Overview
Diaries, photographs, slides, etc., of Louise Weston Sewall Mildram, businesswoman and homemaker.
Dates
- Creation: 1886-1974
Language of Materials
Materials in English.
Access Restrictions:
Access. Collection is open for research. An appointment is necessary to use any audiovisual material.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by Louise Weston Sewall Mildram is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.
Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.
Extent
.42 linear feet ((1 file box), plus 5 photograph folders, slides)This collection consists of Mildram's diaries, and photo-graphs and slides of her, her family, and friends. Also included is a biography of Mildram by her daughter Barbara, which also provides genealogical information and a guide to names and abbreviations used by Mildram in the diaries.
The diary entries are short, and although there are gaps, they cover the years 1917-1922, 1924, 1926-1933, and 1936-1972. They record the activities of a middle-class woman, and her familial, health, civic, and business concerns. There is occasional mention of a miscarriage, and Mildram's use of a code during 1920 suggests that she took measures to prevent pregnancy. Following her stroke in 1966, Mildram typed her daily entries.
BIOGRAPHY
Louise Weston (Sewall) Mildram was born on October 24, 1886, in Livermore Falls, Maine, the eldest daughter of Eugene and Fannie Dinsmore Weston Sewall. After attending the local grammar school, she graduated from Westbrook (Maine) Seminary in 1904 and spent the following year at Mount Ida, a finishing school in Newton Corner, Massachusetts. In 1905 Mildram entered Vassar College but was forced to return home later that autumn for surgery; her father's illness then made it impossible for her to return to school.
In 1909 she married Frank Clement Mildram, an accountant and businessman. They had four children and lived for most of their lives in Newtonville, Massachusetts. Summers were often spent in Wells, Maine. An energetic and adventurous woman, Mildram began a knitting business in 1932 to supplement the family's income; her husband regularly knitted display models for her shop. Her subsequent endeavors included dog breeding and the sale of magazine subscriptions. She was also active in civic affairs, participating in neighborhood improvement associations in Massachusetts and Maine. Frank Clement Mildram died in 1962; four years later Mildram suffered a severe stroke, which left her partially paralyzed. She was, however, able to live at home for several years until 1971, when she was hospitalized with a broken hip. Mildram died on December 12, 1974. For further biographical information, see #7.
Physical Location
Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Accession number: 86-M25
The papers of Louise Weston (Sewall) Mildram were given to the Schlesinger Library by Barbara Mildram, Mildram's daughter, in February 1986.
CONTAINER LIST
- Box 1: 7-24
Processing Information
Preliminary inventory: March 1987
By: Anne Engelhart
Genre / Form
Geographic
- Maine--Social life and customs
- Massachusetts--Social life and customs
- Newton (Mass.)--Social life and customs
Topical
- Title
- Mildram, Louise Weston Sewall, 1886-1974. Papers of Louise Weston Sewall Mildram, 1887-1986: A Finding Aid
- Author
- Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- sch00736
Repository Details
Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository
The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.