Catherine Snedeker Hill papers

Collection

Identifier: IWA0009

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Catherine Snedeker Hill papers cover the years 1854 to 1871 and measure 6 linear inches.

The core of the collection is a series of letters, most of which were written to Catherine by her mother and close friends while she was attending Monticello Female Seminary in Monticello, Illinois. According to the school catalogue, Catherine was a senior in 1862. Primarily, these letters detail family matters and local news and provide a rich view of daily concerns. A few references to Abraham Lincoln, Illinois politics and the Civil War are revealed in some of these letters. (See folder listing).

Other items included in the collection are an 1862 catalogue from Monticello Female Seminary which describes the course of studies, textbooks, general requirements, educational goals, rules and regulations, and expenses for that institution; copies of family biographical information from local histories; and an 1876 business ledger from William Hill's store in Mount Pleasant. A newspaper article about the Hill home, from the Mount Pleasant News, March 26,1961, written at the time the house was being razed, includes transcriptions of letters William Hill wrote to Catherine in 1871 while she was in Illinois visiting her family with their newborn son. These letters concern the construction of their home in Mount Pleasant.

A partial calendar finding aid prepared by a member of the Special Collections staff gives brief descriptions of many of these individual letters. It is filed at the beginning of the collection.

Dates

1854-1871

Creator

Hill, Catherine Snedeker (Person)

Conditions Governing Access

The papers are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Biographical / Historical

Catherine Snedeker Hill was born in Trenton, New Jersey, to Samuel and Harriet (Sunderland) Snedeker and moved as an infant to Jersey County, Illinois, where her family farmed. She was educated at Monticello Female Seminary in Monticello, Illinois and moved to Mount Pleasant, Iowa, after marrying William Hill (1834-1896), a local merchant, on May 10, 1870. Their three children were: John (b. April 5, 1871); Irma (b. December 11,1875); and Harriet (b. March 19, 1878 and married to Allen Ott). Catherine Hill died in 1890.