Correspondence

The bulk of the collection is comprised of correspondence between member of the Lyman family and their friends between the years of 1846 to 1883. The papers appear to have come to Pacific University via the estate of the elder Reverend Horace Lyman; nearly all the material is addressed either to him or his immediate family members. Many of the personal letters demonstrate the efforts by various family members in Vermont, Massachusetts and Michigan to stay in touch with their far-off relatives in the Oregon territory. Some of them also illuminate what living conditions were like in Oregon during the mid-nineteenth century. One notable letter from an unidentified woman in Salem comments on race relations between black and white community members during the Civil War. Other letters testify to the difficulties in securing work and funding for educational and missionary activities on the frontier. Some aspects of student and faculty life at Pacific University in the 1860s-1880s are likewise apparent in the letters. In addition to the letters, the collection also includes several printed ephemeral items and photographs of family members.