Cornelia Gray Lunt (1843-1934) Papers

The Cornelia Gray Lunt Papers include a variety of scattered miscellaneous materials from 1866 to 1964. They are arranged in four main categories including biographical materials, correspondence, writings, and bound volumes.

The biographical materials include articles about and obituaries of Cornelia Lunt as well as various miscellaneous items including articles relating to the razing of her home after her death. While her own writings contain much information about herself and her family, other biographical materials relating to her father and her family may be found in the Orrington Lunt Papers.

Lunt's general correspondence, 1896-1927, was conducted with various officers of Northwestern University, including Frank P. Crandon, Secretary of the Board of Trustees; and President Walter Dill Scott.

The series also includes correspondence, 1912-1923, with Mrs. Edward (Katherine) F. Wynn, a friend then living in New York City.

The miscellaneous writings include “An Appreciation” for Regina Watson, a friend and member of the Fortnightly Club; a report to the Northwestern University Board of Trustees in 1925 regarding women trustees; “Reminiscences” written for the Evanston Historical Society; and two other reminiscences pertaining mainly to her father Orrington Lunt.

The series also includes six bound volumes including four journals that span the years 1866 to 1867 and 1869 to 1872. These include descriptions of her travels in Europe and the Middle East. In addition she often transcribed letters to and from herself in her journals. The fifth volume includes an undated fictional piece entitled, “Romance, One Winter. The History of a Dream. Volume III.” She annotated this volume noting that, “I had 'let myself go'; given full rein to imagination…” The sixth volume, “The Longfellow Birthday Book” was a gift in which she recorded the birthdays of members of the Lunt family and friends.

Cornelia Lunt's Sketches of Childhood and Girlhood, privately published in 1925, is a reminiscence of the years l847 to 1864. A copy may be found in the University Archives Reading Room. Photographs from the Cornelia Lunt Papers and the Orrington Lunt Papers were transferred to the University Archives Photographic Collection.

Additional items pertaining to Cornelia Gray Lunt, including a note and two photographs, may be found among the holdings of the Special Collections Department of the Northwestern University Library. See their series LX, Box 1, Folder 17.