917), include a poetry notebook, the manuscripts of two lectures on nursing, and letters to S. Weir Mitchell, Mary C. Mitchell, and Talcott Williams. Other correspondents include Sophy Dallas Irwin, Fanny Kemble, Amelia Gere Mason, Fielding H. Garrison, and Sir William Osler; the finding aid contains an item-level calendar of these letters. Papers belonging to John K. Mitchell's wife, Anne K. W. Mitchell, are contained in Subseries 3.14. Included are letters to S. Weir Mitchell and Mary C. Mitchell; correspondence with the Century Company concerning the publication of the essays of her father, John Worthington Williams; miscellaneous correspondence, including a signed letter from William H. Taft; and papers relating to her genealogical research. Series 3 also contains letters from S. Weir Mitchell's granddaughters, Mary Mitchell Freedley (b. 1894) and Sarah Worthington Mitchell Macdonough (b. 1896). The papers of S. Weir Mitchell's younger son, Langdon Elwyn Mitchell (1862-1935), are in Subseries 3.15. Included are letters to family members and newspaper clippings documenting his career as a playwright and his 1891 marriage to actress Marion Lea.

1806-1949

MSS 2/241-03 Series 3