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Size | 3 feet of linear shelf space (approximately 1000 items) |
Abstract | John Brownson Ker (1860-1916) was an attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. He and his wife, Ellen Burke Ker, were both from Louisiana planter families. They were married in 1892. Their son David (1893-1918) served overseas in World War I. Their daughter Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn (d. 1960) was a volunteer leader in social welfare and mental health projects in the New York City area; organizer of a community development and aid to children project in Jacmel, Haiti, 1956-1959; and a press correspondent in Haiti. Correspondence and other papers of the family of John Brownson Ker and his wife Ellen Burke Ker. Early letters, 1779-1882, are of John Brownson Ker's parents and other Ker and Brownson relatives, most of whom were planters in Louisiana. Most of the earliest letters concern the lower Mississippi River area while it was under Spanish and British control. Papers, 1834-1882, are mainly correspondence of John Brownson's Ker's father, David Ker (1825-1884). Among the papers of the 1850s are bills of sale for slaves, bills for dry-goods, and bills for physician's fees. Correspondence, 1911-1959, includes a items relating to John Brownson Ker and Ellen Burke Ker and their son David Ker and daughter Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn. Many of these letters document David Ker's life, military service in France, and death in World War I. Much of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn's correspondence concerns her views, 1957-1959, on politics and social conditions in Haiti, and her interest in psychoanalysis. Included are more than 30 items of Carl Alfred Meier, with whom she underwent analysis in Switzerland in the 1930s. There are also psychological and sociological writings of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, including reports on the situation in Haiti, 1957-1959; a few financial papers; six notebooks, 1901-1954, containing poems and thoughts of Ellen Burke Ker; clippings; and family photographs. |
Creator | Ker, John Brownson, 1860-1916. |
Curatorial Unit | Southern Historical Collection |
Language | English. |
Processed by: Dwight D. Oland, 1970
Encoded by: Linda Sellars
Updated by: Laura Hart, August 2021
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John Brownson Ker (1860-1916) was an attorney in Brooklyn, N.Y. He and his wife, Ellen Burke Ker, were both from Louisiana planter families. They were married in 1892. Their son David (1893-1918) served overseas in World War I. Their daughter Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn (d. 1960) was a volunteer leader in social welfare and mental health projects in the New York City area; organizer of a community development and aid to children project in Jacmel, Haiti, 1956-1959; and a press correspondent in Haiti.
Back to TopCorrespondence and other papers of the family of John Brownson Ker and his wife Ellen Burke Ker. Early letters, 1779-1882, are of John Brownson Ker's parents and other Ker and Brownson relatives, most of whom were planters in Louisiana. Most of the earliest letters concern the lower Mississippi River area while it was under Spanish and British control. Papers, 1834-1882, are mainly correspondence of John Brownson Ker's father, David Ker (1825-1884). Among the papers of the 1850s are bills of sale for slaves, bills for dry-goods, and bills for physician's fees. Correspondence, 1911-1959, includes a items relating to John Brownson Ker and Ellen Burke Ker and their son David Ker and daughter Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn. Many of these letters document David Ker's life, military service in France, and death in World War I. Much of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn's correspondence concerns her views, 1957-1959, on politics and social conditions in Haiti, and her interest in psychoanalysis. Included are more than 30 items of Carl Alfred Meier, with whom she underwent analysis in Switzerland in the 1930s. There are also psychological and sociological writings of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, including reports on the situation in Haiti, 1957-1959; a few financial papers; six notebooks, 1901-1954, containing poems and thoughts of Ellen Burke Ker; clippings; and family photographs.
Back to TopArrangement: by type of material.
Correspondence, chiefly 1911-1959, and other papers of the family of John Brownson Ker (1860-1916) and his wife Ellen Burke Ker. Correspondence includes a large number of letters between John Brownson Ker and his wife Ellen, their son David Ker (1893-1918) and daughter Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn (d. 1960). In addition to correspondence there are financial papers; six notebooks, 1901-1945, of poems and thoughts of Ellen Burke Ker; psychological and sociological writings and notebooks of Elizabeth K. Schermerhorn; clippings and leaflets; and family photographs.
A major part of the correspondence concerns the life, military service, and death in World War I of David Ker (1893-1918), son of John and Ellen Ker. Included are about 50 letters comprising David Ker's correspondence with his mother, 1911-1918, and several letters, 1911-1918, from David Ker to his cousin, Pamela Thomas (later Faber).
Also included is correspondence of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn (d. 1960), daughter of John and Ellen Ker. Much of this correspondence concerns her views, 1957-1959, on politics and social conditions in Haiti, and her interest in psychoanalysis. More than 30 letters and papers were written by Carl Alfred Meier, with whom Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn underwent analysis in Switzerland in the 1930s. Other correspondents of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn include her mother; her husband Howard F. Schermerhorn; and Roger Baldwin, a member of the International League for the Rights of Man, 1957-1959.
Correspondence, 1779-1882, includes letters of John Brownson Ker's parents, David Ker (1825-1884) and Elizabeth Brownson Ker, and other ancestors, relatives, and connections, most of whom were planters in Louisiana. The earliest letters, 1779-1830, are papers of James Stelle, his wife Margaret Watts Stelle, and father-in-law Stephen Watts. These people are ancestors of Elizabeth Brownson Ker's mother, Caroline Stelle Brownson. Most of the letters concern the lower Mississippi River area while it was under Spanish and British control. Papers, 1834-1882, are mainly correspondence of David Ker. Among the correspondents are his wife and daughters, his parents, his grandmother, his son John Brownson Ker. Among the papers of the 1850s are bills of sale for slaves, bills for dry-goods, and bills for physician's fees.
Most of the writings are psychological and sociological writings of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn. Reports on the situation in Haiti, 1957-1959, are filed in folder 22. Included are evidence against the New York Times's reporting there and material on Project Jacmel. Other writings include short stories and longer fiction and writings by others.
Folder 1 |
Biographical and genealogical data |
Folder 2-5
Folder 2Folder 3Folder 4Folder 5 |
Correspondence, 1779-1883 |
Folder 6-8
Folder 6Folder 7Folder 8 |
Correspondence, 1885-1917 |
Folder 9-11
Folder 9Folder 10Folder 11 |
Correspondence, 1918 |
Folder 12-16
Folder 12Folder 13Folder 14Folder 15Folder 16 |
Correspondence, 1919-1960 |
Folder 17-19
Folder 17Folder 18Folder 19 |
Undated letters and papers and fragments |
Folder 20 |
"Psychological Revolutionaries" |
Folder 21 |
"Beyond Nihilism" |
Folder 22 |
Reports on Haiti, 1957-1959 |
Folder 23-26
Folder 23Folder 24Folder 25Folder 26 |
Writings by Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn |
Folder 27-28
Folder 27Folder 28 |
Short stories and fiction by Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn |
Folder 29 |
Writings by others |
Folder 30 |
Clippings: David Ker (1893-1918) |
Folder 31 |
Clippings: Psychology |
Folder 32 |
Clippings: Haiti |
Folder 33 |
Clippings: Fountain House |
Folder 34 |
Obituaries |
Folder 35 |
Miscellaneous clippings |
Folder 35a |
Fountain House brochure and Sotheby's catalog.Acquisitions Information: Addition of May 1989 (Acc. 89041) |
Folder 36 |
Volume 1. Ellen Burke Ker, 1901-1945Poems, meditations, thoughts. Copies of letters and clippings up to 1951. First pages missing. No apparent order. |
Folder 37-41
Folder 37Folder 38Folder 39Folder 40Folder 41 |
Volumes 2-6. Ellen Burke Ker,1950-1954Occasional thoughts written on the backs of check stubs in used checkbooks. Also clippings on MacArthur incident (in volume 3) and presidential campaign of 1952 (in volume 4). |
Folder 42 |
Volume 7. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, 1919Occasion diary of trip to France to see her brother David's grave. |
Folder 43 |
Volume 8. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, undated notebookContains psychology notes and expense accounts. |
Folder 44 |
Volume 9. Elizabeth Ker SchermerhornUndated notebook and occasional diary entries. Thoughts and notes on trips to Europe. Several pages in the style of her mother. |
Folder 45 |
Volume 10. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, April 1937-November 1940Notebook of descriptions of her dreams. |
Folder 46 |
Volume 11. Elizabeth Ker SchermerhornEnvelopes containing note cards on psychology, myths, and religion, plus part of bibliography of same subjects. |
Folder 47 |
Volume 12. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, Notes on Spengler's The Decline of the West |
Folder 48 |
Volume 13. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, Notes on psychological subjects |
Folder 49 |
Volume 14. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, Miscellaneous notes3 pages. |
Folder 50 |
Volume 15. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, Scratchbook with notes on Cuba |
Folder 51-54
Folder 51Folder 52Folder 53Folder 54 |
Volumes 16-19. Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn, Notes on Haiti, 1957-1959 |
Folder 55 |
Letter from father to John Brownson KerAcquisitions Information: Addition of 2017 (Acc. 103147) |
Folder 56 |
David Ker's Air Corps training notebookAcquisitions Information: Addition of 2017 (Acc. 103147) |
Folder 57 |
The David Ker StoryAcquisitions Information: Addition of 2017 (Acc. 103147) |
Folder 58 |
David Ker genealogyAcquisitions Information: Addition of 2017 (Acc. 103147) |
Image Folder PF-3901/1 |
Photographs of David Ker (1893-1918) |
Image Folder PF-3901/2 |
Photographs of Elizabeth Ker Schermerhorn (d. 1960) |
Image Folder PF-3901/3 |
Family photographs |
Image Folder PF-3901/4-5
PF-3901/4PF-3901/5 |
Miscellaneous photographs |
Image folders PF-3901/1-5
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