Box 8, 1930s-1940s, 1960s

The Miller and duPont Families Papers contains the materials of Arthur Miller and his children Victor A. Miller and Marcella Miller duPont. The collection covers the years from 1862 to 1978. The earliest material consists of 83 letters written by Joseph Edward ''Eddie'' Hodgekins, a Union soldier, to his family between the years 1862 and 1865. Victor Miller had a life long interest in the Civil War. At his death, his substantial library of books, letters, and other Civil War-related items was donated to the University of Denver. Besides the Hodgekins letters, there are 11 letters from Captain C.L. Fales to his sister Adelaide Fales Adams; a letter from General Johnston to General Sherman dated July 14, 1863 asking for a brief truce in order to bury the dead; a collection of signatures of people involved in the Civil War; an official report of the Battle of Shiloh; and other miscellaneous items. Arthur Miller’s diaries and rent books, the majority of which are written in shorthand, cover the years 1866 to 1912. These were saved by his son Roland and eventually were donated to the University of Denver by Arthur Miller and Marcella Miller duPont. The diaries begin when Arthur Miller was attending school in Michigan and continue as he taught school, traveled to New York to be a court reporter, lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana where he met and married his first wife, moved to Denver, and became a successful businessman. The collection includes the transcripts of the diaries from 1880 and 1881. Of particular interest in these years are Arthur Miller’s descriptions of his relationship with his wife and child as well as his opinion of the court cases he was handling and the events surrounding those cases. Marcella Miller duPont’s papers take up the chronology in 1932 with the first copies of letters from H.L. Mencken to Mrs. duPont. These letters marked the beginning of a decade and a half of correspondence. The collection also includes a nature journal created by M.M. duPont, Genevieve Kassler Brock, and Mary Frances Spaulding Brock when they were young. The most recent material includes a variety of personal papers relating to Marcella duPont’s social life including her summers spent in the East. This collection was at one time housed in the Marcella Miller duPont room in the Mary Reed Library at the University of Denver.