Webb, William W. Letters, 1853

Scope and Contents: This collection contains letters of Jan. 23 and Apr. 14, 1853, from William W. Webb in Belvidere, Ill., to Chester Orvis, who had recently moved from Belvidere to Champion, New York. Webb wrote about marriages of their friends and other news, including the burning down of the Belvidere hotel, talk of spiritual mediums in town, prices of produce and livestock, construction of railroads, and the mechanization of a local factory by steam power. The letters came to the Library before 1975, and were first kept in the Rare Book Room.