Minor Brodrick Palmer personal archive

This collection consists of handwritten letters and postcards from Palmer to his family, a postcard scrapbook, and assorted photographs and personal documents. The scrapbook is inscribed “Christmas 1905, Father from Minor,” and contains forty pages of Harvard postcards, some with Palmer's handwritten annotations. The bulk of the collection consists of correspondence; Palmer wrote regularly to his parents and siblings in St. Paul, Minnesota, describing his daily life as an undergraduate student at Harvard from 1903 to 1905. The letters detail Palmer’s classes, grades, and examinations, attendance at Harvard sporting events and work as the fencing team’s manager, dining experiences in Memorial Hall, participation with the Minnesota Club, and monetary expenses (including clothing purchases). He also discusses current events and politics, local travels and trips, Boston and Cambridge cultural happenings, and weather conditions. Other items include Memorial Hall meal cards, handwritten sophomore year expense charts, a 1905 Harvard Class Day invitation, a “Pumpkins Like Boilers” newspaper clipping, a handwritten academic schedule card, dormitory floor plans with handwritten annotations, annotated cyanotypes, gelatin silver photograph prints with annotations, and a Selective Service Registration Certificate card from 1942.