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Acca L. Colby Purdy Correspondence

 Collection — Container: BLIBR-0004
Identifier: BLIBR-0004

Content Description

The collection consists of thirteen letters written from Brownsville, Texas starting January 1866 to June 1866 by Acca L. Colby Purdy and her husband Warren G. Purdy to their family in Chicago, Illinois. In addition, there are two portrait images; one of Acca and the other of Warren. The correspondence narrates life in Brownsville and the nearby areas as well as the living conditions.

Acca begins writing from Brownsville on January 18, 1866. She speaks of Major Plato who was the Quartermaster at Fort Brown. She describes the living conditions and cost of living. She writes of Major Pierce who is the Paymaster of Fort Brown. She writes of the Mexican ball held at Market Hall (Market Square) by the liberal officers; who was there and what participants wore.

Warren G. Purdy describes the Spanish Bull fights he went to in Matamoras (Matamoros) and describes Matamoras as a "devil of a town; all the buildings are one story brick and look more like barns than like houses". There are numerous letters of hazards and dangers of living there at the time.

Acca also writes of Dr. Morse, the medical director of the district and how he was executed and the consequences to the murderers. The last letter was written on June 16, 1866. They went onto Baltimore, Maryland arriving in July 27, 1866. Warren G. Purdy was serving as a clerk for the Quartermaster department in Fort Brown and followed up that assignment by going to Baltimore to finish the service.

Noteworthy subjects mentioned throughout the correspondence are as follows: Negro regiment (Buffalo Soldiers, Black Colored Troops), Major Plato, Miller Hotel, Brazos Santiago, Major Pearce, Brownsville Ranchero, Mr. Butts (chief clerk), General Mejia, Imperial army, Liberals, Rio Grande Courier, White's Ranch, and Dr. Morse.

Dates

  • 1865-12-26 - 1866-06-16

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The collectionis open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use

Materials in our collections may be protected by copyright. Publication, transmission, or reproduction of items protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Whenever possible, accurate information about the copyright status of material is provided in the item record and/or documentation for material in the collection. The Library does not own the copyright in much of the material in its collection and is therefore unable to grant copyright permission to publish those items. It is the researcher's responsibility to determine copyright or other use restrictions and obtain proper permission when publishing or distributing materials found in these collections. Researchers must make their own assessments of rights in light of their intended use. Additional information about copyright and fair use is available via the Library's Copyright Guide at http://utrgv.libguides.com/friendly.php?s=copyright.

Extent

13 Folders : 13 letters

1 Document cases

Language of Materials

English

Author
William Flores
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Part of the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley Special Collections and Archives, Brownsville Campus Repository

Contact:
One West University Boulevard
UTRGV University Library (BLIBR 2.202)
Brownsville Texas 78520 United States
(956) 882-7281