The Hall Letters
These letters (in PDF format) illustrate the careers and personal lives of 19th-century musicians, David C. Hall and Rhodolph Hall of Lyme, New Hampshire. They are available here with permission of the Henry Ford, Benson Ford Research Center, Dearborn, Michigan.
Most of the letters come from a collection of Hall family memorabilia discovered about 1940 in a stamp dealer’s shop in New Haven, Connecticut. In 1981 this material was acquired by the Henry Ford Museum from Mr. Frank O. Spinney, retired president of Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
The complete collection, in the archives at the Henry Ford Museum, includes 373 letters and 106 programs, advertisements, dance cards, and newspaper clippings dating from 1835 to 1896.
In addition there are a few letters with numbers followed by a “W” from a collection of family history documents belonging to Mrs. Harold E. Whitcher formerly of Hamden, Connecticut, a descendant of the Hall family.
This edition of the letters was compiled by Dr. Robert E. Eliason.