- Collection Overview
- Collection Description & Creator Information
- Access & Use
- Collection History
- Find Related Materials
Expanded View
Collection Overview
- Title:
- Gordon family correspondence
- Repository:
- Princeton University Archives
- Dates:
- circa 1870-1902
- Size:
- 3 boxes
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes S-000263 to S-000265
- Language:
- English
Abstract
The collection consists of letters written and received by members of the Gordon family of Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania between the 1870s and approximately 1905. Some of the letters cover the period when Clarence Gordon '1891, son of Jeremiah Smith Gordon '1853, was a student at Princeton, as well as when Mary Gordon and Clementine Gordon attended Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Collection Description & Creator Information
- Scope and Contents
The collection consists of letters written by and received by members of the Gordon family of Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania between the 1870s and the first decade of the twentieth century. The letters include some written and received by Clarence M. Gordon, Class of 1891, while he was an undergraduate and a graduate student at Princeton, and in later years when he taught at Williams College and Centre College. Present are letters to Clarence Gordon from family members, friends, and Princeton professors including Henry B. Fine, Henry D. Thompson, and H.S. Davis. The collection also includes letters written and received by sisters Mary Gordon and Clementine Gordon when they each studied at Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Some of the letters were written and received by Margaret Beatty Kyle Gordon and Jeremiah Smith Gordon, the parents of Mary, Clarence, Clementine, John, and Donald.
- Collection Creator Biography:
Gordon
Clarence McCheyne Gordon graduated from Princeton University in 1891 and completed a masters degree in 1893. He was born in 1870 in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania. His parents were Jeremiah Smith Gordon, Princeton Class of 1853, and Margaret Beatty Kyle Gordon. Gordon became Professor of Physics at Lafayette College from 1909 to 1947. He died in 1961.
The Gordon family lived in Fannettsburg, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Jeremiah Smith Gordon (1829-1904), Class of 1853, attended Princeton Theological Seminary after Princeton, and became a Presbyterian minister in Fannettsburg. Jeremiah was first married to Mary Catherine Montgomery Gordon (1840-1864). Their sons were James A. Gordon (b. 1861) and Robert (born and died in 1864). After Mary Catherine's death, Jeremiah Smith Gordon married Margaret Beatty Kyle Gordon (1839-1923) in 1867. The children of Margaret and Jeremiah were Mary Beatty (1869-1956), Clarence McCheyne (b. 1870), Clementine K. (b. 1872), John Kyle (b. circa 1877), Donald Smith (1883-1899), and a baby born in 1885 who did not survive.
Gordon
Jeremiah Smith Gordon was a member of the Princeton Class of 1853.
Collection History
- Acquisition:
Purchased at auction at Addison and Sarova Auctioneers, Social Circle, GA in 2021 (AR.2021.024).
- Custodial History
From the auction house: "The previous owner has meticulously labeled . . . each letter."
In fact, labels (handwritten on index cards and on yellow sticky notes) are not present on each letter. Where index cards or sticky notes are present, they were created by the "previous owner."
- Processing Information
Collection processed by Samantha Carrizales '22 and Phoebe Nobles in 2022. Finding aid created by Phoebe Nobles in 2022.
Access & Use
- Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open for research.
- Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
- Credit this material:
Gordon family correspondence; Princeton University Archives, Department of Special Collections, Princeton University Library
- Location:
-
Seeley G. Mudd Manuscript LibrarySeeley G. Mudd Manuscript Library65 Olden StreetPrinceton, NJ 08540, USA
- Storage Note:
- Mudd Manuscript Library (scamudd): Boxes S-000263 to S-000265
