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| Title | Novella Pool Nicholson papers |
| Finding Aid Identifier | MsSC 238 |
| Subject | finding aid; Novella Nicholson; Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Tacoma, WA; correspondence; William Austin Nicholson; temperance; marriage; finance; Wellington, KS; religion; agriculture |
| Abstract | Novella Pool Nicholson, an active member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union came to Tacoma in the late nineteenth century. |
| Biography | Novella Maria Pool Nicholson (1860 – 1924) was born to Patrick V. C. Pool and Mary E. Jones Pool in Farmer City, Illinois. In 1879, she moved by covered wagon with her family to Kansas, where her father took a homestead and practiced law. She taught in a sod school house. She married William Austin Nicolson in 1883. Six children were born to them. The family moved to Tacoma in 1889, where Austin died from injuries from a boating accident in 1904. Novella was involved in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union in Kansas and remained so in Washington. |
| Scope and Content | The bulk of the papers consist of correspondence from family members in Kansas to Novella and her husband and children relaying news from home.
The collection begins with Novella's letters to and from Austin that discuss her land claim documents, their anticipated life together, temperance meetings, business opportunities, and wedding details. The letters between the two of them after marriage document times of separation for travel or business opportunities and provide maps and descriptions of their new home locations, descriptions of the region's business opportunities, and examples of financial costs of travel, land, and building. The majority of the letters are from their parents residing in Milan and Wellington, KS, and Chickasha, OK. The letters are filled with news about family members and friends, information on events or opportunities in the Kansas region, statements about their faith, reports of political involvement, and pleas for Novella and her family to write. Both Novella's and Austin's fathers provide anecdotes of their business ventures, failures, and opportunities, including plans for claiming land on the Cherokee Strip, livestock and farm implement costs, and important court cases of the time. Letters from their siblings provide a look at career opportunities for young women, college life, and the life of a traveling salesman. Novella's temperance speeches and speech notes are included in the collection and provide insight into the temperance movement in Tacoma during the late 1890s and the early 1900s. |
| Keywords | finding aid; Novella Nicholson; Woman's Christian Temperance Union; Tacoma, WA; correspondence; William Austin Nicholson; temperance; marriage; finance; Wellington, KS; religion; agriculture |
| Inclusive Dates | 1880 - 1923 |
| Restrictions | None |
| Volume | 0.5 l.f. |
| Accession number | 1995.7.2 |
| Num of Boxes | 1 |
| Electronic Publisher | Washington State Historical Society |
| Contributors | Washington State Historical Society |
| Object Type | text/pdf |
| Rights | Property of the Washington State Historical Society - All Rights Reserved |
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