Envelope Dated August 22, 1888, Addressed to Mrs. Alice T. Austen

Overview

A single Victorian‑era envelope, digitized as a JPEG image (214 KB). The scanned envelope bears the name “Mrs Alice T Austen” and is dated 22 August 1888. It is part of the Alice Austen Envelopes Collection, a subset of the Austen Family Papers housed at the Alice Austen House Museum in Staten Island, New York.

Background

Elizabeth Alice Austen (1866‑1952) was a pioneering photographer and social figure in late‑19th‑century Staten Island. The Austen Family Papers were compiled by the museum to preserve personal correspondence and related ephemera that illuminate Austen’s social network, business activities, and domestic life. The envelope collection contains physical envelopes addressed to Austen, many of which were used to send or receive letters, invitations, and business notices.

Contents

The image shows a plain, cream‑colored envelope with a handwritten address line: “Mrs Alice T Austen.” The OCR text confirms the name; no postmark or additional identifying marks are visible in the scan. The envelope is a physical artifact that would have carried a handwritten or printed letter. It is representative of the everyday correspondence that surrounded Austen’s personal and professional circles, including friends such as Julia T. Martin and business contacts like Isabella King.

Scope

This single envelope is a fragment of a larger collection of envelopes spanning 1883‑1898. While the collection as a whole offers insight into Victorian social life, the specific item provides a tangible link to Austen’s personal communications in 1888. The envelope is a standalone artifact; it does not include the letter it carried, nor any additional contextual documents. It is therefore best understood as a physical piece of Austen’s correspondence network rather than a narrative source on its own.