IOWA WOMEN’S ARCHIVES
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA LIBRARIES
IOWA CITY, IOWA
ELVIRA GASTON PLATT
(1818-1914)
PAPERS, 1853-1974 (scattered)
1 linear inch
|
ACQUISITION: |
The papers (donor no.
261) were donated by Jean
Ricketts Schobert in 1995. |
|
ACCESS: |
The papers are open
for research. |
|
COPYRIGHT: |
Copyright has been transferred to the University of Iowa. |
|
PHOTOGRAPHS: |
In folder 5. |
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PROCESSED BY: |
Rachel Bohlmann, 1995. |
Biography
Elvira Gaston Platt, teacher and
abolitionist and underground railroad worker, was born in Danby, Thompkins
County, New York, on July 15, 1818. She
studied at Oberlin College in Ohio in 1835 and 1836 and began teaching in area
rural schools. In 1841 Elvira Gaston
married Lester Ward Platt and in 1842 they began teaching Pawnee Indians in the
western territory, in what is now Nebraska.
In 1847 they moved to Fremont County, Iowa, turned to farming, and began
assisting fleeing slaves on the underground railroad.
In 1861 Elvira Platt returned to
teaching Pawnee children, which she continued until 1872 with a few
interruptions for Civil War work.
Lester Platt died in 1875 and Elvira Platt joined the staff of the
Industrial School for Indians in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1880. Three years later she became matron of a new
school for Native Americans in Genoa, Nebraska, where she worked until she
retired in 1887. She lived in Tabor,
Iowa, until 1897, when she moved to Oberlin, Ohio. She died there on January 25, 1914.
Scope and
Content Note
The Elvira Gaston Platt papers date from 1853 to 1974 and measure 1
linear inch. The papers include biographical and
genealogical information on the Platt family, correspondence, property deeds and
titles, printed materials, and four photographs. The core of the collection is the correspondence, comprised of
letters by Elvira Platt to local newspapers, and to relatives, mostly among
herslf and her husband's sisters, Mrs. Charlotte Platt Ricketts, and Mrs. Mary
A. Platt Darwin. The letters range from
1853 to 1894 (years in which Elvira Platt was, for the most part, living in
Iowa), and include discussions of the politics of anti-slavery on the eve of
the Civil War, a Theodore Tilton speech on women's suffrage, dress reform,
temperance reform, and divorce. The
printed materials are articles from the last twenty-five years of the Platts'
teaching careers among the Pawnee Indians of eastern Nebraska, and their
underground railroad work. There are also
reminiscences by Platt relatives of how Lester Platt smuggled African-Americans
through Civil Bend, Iowa, on his wagon.
Apart from the deeds, photographs
and some newspaper clippings, the materials are photocopies of typewritten
transcriptions. »
Elvira Platt's reminiscences were published in the
reports of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and in the Kansas Historical
Collections of 1915 to 1918. Additional
papers of Elivra Gaston Platt are held at the Nebraska State Historical Society
(Lincoln, Nebraska) and in the Oberlin College Archives (Oberlin, Ohio).
Box no. Description
Box 1
Biographical, genealogical
and Oberlin College records of the Platt family, 1894, 1914, 1989 and undated,
[some typewritten transcriptions]
Correspondence, 1853-1894
[typewritten transcriptions]
Underground railroad
activity in Southwest Iowa, work among the Pawnee Indians, and records from the
Civil Bend Congregational Church's founding, 1952, 1971, 1974 and undated
Deeds and titles of sale, 1856,
1859, 1863, 1896
Pencil sketch and
photographs, 1858 and undated