Viles-Hosmer Family, Papers, 1814-1948 (C3709)

6.1 linear feet

INTRODUCTION

Autograph albums, account books, diaries, and personal and business correspondence of the Viles and Hosmer families. Included are Jonas Viles' professional papers while professor of history at the University of Missouri from 1902 and 1942.

DONOR INFORMATION

Ruth Viles donated the Vile-Hosmer Papers to the University of Missouri on 4 May 1949 and 5 October 1951 (Accession No. 3027). Elmer Ellis donated additional material on 17 December 1971 (Accession No. 3892) and material was transferred from the State Historical Society of Missouri on 4 November 1982 (SHS Accession No. 4469)

Jonas Viles c. 1948. From collection C3709 folder 464. For information about obtaining copies of images contact shsofmo@umsystem.edu.
Jonas Viles c. 1948. From collection C3709 folder 464.
For information about obtaining copies of images contact shsofmo@umsystem.edu.

FAMILY HISTORY

These papers illuminate four generations of the Viles family of Waltham, Massachusetts, where Jonas and Abigail Viles farmed and sold milk. This family business was passed on to their sons, Jonas and John. In the late 1850s John W. Viles disappears from these records. Jonas and his wife Elizabeth continued the farming and dairy business which they, in turn, passed to their only son Charles Lowell Viles.

In 1871 Charles Lowell married Almira Hubbard. Two children, Jonas and Elizabeth, were born in 1875 and 1882 respectively, before Almira's death in 1883. When Charles married Clara Berry in 1889 they stayed on the family farm in Waltham. Young Jonas was educated at Harvard and in 1902 left Massachusetts to teach history at the University of Missouri. Elizabeth Viles traveled to India as a missionary where she met and married Arthur McBride.

Charles' sister, Elizabeth Viles, married Edward Hosmer, a Boston commission merchant, in 1872. Elizabeth Hosmer moved back to Waltham after Edward's death in 1898, but spent many winters in Pasadena, California, where her husband had invested in real estate. Mrs. Hosmer speculated in numerous mining and real estate ventures until her death in 1926.

Jonas Viles married Ruth Bennet Hayes in 1903 and fathered four sons. He remained in Columbia until his death in 1948. Jonas Viles served as history department chairman from 1928 to 1937, as trustee of the State Historical Society of Missouri from 1904 to 1948, and as first vice-president of the society, 1907-1916. Viles was president of the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, 1933-1934, and also served on the Public Archives Commission of the American Historical Association. Viles family genealogical chart in information folder.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

These papers detail the business and personal activities of the Viles family of Waltham, Massachusetts. The Viles family papers are primarily business accounts and correspondence. The Elizabeth Viles Hosmer diaries give more personal information to complete the family story. Her papers deal with investments and real estate. Topics include farming, milk marketing, education, social and religious activities, family members, and economic changes.

The Jonas Viles professional papers contain information on the growth of the University of Missouri from 1902 to 1942. Correspondence with professors and presidents relate policy changes, departmental growth, and general education conditions. Little information is contained in the collection for the personal life of Jonas Viles and his family in Columbia.

The collection is divided into five major sections:

Each section is in chronological order, as are the subsections within the professional papers.

FOLDER LIST

Viles Family Papers and Account Books, 1814-1941

Personal and business papers of the Viles family, who ran a dairy and farmed. Account books and receipts indicate volume of business; amounts, types and prices of produce sold; planting and harvest schedules; and labor expenses. Autograph albums and diaries help personalize these papers, and many of the account books also contain diary entries. Later papers in this section deal with the settlement of estates and often contain family news, and social, political, and economic comments in addition to financial information. Arrangement is chronological. While the Elizabeth Viles Hosmer diaries and papers form a separate section, her estate papers (dated after December 1926) are found in this section.

f. 1-3Autograph albums, 1839-1849
f. 4School journal of Almira Hubbard Viles, February-July 1859.
f. 5Autograph album, 1867-1871
f. 6Account book, 1814-1842
f. 7-9Receipts for dairy business, 1845-1848.
f. 10Account book, 1849-1869
f. 11-18Receipts for dairy business, 1849-1856
f. 19Family papers, 1863-1864
f. 20Account book, 1864
f. 21Family papers, 1870-1875
f. 22Account book, 1877-1882
f. 23-25Family papers, 1877-1885
f. 26Account book, August 1882-August 1887.
f. 27Family papers, 1887
f. 28Account book, November 1887-June 1894.
f. 29Expenses, 1892-1896
f. 30Family papers, 1890-1895
f. 31Ellen M. (Nellie) Viles diary, 1898-1910.
f. 32Account book, 1900-1916.
f. 33-34Family papers, 1900-1902
f. 35Account book, 1903-1908.
f. 36-37Family papers, 1903-1904.
f. 38Account book, 1905.
f. 39Family papers, 1905.
f. 40Account book, 1906-1915
f. 41-46Family papers, 1906-1912
f. 47-49Account books, 1913-1915.
f. 50-59Family papers, 1913-29 May 1916.
f. 60Carr Mines report, 30 May-17 June 1916.
f. 61-81Family papers, June 1916-1922.
f. 82Account book, c. 1923.
f. 83-134Family papers, 1923-1941
f. 135-136Family papers, n.d.
f. 137-138Elizabeth Viles McBride letters, n.d., written to family members from India.
f. 139Estate papers, Mary E. Viles, n.d.
f. 140Estate papers, Charles L. Viles, n.d.
f. 141Estate papers, Ellen M. (Nellie) Viles, n.d.
f. 142-145Family papers, n.d.

Elizabeth Viles Hosmer

Diaries, 1881-1923

These volumes relate the daily activities of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Hosmer and her friends and family. topics include the weather, fashions, food, deaths, short trips, lipreading, politics, economics, newspaper stories, and World War I. In 1881 Elizabeth and her husband Edward spent the summer in England and Europe. This trip is covered in detail.

f. 150England and Europe, June-August 1881.
f. 1511881-1884.
f. 152-1581901-1923.

Papers, 1875-1926

f. 159-226Personal and business correspondence, receipts, investment literature, and the will and some estate papers of Elizabeth and Edward Hosmer. Edward B. Hosmer, a commission merchant in Boston, Massachusetts, died leaving a sizable inheritance in trust and outright to his wife. Between 1900 and her death in 1926 Mrs. Hosmer invested in many stock corporations in such areas as oil, gas, mining and milling, and California real estate. Company losses, failures, reorganizations, and stockholder assessments, are detailed, with statements on real estate taxes, repairs, rentals, and agent correspondence. See also Viles family papers after 1926 for information re settlement of her estate, including material on stock market crash and depression.

Miscellaneous Family Papers

f. 227-228These folders contain papers which are not dated and many which cannot be identified as to originator or recipient.

Viles-Hosmer Genealogical Records

f. 229This folder contains family Bible pages listing births, deaths, and marriages. The earliest entry is for Jonas Viles, Jr., born 11 December 1814. This covers the birth records of four generations and helps clarify the family papers in this collection.

Jonas Viles Papers

f. 230-237Calvary Episcopal Church, Columbia, Missouri, 1920-1939. The Jonas Viles family, Columbia residents from 1902 until the late 1940s, where members of Calvary Episcopal Church. Jonas Viles served on the finance committee. These papers relate to budgets, operating expenses, financial pledges from members, and church activities and problems.

Jonas Viles Academic and Professional Papers, 1896-1941

Jonas Viles moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 1902 to teach history at the University of Missouri. With only short leaves of absence for health and family concerns, Viles remained at the university for his entire career. Viles was an active faculty member and contributed to the local and national history community. This portion of the collection has been subdivided by type of material.

f. 238-241Academic papers, 1896-1899. Viles received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He taught for a short time at the Dalzell Boys School before completing his education.
f. 242-278Professional correspondence, 1902-1941. This covers Viles' search for employment and acceptance of the position at the University of Missouri. Correspondence topics include university policies, salaries the Degraff-Meyer survey, plans for the university centennial anniversary and the centennial history, and the teachers' union.
f. 279-281Teachers' union information, n.d.
f. 282-283University of Missouri, History Club, 1911-1917. This club was called the Klieo Club and the Women's History Club. Included here are meeting minutes, membership lists and dues collection, and lists of speakers and topics.
f. 284-297Viles-Cochran correspondence, 1933-1936. Michael Hermond Cochran, a history professor, became mentally ill in 1933 and left the university and Columbia very abruptly. This correspondence is primarily between his wife, Mary L., and Jonas Viles. It concerns the care of Cochran, his admittance to a veterans hospital in Massachusetts, and Mary's struggle to cope and earn a living. Viles sold and stored the Cochran possessions left in Columbia and handled many financial problems. Cochran's personal library was purchased by the university. A few references are made to graduate students and to Cochran's work in German history.
f. 298-301Viles collected papers. This material was assembled by Jonas Viles and concerns George and Mary Boone Memorial, James S. Rollins, photographs of Union Army generals in the Civil War, and an 1864 Emigrants and Travelers' Map of Missouri.
f. 302-310Historical Society papers, 1904-1934. This is primarily correspondence about the State Historical Society of Missouri and the Mississippi Valley Historical Association. It concerns meeting plans, papers, speakers, and the 1933 convention held in Columbia, Missouri.
f. 311-370Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Historical County Survey. Sixty Missouri counties were studied by researchers under Viles' supervision. Topics for each county include early residents, agriculture, industry, transportation, population, and politics. Material is arranged alphabetically by county name.
f. 371-410Articles, lectures and research. Topics include Civil War, Missouri-Kansas Border War, World War I, democracy and justice, the Turner frontier hypothesis, the role of the historian, American ideals and world politics, Missouri history, Thomas Hart Benton, and history of England and Europe. These papers are neither dated nor clearly titled.
f. 411-435Missouri State Capitol Building Archives Inventory. Viles made a room-by-room inventory of the records stored in the Capitol. These are his notes giving room, dates, type of material, and volume. Viles produced a survey of Missouri archives for the Public Archives Commission.
f. 436Kellar agriculture survey information.
f. 437Soil Survey information.
f. 438-451University of Missouri Centennial History. This history was edited and compiled by Jonas Viles and published in 1939. Here are drafts for chapters and historical materials.
f. 452-461Switzler History of the University of Missouri, analysis. In writing his history Viles had the Switzler history documented. These folders contain a catalogue of correspondence and memos citing their origin and date.
f. 462Lowry History of the University of Missouri. This is a volume of clippings with annotations.
f. 463Miscellaneous professional papers, n.d.
f. 464Jonas Viles Family Photographs, 1912-1948. Ruth Viles and the four boys taken in May 1912; Jonas and Ruth Viles, 1948.

INDEX TERMS

These index terms are the subjects, people, places, etc. under which this collection is listed in all available indexes at The State Historical Society of Missouri-Columbia. If you are interested in a specific index term, please contact the reference staff.