INA SIZER CASSIDY AND BERNICE MILES WARD PAPERS
SCOPE AND CONTENT NOTE
Arranged first by subject and then chronologically, the bulk of the collection consists of correspondence between Ina Sizer Cassidy and her niece, Bernice Miles Ward and samples of their writings. Correspondence and documents relating to other family members comprise a portion of the papers. The papers were collected by Bernice Miles Ward and generally concern members of her family. Photographs either taken or collected by Bernice Miles Ward reflect her travels and life experiences including visits to her aunt, Ina Sizer Cassidy, in Santa Fe.
Correspondence (primarily to her niece), newspaper clippings, and samples of Ina Sizer Cassidy's articles and stories comprise this series. Also included are pamphlets and brochures produced by Cassidy featuring information about the works of her painter husband, Gerald Cassidy.
The papers in this series include information about Bernice Miles Ward's graduation from Colorado College and her marriage to Harry Ward. The bulk of the series, however, consists of correspondence to her aunt, Ina Sizer Cassidy, in which she chronicles her life as a Denver housewife. The Denver Knife and Fork Club occupied her attention in the 1950s and 1960s. She discussed the speakers and their ideas in detail. In the correspondence, she also detailed her experiences teaching Old Testament lessons providing examples of review and test questions for her classes.
Correspondence, obituaries, biographical sketches, stories and poetry comprise the papers of other members of the Sizer and Miles families.
A yearbook from Steamboat Springs High School in 1923, Ina Sizer Cassidy's poetry scrapbook and a scrapbook compiled by Bernice Miles Ward's Skinner Junior High School class in 1931 comprise one oversize box's contents. Newspaper clippings of interest to Eunice Castleman Sizer comprise one oversize scrapbook. The scrapbook also contains a sampling of Bernice Miles Ward's childhood papers including school report cards.
Family photographs comprise a portion of the series. Bernice Miles Ward's travel photographs constitute another portion. She photographed Indians throughout the southwest including an image of Marie (Maria Montoya Martinez), the well-known potter of San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico. Early twentieth-century images depict Colorado College in Colorado Springs, Colorado; Steamboat Springs, Colorado; ranch life in the Hayden/Craig, Colorado area; and mid-twentieth-century residential Denver, Colorado.
Dates
- TBD
ACCESS:
The collection is open for research.
OWNERSHIP:
Literary and copyrights - as appropriate - have been assigned to the Denver Public Library.
PUBLICATION RIGHTS:
All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Eber R. Sizer (1833-1890) moved to southwestern Colorado in 1859 from Iowa. In 1865, he married Mary Savage Miles (1846-1903; previously married to W.M. Miles). She had a son, John Edgar Miles from her first marriage. Mary and Eber Sizer had four children: Eber R., Maggie, James Harl (Uncle Harl) and Perlina (Ina). The Sizer family moved to Routt County, Colorado in 1888.
Ina Sizer was born March 4, 1869 on a ranch near present-day Las Animas, Colorado. In 1890, she married John Boyd Davis, who died in 1899. From 1899 to 1912, she was a businesswoman in Denver, working as vice-president of Montrose Orchard Company and director of National Unitarian Woman's Alliance. In 1912, she married artist Gerald Cassidy (1879-1934), known for his paintings of southwestern Indians. The couple moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico. As a writer on the subjects of artists and art, Ina Sizer Cassidy served as Director of the Federal Writers' Project in New Mexico and wrote articles about art and artists for the New Mexico magazine, as well as a regular column. She participated in the New Mexico Association on Indian Affairs, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, the Historical Society of New Mexico and was a founder of the Folklore Society of New Mexico. Cassidy was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Mayflower Society. Having participated in the women's suffrage movement, she became a charter member of the National League of Women Voters in New Mexico.
Ina Sizer Davis Cassidy died in Santa Fe in 1965.
July 17, 1899, Bernice Miles Ward was born in Colorado to Ina Sizer Cassidy's half-brother, John Edgar (Ed) Miles (1867-1943) and Eula Castleman Miles (approximately 1876-1931). John Edgar (Ed) Miles was a rancher and livestock loan appraiser in Routt County, Colorado as well as a deputy U.S. Marshal in Denver for four years. He married Eula Castleman from Kansas City in 1898. Eula Miles started a Camp Fire Girls organization in Hayden, Colorado in 1914. Her daughter, Bernice Miles Ward, was one of the charter members.
Bernice Miles Ward graduated from Hayden High School in 1917 and from Colorado College in 1921. She taught junior high and high school English in Steamboat Springs and Denver, Colorado. In 1931, she was teaching at Skinner Junior High in Denver. Later, she taught at Colorado Woman's College in Denver. In 1937, she married Harry Ward, an engineer who served as a Naval Officer in the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war, the couple lived in Denver, Colorado where Harry Ward worked for the Great Western Sugar Company. Bernice Miles Ward was active in Denver society and a member of the Denver Knife and Fork Club.
Bernice Miles Ward died in Denver in 1974.
Extent
2 Boxes (1.5 linear feet)
2 OVBoxes
2 PhotoBoxes, 5 PhotoOVBoxes, 1 PhotoOVFF
Other Finding Aids
PROVENANCE:
Sandra Dallas donated the papers in 2002, 2006 and 2008.
SIZE:
Number of Boxes: 2 (1.5 linear feet)
Oversize: 2 OVBoxes
Photographs: 2 PhotoBoxes, 5 PhotoOVBoxes, 1 PhotoOVFF
LOCATION:
WH1966
PROCESSED BY:
Jennifer Dewey
Ann Brown
March 2012
PROJECT MANAGER:
Abby Hoverstock
- Cassidy, Gerald, -- 1869-1934 -- Archival resources.
- Cassidy, Ina Sizer, -- 1869-1965 -- Archival resources.
- Family life -- Colorado -- History -- Pictorial works. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Family papers. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Folklore -- New Mexico. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Letters (correspondence). Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Photographs albums. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Photographs. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Ranching -- Colorado -- Routt County. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Scrapbooks. Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Vacations -- Pictorial works. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Ward, Bernice Miles, -- 1899-1974 -- Archives.
- Ward, Henry J. -- Archival resources.
- Women authors, American. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women teachers -- Colorado -- Denver. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Women teachers -- Colorado -- Steamboat Springs. Subject Source: Library of Congress Subject Headings
- Title
- INA SIZER CASSIDY AND BERNICE MILES WARD PAPERS
- Date
- MARCH 2012
- Language of description
- Undetermined
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Repository Details
Part of the Denver Public Library, Western History and Genealogy Repository
