Collection #:
SC 1236
OM 0379

ESTHER HUNT
PAPERS, CA. 1927-1951

Processed by
Chris Harter
4 June 1998
3 December 1998
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 oversized folder, 1 folder of visual material

COLLECTION DATES: ca. 1927-1951

PROVENANCE: Charles D. Hunt, Cincinnati, Ohio, 9 March 1998 & 3 December 1998

RESTRICTIONS: None

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

ALTERNATE FORMATS: None

OTHER FINDING AIDS: None

RELATED HOLDINGS: For information relating to L.S. Ayres and Company, see card catalog.

ACCESSION NUMBERS: 1998.0345, 1999.0222

NOTES:

Virginia Esther (Toole) Hunt (1896-1956), daughter of William M. (d. 1897) and Nettie (Bond) Toole, was born in Sherman, Illinois. After William's death, Nettie married Walter Gibson Scott, a merchant from Sullivan, Indiana (Sullivan Co.), in 1905. Esther did not take the Scott name. She and her mother relocated to Sullivan, where Esther graduated from Sullivan High School in 1914. She attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, for two years.

In 1917, she married Malcolm Bement Hunt (1893-1981) in Forsyth, Montana. The Hunts operated a ranch in Billings before moving to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Malcolm owned a bakery. They moved to Indianapolis in 1930. Esther began work at L.S. Ayres and Company, a retail department store, in 1931 in the gift department. Throughout her years there, she worked in various departments, eventually becoming a buyer in the dress department. In 1952, she and her husband moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The Hunts had two children: Charles Douglas (b. 1924) and Sarah Jeannette (b. 1919).

Sources: Material in the collection and in the collection accession file.
Hunt, Charles D. The Mesheck Hunt Family, passim. (Indiana State Library).

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

This collection consists of papers (ca. 1927-1951) relating to Virginia Esther Hunt, primarily documenting her employment at L.S. Ayres and Company. It includes correspondence, newspaper clippings, photographs, pamphlets, and three issues of Ayrograms, the L.S. Ayres newsletter (1946-1951). Also present is ephemera relating to World War II.

FOLDER LISTING

1. 1927-1943 (See also: OM 0379 and Visual Collections)

2. 1944 (See also: Visual Collections)

3. 1945-1951, n.d. (See also: Visual Collections)

4. Ayrograms, 1946, 1947, 1951

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 1236).

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

Collection #: SC 1236 OM 0379