Bunnell family papers

The Bunnell Family Papers contain correspondence, diaries, legal and financial records, writings, memorabilia, and pictorial material which document the lives of four generations of Bunnell and Sterling family members living primarily in Connecticut and New York. The papers highlight the Yale academic careers of Sterling Haight Bunnell, Frank Scott Bunnell, and John W. Sterling; the respective architectural, engineering, and teaching careers of Rufus W. Bunnell, Sterling Haight Bunnell, and Frank Scott Bunnell; and the Civil War service of Rufus W. Bunnell and Henry T. Plant. The activities of female family members as mothers, wives, and daughters, and the travels of family members to the southern and western United States, Europe and Hawaii are also documented. The papers were the gift of Mrs. Catharine Detweiler from 1972 to 1987, and Mrs. Jonathan Pincus in 1974. The eleven and one-quarter linear feet of material is arranged in six series: I. Correspondence, 1789-1958; II. Diaries, 1776-[1930?]; III. Personal, Household, and Business Records. 1758-1924; IV. Writings, 1832-1950; V. Scrapbooks, Albums, and Memorabilia, 1858-[1953?]; and VI. Photographs, Prints, and Drawings, 1849-1907.

The bulk of Series I, CORRESPONDENCE, dates from 1858 to 1933. Early correspondence (1789-1857) includes a 1789 letter to Dr. William A. Tomlinson from an aspiring physician who describes his medical training in San Croix. Letters dated 1822 to 1850 are those of Tomlinson and Plant family members, including an exchange of letters between Catharine T. Plant (future wife of Captain John William Sterling) and her brother William, concerning their mother's death.

The majority of the letters dating from 1856 to 1869 document the experiences of the Captain John Sterling family, particularly those of Catharine Mary, John W., and Cordelia Sterling during their respective absences from home to attend school in New Haven and New York. Letters between Catharine and John W. Sterling reveal the extent to which the latter depended on his sister for advice and assistance in his studies at Yale. (A listing of John W. Sterling letters, which formed the major part of accession number 86-M-52, appears on page 10. While it is not a complete list of all John W. Sterling letters within the Bunnell Family Papers, it will enable researchers to access the majority of his letters within the collection.)

The early career of Rufus W. Bunnell is documented by a number of letters he received in Charleston, North Carolina from his stepmother, and by letters received by Bunnell between 1859 and 1909, during his partnership with E. Richard Lambert.

Bunnell's Civil War service (1862-1863) is documented in correspondence between Bunnell and his stepmother and his sister Diantha. Copies of additional letters received by Bunnell during this period are contained in Bunnell's Civil War diary in Series II.

In thirty-one letters to Catharine M. Sterling, her uncle Henry T. Plant describes his experiences as a surgeon in the Union Navy between April 23, 1862 and October 26, 1865. Plant served on monitors, ironclads, and wooden vessels, many of which were engaged in blockading Charleston, South Carolina and in the assaults on Fort Sumter, Morris Island and other Confederate fortifications in Charleston Harbor.

Letters dating from the late 1860s to the 1890s concern events within the households of the Bunnell and Sterling families. These events include the death of Captain Sterling (1866), the marriage of Rufus W. Bunnell and Catharine M. Sterling, and the births and childhoods of the three Bunnell children, Sterling Haight, Frank Scott, and Catharine Sterling Bunnell. In letters to his brother James and other family members, Rufus Bunnell describes his activities in the architectural firm of Lambert and Bunnell.

Accounts of the travels of Cordelia Sterling are contained in her letters from Europe (1872, 1876), Ohio (1874) California (1878, 1884-1885, 1890), New Orleans (1884) and Central America and Hawaii (1890). The visits of Rufus Bunnell family members to relatives in Minnesota, Ohio and New York State, and their travel to New Orleans, Louisiana are also described in their letters to Catharine T. (Plant) Sterling and Cordelia Sterling with whom they lived in the Sterling Homestead in Stratford after their marriage.

The academic and social lives of Sterling Haight Bunnell at Yale Sheffield Scientific School (1888-1991), Frank Scott at Yale College (1890-1894) and Catharine Sterling at Bryn Mawr (1894-1897) are related in their correspondence with each other and their parents. Letters written between family members and friends (1891-1900) also document Sterling's work as a draftsman in Buffalo and Lockport, New York and Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Frank's teaching assignments in Mount Holly, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Chicago, Illinois. Letters of Catharine S. Bunnell at the turn of the century describe her pursuit of a writing career in New York City while working as a copyholder and editor. Correspondence between Frank Bunnell and his Yale classmates Edward (Ned) Reddington and Charles Hall concern their post graduate activities.

Family correspondence written during the early twentieth century pertains to the marriage of Sterling Bunnell to Rebecca L. Peterson, the births of their children Charles (1901) and Elizabeth (1904), the marriage of Frank Bunnell to Katharine Day (1904), and the births of their son Richard Day (1906) and daughter Catharine (1910). The deaths of Catharine Tomlinson (Plant) Sterling in 1905 and Rufus Bunnell in 1909 are also documented in family correspondence.

The experiences and impressions of Bunnell and Sterling family members during their travels to Bermuda (1905), Europe (1905, 1906, 1907-1908), and Egypt and Greece (1906), are described in their correspondence. After the death of Rufus Bunnell in 1909, his wife Catharine often traveled in the winter with her sister and the daughter of a family friend who was employed as her sister's companion, Alice Dean. Her destinations included Europe and Algeria (1910), Nassau (1913), and California, which she visited every year from 1915 to 1926 after her daughter married and moved to the Los Angeles area. The correspondence between mother and daughter, as well as that between Catharine Tomlinson Bunnell and her brother Frank, provide descriptions of transcontinental rail travel and rural and urban life in California. Nineteenth and early twentieth century California life is also detailed in letters from extended family members Henry Plant, Cordelia Sterling Waterman and James Bunnell. The April 23, 1906 letter from Henry Plant to Catharine S. Bunnell describes an earthquake experienced at Saratoga, California.

While no immediate family members served in the armed forces during World War I, discussions of the war and its effects at home and in Europe are contained in the family correspondence. In letters written while on a business assignment for R. Martens & Company in 1917, Sterling H. Bunnell describes his experiences in Russia during the Revolution, and his return to the United States via Siberia and Japan.

Post World War I correspondence is of a routine nature, documenting the day-to-day lives of family members. The academic and early careers of Richard Day Bunnell and Catharine S. Bunnell, the marriage of Richard to Elizabeth Wood, and subsequent birth of their daughter Patricia are described. The deaths of John W. Sterling (1918), Catharine M. Bunnell (1931), Katharine D. Bunnell (1940) are also discussed.

Correspondence dating from 1940 to 1958 pertains to the activities of Frank S. Bunnell and his children and grandchildren, his sister Catharine, and his genealogical research of the Day family.

Series II, DIARIES, contains the diaries of Frank S. Bunnell from the years 1891 through 1904. The brief entries describe daily academic, career and social activities. In addition to entries describing his day-to-day experiences, the diary of Rufus W. Bunnell's year of Union Army service in Louisiana (September 1862 to September 1863) contains detailed drawings of campsites and buildings, photographs, letters and clippings. His travel diaries describing New Orleans (1897), Bermuda (1905) and Europe (1907-1908) are also within the series. A compilation by Rufus Bunnell of notes taken during the early years of his partnership with E. Richard Lambert describes the activities in their architectural office. Also included in the series are Cordelia Sterling's European travel diaries from 1872 and 1876 and extracts from daybooks of Tomlinson and Plant family members.

Series III, PERSONAL, HOUSEHOLD, AND BUSINESS RECORDS, consists of the personal and household records of Catharine Mary Sterling Bunnell, Rufus W. Bunnell, and Frank S. Bunnell, and financial records relating to Lambert and Bunnell Architects. Early Tomlinson family records included in the series are wills (1773, 1840) and a marriage contract (1758).

Series IV, WRITINGS, contains a number of short articles relating to architecture written by Rufus Bunnell, as well as his reminiscences of a 1907-1908 European tour, and his experiences in the southern United States. In two typescripts, The Life of William Rufus Bunnell, and an untitled autobiography, he provides detailed accounts of family history and 19th century social and political commentary. His autobiography relates his experiences during his early architectural career. Also included in the series are student notebooks of Catharine T. (Plant) Sterling and Cordelia Sterling; issues of The Stratfordite, a newspaper published by Sterling and Frank Bunnell between 1885 and 1886; genealogical notes on the Bunnell, Day, Haight, and Strong families; and an illustrated description of the ascent of Mount Vesuvius in 1872 by the author, J. G. Shearman, Cordelia Sterling, and others.

Series V, SCRAPBOOKS, ALBUMS, AND MEMORABILIA, contains postcards, programs and other ephemera collected by Rufus W. and Frank S. Bunnell. Additionally, there are miscellaneous newspaper clippings and memorabilia and a notebook listing the contents of a library of an unidentified individual.

Series VI, PHOTOGRAPHS, PRINTS AND DRAWINGS, contains engravings, photographic prints, and daguerreotype portraits of Sterling family members, and Yale class photographs of Frank S. Bunnell. Items in folder 390 including a small number of architectural drawings document work of Lambert and Bunnell Architects.

NOTE: Dates and notations on documents throughout the collection, with the exception of those found in brackets, were made by family members, and have been retained for the assistance which they may provide the researcher.