Willis, Bettie Hiter Papers, 1864-1942
Summary Information
- Repository:
- Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University
- Creator:
- Hiter Willis, Bettie
- Title:
- Bettie Hiter Willis Papers
- Collection No.:
- SC 0224
- Date:
- 1864-1942
- Extent:
- 41 digital files
- Extent:
- .48 Gigabytes
- Language of the Material:
- English
- Abstract:
- The Bettie Hiter Willis Papers, 1864-1942, is comprised of digitized diary entries and letters from Willis, including documents created during the Civil War.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], Bettie Hiter Willis Papers, 1864-1942, SC 0224, Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Va.
Biographical / Historical
This collection contains digital images of the correspondence and diaries of Bettie Hiter Willis, including journals from 1864-1865 and 1878-1879. She writes about her experiences with the Civil War as well as personal relations. She lived in the Culpepper, VA, and for a short period in the Shenandoah Valley, and wrote about local deaths in the War as well as her own personal take on Abraham Lincoln's assassination. The collection begins at age 13, in 1864, and continues with her children's correspondence until 1942.
Scope and Contents
The Bettie Hiter Willis Papers, 1864-1942 consist of 41 digital files that were created by Special Collections from thirty-eight letters, three journal segments, and one poem. The bulk of the letters were written to family members in Virginia. Several letters and diary entries written by Bettie Hiter Willis as a young girl describe local events from the Civil War.
Arrangement
The material is arranged into two series:
Series 1: Journals, 1864-1874, undated, is comprised of scanned excerpts of journals written by Bettie Hiter Willis, and further arranged by date. The scanned documents are accessible as 3 pdfs.
Series 2: Correspondence, 1867-1942, undated, is comprised of scanned letters, a postcard and a poem, and further arranged by date. The scanned documents are accessible as 39 pdfs.
Administrative Information
Revision Description
Digital files were arranged and described by Sarah Roth-Mullet April 2019
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection. Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the James Madison University Special Collections Library to use this collection.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
The items loaned to Special Collections by MaryMay Angelil in September 2012 for scanning, after which, the originals were returned to the donor.
Provenance
MaryMay Angelil is the great-granddaughter of Bettie Hiter Willis. The letters have been in the family's possession since the Civil War.
Processing Information
The pages were flattened and then scanned on an Epson 10000 XL scanner at 600 dpi. The scans have been separated into the original journal segments and letters. The collection was kept in the original order for scanning. The scans were created as TIF files and assigned sequential unique identifiers. These files were subsequently converted to pdfs for access, and the files were renamed by form of content and the date of creation. The collection was formerly assigned collection number SC 5053.
Conditions Governing Use
The copyright interests in this collection have been transferred to the James Madison University Special Collections Library. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library Reference Desk. (library-special@jmu.edu).
Location
Special Collections, Carrier Library, James Madison University
880 Madison DriveMSC 1704Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807library-special@jmu.eduURL: https://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/
Index Terms
Genre and Form
- Letters
- Diaries
- Postcards
- Poetry
Personal Name
- Angelil, MaryMay
Subject
- North American women's letters and diaries
- Postcards -- United States -- 20th century
- Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865
- Virginia -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Personal narratives
- Virginia -- History, Local -- Sources
- Willis family
- Hiter family
- Willis, Bettie Hiter
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Journals, 1864-1874, undated |
|||
---|---|---|---|
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Journal, May 15, 1864 to October 2, 1865 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-001 | ||
Journal, December 28, 1873-August 30, 1874 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-001 | ||
Journal, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-001 | ||
Series 2: Correspondence, 1867-1942, undated |
|||
Title/Description | Instances | ||
Letter, September 19, 1867 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, September 22, 1869 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, November 27, 1869 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, September 24, 1876 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, February 27, 1880 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, March 26, 1899 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, March 1, 1917 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, October 28, 1917 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, August 18, 1920 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, December 15, 1921 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, January 9, 1921 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, January 11, 1921 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, January 1, 1922 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, March 8-14, 1923 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, June 29, 1923 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, December 18, 1923 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, March 1, 1923 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, Feburary 24, 1923 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, January 3, 1924 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, December 9, 1934 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, January 9, 1939 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letters, September 11, 1942 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letters, September 16, 1942 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter, September 17, 1942 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Envelope, R.A. Freeman, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter (partial), undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter from Sallie (partial), undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter from Sue (partial), undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bess, December 8 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bess, June 28 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bess, Sunday night, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bess, Wednesday morning, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bob, Saturday night, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Bob, Saturday night, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Daughter, May 30 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Mick, Sunday night, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Letter to Mick, Thursday afternoon, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Postcard, 1911 | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||
Poem, A. O. Body, undated | Digital-materials SC0224-SET-002 | ||