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Bacon-Schneeloch family papers

 Collection
Call Number: MS 707

Scope and Contents

The Bacon-Schneeloch Family Papers consist mainly of correspondence and miscellaneous papers of Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Jr. (1865-1939); his wife, Emma Waleska (Schneeloch) Bacon (1862-1925); and their parents, brothers and sisters, and other close relations. Series I, CORRESPONDENCE, spans from 1875 to 1935, but the letters are concentrated in the period of Leonard's and Emma's courtship, 1887 to 1892, and the Bacon family's opposition to their marriage is a primary theme. The principal correspondents are Leonard Woolsey Bacon (1830-1907), writing to his son and his future daughter-in-law, and Leonard Woolsey Bacon (1865-1939), writing to his future wife. Besides the Bacon family correspondence, there are letters to the Schneeloch family from friends and relations in New York, New Jersey, and Germany.

Series II, OTHER PAPERS, contains autograph albums, diaries, academic papers, documents, photographs, drawings, and printed memorabilia. The Schneeloch sisters [Emma Waleska (Schneeloch) Bacon and Emilie Auguste (Schneeloch) Busse] are represented by autograph albums beginning in the early 1880s and diaries from their tour with Gilmore's Band in 1891. For Leonard Woolsey Bacon, Jr., there are school papers, an autograph album, and monthly summaries of the financial status of his medical practice. The papers of his daughter, Emma Waleska (Bacon) Evans, are mainly from her student days at Vassar. Hardly any of the photographs are identified, but most are probably of Schneeloch relations in New York and New Jersey.

The Music Library has a separate collection of Schneeloch Papers, consisting mainly of programs and clippings from the sisters' appearances as singers. The register of that collection is available in this department.

There is a Bacon family tree in the register of the Bacon Family Papers, Manuscript Group No. 46.

Dates

  • 1875-1935

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown, though much of the material in this collection is likely in the public domain. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Mrs. Leonard W. Bacon, 1939.

Extent

6.5 Linear Feet (9 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0707

Abstract

The papers consist of family correspondence, autograph albums, diaries, notebooks, financial records, photographs and memorabilia, principally of Leonard Woolsey Bacon, a physician, and of his first wife, Emma Waleska Schneeloch. The largest part of the papers is made up of Bacon's prescription books (1892-1937) containing diagnosis, prescriptions, and name, age and occupation for each patient. Also in the papers are the financial records of his practice (1907-1919) which, together with the prescription books, make an important record of the practice of medicine in New Haven in that period. In the family correspondence is a long series of letters (1886-1892) from Leonard Bacon to Emma Schneeloch during their courtship. Much of the correspondence is made up of letters from various members of the Bacon family who were opposed to the marriage. Emma Schneeloch sang with her sister, Emilie, with a band that traveled to the West in 1891. A diary kept by Emilie of this trip is in the papers. Also included are student papers from Vassar (ca. 1917-1921) and other memorabilia kept by Emma Waleska Bacon Evans, daughter of Leonard and Emma Bacon.

Biographical / Historical

LEONARD WOOLSEY BACON, 1865-1939, B.A. 1888.

Born February 24, 1865, in Stamford, Conn.

Died January 8, 1939, in Hamden, Conn.

Father, Rev. Leonard Woolsey Bacon (B.A. 1850, M.D. 1856, D.D. 1879). Mother, Susan (Bacon) Bacon. Yale relatives include: Leonard Bacon (B.A. 1820) (grandfather); Benjamin W. Bacon (B.A. 1847), Theodore Bacon (B.A. 1853), Francis Bacon (M.D. 1853), George B. Bacon (B.A. 1856), Edward W. Bacon (B.D. 1869), Thomas R. Bacon, '72, Alfred T. Bacon, '73 (uncles); Henry S. Bacon, '93, Leonard B. Smith, '94, Winthrop D. Smith, '96, Leonard` B. Bacon, '96, Harrison Gray, ex-'oo S., Roger T. Bacon, ex-'II S., Alfred H. T. Bacon, '14, Henry W. Closson, '16, Agnes B. Sargent, '24 Art (cousins); Leonard Bacon, '09, B. Selden Bacon, '11, Wallace G. Corwin, 'I7, Selden D. Bacon, '31, Nathanael B. Greene, '31 S. (nephews); Dorothy B. Woolsey, ex-'09 Art, Margaret T. Corwin, M.A. Hon. 1934 (nieces).

Norwich Free Academy, The Bingham School, Asheville, N.C., and Phillips-Andover. Attended Amherst College 1884-1885. Entered Yale in 1885; third English composition prize Sophomore year; dissertation appointment Junior year; a founder of the Yale Orchestra and its librarian Junior year; member Andover Club.

Attended University of Leipzig 1887-1888, University of Pennsylvania 1888, Syracuse University 1889, and Mills Training School for Male Nurses, Bellevue School of Nursing, 1889-1890; worked as professional nurse in Europe and United States 1889-91; attended Yale School of Medicine 1891-1892 (M.D. 1892); postgraduate study of medicine at universities of Tübingen and Bern 1906-1907; engaged in practice of medicine New Haven 1892-1918, and since 1923; specialized in general surgery and orthopedics; assistant medical clinic Yale University School of Medicine 1892-1894 and surgical clinic 1895-1897; instructor operative surgery 1897-1905 and surgery 1905-1906; city physician 1893-1894; member of staff Hospital of St. Raphael and Grace Hospital; commissioned Major, Medical Corps, September 5, 1918; attended Medical Officers' Training Camp, Camp Greenleaf; assigned to General Hospital No. 3; on orthopedic service Children's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital; assistant chief and later chief of orthopedic service General Hospital No. 32, Chicago, February 1-June 15, 1919; surgeon chief General Hospital No. 16, New Haven, June 15, 1919, until discharge September 1, 1919; in U.S. Public Health Service in charge of surgical staff Hospital No. 41, 1919-1923; contributed numerous articles to medical and scientific journals; a founder of Beaumont Medical Club; president American Society of Orthopedic Surgeons, and New Haven Medical Association 1908; vice-president Connecticut State Medical Society 1935-1936; first vice-president Association of Yale Alumni in Medicine 1924-1925 and president 1925-1926; member New Haven County and American Medical associations, and New Haven Colony Historical Society.

Married (1) July 6, 1892, in New Haven, Emma Waleska, daughter of Hugo and Emilie (Neumann) Schneeloch, and sister of Ralph H. Schneeloch, ex-'01 M. Children: Leonard Woolsey, Jr., ex-'17; and Emma Waleska (B.A. Vassar 1921), the wife of Theodore Schlosser Evans, '17 (M.D. Columbia 1921). Mrs. Bacon died July 17, 1925. Married (2) April 8, 1927, in Bridgeport, Conn., Esther Louise, daughter of William and Anna Oleson. Children: Thorwald Oleson; Susan Esther; and Theodare Davenport.

Death due to coronary occlusion. Buried in Grove Street Cemetery, New Haven. Survived by wife, children, one grandchild, four sisters, Margaret B. Corwin, the wife of Robert N. Corwin, '87, Miss Susan Almira Bacon (B.A. Mount Holyoke College 1905; Ph.D. Yale 1911), of Palo Alto, Calif., Mabel Bacon Ripley (B.A. Smith College 1896), wife of Philip F. Ripley, '97, and Elizabeth Bacon Greene, the wife of Prescott M. Greene, '03 S., a brother, Selden Bacon, ex-'83, and a half brother, David Leonard Bacon, '16 S. His brothers, Nathaniel T. Bacon, '79 S., Benjamin W. Bacon, '81, and Theodore D. Bacon, '83 S., died in 1926, 1932, and 1930 respectively.

Dr. Bacon willed his prescription stubs to the University Library "as an authentic record of the actual practice of a New Haven physician."

YALE UNIVERSITY Obituary Record, 1938-1939, pp. 59-60.

Title
Guide to the Bacon-Schneeloch Family Papers
Status
Under Revision
Author
compiled by Susan Grigg
Date
May 1980
Description rules
Finding Aid Created In Accordance With Manuscripts And Archives Processing Manual
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
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Location

Sterling Memorial Library
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