Album page with portrait of Ellen FitzSimons's German governess, a yellow pocket holding documents from her 1948 retirement, and three addressed envelopes

Scanned page 488 of Book 1 — Scan of original. Open full size →

Top-left photograph (carte de visite, woman standing in long fringed dress)

In a contemporary hand at the top edge of the mounting card:

Mamschen Darlingchen

In a slightly later hand beneath the print:

Lina Shoppaul – 20 years –

In the compiler’s hand, beneath the photograph on the album sheet:

“My German governess.” E. M. F.

[Studio mark beneath the photograph is partly worn — appears to read ‘MARTIN’ & co. The caption identifies the sitter as the German governess of Ellen Milliken FitzSimons (E. M. F.), who would have been a child in the 1860s–70s.]

Yellow manila pocket (upper-centre to lower-centre)

A large yellow envelope-pocket fastened to the page with its open flap at the top-right corner. Reverse printing faintly visible through the paper: “INTERNATIONAL WORLD WHO’S WHO / 240 BROADWAY / NEW YORK 7, N.Y.” — i.e., the pocket in which the Who’s Who proof sheet (mounted on the next page) and other related papers were originally mailed.

A small white slip pasted to the album sheet beside the pocket, in pencil:

Letters from to Ellie John F.S. Louisa F.S. Ellen F.S. Frank F.S.

[Apparently a list of correspondents whose letters were once kept inside the pocket — letters from her brothers John (Christopher Jr.), and Frank, and from Louisa and Ellen.]

Folded note beside the pocket (compiler’s hand)

Copy of Resolutions of Board of Trustees of the Charleston Library Society given to Ellen M. Fitz Simons when she retired — Also copy of her reply — ~~Copy of~~ Letter from Mr. Harrison Randolph - Pres. [Co]llege of Charleston telling Ellie that she had been chosen to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

[Itemises the documents originally kept in the yellow pocket: a board resolution honouring Ellen on her retirement after fifty years as the Charleston Library Society’s librarian; her reply to that resolution (mounted on page 490); and a letter from Harrison Randolph, then President of the College of Charleston, notifying her of her honorary LL.D. — see also the Who’s Who proof on page 489, which confirms that the College of Charleston conferred her LL.D.]

Right column — three pasted-in addressed envelopes

Top envelope. Postmark HENDERSONVILLE, N.C., NOV 9, 4–PM, 1909. Two-cent red Washington stamp. Sender’s annotation at the lower-left:

S. G. Barker.

Addressed in cursive:

Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons Care of G. S. FitzSimons 250 Spring St. Spartanburg South Carolina

Middle envelope. Postmarked ADAMS RUN, S.C., OCT 12, P.M., 1905, with transit mark CHARLESTON, S.C., OCT 13, 4–PM, 1905. Two-cent red stamp. Sender’s pencilled return at lower-left:

M. P. FitzSimons.

Addressed in cursive (a struck-through line redirects the letter from the Library to Tradd Street):

Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons ~~The Charleston Library~~ 131 Tradd St., Charleston S.C.

Bottom envelope. Postmarked CHARLESTON, S.C., JAN 2, 2 PM, 1948. Three-cent purple Win-the-War stamp. Pencilled return at the upper-left (struck through):

~~Miss Ellen M. FitzSimons~~ ~~4 Savage St. Charleston, S.C.~~

Addressed in pencil:

Mrs. J. Pickens Walker, 3698 Hedrick St. Jacksonville, Florida.

AI Notes

An album page assembled around items connected with Ellen Milliken FitzSimons. Upper left, a carte de visite of a young woman in a long fringed dress, captioned at the top edge in faint cursive ‘Mamschen Darlingchen’ and beneath the print ‘Lina Shoppaul – 20 years –’; beneath the card, in another hand, the caption ‘“My German governess.” E.M.F.’ Beside the photograph hangs a large yellow manila pocket whose printing ‘INTERNATIONAL WORLD WHO’S WHO / 240 BROADWAY, NEW YORK 7, N.Y.’ is faintly visible through the paper (it appears to be the original mailing pocket for the Who’s Who proof sheet mounted on page 489). A small handwritten label beside the pocket lists ‘Letters from to Ellie / John F.S. / Louisa F.S. / Ellen F.S. / Frank F.S.’ indicating that letters from these correspondents were once kept in the pocket. Beside it is a folded sheet of notes summarising ‘Copy of Resolutions of Board of Trustees of the Charleston Library Society given to Ellen M. FitzSimons when she retired — Also copy of her reply — Letter from Mr. Harrison Randolph - Pres. College of Charleston telling Ellie that she had been chosen to receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.’ Down the right side, three pasted-in envelopes: a Hendersonville Nov. 9 1909 cover from S. G. Barker, addressed to Ellen care of her brother G. S. FitzSimons at 250 Spring St., Spartanburg; an Adams Run / Charleston Oct. 12 1905 cover from M. P. FitzSimons, originally directed to the Charleston Library and redirected to 131 Tradd St.; and a Charleston Jan. 2 1948 cover with three-cent purple stamp, sent by Ellen herself from 4 Savage Street to her niece Mrs. J. Pickens Walker (Amy) at 3698 Hedrick St., Jacksonville.

The three envelopes span four decades of mail to Ellen: at Spartanburg in 1909 while she was visiting her brother G. (Gaillard) S. FitzSimons; at the Charleston Library / 131 Tradd Street in 1905 from a relative writing from Adams Run; and a 1948 letter from Ellen at 4 Savage Street to her niece Amy (‘Mrs. J. Pickens Walker’) in Jacksonville. The 1948 envelope is the cover that brought the Jan. 1, 1948 letter of pages 495–496.