Correspondence, legal papers, travel writings and ephemera, drawings, sheet music, stamps, foreign currency, journals, photographs, glass negatives, and slides, dating from 1816-1989, from the Blackwelder, Del Mar, and MacCoy families, who were connected by marriage. The families were avid travelers, artists, and writers, and were prominent in Chicago, St. Louis, and New York. The collection is first organized by family, and then further arranged by the individual’s relationship with Eva Elizabeth “Betsy” Blackwelder. Within the collection items are arranged chronologically or alphabetically. These arrangements will be noted in the series descriptions. Betsy’s collection of books can be found in Appendix A. Many of the books were written by Betsy’s family members.