Mary's friends

[kerry]

Yes, I'm going to see if there's anything in the correspondence of Smith and his wife - apparently he was very upset by his secessionist family and wanted his wife to go back to America, but she refused. After his death, she moved back to Springfield and died shortly after. Mary's "left to himself" comment makes me think Reid did in fact get the material, since he was the executor. He was a colorful guy with a lot of financial reverses so I think it is weird he/his kids never bragged about what happened to it or sold it in some way. The other place I think of looking is Robert Lincoln's papers to see if he ever bought them from Reid or one of his attorneys.



Does anyone know if the Chicago Historical Society is the only place with Isaac Arnold's papers? It seems to be. He was at least in contact with Mr. Reid, but there are no traces in his papers. I am wondering if anything is overlooked or if only a fraction of his papers were donated. I don't live near Chicago so it is hard for me to go myself and look, and the finding aid has nothing of interest, but there are bound volumes with original letters. I inquired about them but didn't get very far, and they don't photocopy the letters.