Collections : [Connecticut Museum of Culture and History]

The collection was given the accession number of the first gift to the Historical Society, a scrapbook donated by Phyllis Kihn. The other materials were donated at a later time by Kihn and were also gathered when the Historical Society developed an exhibit about the Mission for the Chinese Students Memorial Association in 2001.

The collection had been processed once before, but without any organization as to type of document. The new arrangement places selectmen-related materials first, then tax records, school records, land and highway records, and court records.

The papers of Rev. Samuel Wolcott include correspondence by and to him as well as the family members listed above. Samuel Wolcott attended Yale College and Andover Theological Seminary as well as served on a mission to Syria. The earliest letter contained in the box dates from 1803 and was written by his mother Rachel to her father. Many of the letters received by Samuel are from fellow ministers during the period Samuel and his family lived in Ohio and Illinois. They include talk of spiritual matters, pleas for columns for publishing in Christian papers, and hymns. Samuel wrote over 200 hymns and published the hymnal “Sacred Hymns”. Letter writers include J. Hammond Trumbull, who wanted to know more about Wolcott’s ancestry for a book he was writing; P.T. Barnum, whose letter is practically illegible and the Rev. L.W. Bacon, who wrote about some of the controversy he faced. Nearly all the letters written by Samuel are addressed to his wife and children Edward, William and Clara. He was fond of offering fatherly advice. Folder 3 contains letter written by Henry to his parents and siblings as he traveled the country. Henry would go on to become a state senator in Colorado. Folder 4 contains letters to and from William. William became a minister in Massachusetts. Many of his letters are from friends. During a trip to England in 1884, he wrote letters back to his father detailing his experiences. Folder 5 are letters written by Samuel Adams Wolcott to his parents and Will. Folder 6 contains Anna’s correspondence with her brothers. She would go on to found the Miss Wolcott School for Girls in Denver, CO and become a regent of the University of Colorado. She married Joel Vaile in 1913. Folder 7 contains letters to and from Samuel’s wife Harriet. Folder 8 contains miscellaneous and unidentified letters including the earliest letter in the folder. It dates from 1803 and was written by Samuel’s mother Rachel to her father. A letter from Edward is also included, who would eventually become a United States Senator from Colorado. Folder 9 contains miscellaneous papers including sheet music handwritten by Samuel for “Tents of Israel” and Wolcott lineage papers. Folder 10 holds pictures. There are two black and white photos of a man and a boy that are unidentified. There are also eight black and white portraits of men in the Wadsworth family. These may have come from William’s wife Cora Wadsworth whom he married in 1894.

The collection was purchased from a dealer in New Jersey who had tried to organize the papers by correspondent. A new order was created and the collection divided into four series: Series I Rockwell family papers, Series II Sumner family papers, Series III Godkin family papers, and Series IV other family papers.

The Risley family papers comprise medical notebooks, account and day books, an early 19th century copybooks, letters of accounts and billing, and correspondence between family members and business associates. The bulk of the materials relate to Roger E. Risley. They are arranged in generational order.