ELWYN B. ROBINSON DEPARTMENT OF SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
CHESTER FRITZ LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA
GRAND FORKS, NORTH DAKOTA 58202

JULIA GAGE CARPENTER PAPERS

COLLECTION: OGL #520

DATES: 1882-1904

SIZE: 2 folders, 2 photographs

INTRODUCTION

ACQUISITION: The Julia Gage Carpenter Papers were deposited in the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection by Mrs. Quentin Burdick, granddaughter of Julia Gage Carpenter, on January 15, 1979 (Acc.#79-561). Photographs of the Carpenter family were added on May 18, 1981 (Acc.#81-759).

ACCESS: Open for inspection under the rules and regulations of the Department of Special Collections.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Julia Gage Carpenter, born in May 1851, was the daughter of Henry H. Gage and noted suffragette Matilda Joslyn Gage. She attended Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, for two years before marrying James D. “Frank” Carpenter on February 9, 1882. Her husband was born in August of 1860. The couple homesteaded in La Moure County, Dakota Territory, a few miles north of the Edgeley town site, living on the claim periodically from 1882 until 1901. Frank and Julia had three children: Harry, born in Syracuse, January 17, 1886; Magdalena Towers, born on the claim, April 2, 1887; and James Lucius, born on the claim July 14, 1888, who lived only 8 months. In 1901, the Carpenter family moved to Fargo, where Frank sold insurance. They lived in Fargo the rest of their lives. Frank Carpenter died in 1920 and Julia Carpenter died in 1931.

SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE

The Julia Gage Carpenter Papers consist of a photocopy of a diary from the period February 9, 1882 to March 19, 1904. Recorded are the details of daily life, particularly pioneer life and homesteading, hardships, farming conditions, weather reports, holidays and trips of family and friends. There are longer passages on the deaths of her father, mother, and infant son, James. Included in the diary are genealogies of Frank’s and Julia’s families. Mentioned occasionally is the author, L. Frank Baum, who married Julia’s sister, Maud. The collection also includes two photographs of the Carpenter family.

BOX AND FOLDER INVENTORY

Box 1
Folder

1. Photocopied diary, 1882-1904
2. Photocopied diary, 1882-1904

SEPARATIONS RECORD

Photographs

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