Doris Holmes Blake - Correspondence between Arthur Lake Holmes and Lucy Wentworth Holmes, 1899 and undated

With a busy seven-year-old girl, Lucy Wentworth Holmes barely found the time to write to her husband, Arthur Holmes, while he was away in 1899. Holmes explained how she and her daughter, future Smithsonian entomologist Doris Holmes Blake, passed their days. They swung on the hammock (which explains the not-so-straight handwriting), visited the beach, indulged in some afternoon ice cream, and young Doris practiced her writing on a slate. Get a glimpse into the lives of Holmes Blake’s parents over a 20-year period. For more context about the Doris Holmes Blake Papers, explore the collection finding aid.