Series 2 - Correspondence

0.25 m of textual records

There are two correspondents with Davidson Black in this series: his mother, Margaret, and, especially, his wife, Adena. There are large gaps in the letters received from his mother. There are scattered letters for the years 1905, 1908, 1912 and 1920. A substantial number exist only for the years 1921 to 1927.

More of Adena’s letters to Davidson have survived. In the early years of their relationship, she numbered her letters; 95 numbered ones (along with several unnumbered ones and postcards) were written between 24 July 1912 and the end of 1913. Only one, #80, is missing here. After their marriage, the number of letters Adena wrote to Davidson fell off sharply, but not as sharply as the gaps in this series would indicate. There are only four letters for 1914, all written in January (they were together for most of the year, including their trip to Europe), and none thereafter until 1920. This means there are no letters for the period when Davidson was on active service during World War I (June 1917 to January 1919). There is only one letter present for 1920, none for 1921, and five for 1922. For the next, decade, until August 1933, there are a good number of letters, as the Blacks were often separated for weeks or months at a time.

The remainder of this series contains letters sent to and/or received from relatives and friends, including Professor J. J. R. Macleod; his file also contains one his hand-painted Christmas cards.

Open