Chadwell-Litton scrapbooks, 1878-1902.
(Document/manuscript/pamphlet/archival material)

Materials housed in Special Collections Division of the Main Library, Nashville Public Library.

In library use only. Available by appointment.

Scope and content: Scrapbook #1: Inscribed: "from Mattie to Ma, Dec. 25, 1882," contents in this scrapbook date from 1881 to 1902. Most of the materials in this scrapbook consist of calling cards. About half are formally printed cards, purchased from local printers; about half are handwritten, which are probably the signatures of the individuals named. Interspersed throughout are frequent wedding invitations, many to ceremonies held outside of Tennessee. Other items include invitations to social events, picnics, graduations, performances of the L'Allegro Club, and single items relating to the visit of Admiral George Dewey to Nashville, and the Nashville Flower Parade in 1900. The cover to this scrapbook, which includes a couple of newsclippings pasted onto the endpapers, is stored with Scrapbook #2.

Unexpected but exceptional items include two full-color pages from the New York World newspaper, dated November 10, 1895. Although each full page has deteriorated into four segments, they nevertheless remain a visually rich and vibrant example of early full-color printing in the newspaper industry. The illustrations consist of: "The Great Social Event of the Year," a Hogan's Alley comic by Richard Felton Outcault; "What Our Annual Horse Show Amounts To" by Walt McDougall; and "A Very Kindly Service on the Part of the Boa Constrictor" by Frank Ladendorf.

Scrapbook #2: Inscribed "Addie" with the date of December 1878, the items in this scrapbook span from 1878 to 1885. Consisting almost entirely of unattributed news clippings, items include poems; articles of literary interest such as biographical information and anecdotes of famous literary figures; and biographies and illustrations of European monarchs and leaders, including Napoleon Bonaparte. Newspaper obituaries and wedding announcements of Nashvillians are also included. A broadside of the poem: "A Cycle of Years Nashville's One Hundredth Birthday" by Mrs. Henri Weber (Margaret Isabella Walker Weber), inscribed as being presented to "Mr. and Mrs. Litton" by the author, was originally located in the front of this scrapbook but has been moved to oversize storage.

Cite as: [specify individual scrapbook], Chadwell-Litton Scrapbooks, Special Collections Division, Nashville Public Library

Nashville Public Library does not have intellectual property rights to these materials.

Patty Chadwell;,Gift;,2002,Acc. RT-118.

The exact details about who compiled these scrapbooks, whether or not they were compiled by one or two (or even several) different people, and how they were passed into the donor's hands, are unknown. Attribution of these scrapbooks to the Chadwell and/or Litton families is an educated guess by library staff, and is based upon sparse internal evidence within the scrapbooks themselves, as well as the donor's connection to both families.

In English.

The donor, Patty Chadwell, was a descendant of prominent Nashvillian Isaac Litton, through his daughter, Sue. She married John T. Chadwell, and they had Robert, who was the donor's father. The exact provenance of these two scrapbooks is unknown.

Process;,2017;,Linda Barnickel.

No further accruals are expected.