The Winterthur Library

The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum

5105 Kennett Pike, Winterthur, Delaware 19735

Telephone: 302-888-4600 or 800-448-3883

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

Creator: Bissell, Emily P. (Emily Perkins), 1861-1948

Title: Collection

Dates: 1695-1945, 1900-1945 (bulk)

Call No.: Col. 29

Acc. No.: 88x131; 02x196

Quantity: 2 boxes

Location: 15 B 6

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

Emily Perkins Bissell (1861-1948), a social welfare worker and anti-suffragist from Wilmington, Delaware, is best remembered for introducing Christmas seals to the United States in 1907. She opened the first public kindergarten in Wilmington and worked to pass child labor laws in the state. She also began a settlement house, which has since grown into the West End Neighborhood House, to assist poor immigrants in the city of Wilmington. She began the Christmas seal campaign in 1907 after her cousin Dr. John Wales requested her assistance in raising funds for a tuberculosis sanitarium in Delaware. She had heard of a stamp campaign in Denmark and was inspired to try it in Delaware, where it was successful. Encouraged by her success,, the American Lung Association adopted the sale of Christmas seals to raise money. Active in anti-tuberculosis work for the rest of her life, she also participated in a wide number of other charitable and service organizations and causes, especially in her native Delaware. She also wrote poetry and prose under the name Priscilla Leonard.

Emily Bissell was born in Wilmington, the daughter of Josephine Wales and Champion Aristarcus Bissell. The 1860 census listed Mr. Bissell as a copper merchant living in New York; no occupation was listed in the 1870 census; and in the 1880 census, he was listed as an editor. Other sources give his occupation as banker, lawyer, and real estate investor. Emily’s maternal grandfather John Wales was a United States senator from Delaware. Emily Bissell is profiled in the Encyclopedia of Delaware.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

The collection contains both personal and family memorabilia, in both manuscript and printed form. The collection came to Winterthur in a lacquered box (possibly Chinese in origin) lined with wallpaper dated circa 1830s. The collection includes a set of Christmas seals, 1907-1934, that were presented to Miss Bissell, as well as partial sheets of seals for the years 1921 and 1930-1939.

The family documents preserved here include deeds for land in Delaware (dated 1695/6 and 1846; the latter deed is signed by Thomas Garrett), the will of Robert French (1712), and a letter signed by George Read.

The Bissell memorabilia includes a story published in The Youth's Companion (6 December 1906) written by Emily Bissell under her pen name Priscilla Leonard; copies of John Baer's Agricultural Almanacs (1914, 1915, and 1917); a straight razor “probably used by John Wales”; and 15 newsletters and newspapers (mostly military) highlighting the war years, 1944-1945.

ORGANIZATION

The collection has been organized in four small series, mainly by form: Christmas seals, manuscript and family papers, newspapers, objects.

LANGUAGE OF MATERIALS

The materials are in English.

RESTRICTIONS ON ACCESS

Collection is open to the public. Copyright restrictions may apply.

RELATED MATERIALS

Some groups of papers of Emily P. Bissell are held by the University of Virginia Special Collections (part of Clifton Waller Barrett Library) and by the Library of Congress (under the name Priscilla Leonard).

PROVENANCE

Accession 88x131: purchased from Joseph R. Greer.

Accession 02x196: gift of Laura Parrish.

ACCESS POINTS

People:

French, Robert, 1666-1713.

Patten, John, 1746-1800.

Read, George, 1733-1798.

Garrett, Thomas, 1789-1871.

Wales, John, 1783-1863.

Topics:

Seals and labels (Philately)

Journalism, Military.

World War, 1939-1945 - Journalism, Military.

Christmas.

Wallpaper – Specimens.

Women – Delaware – Wilmington.

Boxes.

Social workers.

Almanacs.

Deeds.

Ephemera.

Letters.

Newsletters.

Newspapers.

Wills.

Other titles:

Stars and stripes.

Agricultural almanac.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

Location: 15 B 6

Series 1: Christmas seals

Seals presented to Miss Bissell, 1907-1934; the seals are attached to gold foil, through which is threaded red ribbon. A note addressed to Miss Emily P. Bissell attached to the seals reads “This is just to tell you how much we all love you and feel no honor is half enough for you.”

Sheets of seals, 1921, 1930-1939

Acc. 02x196 booklet for Christmas seals, with 1 seal still inside, 1926-1927, issued by the Evangelical Lutheran Sanitarium, Wheat Ridge, Colorado; sales and distribution by Walther League, Chicago; publicity by American Lutheran Publicity Bureau, New York City [not issued by the American Lung Association, but a seal inspired by the success that organization had with its seals]

Series 2: Manuscript and family papers

Conveyance from Richard James and Ruth his wife to Robert French, for 880 acres of land in Kent County, [Delaware], March 10, 1695/6. [part of document is missing]

Last will and testament of Robert French of New Castle, [Delaware], 23 January 1712. Mentions wife Mary, son David, daughters Katherine, Anne, Elizabeth, and Mary, brother Thomas, Colonel John French; chiefly bequeaths land, but also mentions some household goods and Negroes. Desires that his son be sent to University of Glasgow, Scotland, for education. [in several pieces]

Letter from Geo[rge] Read, New Castle, Delaware, to Col. John Patten, Dover, Delaware, 26 October 1790, about accounts relating to house and lots.

Deed from Thomas Garrett and wife Rachel, to John Wales, all of Wilmington, 5 May 1846, for a lot in Wilmington, Delaware, along Orange Street, below Third St. Signed by the Garretts.

[Thomas Garrett was a Quaker abolitionist, noted for helping fugitive slaves.]

Short story entitled "Gertrude's Grove," written by Priscilla Leonard [pen name of Emily Bissell], published in The Youth's Companion, 6 December 1906, pp. 624-625.

Brochure about Green Acre Fellowship, a conference center in Eliot, Maine; also a conference program, 27-31 August 1907.

Newspaper article: "Fine Portrait of the Late Judge Wales Presented ..." in Every Evening, Wilmington, Delaware, 28 November 1908, p. 2 portrait was of Leonard Eugene Wales, and was presented by his brother Dr. John P. Wales and his sister Mrs. Josephine Wales Bissell [newspaper is very brittle]

"What's Going to Happen Next Year - 1916?" in The Evening Journal, Wilmington, Delaware, 27 December 1915, pp. 6-7 [paper is brittle]

Agricultural Almanac, 1914, 1915, 1917, published by John Baer's Sons, Inc., Lancaster, Pennsylvania

“102-year-old fundraiser began in Wilmington,” article about Bissell and Christmas seals, in The Community News, Wilmington, Dec. 13, 2009 (includes color illustrations of seals, and photo of Bissell)

Series 3: World War II newspapers

U.S. Naval Barracks, Swan Island, Portland, Oregon, Information flyer, n.d.

U.S.S. Menard, "Daily News Bulletin," Issue No. 31, 2 April 1944.

Fourth Joint Assault Signal Company, "Straight Dope," April 9, 1945.

"Boat Pool Baker," 21 May 1945.

Island Command, “The New Okinawan," vol. 1, no. 44, 31 May 1945.

Island Command, “The New Okinawan," vol. [1], no. 51, 13 June 1945.

U.S.S. Colbert, "The Beach Head," vol. 5, no. 13, 13 June 1945.

"The Stars and Stripes," Pacific edition, vol. 1, no. 41, 29 June 1945.

U.S. Naval Hospital, Aiea Heights, T.H. [Hawaii], "Hospital Hi-Lites," vol. 3, no. 20, 14 July 1945.

"The Honolulu Advertiser," Honolulu, Hawaii, 10 August 1945 (pp. 1-2 only; banner headlines: "Japan Accepts Potsdam Decree!")

"The Stars and Stripes," in the Middle Pacific, vol. 1, no. 106, 13 September 1945.

"The Stars and Stripes," in the Middle Pacific, vol. 1, no. 107, 14 September 1945.

"Hula Baloo," official publication of A.B.P.A., vol. 2, no. 15, 17 September 1945.

U.S. Naval Barracks, Swan Island, Portland, Oregon, "The Swan Islander," vol. 1, no. 10, 15 December 1945.

Oregon Journal, Portland, 17 December 1945

Series 4: Objects

Straight razor in a box, both labeled Twinplex Sales Co. of St. Louis and Montreal, Good Shaver Antiseptic. Razor said to have been used by John Wales.

Lacquered Box. Said to be of possibly Chinese origin; lined with wallpaper from the 1830s. Entire collection came in this box. (Box is sitting on shelf)