Gibbon family correspondence

 Series I. Dr. John Heysham Gibbon 1883-1956 

Series description

Series I. Dr. John Heysham Gibbon dates from 1883 to 1956 and contains correspondence and other materials authored by Dr. John H. Gibbon as well as correspondence sent to him by various friends and family members. The largest group of letters in this series consists of those sent by Dr. Gibbon to his fiancé and later wife, Marjorie Young Gibbon. These letters document their courtship and subsequent relationship almost from the very beginning. It appears that while they were separated, Dr. and Mrs. Gibbon wrote to one another several times a week and often at least once a day. With the exception of the letters between 1917 and 1918, most of the letters were written during the summer months, when Mrs. Gibbon and the children left the city for vacation (usually to Rhode Island or the family’s cabin in Maine) and Dr. Gibbon had to stay behind and work.

But the largest section of his correspondence to his wife and children is from May 1917 to December 1918 when he was stationed with the United States Army in France. For the majority of the time he was stationed at Base Hospital No. 10 in Le Treport, France, which was relatively well removed from the front lines of battle. In his letters, Dr. Gibbon describes his daily activities while posted at the hospital, although he does not go into any great detail about the surgical work he performed. The hospital at Le Treport was little more than a cluster of tents and huts and was often overcrowded but seems to have been relatively well equipped and lasted through the war unscathed by German bombing.

Dr. Gibbon also spent two months at Casualty Clearing Station No. 61 near the Belgian town of Poperinghe, which was not far from the front lines. Conditions here were much rougher with constant muddy conditions and near nightly bombing raids on the nearby town. Dr. Gibbon reported often being on his feet for twelve to sixteen hours at a time on the busiest days at No. 61 but he complained the most about the days where he had few or no patients since the down time increased his longing for home. During one particularly intense night of bombing, he reported that he and another officer were required to sleep in shallow ditches covered with sheet iron.

The letters he sent home from his time in France often contained postcards, clippings, photographs, and other mementos, including Christmas programs and a piece of canvas from the wing of a German airplane which crashed near the hospital. Some of his letters from this time are in French, especially those to his daughter, Marjorie, in an effort to encourage her studies, even from afar.

Another significant number of letters in this series were sent to and from his older brother, Dr. Robert Gibbon, Jr. and his sister-in-law, Louise Wilson Gibbon. Most of the content in these letters consists of sharing family and professional news, in the days before telephones were common. Robert had his practice in their hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina, where he took over after their father, Robert Gibbon, Sr. died.

This series also contains a large number of letters from Dr. John Gibbon’s unmarried first cousin, Frances Moale Gibbon. Frances, or “Fanny” as she was called by the family, was the daughter of Dr. John's uncle General John Gibbon and his wife, Frances North Moale of Baltimore. Frances appears to have lived at various locations in Virginia and Maryland throughout the correspondence, sharing her home with her aging mother and her deceased sister’s two children. Her letters are of particular interest for their anecdotes about her father as well as an account of her escape from Berlin at the outbreak of World War I.

There are also letters in this series sent to Dr. Gibbon from various friends and cousins from Charlotte and other southern cities. These correspondents include Lila H. Jones, Emily Martin Norwood, and Adele Biddle Thomas. Lastly, there are a number of letters addressed to Dr. Gibbon from various friends and colleagues congratulating him on his various professional achievements, including his appointment to Pennsylvania Hospital and as professor of surgery at Jefferson Medical College.

This series is arranged alphabetically by major correspondent and then chronologically, with several folders of printed material and other ephemera at the end of the series.

 Series II. Marjorie Young Gibbon 1879-1956  (Bulk, 1898-1956)

Series description

Series II. Marjorie Young Gibbon dates from 1879 to 1956, with bulk dates of 1898 to 1956, and consists of letters and other materials authored by Dr. John Gibbon’s wife, Marjorie Young Gibbon as well as correspondence sent to her from various friends and family members. The majority of the letters in this series were written to Dr. John Gibbon, from May 1917 to December 1918 while he was stationed in France during World War I. Marjorie’s early letters to her husband document their courtship and engagement as well as their early years of marriage, including the trials and tribulations of raising four children and managing two houses. During the fall and winter while the children were at school, the family lived at their townhouse in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood of Philadelphia while in the summer months she and the children retreated to their home at Lynfield Farm in Media, Pennsylvania. Marjorie often took the children on vacation over the summer to Rhode Island and Mount Desert Island, Maine, where the family had a cabin they named Camp Ouloncuit. As the children got older, they were often sent to summer camp or on vacation with extended family and friends, while Marjorie took her own trips. The letters in this series sent to her husband and children as well as her numerous datebooks document her various social and familial commitments. Of particular note are her letters to her husband from September to October 1918, which document her experiences of the Spanish influenza epidemic in Philadelphia.

Another significant portion of letters in this series are those sent to her daughter and eldest child, also named Marjorie, while she was away at boarding school at Dana Hall in Wellesley, Massachusetts. These letters demonstrate the close relationship the two shared.

Also of note in this series are letters to and from her other children John Jr., Samuel, and Robert Gibbon. Included is a folder of letters sent to Robert Gibbon from various school friends while he was at Princeton from 1924 to 1925. There are also several folders of mementos from when her children were small including hand-made birthday cards, letters to Santa Claus, and colored drawings.

Other correspondents of note include her sisters Edith Young Knight, Hannah Young Read (married to General George Read), Lillian Young Coxe, and Elizabeth Young Hanny. There are also two folders of letters in this series that were sent to Marjorie and Dr. John Gibbon from English and French friends during World War II. Of particular note are those to and from Marthe Colin, who was a friend of Dr. Gibbon’s from his time in France during World War I. When Germany invaded France, the Colin family had to flee their home in Metz in the northeast to Montpellier in the southern free zone controlled by the Vichy regime. Distressed by their predicament, Dr. and Mrs. Gibbon sent them a large package of food and supplies in 1940. The letters also recount the execution of her brother Pierre Colin, who was a member of the French resistance, at the hands of the Gestapo in 1944. The majority of these letters are written in French with some translation by Dr. Gibbon and include several photographs and newspaper clippings.

This series is arranged alphabetically by major correspondent and then chronologically, with several folders of memorabilia and two letter boxes of Marjorie Gibbon’s datebooks at the end of the series.

 Series IV. General Samuel B. M. Young 1884-1924 

Series description

Series IV. General Samuel B. M. Young dates from 1884 to 1924 and contains letters and other materials authored by Marjorie Young Gibbon’s father and Dr. John Gibbon’s father-in-law, Samuel Baldwin Marks Young. General Young was a Union veteran of the Civil War and United States general during the Spanish-American War. Later in his career he was president of the Army War College, superintendant of Yellowstone National Park, and governor of the Soldiers Home in Washington, D.C. The majority of the letters in this series are written by Young to his daughter Marjorie. A sizeable portion of these letters were written to her and her sister Elizabeth while he was stationed in the Philippine Islands as military governor of Luzon from 1899 to 1901. The letters describe his daily routines and aspects of the American administration of the islands. Included with these are several photographs, postcards, clippings, and hand-drawn maps.

There are also a good number of letters and postcards in this series that date from General Young’s time as superintendant of Yellowstone in 1897 and 1907 to 1908. These contain some details about his daily routine and the administration of the park as well as numerous anecdotes and postcards.

Also of interest in this series is a folder of letters to and from President Theodore Roosevelt, a personal friend of General Young going back to their time in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Most of the letters are quite short and conversational.

This series is arranged alphabetically by major correspondent and then chronologically, with several folders of assorted memorabilia and other printed material at the end of the series.

 Series V. Catherine Lardner Gibbon 1784-1900  (Bulk, 1808-1870)

Series description

Series V. Catherine Lardner Gibbon dates from 1808 to 1900, with bulk dates of 1808 to 1870, and contains letters and other handwritten materials authored by Dr. John Gibbon’s paternal grandmother, Catherine Lardner Gibbon. The majority of the letters in this series were written by Catherine living in Charlotte, North Carolina to her unmarried sister, Frances Lardner, who was still living at the Lardner family home in Philadelphia. Several of these letters contain detailed pencil drawings in the margins, presumably drawn by Catherine herself. The letters in this series dating from 1860 to 1865 are significant for documenting the sisters’ experiences during the Civil War.

Another significant portion of this series consists of letters authored by Frances Lardner and sent to her numerous Gibbon nieces and nephews, including General John Gibbon and Catherine Gibbon, who worked at the United States Mint in Philadelphia.

This series is arranged alphabetically by major correspondent and then chronologically, with several folders of assorted memorabilia and other handwritten material at the end of the series.

 Series VI. Miscellaneous 1863-1939 

Series description

Series VI. Miscellaneous dates from 1863 to 1939 and contains unlabeled materials and those which do not readily fit into the other series of the collection. These materials include a collection of stamps from the United States and other countries, assorted clippings, blank postcards, and several photographs of unidentified subjects. The series is arranged chronologically.