Cora Schumacher papers

The Cora Schumacher papers consists of three series: Correspondence, Ephemera and Miscellaneous. Series I, Correspondence, contains Cora's incoming and outgoing correspondence, dated 1891-1923. Subseries A, Incoming correspondence, makes up the bulk of the collection, consisting of 13 folders within 2 boxes. The earliest letter is from Cora's uncle, John Day, her mother's younger half-brother. John was only nine years older than Cora, and worked with her father at the Northern Central Railway Company. After 1892, there are no letters in the collection until 1900, around the date of Cora's graduation from Western Female High School. On June 21st, 1900, she received a letter from David Sterrett Pindell (her sister Edith's future husband), sending congratulations and wishing that "all happiness belong to you that should be the lot of deserving souls."

In November 1901, Cora received the first of several letters from her cousin Mary, daughter of her uncle James Reinhart Schumacher, who had recently married a doctor and moved to New Market, Virginia. In describing the antics of her older brother, she makes a special note of how he has "been taking a couple car rides." An influx of letters arrives in January, when Cora is due to begin work as a governess for the Rieman family children in Tunis Mills, Talbot County. In a letter dated January 6, 1902, her sister Edith writes, "So, little sister, you are about to take your first flight from the home nest to try your wings. It will not be easy sailing always but keep a braw heart." Two days later, a letter from her employer arrived with instructions for taking the train to Tunis Mills. Two further letters addressed to Cora in Tunis Mills follow suit in 1902, after which there is a gap until 1904, when she is back in Baltimore.

From July to August 1907, Cora was taking a Latin course at Cornell University in Ithica, New York, where she received a plethora of letters, particuarly from her mother and sisters. Letters from her younger sister Ida give a detailed description of the events at home during her absense, while missives from her older sister Edith express significant pride in Cora's work. In a letter of August 17, 1907, she writes, "I do indeed congratulate you most heartily on your course and think there is good and sufficient reason for us all to be proud of you." By the end of August 1907, Cora was back home at 1525 Bolton Street in Baltimore, again searching for a teaching position. She spent the summers of 1908 and 1909 in Asbury Park, where she received correspondence from her family and friends.

In a letter of July 1909, Ida reveals that their sister, Alice, is to be married to Dr. Henry Montell, a man with whom Cora had a friendship, and apparently harbored hopes of something more. Ida also mentions that Alice was jealous of Cora, recounting her conversation with Dr. Montell. "Among other things he spoke of of Alice's jealousy of you, and I said in a perfectly natural way, 'And was their no cause for it? Eh? You and Cora were great friends weren't you?' He said, 'Yes, we were friends, and Alice's jealousy broke that up, but, Alice never had any cause to be jealous.'" In a letter shortly after on July 27th, Cora's friend Lilian writes of her support. "You were not unworthy, but too, too worthy for that man. Alice is his choice, that proves he is not the man for you."

By October, 1909, Cora has escaped the entanglement, and is working as a school teacher at St. Paul's School in Beaufort, North Carolina. In the first months of her time away, she receives several letters of encouragement, the contents of which suggest that she has written to them of her loneliness and the difficulties of starting in a new town. A friend writes on October 12, 1909, "If it is a possible thing, Cora, I would say to you, now that you have taken the position, make up your mind to face the difficulties and make the best of it." It is also clear from her friends' letters that Cora has expressed the fear that she ran away from the disappointment of a failed relationship, although they often assure her that she will be happier without him. Near the end of October, Ida writes several times about the preparations for Alice's wedding, and Cora's plans to return home for the nuptuals in mid-November.

The next folder of correspondence begins in February 1910, when she continues to receive letters in Beaufort. In May, Cora's mother expresses her excitement that Cora will be returning to Baltimore, although she is worried that Cora does not really wish to come home. Aside from a few Christmas cards, there is a gap in the correspondence until April 1911, at which time Cora is living in Baltimore again. At the end of April, her address changes to Oldfields School in Glencoe, Maryland, where she remains until at least 1918. Although her role there was never specified, she appeared to have charge of the students' well-being in some capacity. Agnes Carlisle writes on May 3, 1911, "You certainly are in your place when you are in charge of a home, and I hope soon to hear of you resigning at Oldfields to become mistress of your 'Ownfield."

The collection contains several letters from Cora's father, William Schumacher, beginning in 1916. He writes twice that summer from Asbury Park, where he reports that "your mother seems well and in good spirits." She died the following year, after which the family seems to have fallen into a depressed state. On April 9, 1918, her father writes to her at Oldfields, "Perhaps some day the veil will be lifted and a proper and full confiedence exemplified in the family life- I hope so before it is 'too late.' I am such a poor consoler and letter writer, but I feel deeply and sometimes am overwhelmed in my loneliness." A few months later, he encouragingly writes that he is "becoming quite a successful cook under Alice's plain written directions."

There is a gap in Cora's correspondence from January 1919 to September 1922, when she is in Portland, Oregon, preparing to embark from Vancouver on a mission trip to China, Japan, and the Philippines. She receivese two lengthly letters from her sister Alice, who appears to have put their past rivalry behind her. In a letter dated November 22, 1922, Alice writes, "How I wish you were here, it surely is awful without you. I hope I will appreciate you now when you come home and not act like a little girl." She also writes of her son, William "Billy", aged eleven. Billy also sends Cora a letter in December using his new typewriter, thanking his aunt for the gift of a radio. Little can be gleaned from these letters from Cora's time overseas, also Alice does mention that she is glad Cora "likes[s] the people and they are nice to you." She arrived back home aboard the ship "President Lincoln" on May 30, 1923, docking in San Francisco, California. The final item in Cora's incoming correspondence is a letter dated June 16, 1923 from E. R. Matute, enclosing a photograph of two women sitting on the deck of the ship. Although not identified, it is likely that Cora is one of the two women in the photo.

Series II, Subseries B, contains one folder of correspondence written by Cora Schumacher, dated 1902-1912. The first six letters are addressed to Cora's mother and father, sent from February to June 1902 when Cora was working as a governess on the Eastern Shore. She thanks her mother for the packages from home, and describes bits and pieces of her time with the Rieman family- rowing, crabbing, and finding puppies in the barn loft. She also lists the subjects she teaches the children, including Spelling, Algebra, History, Arithmetic, Writing, Latin, Geometry, Reading, and Grammar. After June 1902, the next several letters are dated July-August 1907 when Cora was at Cornell. She writes to her mother in August, informing her that "I had the honor and priviledge of passing the Cornell formal examination in Spanish! Yes dear I did and am happy."

Three more outgoing letters remain in the folder, one to Ida in 1912, and two undated letters, although they most likely date to 1909-1910. In a letter to her friend Lilian, Cora laments the upcoming marriage of Alice and Dr. Montell. "Oh Lilian- they are to be married in October...What did it all mean? Tell me frankly, Lilian? All the hours of intense suffering, and then those moments of exquisite delights. Has it all, all gone forever, Lilian- only the memory left to haunt me?"

Series I, Subseries C, contains miscellaneous correspondence from other members of Cora's family. Included in this folder is a letter from her father, William Schumacher, to Henry Rieman of Tunis Mills, accepting the teaching position on her behalf on a trial basis. There is also a letter from Ida Crampton Schumacher (Cora's mother), and a 1918 letter from Ida Schumacher (Cora's sister) to their father.

Series II, Ephemera, contains materials from Cora's school days at Western Female High School, including her grades dated 1897-1900, commencement program from her 1900 graduating class, and a book of autographs from school and afterwards. Signatures in the book include names familiar from her correspondence, including D. Sterrett Pindell, Mary C. Schumacher, and her uncle John. Also included in the book are the shaky signatures of her father's parents, "Grand Pap" and "Grand Mama" Schumacher. Other miscellaneous materials includes a concert program for the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club, typewritten short stories, a Macau (China) city guide, receipts for telephone calls made from the Philippines, and a pamphlet for the Alliance Missionary Enterprise.

Series III, Miscellaneous, consists of various other materials, such as checks and receipts, addressed envelopes, and an undated glass plate negative of an unidentified church exterior.