Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay Family papers, 1789-2000, bulk 1870-1996

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3.1: Letters , 1857-2000

This subseries includes Fidelia Bridges' letters to Phebe Crowell Brown, Annie Brown, and other Brown family members, Oliver Ingraham Lay, and Charles and Laura Lay. Topics include painting activities, personal observations, visits with mutual friends and family, travels, and residences.

Letters contain references to Bridges' colleagues and friends, including William Trost Richards and his daughter, Anna Richards Brewster, John Sartain, the Shannon family, and Hannah Smith. Letters document the period Bridges studied painting with William Trost Richards in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 1860s and her stay in England when she exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1879 to 1880. Also found are the artist's reflections during her travels to England, Germany, and Switzerland, as well as to Paris and Venice in the late 1860s-1890s; many letters are interspersed with Bridges' detailed descriptions of the landscape. Found is one illustrated letter from Fidelia Bridges to Annie Brown (undated). Files also contain typescripts of transcriptions of Bridges' letters and the letters exchanged between Brown family members.

This subseries also contains the scattered correspondence files of Henry Bridges (Fidelia's brother), Charles Downing Lay, George C. Lay, (Charles's son), and various Lay family members. Also found as attachments with other letters are business records, notes, miscellaneous printed material, and photographs. Letters from William T. Brewster to Charles Downing Lay discuss Bridges's relationship with the Richards family and the work of his wife, the painter Anna Richards Brewster. George C. Lay's correspondence with art historians, gallery dealers, and others provides biographical material on Bridges, as well as provenance-related information on several works by the artist.

Correspondence is arranged alphabetically by family members' surname, and then filed chronologically.

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Oliver Ingraham Lay, Charles Downing Lay, and Lay Family papers, 1789-2000, bulk 1870-1996

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3.1: Letters , 1857-2000

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Description	Container	Select
Letters to Annie Brown, 1860-1899	9 59	Select: Letters to Annie Brown, 1860-1899
Letters to Annie Brown, 1910, 1920	9 60	Select: Letters to Annie Brown, 1910, 1920
Letters to Annie Brown, undated	9 61	Select: Letters to Annie Brown, undated
Letters to Annie Brown, undated	9 62	Select: Letters to Annie Brown, undated
Letters to Annie Brown, undated	9 63	Select: Letters to Annie Brown, undated
Letters to Phebe C. Brown, 1857-1899	9 64	Select: Letters to Phebe C. Brown, 1857-1899
Letters to Phebe C. Brown, undated	9 65	Select: Letters to Phebe C. Brown, undated
Other Brown Family Members, undated	9 66	Select: Other Brown Family Members, undated
Letters to Charles and Laura Lay, 1899-1915, undated	9 67-71	Select: Letters to Charles and Laura Lay, 1899-1915, undated
Letters to Oliver Ingraham Lay, 1890, undated	9 72	Select: Letters to Oliver Ingraham Lay, 1890, undated
Fragments, undated	9 73	Select: Fragments, undated
Loose envelopes, 1882-1921, 1985, undated	9 74	Select: Loose envelopes, 1882-1921, 1985, undated
Photocopies of Letters to Annie Brown, 1860-1921, undated	9 75-78	Select: Photocopies of Letters to Annie Brown, 1860-1921, undated
Photocopies of Letters to Phebe C. Brown, 1857-1899, undated	9 79-80	Select: Photocopies of Letters to Phebe C. Brown, 1857-1899, undated
Photocopies of Letters to Charles and Laura Lay, 1899-1913, undated	9 81-83	Select: Photocopies of Letters to Charles and Laura Lay, 1899-1913, undated
Photocopies of Letters to Oliver Ingraham Lay, 1890, undated	9 84	Select: Photocopies of Letters to Oliver Ingraham Lay, 1890, undated
Transcriptions of Letters by Philip Chadwick Foster Smith (descendent of Fidelia Bridges), 1857-1920, 1987, undated	9 85-86	Select: Transcriptions of Letters by Philip Chadwick Foster Smith (descendent of Fidelia Bridges), 1857-1920, 1987, undated
Henry Bridges Correspondence, 1907-1916, undated	9 87-88	Select: Henry Bridges Correspondence, 1907-1916, undated
Charles Downing Lay Correspondence, 1927-1955, undated	9 89-90	Select: Charles Downing Lay Correspondence, 1927-1955, undated
George C. Lay Correspondence, 1954-2000	10 1-4	Select: George C. Lay Correspondence, 1954-2000
Other Lay Family Correspondence, 1966-1967, 1984	10 5	Select: Other Lay Family Correspondence, 1966-1967, 1984