TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Collection Overview

Restrictions

Online Catalog Headings

Administrative Information

Detailed Description of the Collection

Guide to the Howard Fifield Legg Letters, 1900 - 1904

Special Collections and Archives
Olin Library
Wesleyan University
252 Church Street
Middletown, CT 06457 USA
(860) 685-3864
(860) 685-2661
Email: sca@wesleyan.edu
URL: http://www.wesleyan.edu/libr/schome/

Biographical Note

Howard Fifield Legg, born in 1881 in Rhode Island, spent his childhood in Worchester, Massachusetts. Legg graduated from Wesleyan University in 1904 and went on to Drew Theological Seminary in New Jersey (1904-1907). Beginning in 1906, he was a student pastor and then after graduating from the seminary, he was a pastor in New England until 1925. From 1922-1925, he was a student at the Boston University Theological and Religious Education graduate program. From 1925 to 1936, he was a professor of religion at Evansville College, and then at Simpson College in Iowa from 1936-1946. In 1946, he retired to California with his wife, Nellie.

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Collection Overview

These letters were handwritten while Legg was a student at Wesleyan (1900-1904) and kept by Legg's mother. In 1907, when Legg married, he and his wife, Nellie, typed them up and they were kept in storage until his wife died in 1968. At that point, many of the letters has been eaten by silverfish. In 1972, at the age of 92, Legg went through the half-eaten letters and added some notes and tried to fill in the missing information. The typed transcripts are 175 pages with the letters filling the pages.

The Howard Legg Letters are about life on the Wesleyan University campus while Legg was a student between 1900 and 1904. He wrote about life as a freshman, such as trying to become a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, as well as his his classes and the work that came with them. He was on the track team and wrote about the practices and meets. Legg was interested in the other athletic achievements of the university, especially when his friends were part of them, particularly the football team. He was a member of various campus groups and described his activities. For the most part, the letters specifically to his father are more business-like than those to the whole family or just his mother. He often mentioned finances in the letters to his father. While it is only mentioned in the very last letter in the collection, Legg delivered a speech, "The Sense of Responsibility," at his commencement ceremony, but the text is not included in this collection of letters.

Collection Arrangement

The letters are organized chronologically by date.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

No restrictions

Copyright Notice

Copyright for Official University records is held by Wesleyan University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

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Online Catalog Headings

These and related materials may be found under the following headings in online catalogs.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], Howard Fifield Legg Letters, Collection #1000-173, Special Collections & Archives, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT, USA.

Acquisitions Information

Donated by Howard Fifield Legg in 1972.

Processing Information

Processed by Kate Levy, April 2009

Encoded by Valerie Gillispie, April 2009

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Detailed Description of the Collection