Mislabeled Date Section

Thanks for sharing, Margaret! I found the section in question here: https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/anna-e-dickinson-papers/dickinson-family-correspondence/mss184240028/?

I'm calling on our Dickinson experts in LOC Manuscript Division to weigh in on whether these pages might be mislabeled/misordered and if so why that might be the case.

Thank you for your message, Margaret!

After some digging into the original documents and checking into other letters from both 1882 and 1883, I believe it is correctly identified as 1882 and is in the correct order.

Looking at the locations from where she was writing, it lines up pretty well with Ohio in 1882. Anna Dickinson was traveling Ohio at the time, in September 1882, which is recorded in newspapers as well, for example, in this newspaper article from Jackson, Ohio. Jackson is not too far from Columbus, where she wrote this letter on September 22, 1882 only a day after the Jackson lecture event.

If we also take a look at her letter from the same October 2, 1882 and October 2, 1883, she marks two different locations. So it appears that while she may have been traveling around Ohio a year apart, the years are correctly labeled. This comparison also lets us see the way she is writing her “2” and “3” in her dates.

If you still have questions about the dating, I will be glad to forward your comments to one of my Manuscript Division colleagues who has expertise in American literary history.

I hope this helps!

Lara
Reference Librarian
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress

Lara, thanks so much for looking into this!  I would be grateful if you would forward my comments to the Manuscript Division just to double-check. This is especially confusing since she did two similar tours. 

The main reason I believe these letters are from 1883 is because she talks many times about the managers on her tour (Wentworth and Hunting).  As far as I can tell, they were not her managers until 1883.  Here is the signed contract between Anna Dickinson, Jason Wentworth and Percy Hunting dated 1883:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss18424.mss18424-023_0116_0158/?sp=6&r=0.568,0.261,0.394,0.196,0

The other reason is that when you see her "2s" side by side with the other "mystery" number (that I think is a "3") they look very different.  Here is an example:

Once again, thanks so much for your time and work on this.

Margaret

Great detective work Margaret!

Hi Victoria,

I found a page that is misplaced in the section 1937 Mar-May for Mary Church Terrell. The first page is dated 1938. The second page is in the correct place.

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490116/mss425490116-9/

Thanks,

Henry

Hi Margaret,

We will reach out to you via your Ask A Librarian query with additional contact information.

Best,
Lara

Hi Henry,

Thanks so much for pointing this out! We have brought it to the attention of Manuscript Division specialists.

Best wishes,
Lara
Reference Librarian
Manuscript Division
Library of Congress

Hi. I have a page in Mary Church Terrell where the left page is in the wrong place. I am in Letters to friends,allies and others Jan-Mar 1938. The left page is dated March 2, 1937. The right page is correct.

Henry

Hello Henry,

Thank you for alerting us to this. The image of the two letters is taken from a frame of the microfilm edition of the Terrell papers, which was produced by the Library of Congress in 1977 shortly after the collection was processed. The 1937 letter also remains in the same location within the original manuscripts, Correspondence series, Box 11. It may be that the document has been misfiled since the Terrell papers were processed, or it may be that the author simply misdated the letter and that it was actually written in 1938. However, the issue has been reported to our technical and curatorial staff to consider. Best wishes,

Lewis

Hello Henry,

Thank you for alerting us to this. The image of the two letters is taken from a frame of the microfilm edition of the Terrell papers, which was produced by the Library of Congress in 1977 shortly after the collection was processed. The 1937 letter also remains in the same location within the original manuscripts, Correspondence series, Box 11. It may be that the document has been misfiled since the Terrell papers were processed, or it may be that the author simply misdated the letter and that it was actually written in 1938. However, the issue has been reported to our technical and curatorial staff to consider. Best wishes,

Lewis

I found another misplaced page in Mary Church Terrell. I am working in Jan-Mar 1940. The right page is dated February 2, 1951. It is sitting "in progress". Let me know when I can submit it.

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490127/mss425490127-16/

Thanks,

Henry

Also, these are misplaced. I am working in MCT Jan-Mar 1940. These are Thompson Restaurant documents. They are not dated. I don't know if these are drafts but the only date is 1950 and the actual date is not filled in.

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490127/mss425490127-17/

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490127/mss425490127-18/

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490127/mss425490127-19/

Thanks Henry,

I had a look to check whether this tied in with the issue we found this summer, where some images were in the wrong place. Thankfully it doesn't! It just seems to be a matter of the cataloging or description. I'll defer to my LOC Manuscript Division colleagues on this. It looks like they're already pursuing a related issue.

-Victoria

Hi Henry,

You can hit "submit" at any time. Our digital team has responded that we are unable to adjust the way it appears, as it is a sort of "built in" error. The resulting transcriptions here, though, will enable future researchers to locate the document by the correct date.

Best,
Lara

I am in MCT July-Sept 1941. This document is dated September 30, 1944

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490139/mss425490139-48/

I believe the left side of this page goes with the above. The right side is in the correct place.

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490139/mss425490139-49/

Henry

Hi Victoria- Sorry to bother you. I posted a new topic a few days ago about opening completed pages. My post was never posted and unfortunately I cannot remmeber which pages they were. However, I came across a page marked as complete where the whole left page was not transcribed. Can this be re-opened?

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490143/mss425490143-13/

Thanks,

Henry

I've reopened the page.  Thanks for spotting this!

I found a page in Mary Church Terrell Letters to Allies and Friends, dated March 18, 1949 that was in the file for March 1948.

Thanks, Henry

https://crowd.loc.gov/campaigns/mary-church-terrell-advocate-for-african-americans-and-women/letters-between-friends-allies-and-others/mss425490160/mss425490160-7/

Hi Henry,

Thank you! I'll forward the information to our digital team.

Loretta

Reference Staff

Manuscript Division

Library of Congress

Right side page is dated June 6, 1950. I am working in June 1949 Letters to Allies and Friends, Mary Church Terrell.

Thanks,

Henry