This collection includes:
Over 600 letters, mostly personal and handwritten among family members but also some business correspondence. Letters span 1884-1971 but are especially frequent from 1900-1945. A few examples include:
About 75 letters related to the WWI and Polish-Soviet War experiences of Maude Judy serving as a nurse at a base hospital in France and in 1920 with the Red Cross at a Polish hospital.
Many letters from, to, and about Dorothy Hibarger while institutionalized at Peoria State Hospital for catatonic schizophrenia (1934-49). The collection also includes her daily diary from 1944.
Letters from Dorothy while teaching school in other communities.
Letters from young women teachers who had boarded with the Hibarger family in Normal while students at ISNU.
Letters to Bessie Hibarger from newsletter and book publishers either scholastic or religious.
In addition to letters, the collection includes about 160 postcards. One set is vintage 1910s postcards with pictures taken by the family. These include photos of Emma and Dan Hibarger on their farm, Sibley’s school and Swedish church, etc.
A book of nurserymen’s hand-colored plates, circa 1880, and other nursery materials.
Some of Bessie’s grade school teaching materials, teacher association conventions programs, etc.
Plus a variety of other materials.