Ellen Strong Bartlett letters

This collection primarily contains the letters of Ellen "Nellie" Strong Bartlett, author and historian, when she was sixteen years old. Ten letters describe her trip to Washington, D.C., from January to early March 1864. She stayed with her aunt and uncle, Julia and David Bartlett. David Bartlett wrote an early and influential campaign biography of Abraham Lincoln and served as the Clerk of the Committee on Elections in the House of Representatives. The letters describe her travels to Washington and the scene in the nation's capital shortly before the close of the Civil War. She tells her impressions of Lincoln and other political and military officials, accounts of public events, private parties, sightseeing excursions in and beyond the city, and the trends of ladies' fashion. Most letters are from Nellie to her family, most to her parents, but one to her grandmother. Also included is a letter written by her grandmother while Nellie was in Washington and a letter from her mother to Nellie while she visited her Grandparents in September. There is also one letter addressed to a woman named Sadie, written by Nellie's grandmother. In addition to the letters are a Certificate of Non-Liability, which exempted her father from the draft, and a prospectus for her book "Historical Sketches of New Haven." Also included are transcripts of the letters from the vendor.