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Greer Heritage Museum collection

Etta Bailey Burgiss papers

Type: Collection
Title: Etta Bailey Burgiss papers
Description: This is a collection of letters gathered by Etta Bailey Burgiss. It includes:
– letters from her mother, Victoria Cunningham Bailey, to Victoria's sister
– letters between Victoria Bailey, W.C. Bailey, and Etta Bailey
– letters from W.W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey
– letters from friends to Etta Bailey
Subject: Personal communication among family and friends.
Table Of Contents: Unit 1: Victoria Cunningham Bailey correspondence
Unit 2: Victoria Bailey to Etta Bailey correspondence
Unit 3: W.C. Bailey letters
Unit 4: W.W. Burgiss letters
Unit 5: Etta's letters from friends
Unit 6: photographs
Unit 7: steel box
Creator: David Lovegrove
Provenance: Collected by Etta Bailey Burgiss, passed down the family to her grandson, Shuman Gerald, who donated the collection to GHM.
Storage Location: Curator's office
Accession Number: 2022.1.n.n
Accession Date: April 8, 2022
Accession Creator: David Lovegrove
Relation: Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham Bailey; William Clark Bailey; William Wesley Burgiss (Burgess); Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham (possibly Sullivan) — August, c. 1860-61; Envelope of letter from Victoria Cunningham to Margaret Sullivan; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — June 25, 1861; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — October 9, possibly 1861; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — December 16, 1861; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — January 28, 1862; Envelope of letter from Victoria Cunningham to Margaret Sullivan; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — March 31, 1862; Envelope of letter from Victoria Cunningham to Margaret Sullivan — May 9, 1862; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — May 9, 1862; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — June 19th, 1862; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan and Mary — February 22, 1863; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — April 25, 1864; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — June 5, 1864; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — August 22, probably 1863 or 1864; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — January 30, 1865; Envelope of letter from Victoria Cunningham to Margaret Sullivan — February 27, 1865; Letter from Victoria Elizabeth Cunningham to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — June 2, 1865; Envelope of letter from Victoria Cunningham to Margaret Sullivan — August 14, probably 1865; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — September 30, 1865; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — August 21, 1866; Envelope of letter from Victoria Bailey to Margaret Sullivan — August 24, 1866; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — December 30, 1866; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — likely May 1867; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — July 3, 1867; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — undated, around the summer of 1867.; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — December 27, 1867; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — undated, probably early 1868.; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — July 4, probably 1868; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — December 6, likely 1868; Letter from Victoria Cunningham Bailey to Margaret Cunningham Sullivan — March 21, 1869; Undated envelope, blue, not postal service; Undated envelope, cream, not postal service; Envelope, cream, July 7; Note: “This is every single one of them.”

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Envelope: from Minnie Cunningham to Etta Bailey — June 26, 1887
Letter from Minnie Cunningham to Etta Bailey — June 26, 1887
Letter from Minnie Cunningham to Etta Bailey — July 11, 1886
Letter from Jen, to Etta Bailey — July 7th, 1886
Letter from Minnie Cunningham to Etta Bailey — May 14th, 1886
Letter from Minnie Cunningham (Burgiss) to Etta Bailey — April 26, about 1886
Minnie Cunningham was daughter of Sophonia Cunningham Prince (Victoria’s sister, mentioned in her letters), and Etta’s cousin. She would marry Frank Burgiss, Will’s brother — making her Etta’s sister-in-law as well.
Letter Jen, to Etta Bailey (with a note from W. W. Burgess) — March, 1886
The mysterious note from Will is quite puzzling; it appears to be written from Will to Jen, though the letter is from Jen to Etta.
Letter from Jen, to Etta Bailey — February 11, 1886
Letter from Jen, to Etta Bailey — December 23, 1885
Letter from Jen, to Etta Bailey — August 10, 1885
Letter from Jen, to Etta Bailey — January 10, 1885
We don’t yet know who Jen is; however, the Tumbling Shoals address gives a hint, as that is the home of Victoria’s sister Margaret. Jen calls her “Aunt Margaret” in the letter, so Jen is not her daughter. Jen also, curiously, calls Victoria “Cousin Vic,” rather than the more expected “Aunt Vic.” Etta is 18 at the time of the first letter.
Postcard: From W. W. Burgiss to Mrs. S. B. Gerald, 111 Williams Street, Greenville, S. C. Postmarked West Palm Beach, FLA, on April 14, 1940
Postcard: from W. W. Burgess to Mrs. S. B. Gerald, 111 Williams Street, Greenville, S. C. Postmarked West Palm Beach, FLA, on April 13, 1940
W. W. Burgiss is now 76 years old. His daughter Margaret was born in 1903, and is now 37. She has married Shuman Gerald. After a long illness, she would die just two years later, in 1942; Etta would die a little later that same year.
Letter from A. P. Anthony, President of the Anthony-Burgiss Co; to H.S. Fairchilds, Secretary-Treasurer of the Anthony-Burgiss Co. Jacksonville, FL, July 7, 1920
This is about ⅔ of a sheet of paper; it is a typed memo from a president to his secretary/treasurer to act on his behalf. It is unclear why this was kept at all, particularly in this collection, as it does not appear to be important. However, it does shine a glimmer of light on W.W. Burgiss’s real estate dealings in Florida.
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greer’s Depot S.C”, postmarked Willimantic, CONN, September 4, 1886
Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, September 4, 1886
This letterhead has an engraving of the hotel — a three-story mansion with pillars — and reads: “One Minute’s Walk from the Depot. The Brainard House. The House has been refitted and refurnished throughout, and is replete with all Modern Improvements, including an Electric Annunciator, Two Fine Sample Rooms for Commercial Travelers and is under the management of S.C. Hooker, Late of the Hooker House, Colchester.”
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greer’s Depot S.C”, postmarked New York, September 1, 1886
Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, September 1, 1886
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greer’s Depot S.C”, postmarked New York, August 31, 1886
Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, August 31, 1886
This letter is on letterhead which reads: “Illustrated catalogues furnished on application. Office of T. L. Jacobs, Manager of Quaker City Shirt Co. No. 590 Broadway, Send all orders to 590 Broadway, New York, ________ 188__”
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greer’s Depot S.C”, postmarked New York, August 29, 1886
Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, August 29, 1886
While Will’s envelope (below) is from the St. Nicholas Hotel at Washington Place, the letter itself is on letterhead from Grand Central Hotel, where he was staying in the last letter. The stationery header reads: Keefer’s Grand Central Hotel, 667 to 677 Broadway, American Plan, $2.50, $3.00 and $3.50 per day. European Plan, $1.00 and upwards. Special rates for families and permanent guests. Keefer & Co., Proprietors. As a matter of curiosity, the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles shows someone else’s bill from nine months earlier as being about $11 a day, so they had quite a range of options.
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greer’s Depot S.C”, postmarked New York, August 28, 1886
Letter from W. W. Burgiss to Etta Bailey, August 26, 1886
Envelope: W. W. Burgiss to “Miss Etta Bailey, Greers Depot S.C”, postmarked Washington, DC, August 26, 1886