Smith family

The collection contains family correspondence, most received by Ebenezer R. Smith, a Quaker of New York State and Iowa. Of interest is an unsent letter to Orson Squire Fowler, phrenologist and radical author, in which Ebenezer Smith expresses interest in taking Fowler's courses in order to pursue a career as lecturer and phrenologist. Letters from his parents, Barak and Mary Smith, of Springdale, Iowa, and other relations mention farm life and family concerns.