Julia Martin to Alice Austen Correspondence, 1891
PI
Version: 4 (current) | Updated: 12/9/2025, 9:38:47 PM | Created: 12/9/2025, 7:24:40 PM
Added description
Description
Julia S. Martin to Alice Austen Correspondence, 1891
Overview
This collection comprises six scanned JPEG images of a single handwritten letter from Julia S. Martin to Elizabeth Alice Austen, dated February 3, 1891. The images, each a separate scan of the same page, are accompanied by OCR‑derived text and metadata. The letter is part of the Austen Family Papers (MS1) housed at the Alice Austen House Museum in Staten Island, New York, and is organized within the 1883‑1898 correspondence folder.Background
Julia Martin was a close friend of Alice Austen, residing in Albany, New York. The letter reflects their social network and the broader Victorian‑era milieu of upper‑middle‑class families in the northeastern United States. It was written while Martin was in Albany and addressed to Austen in Staten Island, illustrating the trans‑regional communication common among the period’s social circles.Contents
The letter’s text, captured in the OCR, discusses a range of social activities: opera attendance, sleigh rides, and visits to friends. Martin names several contemporaries—Mrs Cooper, Mrs Lively, Miss Prugh, Miss Lester, Mr Hopkins, Mr Durant, Governor Hill, and L. Smith—providing insight into the social fabric of the time. The letter also references a recent death (Mr. Hopkins) and a forthcoming opera event, underscoring the intersection of personal life and cultural pursuits. The scanned images preserve the original handwriting, ink, and paper texture, while the OCR text offers a searchable transcription for research purposes.Scope
The collection covers a single, 19th‑century personal letter dated February 3, 1891, between Julia S. Martin (Albany, NY) and Alice Austen (Staten Island, NY). It illustrates Victorian social life, friendship networks, and cultural interests of the era. The material is limited to this one correspondence item; it does not include additional letters, envelopes, or related documents. The collection is valuable for scholars studying the social history of Staten Island, the life of Alice Austen, or the broader context of late‑Victorian American society.Raw Cheimarros Data
@alice_austen:person {full_name: "Elizabeth Alice Austen", birth_year: @date_1866, death_year: @date_1952, occupation: "photographer", location: @staten_island_ny}
@julia_martin:person {full_name: "Julia S. Martin", location: @albany_ny, relationship: "close friend"}
@mrs_cooper:person {title: "Mrs.", surname: "Cooper"}
@mrs_lively:person {title: "Mrs.", surname: "Lively"}
@miss_prugh:person {title: "Miss", surname: "Prugh"}
@miss_lester:person {title: "Miss", surname: "Lester"}
@mr_hopkins:person {title: "Mr.", surname: "Hopkins"}
@mr_durant:person {title: "Mr.", surname: "Durant"}
@governor_hill:person {title: "Governor", surname: "Hill"}
@l_smith:person {initials: "L.", surname: "Smith"}
@albany_ny:place {state: @new_york, country: @united_states}
@staten_island_ny:place {state: @new_york, country: @united_states}
@letter_feb_3_1891:document {title: "Letter from Julia Martin to Alice Austen", when: @date_1891_02_03, from: @albany_ny, to: @alice_austen}
@julia_martin -> wrote -> @letter_feb_3_1891
@letter_feb_3_1891 -> mentions -> [@mrs_cooper, @mrs_lively, @miss_prugh, @miss_lester, @mr_hopkins, @mr_durant, @governor_hill, @l_smith]
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@file_pinax -> metadata_for -> @letter_feb_3_1891
@date_1866
@date_1952
@date_1891_02_03Metadata
Files (6)
OCR Text
parlar with a certain per- son. Who? The answer to that question has been here all the evening making himself most agreeable has Mrs S. Oh dear why is not she here all the time. By the way I've told her the other day she expected to have you visit her but it will be impossible for me to stay on longer. Mrs Cooper is not at all well which is the reason you have not heard from her. She admires you so much. I am having a fine time 134 State St. Albany Feb. 3rd '91. My dear Alice, You will smile when you receive this letter telling you it is 11 P.M. but I am wide awake so you will not say never send me a line again written after dark. Mrs Smively came down unexpectedly this afternoon to spend the night, & is at present in
OCR Text
though much more quiet than when at Mrs. Mr. Harg's. The reason is because it has been mean enough to thaw, so much so, that the toboggan slide will have to be repaired & I read in this evening's paper that it would not be useless as it hardly pays, so few people using it this winter. Isn't that maddening, as I have two invites for this week, & it is getting very cold again. I can not remember if I wrote you that Mrs. Lively "Huck, Join" & I went down twelve times on evening oh what fun. The last time I went down all alone—Wasn't I brave? The other night Miss Prugh took me snow-shoeing again & I wish you could have seen me. I sat partly on the snow-shoes partly on Miss Prugh—in the front of the sleigh with my feet projecting half a yard in mid air—I am sorry to say Miss Prugh has gone to New York for a few days, but will return on Saturday & that evening you can think of us all. (I am more than half cracked about this young lady. She is lovely.)
OCR Text
& ready to let that tongue of hers out on the slightest provocation. I was so shocked to hear of Mr. Hopkins's death. It is simply awful, but I fully believe he was not in his sane mind. I feel so sorry for his family. I want to thank you for the ticket money again. It just comes when I want it & has kept me in pocket money to a fine degree. I am too sorry that the German Opera is to be given up. The seats will be too steep for me next year, but I hope I shall be able to get a single ticket snow-shoeing. It is the greatest fun. How I do enjoy it. It is very sad, but most true that my best man Mr. Durant has your back on me. Isn't too bad. My heart has such a crack. I have not laid eyes on him in a cat's age & he has not taken me to drive since I really don't know when. Our friend Miss Lester is very much on hand. She lives right opposite & we see her head popping back & forth watching who comes
OCR Text
once in a while, as I should like to hear an Italian Opera. I saw today "Henry the VIII." She is awfully bright & great fun, but I should imagine Albany, after the novelty wears off, would send dull to her, & I should not be surprised but what she soon returned to N.Y. to look up number four. She & her husband dined with Governor Hill Friday night at the Murphy's & I was told she looks very handsome. Don't speak of my dear little niece. I am wild, wazy, to see her & am wild to get home for that—but oh dear I shall be sorry when these good times come to an end. Who do you think I met on the street a week ago & who called on me? L. Smith—Have you any breath left in your body I hadn't when I saw him walk in. He was so pleasant, I liked him very much & have come to the conclusion I shall have to live away from home to know my friends there. You will probably see me at the Opera two weeks from this Saturday & if
OCR Text
Mamma & Papa come here I expect you to come home with me, & we will talk all night. Well enough. Your nicely written & merry letter puts mine to shame, but I am now & suppose I always shall be your ever most loving but half daffy friend Julia S. Martin. If Mrs Cooper & Mrs Lively knew I were writing them now they would join me both in love to you & kindest remembrances to your Mother, who Mrs C. always calls "pretty Mrs Austen."
OCR Text
Miss Alice Austin Postbank Staten Island, N.Y.
Version History (4 versions)
- ✓ v4 (current) · 12/9/2025, 9:38:47 PM
"Added description" - v3 · 12/9/2025, 8:26:56 PM · View this version
"Added knowledge graph extraction" - v2 · 12/9/2025, 7:47:28 PM · View this version
"Added PINAX metadata" - v1 · 12/9/2025, 7:24:40 PM · View this version
"Reorganization group: Julia_Martin_Correspondence"
Parent
No children (leaf entity)