Collection #

M 0797
OM 0408

 

 

francis arthur w. hammond
family papers, 1871–1922

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Contents

Cataloging Information

 

 

 

Processed by

Paul Brockman
14 August 2003

Manuscript and Visual Collections Department
William Henry Smith Memorial Library
Indiana Historical Society
450 West Ohio Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202-3269

www.indianahistory.org

 

COLLECTION INFORMATION

VOLUME OF
COLLECTION:

1 document case, 1 oversize folder, 1 box photographs, 1 photograph album

COLLECTION
DATES:

1871–1922

PROVENANCE:

Dudley W. and Mary Connor Pierce, Watersmeet, MI, 19 July 2002, 12 August 2002, and 23 July 2003

RESTRICTIONS:

None

COPYRIGHT:

 

REPRODUCTION
RIGHTS:

Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained from the Indiana Historical Society.

ALTERNATE
FORMATS:

 

RELATED
HOLDINGS:

 

ACCESSION
NUMBER:

2002.0656; 2002.0698; 2003.0485

NOTES:

 

BIOGRAPHiCAL SKETCH

Francis Arthur W. Hammond was born in London, England, in December 1868.  He moved to the United States with his father, Dr. Francis J. Hammond (1837–95), and his brother Harry D. (1873–1922) in 1888. The Hammonds initially settled in Chicago but moved to Indianapolis a few months later, where Dr. Hammond practiced medicine. 

Arthur Hammond was trained as a horticulturist in Florida and was employed on the Ubero Plantation in Mexico.  The plantation, located on the Isthmus of Tehuanteper in Mexico, grew rubber, coffee, and tropical fruits. Investors from Indianapolis and Boston owned land on the plantation.  The Indianapolis group’s leaders included Dr. Joseph Littell, a Presbyterian minister, and Frank Blackledge.  They owned 1,000 acres and were the more successful of the two groups by the early accounts.  The Boston group owned 3,000 acres and their leaders included Fred L. Bardwell, a chemistry professor at M.I.T.

Hammond was later engaged in similar plantation ventures in other parts of Mexico, Central America, and Cuba.  He later returned to Indianapolis and worked for the Link Belt Company (ca. 1910s).  Hammond and his wife, Julia E. Garvin, from Romeo, Michigan, were married in 1898 and they had one daughter, Muriel, who was born in 1905. 

Harry Hammond worked most of his adult life for the American Malleable Castings Association in Indianapolis.

 

Sources:

Information in collection.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection centers on the personal and business papers of Francis Arthur W. Hammond and his wife, Julia E. Garvin Hammond.  The largest number of letters is between the two during their courtship period, 1897–98.  Hammond writes while attending school in Seffner (near Tampa), Florida, while Garvin is in Dunedin (near Clearwater), Florida.

There also are letters from Arthur to his wife while in Mexico, Central America, and Cuba, from 1902–12 describing his work and living conditions.  Hammond took a number of photographs of the people and the plantations in Mexico and 123 of these, plus an album of 60 additional images, are included in the collection.  There are also photographs taken by Hammond while in Cuba including one of the wreckage of the battleship Maine in Havana Harbor, 1903.  Other items from the Hammonds’ time in Mexico include a ten-page letter from Julia Hammond in Mexico City to her family describing their visit to the country, 4 October 1900; a serape and two fabric belts; and F. A. W. Hammond’s personalized leather wallet.

Included is a group of business-related correspondence and papers sent to Arthur Hammond while at the Link Belt Company in Indianapolis from acquaintances at plantations in Mexico discussing the economic and political climate in the region during the revolution, 1914–16.  The collection also contains printed and business materials related to his plantation work in Mexico, including three annual reports of the Ubero Plantation, 1900–02 (two from the Indianapolis group and one from the Boston group); a handwritten invitation for a “Stag Dinner” at the plantation, November 1904; and a Certificate of Registration for American Citizen allowing Hammond to reside in Mexico for the purpose of mining, November 1911.

There is a small amount of Harry Hammond’s correspondence, including information sent from his firm to Arthur Hammond concerning Harry’s death in 1922; Francis J. Hammond’s sermons; and a memorial resolution from the Marion County Medical Society delivered to Mrs. Hammond, 1905.

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

CONTAINER

Arthur Hammond/Julia Garvin, Personal Correspondence, Oct.–Dec. 1897

Box 1, Folder 1

Arthur Hammond/Julia Garvin, Personal Correspondence, Jan. 1898

Box 1, Folder 2

Arthur Hammond/Julia Garvin, Personal Correspondence, Feb. 1898

Box 1, Folder 3

Arthur Hammond/Julia Garvin, Personal Correspondence, March–April 1898

Box 1, Folder 4

Julia Garvin/Arthur Hammond, Personal Correspondence, Dec. 1897–Jan. 1898

Box 1, Folder 5

Julia Garvin/Arthur Hammond, Personal Correspondence, Feb. 1898

Box 1, Folder 6

Julia Garvin/Arthur Hammond, Personal Correspondence, March–April 1898

Box 1, Folder 7

Arthur and Julia Hammond, Personal Correspondence, 1896–1900

Box 1, Folder 8

Photographs of Mexico, ca. 1900s (1 of 5)

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 1

Photographs of Mexico, ca. 1900s (2 of 5)

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 2

Photographs of Mexico, ca. 1900s (3 of 5)

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 3

Photographs of Mexico, ca. 1900s (4 of 5)

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 4

Photographs of Mexico, ca. 1900s (5 of 5)

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 5

Photograph Album of Mexico, ca. 1900s

Visual Collections:  Photograph Albums: PAA

Photographs of Cuba, 1903

Visual Collections:  Photographs, Box 1, Folder 6

Photographs of F. A. W. and Julia Hammond, ca. 1900s.

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 7

Mexican Fabric Belt Section, n.d.

Artifacts:  2002.0656

Mexican Serape and Fabric Belt, n.d.

Artifacts:  2003.0485

Arthur and Julia Hammond, Personal Correspondence, 1902–12

Box 1, Folder 9

Julia Hammond, Letter from Mexico City, 4 October 1900

Box 1, Folder 10

Arthur Hammond, American Citizen Registration Papers, November 1911

Box 1, Folder 11

Arthur Hammond, Business Papers and Correspondence, 1904–16

Box 1, Folder 12

Ubero Plantation Company, Annual Reports, 1900–02

Box 1, Folder 13

Hand-Drawn Map of Mexican Plantation, 1871

OM 0408

Harry Hammond, Correspondence and Papers, 1894–1922

Box 1, Folder 14

Julia E. Hammond, Postcards, 1914–17

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 8

The Bell News, 28 March 1917

Box 1, Folder 15

Photograph of Dr. F. J. Hammond, 1888

Visual Collections: Photographs, Box 1, Folder 9

Dr. F. J. Hammond, Memorial Resolution, 1905

Box 1, Folder 16

Dr. F. J. Hammond, Sermons, n.d.

Box 1, Folder 17

CATALOGING INFORMATION

For additional information on this collection, including a list of subject headings that may lead you to related materials:

1.      Go to the Indiana Historical Society's online catalog:  http://157.91.92.2/

2.      Click on the "Basic Search" icon.

3.      Select  "Call Number" from the "Search In:" box.

4.      Search for the collection by its basic call number (in this case, M 0797).

5.      When you find the collection, go to the "Full Record" screen for a list of headings that can be searched for related materials.