Collection #
SC 1216
OM 0285

REUBEN H. POWER
FAMILY PAPERS, 1863–1961

Collection Information

Biographical Sketch

Scope and Content Note

Cataloging Information

Processed by
Charles Latham
21 January 1993
Updated 1 November 2004

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: 4 folders, 1 oversize folder

COLLECTION DATES: 1863-1961

PROVENANCE: Estate of Pearl Power, via Ruby Bradford Murphy, September 1961

REPRODUCTION RIGHTS: Permission to reproduce or publish material in this collection must be obtained in writing from the Indiana Historical Society

ACCESSION NUMBER: 1961.0901

NOTE: High school pin (Indianapolis High School 1897) transferred to Artifacts

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Reuben H. Power served on the gunboat Somerset off the Florida keys in 1862-1863. He married Lula Monroe (d. 1894) in 1872 in North Vernon, Indiana. They apparently lived in Indianapolis afterward. Lula Monroe Power, along with Dr. J. R. Monroe (d. 1906), edited a periodical called The Iron-Clad Age.

Reuben and Lula Monroe had a daughter, Pearl Power (ca 1880-1961). She graduated from Indianapolis (Shortridge) High School in 1897, took a Gregg shorthand course, moved to Chicago in 1900, worked for the West Park Board Commissioners, then was a successful agent for the New York Life Insurance Company.

SCOPE AND CONTENT

This collection, filling four folders and one oversize folder, contains a diary, a journal, booklets, leaflets, and clippings. Together they give glimpses of the lives of Reuben Power and his wife and daughter.

Folder 1 contains the diary of Reuben Power for 1862-1863 while serving on the gunboat Somerset off the Florida keys.

In Folder 2 is the journal of Lula Monroe, written episodically between 1867 and 1873. It is a soul-searching work, non-religious but full of self-doubts and desire to be a better person.

In Folder 3 is material relating to Reuben and Lula Power, notably a printed poem written by Lula at the death of her father in 1891.

Folder 4 contains clippings, and material relating to Pearl Power, especially her graduation from Indianapolis High School in 1897.

The marriage license of Reuben and Lula Power is in oversize OM 0285. Two photographs of Reuben Power and the front page of The Iron-Clad Age are stored in Visual Collections.

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://opac.indianahistory.org/

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, SC 1216).

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