Letters, three mss. speeches, fragments, and printed material. Includes courtship letters of Polly Clark and Merlin Mead, South Salem, N.Y. and Waterbury, Conn.; Civil War letters of Aaron Benedict Mead; letters about Aaron's marriage to Mary Elizabeth Packard and their life in Chicago, including the Chicago fire (and a lump of sterling silver melted in the fire); other family letters, including one to his great grandson Harold Tanner Gaymon; business and estate papers from Franklinville, N.Y.; and genealogical information. Also, AARON BENEDICT MEAD: HIS LIFE AND LETTERS, a collection of the letters compiled by Elizabeth Philbrick.