![]() | Library Catalog | Databases | Ask a Librarian | Remote Logon | Search |
Library > Special & Area Studies Collections > General Manuscripts > Finding Aids |
Finding aid created by Dept. Staff
University of Florida Smathers Libraries - Special and Area Studies Collections
August 2007
Descriptive Summary | ||
Creator: | Hile, B. S. | |
Title: | B. S. Hile Correspondence | |
Dates: | 1861-1862 | |
Abstract: | Letters written by B. S. Hile to his family while he is living and employed in Havana, Cuba. | |
Extent: | 0.2 Linear feet. 1 box. | |
Identification: | MS Group 227 | |
Language(s): | English | |
Note: | This guide is available in Spanish at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/hile_es.pdf | |
![]() | Items from this collection have been digitized and are available online in the UF Digital Collections. For more information please see the note below. |
The majority of the B. S. Hile letters were written to his wife, and a few were written to his son and daughter. The letters are dated from August 1861 to July 1862. In the earliest letter, Hile is still in New York preparing to travel to Cuba and he briefly discusses troop movement during the U.S. Civil War. After that, all of the letters are from Havana, Cuba. He discusses daily happenings and describes people, the land, disease, food, and drinks. He promises to send sugar, expressing amazement at its low price and availability. He discusses his employment at the Gas Works, which was part of Piena Del Ray Gas Co. He describes laying pipe underneath streets to connect to house lights and street lamps. He also discusses contracts for that type of work in Mexico. In earlier letters he discusses the possibility of his own business, possibly as a dry goods store owner. The letters provide information about life in Havana in the 1860s, from the perspective of an American living in Cuba. All of the letters have been transcribed.
The collection is open for research.
Digital reproductions of items in the Hile collection are available online via the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC). Please read the Permissions for Use statement for information on copyright, fair use, and use of UFDC digital objects.
This guide is available in Spanish at https://www.uflib.ufl.edu/spec/manuscript/guides/hile_es.pdf.
[Identification of item], B. S. Hile Correspondence, Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
Box | |||||||||||||
1 | August 1861 - December 1861. | ||||||||||||
1 | December 1861 - February 1862. | ||||||||||||
1 | February 1862 - May 1862. | ||||||||||||
1 | July 1862. | ||||||||||||
1 | Not dated. |
correspondence
Cuba -- Havana.
History.
Nineteenth century.
For further information, please contact: Special Collections Access Services.