1890 April 2001 Will V. Batchelder.jpg

Will V. Batchelder Correspondence Collection

PI

Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 12/9/2025, 9:36:49 PM | Created: 12/9/2025, 7:21:59 PM

Added description

Description

Will V. Batchelder Correspondence Collection

Overview

A digitized set of personal letters written by Will V. Batchelder to Elizabeth Alice Austen between 1890 and 1898, housed at the Alice Austen House Museum. The collection consists of high‑resolution JPEG scans of the original letters and accompanying OCR‑derived transcriptions, all in English. The materials illustrate Victorian social life, friendship, health, literary events, and family relationships.

Background

Will V. Batchelder was a contemporary and friend of photographer Alice Austen, residing in the Rosebank neighborhood of Staten Island. The letters were produced while both were active in the island’s upper‑middle‑class social circles. The Alice Austen House Museum, located in Staten Island, preserves the broader Austen Family Papers, of which this correspondence is a subset.

Contents

  • Two dated letters (April 25 1890 and December 26 1890) addressed to Alice Austen.
  • Each letter is available as a JPEG scan and an OCR‑text file, providing both the original handwritten appearance and a typed transcription.
  • The letters discuss personal matters such as health, family events, and invitations to literary gatherings, reflecting the close friendship between Batchelder and Austen.
  • Metadata accompanies each item: author, recipient, date, place (Rosebank, Staten Island), and subject tags (correspondence, personal letters, Victorian social life, friendship, health, literary events, family relationships).

Scope

The collection currently covers the year 1890, with the metadata indicating a potential extension to 1898. It is geographically focused on Staten Island, specifically the Rosebank area. The materials provide insight into late‑Victorian social networks and the personal correspondence of a friend of a pioneering photographer, offering a window into the everyday concerns and cultural life of the era.

Raw Cheimarros Data

@file_pinax:file {title: "Will V. Batchelder Correspondence Collection", creator: @will_v_batchelder, institution: @alice_austen_house_museum, created: @date_1890, language: "en", subjects: ["Correspondence","Personal letters","Victorian social life","Friendship","Health","Literary events","Family relationships"]}

@will_v_batchelder_correspondence:collection {creator: @will_v_batchelder, institution: @alice_austen_house_museum, date_range: {start: @date_1890, end: @date_1898}, description: "Letters from Will V. Batchelder to Alice Austen"}

@alice_austen_house_museum:organization {location: @staten_island, name: "Alice Austen House Museum"}

@alice_austen:person {full_name: "Elizabeth Alice Austen", birth_year: @date_1866, death_year: @date_1952, occupation: "photographer", residence: @staten_island}

@will_v_batchelder:person {full_name: "Will V. Batchelder"}

@staten_island:place {state: @new_york, country: @united_states}

@rosebank:place {city: @staten_island, description: "Neighborhood in Staten Island"}

@albany:place {state: @new_york, country: @united_states}

@julia_t_martin:person {full_name: "Julia T. Martin", relationship: "close friend", residence: @albany}

@julie_bredt:person {full_name: "Julie Bredt"}

@violet_m_e_ward:person {full_name: "Violet M.E. Ward"}

@isabella_king:person {full_name: "Isabella King", role: "photograph buyer"}

@bessie_strong:person {full_name: "Bessie Strong"}

@letter_april_25_1890:document {date: @date_1890_04_25, from: @will_v_batchelder, to: @alice_austen, location: @rosebank, excerpt: "My dear little sister, ..."}

@letter_dec_26_1890:document {date: @date_1890_12_26, from: @will_v_batchelder, to: @alice_austen, location: @rosebank, excerpt: "Dear December 26th, 1890. ..."}

@file_1890_april_2002_will_v_batchelder_jpg:file {represents: @letter_april_25_1890, ocr_text: "Doworthrie 25th 1890. My dear little sister, ..."}

@file_1890_dec_2001_will_v_batchelder_jpg:file {represents: @letter_dec_26_1890, ocr_text: "Dear December 26th, 1890. My dear Miss Alice, ..."} 

@will_v_batchelder -> wrote -> @letter_april_25_1890

@will_v_batchelder -> wrote -> @letter_dec_26_1890

@letter_april_25_1890 -> addressed to -> @alice_austen

@letter_dec_26_1890 -> addressed to -> @alice_austen

@letter_april_25_1890 -> location -> @rosebank

@letter_dec_26_1890 -> location -> @rosebank

@will_v_batchelder_correspondence -> contains -> @letter_april_25_1890

@will_v_batchelder_correspondence -> contains -> @letter_dec_26_1890

@alice_austen -> corresponded with -> @julia_t_martin

@alice_austen -> corresponded with -> @julie_bredt

@alice_austen -> corresponded with -> @violet_m_e_ward

@alice_austen -> corresponded with -> @isabella_king

@alice_austen -> corresponded with -> @bessie_strong

Metadata

Files (5)

1890 April 2001 Will V. Batchelder.jpgJPEG
611.87 KB
OCR Text

Miss Alice Austen. Rosebank. Staten Island.

1890 April 2002 Will V. Batchelder.jpgJPEG
1.89 MB
OCR Text

Doworthrie 25th 1890. My dear little sister, The knowledge of your inability to find a suitable site charity to invest my surplus capital in, fills me with a glad surprise and nameless joy, and I shall immediately take steps (not as clumsy as my mother's steps) to locate in a short-to-arcadian. Many

1890 April 2003 Will V. Batchelder.jpgJPEG
2.2 MB
OCR Text

Thanks for your kindness. In future I shall always return to you when courages are needed. I feel too tired and ill to attend the last Literary but has heard not agreed to discuss the subject; appleturning until the fire is untamed and clothes have at the one time, your refrigeration miss, your sarcasm was thrown away. I am feeling much better this morning and hope when the weather becomes more settled to be quite well again. Once more thanking you for your kindness and expressing the hope that we may attend other similar affairs together, and with kind remembrance for your mother believe me Your sincere friend Will V. Batchelder

1890 Dec 2001 Will V Batchelder.jpgJPEG
2.38 MB
OCR Text

Dear December 26th, 1890. My dear Miss Alice, I am glad you were able to recover at the last moment, but a frightful attack of headache made it impossible. If I can arrange to attend the next one it will give me great pleasure to accompany you there, and I consider myself fortunate to thank you for your kindness in suggesting it. My father will undergo the third which came to you Xmas afternoon should have been bill I could personally have devoted to me; he must so little hope of a successful operation. Still being poor because it could not but be detrimental. Still being poor, because it could not but bequisite to a degree, I may have to me rather a depressing thing among us my surmise: I hope under existing circumstances it visit the Solans very soon and to be remembered by and shall certainly inflict my new friends. It always pleases greatly on you while there. Withal I am glad you went out. I am glad you event-

1890 Dec 2002 Will V Batchelder.jpgJPEG
2.29 MB
OCR Text

To Mrs. Beeches, her residence during the day, for I know she is lonely beyond expression and your presence could not but serve to cheer her up. Well I tell you some thing in confidence? The more your character suffers do to me, the more I find it respect and esteem in yourself realises highest kind of the kindness of the act. It is rare in this generation and thoughtfulness for others will none have. I sincerely trust your Christian as pured a glory and pleas out-are to you, and that the coming few years from may hold delights

Version History (4 versions)

  • ✓ v4 (current) · 12/9/2025, 9:36:49 PM
    "Added description"
  • v3 · 12/9/2025, 8:21:14 PM · View this version
    "Added knowledge graph extraction"
  • v2 · 12/9/2025, 7:45:53 PM · View this version
    "Added PINAX metadata"
  • v1 · 12/9/2025, 7:21:59 PM · View this version
    "Reorganization group: Will_V_Batchelder_Correspondence"

Parent

01KC28TQPGXRMM7H20G1NZNMPR

No children (leaf entity)