Series 45: Welty Family Papers, Eudora Welty Collection (Z/0301)
Series 45: Welty Family Papers.
Dates: 1883-1981; n.d.
Size: 10 cubic ft.
Biographical Sketches:
Christian Webb Welty was born in Hocking County, Ohio on February 15, 1879. He was the son of Jefferson Welty (1854-1930) and Alma Webb Welty (1855-1886). After Alma’s death, Jefferson married Mary Frances Kerwood (1859-1926) in 1888, and had two more children, Grace M. Welty (1890-1948) and Arthur Kerwood Welty (1892-1965). In October 1904, Chris, as he was known, married Chestina Andrews.
Christian Webb Welty moved to Jackson, Mississippi from West Virginia in 1904 and worked as a cashier for the Security Mutual Life Insurance Company in Jackson. In 1906, he joined the Lamar Life Insurance Company, where he remained for the next twenty-five years. In 1925, he presided over the development of Jackson’s first skyscraper, the Lamar Life Building. In 1929, he founded the WJDX radio station in Jackson where Eudora Welty worked in the early nineteen-thirties. Christian Webb Welty enjoyed taking pictures and was adept at shooting self-portraits; his interest inspired Eudora to pursue photography. He encouraged his daughter to be practical, read nonfiction books, and take business courses at Columbia University. He gave Eudora her first dictionary, which she used her entire life, as well as her first typewriter.
On September 23, 1931, Christian Webb Welty died from leukemia with his wife and daughter at his side in the hospital. He is buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi.
Mary Chestine Andrews was born on September 19, 1883, in West Virginia. She was the daughter of Edward Raboteau “Ned” Andrews (1862-1899) and Frances Eudora Carden Andrews (1858-1914). Chestine Andrews was often called Chestina and Chessie.
Chestina Andrews and Christian Webb Welty began courting in 1903. The two met when Chestina was working as a schoolteacher in West Virginia and Christian worked at a logging camp near her home. Chestina and Christian had five children, although two died in infancy. Their first child, named after her husband, Christian Webb Welty, lived from April 28, 1906 to August 7, 1906 (the headstone is misdated as 1907) and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. On January 26, 1924, Chestina gave birth to a premature, stillborn girl who is buried at Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. Their surviving children were Eudora Alice Welty, Edward Jefferson Welty, and Walter Andrews Welty.
Chestina enjoyed gardening, reading mystery novels, participating in community theater, and charities. She was influential in Eudora’s writing career and encouraged her to write creatively. Chestina’s love of Charles Dickens inspired young Eudora to read and write.
Chestina never fully recovered from the loss of her husband but lived for nearly thirty-five years after his death. Chestina Andrews Welty died on January 20, 1966, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi after complications from a stroke and is buried in Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson next to her husband.
Eudora Alice Welty was born April 13, 1909, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. Her novel, The Optimist’s Daughter, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1973. After a distinguished career, she died July 23, 2001, of cardiopulmonary failure, surrounded by her family in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Jackson, adjacent to her infant brother. Several biographies have been published about Eudora Welty and are available for research at MDAH.
Edward Jefferson Welty was born June 15, 1912, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology and joined the Army shortly after college. He married Elinor “Ellen” Marie Saul (1909-2007). He liked to play golf and was a talented cartoonist. His letters with his sister, Eudora, usually included many jokes, drawings, stories, and were often signed with contrived names. Edward and his brother Walter registered for the draft on October 16, 1940, and Edward enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces on September 24, 1942, and received an honorable discharge on October 15, 1945. After his service in the United States Army Air Forces, Edward returned to Jackson, Mississippi, where he worked as an architect. He died January 24, 1966, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi from a brain infection while recovering from a broken neck just four days after his mother’s death. He is buried a Cedar Lawn Cemetery in Jackson.
Walter Andrews Welty was born August 22, 1915, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi, and Eudora regarded him as the more mischievous sibling. He attended the University of Mississippi, and like his brother Edward, Walter was an avid golfer and joined the United States military during World War II, serving in the Navy. He enlisted on October 23, 1942, at Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and was released from active duty on February 19, 1946. Throughout his letters, he told jokes and regularly signed his letters with an invented name or “Ytlew” (Welty written backward). On November 10, 1939, Walter married Mittie Elizabeth Creekmore (1917-2004), the sister of Eudora’s longtime friend, author Hubert Creekmore, and the daughter of Hiram Hubert and Mittie Horton Creekmore. The couple had two children, Elizabeth “Liz” Welty Thompson (1944-2012) and Mary Alice Welty White (b. 1947). Walter died on January 9, 1959, in Jackson, Hinds County, Mississippi from complications of arthritis. He is buried next to his wife, Mittie, at Lakewood Memorial Park in Jackson.
Frances Eudora “Dora” Carden was born in 1858 in Buckingham County, Virginia to William Carden (1823-1914) and Eudora Ayres (1830s-1865). She had four brothers, of which, John David Carden, is featured in this series. She married Edward Raboteau “Ned” Andrews (1862-1899) in 1882 and had six children: Mary Chestine “Chessie” Andrews (1883-1966), Edward Columbus “Bus” Andrews (1885-1940), William Augustus “Gus” Andrews (1887-1949), Robert Carl Andrews (1889-1967), John Thomas Andrews (1891-1920), and Moses Carden Andrews (1893-1973). Eudora Carden Andrews died surrounded by her sons in 1914 in West Virginia.
Mary Stedman Raboteau (1845-1918) married Christopher Columbus Andrews (1829-1876) in 1859. The couple had seven children: Margaret “Maggie” Grest Andrews Oldham (1860-1934); Edward Raboteau “Ned” Andrews (1862-1899); Mary Esther “Essie” Andrews Land (1864-1955); Julia Estelle “Stella” Andrews Upshur (1866-1956); Fannie M. Andrews (1869-1870); Olive “Ollie” Virginia Andrews Norsworthy (1872-1951); and Theodore Christopher Andrews (1874-1925). Two of Chestina Andrews Welty’s aunts, Stella and Ollie, were deeply involved in Chestina’s life and often wrote to her as featured in this series.
Scope and Content Note:
From 1903 to 1904, Christian Webb Welty and Chestina Andrews wrote to each other nearly every day until the week of their wedding. The progression of Christian’s and Chestina’s relationship in the courting years is evident as “Mr. Welty” eventually becomes “Chris,” and “Chestine” becomes “Chessie” throughout their greetings and salutations. While Christian was living in Yankee Dam, West Virginia, he would visit her every Sunday in Clay, West Virginia, until he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where Chestina would eventually move after their wedding in October 1904. After Christian moved to Jackson in early 1904, it is clear that Chestina missed him deeply. The couple shared many thoughts and dreams, both humorous and serious, with one another in their correspondence. They enjoyed taking photographs of each other and of themselves, together, in self-portraits.
The correspondence between the two continued throughout their marriage. Christian Welty traveled often for work and in 1928 stayed in a sanatorium for his health in Battle Creek, Michigan. The couple also wrote to each other when Chestina Welty returned to West Virginia to visit her family while Christian stayed behind to work in Jackson.
Several pieces of correspondence contain annotations and marks by Eudora Welty.
Christian Webb Welty’s correspondence to his family includes letters to his mother-in-law, Eudora Carden Andrews. One letter of interest is from Eudora Carden Andrews giving her permission for Christian Welty to marry her daughter Chestina Andrews. Correspondence also includes letters to his children Eudora, Edward, and Walter Welty. In addition, associated correspondence consists of an 1883 letter from a childhood friend, Allie Stroup; a 1909 letter from S. B. Fulton, President of Elkhurst Planing Mill and Lumber Company, who hoped to convince Christian Welty to stay in Yankee Dam, West Virginia; and a 1930 advertising postcard from the Davey Tree Surgery Radio Hour.
The Christian Webb Welty papers also include his personal papers, such as his certificate of baptism dated September 11, 1892, the floor plans he drew to show Chestina Andrews Welty the house he rented and the one they would rent together once married, a duplicate letter from Christian to Chestina typed by Eudora Welty, and newspaper articles about Christian Welty. Lastly, the collection has memorial materials prepared by Lamar Life Insurance Company consisting of several resolutions, memorial articles published in newsletters The Firing Line and The Pepper Box, and newspaper clippings regarding his death.
Chestina Andrews Welty received many letters from her mother, Eudora Carden Andrews, over the years. As Chestina was the eldest child, the only girl of the family, and the farthest away from home, her mother missed Chestina greatly and the two remained close. The papers of Chestina Andrews Welty include correspondence from her brothers William Augustus “Gus”, Edward Columbus “Bus”, Robert Carl, and Moses Andrews, as well from her son, Edward Welty, and her grandmother, Mary Stedman Raboteau Andrews. Correspondence in this series also includes letters from her aunts Stella Andrews Upshur and Ollie Andrews Norsworthy. In this series, Chestina’s outgoing correspondence consists of letters to her brother Robert Carl Andrews, his wife Maude Stephenson Andrews, and their daughter Eudora Catherine Andrews. In addition, the associated correspondence consists of letters with Frank Lyell, letters from William “Bill” Maxwell, and a few others whose last names are unidentified, but who seem close to the family.
This series contains written works such as an original poem by Chestina Andrews Welty titled “Tonight.” Personal papers, such as Chestina’s applications to and certificate from the Daughters of the American Revolution, an enrollment fee receipt from Marshall College, which she attended in 1903, as well as newspaper clippings about Chestina Andrews Welty are available in the series. Of note, is a bill/receipt from Dr. Julius Crisler’s medical office for the birth of Eudora Welty, and a family field trip log between September 6-9, 1920, by Chestina.
The papers of Eudora Alice Welty in this series are focused on correspondence between family members, family-related notes, and childhood writings.
The series begins with outgoing correspondence to family members. At an early age, Eudora Welty sent a few letters to her father, Christian Webb Welty. Eudora sent many letters and postcards to her mother, Chestina Andrews Welty, during her New York and European trips. She also sent postcards to her nieces Elizabeth Welty Thompson and Mary Alice Welty White, and many letters and postcards to their mother and Eudora’s sister-in-law, Mittie Creekmore Welty, as well as to Maude Stephenson Andrews.
The series continues with incoming correspondence from family members, including Eudora’s mother Chestina Andrews Welty, and her father Christian Webb Welty. Eudora also received letters from her grandmother, Eudora Carden Andrews; her great-grandmother, Mary Stedman Raboteau Andrews; her aunts, Stella Andrews Upshur and Grace Welty; her nieces Elizabeth Welty Thompson and Mary Alice Welty White; and various extended family members. One piece of correspondence in this series, while not sent by a family member, contained information about Mittie Creekmore Welty’s brother and longtime friend of Eudora, Hubert Creekmore and his memorial service in New York City. Additionally, a letter from a childhood friend, Florence Studenberg, is included in this series and contains the character list from a play that Eudora created when they were schoolchildren.
This series contains several written works, personal papers, and a couple photographs of or by Eudora Welty. Of particular interest are Eudora’s diary, handwritten notes about her parents’ correspondence and her family’s history, genealogy, and chronology. Additionally, the series includes material for “The Wells” and One Writer’s Beginnings (see Series 1: Uncollected Stories and Series 17: One Writer’s Beginnings for related material), the famous White Fruitcake recipe, tourist photobooks, a blue paint stamp of a bird, a handwritten Kenningtons advertisement, and notes about magazine subscriptions.
Two letters written in 1941 to Chestina Andrews Welty were noted by Welty on an attached envelope as being about a New York publication party for Welty’s book A Curtain of Green.
The papers of Edward Jefferson Welty contain correspondence with his family including his mother Chestina Andrews Welty, his father Christian Webb Welty, his sister Eudora Welty, his brother Walter Welty, and one unidentified person. Two letters from Mary Alice Welty White are addressed to both Edward and Elinor. In addition to correspondence, the papers of Edward Welty include his creative works, such as posters he had designed for the United States Army, cartoons, sketches of athletes, inkblots he made with his nieces Elizabeth Welty Thompson and Mary Alice Welty White, as well as a gift tag from his mother, Chestina Andrews Welty. Additionally, the series features Edward Welty’s 1946 architectural drawing for the Mississippi State Sanatorium; brochures and newspaper clippings regarding his “luxury home” design for a contest sponsored by Household Magazine and the National Association of Home Builders in 1956; and Christmas greetings on blueprint paper from the office of R. W. Naef, Jackson, Mississippi.
The papers of Walter Andrews Welty contain correspondence with his family including his mother Chestina Andrews Welty, his father Christian Webb Welty, and his sister Eudora Welty. Correspondence in the series also includes letters from both Walter and Mittie Creekmore Welty. The series contains an untitled story written by Walter as a child. Regarding his military service in the Navy, Walter Welty’s papers include two Tuxis System Insignia Tests for distinguished cadet and honor cadet. The papers include an invitation to the November 10, 1939 wedding of Mittie Elizabeth Creekmore and Walter Andrews Welty, and a newspaper clipping about Walter at Standard Life Insurance Company. Also included are two poems and a story by their daughter Elizabeth Welty Thompson written in her youth.
The papers in this series consist of correspondence from family members including letters sent to Eudora Carden Andrews. The series includes personal papers such as a description of the Andrews Family Coat of Arms, copies of wills from Henry and John Welty, and newspaper clippings related to family members. Also included are genealogical research papers collected by Chestina Andrews Welty for each surname featured, including correspondence with relatives corroborating the research.
Chestina Andrews Welty was a founding member of the Jackson Garden Club, born from a group of members of Jackson, Mississippi’s Garden Lovers’ Club. She was elected as the first vice-president of the club on January 15, 1931, the day of the club’s founding, and served as president from 1934 to 1935. Chestina Welty is credited for three major events that occurred during her presidency, including the launching of a garden library, the welcoming of Jackson’s first nationally known lecturer and flower show authority Ethel Peckham, and the planting of crape myrtle trees on North State Street and North West Street in Jackson alongside the Kiwanis Club. From 1945 to 1946, Chestina aided the Jackson Garden Club as parliamentarian and served as president of the Belhaven Garden Club around 1936 and 1946.
The gardening papers of Chestina Andrews Welty in this series include Chestina’s garden journal (or diary as referred to by Chestina) containing notes on flower arrangements and formulas, landscaping and garden design, sketches of her garden, weather logs, flower costs, a list of Belhaven library books, guidelines and criteria for judging, and a Valentine’s poem. Additional items in the series include a spiral bound notebook comprising of Chestina’s gardening notes and Jackson Garden Club minutes, as well as both a handwritten and typed draft of an article titled “History of the Jackson Garden Club” by Chestina Welty. The series concludes with photographic negatives of the Welty House and Garden at 1119 Pinehurst Street and Magic Lantern glass slides, with an accompanying list of titles, from gardens belonging to various members of the Jackson Garden Club and downtown Jackson, Mississippi including significant places such as the Governor’s Mansion. Two boxes originally holding the glass slides were annotated by Chestina Welty and read “Victor Animatograph Co – Davenport, Iowa. Note the red sticker is at the bottom left corner of the right side of slide.” One box indicates that it contained slides 1-24 while the second box indicates that it contained slides 25-42. Note that there are 44 glass slides.
Related Works: See Haltom and Brown’s One Writer’s Garden: Eudora Welty’s Home Place (University Press of Mississippi: Jackson, 2011) for more information on Chestina’s garden journal and the efforts that took place to restore the garden at the Eudora Welty House and Garden. See also the following MDAH collections relating to Chestina’s work with the Jackson Garden Club: Jackson Council of Garden Clubs Scrapbooks (Z/1891.000/S) for Chestina Welty’s contribution to the Jackson Garden Club; Jackson Garden Council of Garden Clubs, Accretion (Z/1909.000/S) for the directory and history of the Jackson Garden Club; and “History of the Jackson Garden Club” (716.2/W46h) for the published pamphlet by Chestina Welty.
Series 45: Welty Family Papers Box and Folder List
Series Identification:
Series 45.1: Correspondence of Christian Webb Welty and Chestina Andrews Welty.
Subseries 45.1.1: Christian Webb Welty Outgoing Correspondence to Chestina Andrews Welty, 1903-1914; 1924; 1931; n.d.
Boxes 447-451
Box 452, Folders 1-31
Subseries 45.1.2: Chestina Andrews Welty Outgoing Correspondence to Christian Webb Welty, 1903-1907; 1909-1914; 1916; n.d.
Box 452, Folder 32-107
Boxes 453-454
Series 45.2: Papers of Christian Webb Welty.
Subseries 45.2.1: Outgoing Correspondence with Family, 1906; 1920; 1930-1931.
Box 455, folders 1-4
Subseries 45.2.2: Incoming Correspondence with Family, 1904; 1906; 1908; n.d.
Box 455, folders 5-9
Subseries 45.2.3: Associated Correspondence, 1883; 1903; 1930.
Box 455, folders 10-12
Subseries 45.2.4: Personal Papers, 1892; n.d.
Box 455, folders 13-14
Subseries 45.2.5: Newspaper Clippings.
Box 455, folders 15-16
Subseries 45.2.6: In Memoriam Materials, 1931-1932; 1980; 1983.
Box 455, folders 17-23
Box 462, folder 40
Series 45.3: Papers of Chestina Andrews Welty.
Subseries 45.3.1: Outgoing Correspondence with Family, 1919-1920; 1924-1928; 1942; 1949; 1952.
Box 455, folders 24-38
Subseries 45.3.2: Incoming Correspondence with Family, 1899; 1902; 1904-1914; 1916; 1919; 1926; 1931; 1943; 1946; 1951; n.d.
Box 455, folders 39-114
Box 456, folders 1-58
Subseries 45.3.3: Associated Correspondence, 1950; 1954; 1956; 1973.
Box 456, folders 59-63
Subseries 45.3.4: Written Works, n.d.
Box 456, folder 64
Subseries 45.3.5: Personal Papers, 1903; 1909; n.d.
Box 456, folders 65-71
Box 464, folder 8 (D.A.R. Certificate)
Subseries 45.3.6: Business, 1938; n.d.
Box 456, folders 72-73
Subseries 45.3.7: Newspaper Clippings.
Box 456, folder 74
Subseries 45.3.8: Family Field Trip Log, September 6-9, 1920.
Box 456, folder 75
Series 45.4: Papers of Eudora Welty.
Subseries 45.4.1: Outgoing Correspondence with Family, 1909; 1912-1914; 1920; 1931; 1941; 1947; 1949-1951; 1954; 1956; 1958-1959; 1963; 1965-1971; 1974-1977; 1979; 1984; n.d.
Box 456, folders 76-113
Box 457
Box 458, folders 1-22
Box 462, folder 41
Box 463, folder 26 (original pressed flowers)
Subseries 45.4.2: Incoming Correspondence with Family, [circa 1910-1914]; 1913; 1914; 1916; 1919; 1922; 1927-1932; 1935; 1941-1944; 1946; 1948-1949; 1952; 1956-1959; 1997; n.d.
Box 458, folders 23-96
Box 459, folders 1-87
Subseries 45.4.3: Associated Correspondence, 1938-1939; 1942; 1967.
Box 459, folders 88-90
Subseries 45.4.4: Written Works, [circa 1920s]; 1926; 1972; 1981.
Box 459, folders 91-94
Box 460, folders 1-12
Box 463, folder 25 (original stick pins)
Subseries 45.4.5: Personal Papers, 1959; 1975; 1980; n.d.
Box 460, folders 13-16
Box 462, folder 42
Box 463, folders 23-24 (duplicates of White Fruitcake Recipe booklets)
Subseries 45.4.6: Photographs, n.d.
Box 460, folders 17-18
Subseries 45.4.7: Ephemera, n.d.
Box 460, folders 19-21
Box 463, folders 1-21 (original folders and envelopes)
Series 45.5: Papers of Edward and Elinor Welty.
Subseries 45.5.1: Outgoing Correspondence with Family, 1928-1933; 1941-1944; 1949; 1951; 1954; n.d.
Box 460, folders 22-75
Box 461, folders 1-42
Box 464, folder 3 (newspaper clipping)
Subseries 45.5.2: Incoming Correspondence with Family, 1962; n.d.
Box 461, folders 43-44
Subseries 45.5.3: Edward Welty’s Drawings, [circa 1930s]; 1942-1943; 1964; n.d.
Box 461, folders 45-55
Box 464, folders 2; 4-7 (posters and drawings)
Subseries 45.5.4: Edward Welty’s Architectural Papers, 1946; 1951; 1956; n.d.
Box 461, folders 56-61
Subseries 45.5.5: Edward Welty’s Personal Papers, 1959; n.d.
Box 460, folder 15
Box 461, folder 62
Series 45.6: Papers of Walter and Mittie Welty and Family.
Subseries 45.6.1: Outgoing Correspondence with Family, 1928-1931; 1933-1935; 1938-1939; 1944; 1947.
Box 461, folders 63-80
Subseries 45.6.2: Walter Welty’s Written Works, [circa late 1920s].
Box 461, folder 81
Subseries 45.6.3: Walter Welty’s Naval Cadet Tests, n.d.
Box 461, folders 82-83
Subseries 45.6.4: Walter and Mittie Welty’s Personal Papers, 1939; 1955.
Box 461, folders 84-85
Subseries 45.6.5: Elizabeth Welty Thompson’s Written Works, n.d.
Box 461, folders 86-88
Subseries 45.6.6: Elizabeth and Mary Alice Welty’s Personal Papers, 1957.
Box 462, folder 43
Series 45.7: Papers of Andrews-Carden-Raboteau-Welty Families.
Subseries 45.7.1: General Family Correspondence, 1908; n.d.
Box 461, folders 89-92
Subseries 45.7.2: Personal Papers, 1935; n.d.
Box 462, folders 1-9; 44
Subseries 45.7.3: Andrews Family Genealogy, 1931; 1936-1937; 1939; 1945; 1983; n.d.
Box 462, folders 10-26
Box 464, folder 8 (Andrews family tree)
Subseries 45.7.4: Carden Family Genealogy, n.d.
Box 462, folder 27
Subseries 45.7.5: Raboteau Family Genealogy, n.d.
Box 462, folder 28
Subseries 45.7.6: Welty Family Genealogy, 1916; 1926; 1930; 1935; 1941; n.d.
Box 462, folders 29-39
Series 45.8: Gardening Papers of Chestina Andrew Welty.
Subseries 45.8.1: Gardening Notes 1937-1941; 1943; 1945; 1947-1948; 1952.
Box 462, folders 45-47
Box 471, folders 1-2
Subseries 45.8.2: Photographs, circa 1930s; circa 2002; n.d.
Box 462, folders 48-49
Box 472, negative numbers 1-30 (restricted)
Box 473, folders 1-2
Box 474, slides 1-26 (restricted)
Box 475, slides 27-44 (restricted)
Box 482
Subseries 45.8.3: Newspaper Clippings, 1941
Box 462, folder 50