Elsie M. Palmer Letters, Mf 0298 and Ms 0335
Received 1993. Source unknown.
Queen Mellen, September 21, 1865, "Dictation"
Dear Mr. Macdonald from Elsie Palmer, "The Brunswick" (ca. 1885?)
My own darling Motherling from Elsie, October 3, 1889, when Elsie is on her way home from traveling in Germany (Rhine, Cologne, etc.)
My dearest Elsie from Rowena (Bell), January 11 (1907?), responding to announcement of Elsie's engagement to Leo Myers
Darling Elsie from "your old Aunt Sara," February 19, 1909
My darling Elsie from Katie, March 13, 1909, on the death of General Palmer. (Katie Bennett school friend of Elsie's in New York school.)
Else dear from Senore (artist Peter Harrison?), March 15, 1909
"Soon after General Palmer's death..." from F.C. Thornton, Colorado Springs, March 11, 1920 concerning financial matters between him and General Palmer, with copies of letter from Mrs. Watt to Thornton (Chalmondley) and Thornton's response
Dearest Daddy from Mary (Mellen), June 15, 1926
Dearest Elsie from Mary (Mellen), March 13, 1927 New Haven, Connecticut
Dearest Else from Peter, Oct 24, 1935
Dear Mrs. Myers from [N. Ward?] Tunbridge Wells, Kent, September 16, 1938
Dear Madam (Elsie) from V.C. Dove (chauffeur) "During the war 1939-1945"
Dear Mrs. Myers from George H. Krause, October 28, 1940, suggesting that the Myers send their grandchildren from England to Colorado Springs to stay with his son during the war.
My Dearest Elsie from Ivy, July 21, 1941
Dear Mrs. Myers and Dear Miss Palmer from [Sara?], Nov 2, 1943, with copy of Sept 13 letter concerning the Liberty Ship William J. Palmer
Dear Mrs. Myers from George H. Krause, December 11, 1943, concerning the launching of the S.S. William J. Palmer
My dear Elsie from Charlie (Tennyson), July 7, 1944
My dear Elsie from Charlie (Tennyson), July 24, 1944
My dear Elsie from Charlie (Tennyson), Feb 23, 1946
My dearest Elsie from Rowena (Bell), Aug 27, 1947, S. Rhodesia Africa
Dearest Cousin Elsie from Mary, September 11, 1947
Elsie darling from Sister / Dos (Dorothy Palmer), October 30, 1947 (multiple greetings and signatures on multiple pages).
Cablegram to Miss Dorothy Palmer from Cess, Oct 28, 1947 (birthday wishes)
Dearest Cousin Elsie from Mary (Mellen) October 29, 1947
Dearest Dos [Dorothy Palmer] from Susan S. Fisher, October 30, 1947 (Susan Stirling Fisher was the mother of John Stirling Fisher (author of A Builder of the West) and the sister of Dr. Henry Chorley Watt)
Else darling from Dos, Nov 15, 1947, enclosing Postlethwaite's letter of Nov 16 (Dear Geoffrey, copy)
Else darling from Dos, Nov 19, 1947
My dearest Elsie from Susan S. Fisher January 21, 1948
Dearest Elsie from Susan S. Fisher, February 13, 1948
Dear Aunt Else from John (Fisher), February 20, 1948
Dear Aunt Else from John Fisher February 25, 1948
undated
Dearest Friend from Saxonbury Lodge, Frant, Sussex
My dearest Elsie from Maud (Mellen)
"An Ode to his horse by a Colorado Cow-boy" (poem by F.C. Thornton?)
"The Vision" by F.C. Thornton (poem). "Written to Margaret when the going was hard and we were both suffering and so may be excused"
Newspaper clippings: death of FDR in 1945; "Colorado Springs scraps" 1950 from Alma Anderson
Misc.: advertisement for household service, note fragments
Gift of Lewis and Louisa Creed, 1998
Scope and content
Correspondence sent to Elsie M. Palmer, eldest daughter of William J. Palmer, 1934-1950. Most are from her daughter, Elsie Queen "E. Q." Nicholson, and are undated but probably written during the early 1940s, when both mother and daughter lived in England. Included are handwritten poems from a friend of Elsie's, Lillian Bowes-Lyon; letters of sympathy written after the 1944 death of Elsie's husband Leo Myers; and newspaper clippings from the late 1940s, including reviews of Myers's novels. A small group of letters exchanged by Leo and "Coley" Cole are included.
Inventory
Folder 1
#1 Letter to Elsie from "Leslie," L. P. Hartley, dated October 28, 1934
#2 Letter to Mrs. Myers from Helen Bolton, dated April 18, 1944
#3 Letter to Elsie from "Charlie," Charles Tennyson, dated April 27, 1944
#4 Letter to Elsie from "Coley," Coley Cole (?), dated May 4, 1944
#5 Letter to Elsie from "Dos," sister Dorothy Palmer, dated June 24, 1944
#6 Letter to Elsie from Charles Tennyson, dated August 4, 1946 (?)
#7 Letter to Elsie from "Cess," Cecile Jacobeit, governess to the Palmer family, dated April 1, 1947
#8 Quotation from "Epipsychidion" by Shelley, "copied for Else – Jan 1950"
Folder 2
Letters to Elsie from her daughter, "E. Q.," Elsie Queen Nicholson, signed "Bob", undated as to year, sent from "Blasdon, Cranborne" (?) and "Mill House" (13)
Folder 3
9 Poems by Lillian Bowes-Lyon, most handwritten, two cut from newspapers or journals; 6 letters to Elsie from "Lil," 1943.
Folder 4
Miscellaneous newspaper clippings
Folder 5
Newspaper clippings of reviews of L. H. Myers's books, The Root and the Flower and
The Pool of Vishnu, from a variety of British and American publications.
Letters exchanged between Leo Myers, Elsie's husband, and "Coley" Cole, a family friend, on the subject of Elsie's "Shakespeare-phobia." Several of the letters had been copied and numbered by Dorothy Palmer, Elsie's sister.
maintained by Special Collections; last revised, 5-2026, jr.