Table of Contents
- Collection Summary
- Biographical Note
- Scope and Content Note
- Subject Headings
- Related Material
- Administrative Information
- Access and Use
- Encoding Information
- Series List
- Container List
Collection Summary
Repository: | Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries |
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Creator: | Hill Family |
Title: | Hill Family Papers |
Inclusive Dates: | 1662-1994 |
Bulk Dates: | 1835-1970 |
Quantity: | 43.8 cubic feet (220 boxes) |
Abstract: | Materials relating to the family's personal, professional, and political activities. The bulk of the collection relates most directly to Elsie M. Hill. |
Biographical Note
Elsie Hill was a feminist, activist and leader in the suffrage movement. Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, in 1883, Hill was the daughter of Mary Eileen Mossman and Ebenezer J. Hill, a Republican Congressman. In 1906 she graduated from Vassar College. She then took a teaching position at a Washington DC high school. It was in Washington that she became active in the suffrage movement and began her life-long friendship with Alice Paul. Hill held leading positions in many organizations but is most well known for her work with the National Woman's Party. Hill's passion for the cause led her to jail (along with her sisters, Clara and Helena) on more than one occasion. After the passage of the 19th amendment, she remained active in the struggle for women's rights, running for public office and working through a variety of organizations to further the cause. From 1921 to 1956 she was married to Albert Lévitt (1887-1968), a lawyer and politician who served as Judge of the U.S. District Court of the Virgin Islands from 1935 to 1937. The marriage made national news because she kept her maiden name à la Lucy Stone, quite shocking for the era. They had one child, Leslie Hill-Lévitt Latham (VC 1945-4). In 1968, at the age of 84, she made headlines again when she boarded Pan American Airlines first flight from New York to Moscow. Hill died in Norwalk, Connecticut, August 6, 1970.
For more biographical details, see Hill's profile on the American Memory site at the Library of Congress as well as the clippings in box 86 of Vassar's Elsie Hill collection.
TopScope and Content Note
Correspondence, minutes, reports, press releases, financial and legal papers, clippings, speeches, government documents, articles, and diaries relating to her personal and political activities. Subjects include the National Woman's Party, suffrage, women's rights, Equal Rights Amendment, civil rights, Connecticut politics, civic affairs, her teaching career, history of Joel Barlow, her hobby of breeding Swiss Toggenberg milk goats, and family and personal affairs. Correspondents include Alice Paul, 1915-1970, Anita Pollitzer, 1921-1969, Albert Lévitt, 1921-1968, her sister Clara M. Hill, 1898-1939, and Cary Fink Baynes, 1903-1939. Collection also includes correspondence of Albert Lévitt, 1921-1965, with Robert W. Clairborne, Alice Paul, Roscoe Pound, Elsie Hill, Clara M. Hill, his daughter Elsie Hill-Lévitt, and others. The collection also includes the papers of Clara M. Hill, Ebenezer J. Hill, Mary Mossman, Albert Lévitt, and other family members.
TopAccess and Use
Access
This collection is open for research according to the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library without any additional restrictions.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to quote (publish) from unpublished or previously published material must be obtained as described in the regulations of the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library.
Subject Headings
Names:
- Barlow, Joel, 1754-1812
- Baynes, Cary F.
- Clairborne, Robert W.
- Hill, Clara M.
- Hill, Ebenezer J., 1845-1917
- Hill-Lévitt, Elsie
- Lévitt, Albert, b. 1887
- Paul, Alice, 1885-1977
- Pollitzer, Anita, 1894-1975
- Pound, Roscoe, 1870-1964
Organizations:
- National Woman's Party
- United States. Congress. House
Subjects:
- Civil rights
- Community
- Equal rights amendments
- Feminism
- Feminists
- Goat breeding
- Women in politics
- Women teachers
- Women's rights
- Women--Diaries
- Women--Social conditions
- Women--Suffrage
Places:
- Connecticut--Politics and government
- United States--Politics and government--20th century
- United States--Social life and customs
Document Types:
- Clippings (information artifacts)
- Correspondence
- Diaries
- Photographs
- Printed ephemera
VCL Categories:
- Politics
- Women's History
Encoding Information
Encoded by Elizabeth Clarke, February 2007.
Additional encoding by Laura Streett, August 2014.
Updated by Emma Gronbeck, January 2024.
TopAdministrative Information
Preferred Citation
Hill Family Papers, Archives and Special Collections Library, Vassar College Libraries.
Processing Information
Original processing date for the Elsie Hill papers unknown. The rest of the collection was processed by Janine St. Germain in 2014.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Leslie Hill-Levitt Latham in several accessions.
Series List
Series I. Elsie M. Hill, 1875-1994 (Boxes 1-113) | |
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Subseries | |
Correspondence | |
Subject Files | |
Clippings | |
Manuscripts And Notes | |
Diaries, Calendars, Address Books and Telephone Lists | |
Financial And Legal |
Series II. Albert Lévitt, 1906-1968 (Boxes 120-161) | |
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Subseries | |
Correspondence | |
Biographical | |
Financial And Legal | |
Clippings | |
Printed Material | |
Subject Files | |
Writings |
Series III. Clara Hill, 1862-1959 (Boxes 162-182) | |
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Subseries | |
Biographical | |
Correspondence | |
Ephemera | |
Financial And Legal | |
Manuscripts | |
Clippings | |
Printed Material | |
Subject Files |
Series IV. Ebenezer Hill, 1800-1919 (Boxes 183-201) | |
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Subseries | |
Correspondence | |
Biographical and Travel | |
Printed Material | |
Writings |
Series V. Mary Mosman Hill, 1835-1952 (Boxes 202-207) | |
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Subseries | |
Correspondence | |
Biographical | |
Subject Files | |
Writings |
Series VI. Leslie Hill-Lévitt Latham, 1927-1971 (Box 208) | |
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Subseries | |
Biographical | |
Correspondence | |
Subject Files | |
Printed Material | |
Writings |
Series VII. Mixed Family Materials, 1711-1970 (Boxes 114, 209, 211-216) | |
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Subseries | |
Photographs | |
Miscellaneous letters, documents, recordings and ephemera |
Series VIII. Miscellaneous Materials, 1662-1923 (Boxes 115-119, 210, 214-215, 217) | |
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Subseries | |
Postcards | |
Road maps | |
Deteriorated original materials | |
Various historical documents and heirlooms |
Container List
Return to the Table of Contents
Details
Materials relating to the family's personal, professional, and political activities. The bulk of the collection relates most directly to Elsie M. Hill.