Letters
Mary Austin Holley Letter
MS10-48 includes a letter written by poet, travel author, and land speculator Mary Austin Holley, while she was recovering from yellow fever, an illness that caused the death of her husband a year prior in 1827. Within she describes family issues and mentions a number of people she met. She died in New Orleans in 1846 after suffering from yellow fever and a subsequent infection.
Holley's letter is addressed to her daughter Henrietta William Holley Brand of Lexington, Kentucky. Notably, she tells her daughter she would not be able to send anything since she was not economically fit.
Mary Austin Holley Letter Collection: MS 10-48, Box 1, File 1.
She encourages her daughter to pick up some things for "the baby," but said her judgment was unclear.
Mary Austin Holley Letter Collection: MS 10-48, Box 1, File 1.
Holley ends by suggesting she does not have much time left. She also added that her friend's daughter had passed away.
Mary Austin Holley Letter Collection: MS 10-48, Box 1, File 1.
Bettie Jones Boyd Letter
MS13-04 contains the original notification from Union Brigadier General E. A. Paine to Bettie Jones Boyd in 1864 ordering the banishment of radical Southern sympathizers to Canada. There is also a 1937 letter in which Boyd recounts her escape from Paducah to different parts of Indiana, along with a copy of a program for the "Blue and Gray Grand Soldiers Reunion in Paducah 1887."
Gen. Paine wrote Boyd, who had moved in with her mother, siblings, and servants, all of whom were southern sympathizers. Jones had denounced the federal government and Gen. Paine, so she interpreted this letter as a threaten and threat and plotted her escape from Kentucky.
Bettie Jones Boyd Letter Collection: MS 13-04, Box 1, File 1.
Boyd spent a month hiding out in Indiana, while her mother remained, was questioned about the whereabouts of her daughter, and ultimately banished to Canada. Boyd describes her experiences in this letter.
Bettie Jones Boyd Letter Collection: MS 13-04, Box 1, File 1.
Pictured is a copy of an invitation to "The Blue and The Gray" soldiers’ reunion in 1887.
Bettie Jones Boyd Letter Collection: MS 13-04, Box 1, File 1.
June Laffoon Taylor Collection
Murray State alumna June Laffoon Taylor was born into a coal-mine owning family in Hopkins county in 1921 and became an influential, well-connected Democrat, serving in the administrations of Governors Ned Breathitt and John Y. Brown. MS93-03 contains June Laffoon Taylor's greeting cards, letters, significant news clippings, a history of her work on senatorial campaigns, and more on her role in Kentucky politics.
Pictured is a copy of the front and back of a letter written by June Laffoon Taylor to her parents. She was excited to inform them she performed her speech without forgetting any lines or getting too nervous. She tells them she wishes they could come see her and suggests they should visit in a week or two. She also said she would send them her speech and lists everyone she ran into after her speech, in which she received several compliments.
June Laffoon Taylor Collection: MS 93-3, Box 2, File 2.
A greeting card from The White House addressed to June Laffoon Taylor dated April 19, 1966.
The card is signed by the first family, President Lyndon B. Johnson, First Lady Lady Bird, and their children Lynda, and Luci Johnson.
June Laffoon Taylor Collection: MS 93-3, Box 2, File 2.
Pictured are some of the greeting cards found in the June Laffoon Taylor Collection, including a Christmas card from Taylor's pen pal in England of 1948.
June Laffoon Taylor Collection: MS 93-3, Box 2, File 2.