There are not many outgoing letters in the collection, and most are of a personal nature, generally to her parents. Also included here are messages written to her at important crossroads in her life: her marriage in 1950 and her father’s death and her return to Anniston in 1964.
Sections
At Ashley Hall (1940)
Marriage (1950)
Near St. Louis, Mo. (1955)
In Pittsburgh, Pa. (1961-1962)
Father’s death (1964)
Clicking any of the images below will allow you to read the correspondence at full size.
At Ashley Hall (1940)
In this section are letters from teenage Elise Ayers to her family from her boarding school in Charleston, South Carolina. Though she focused on her immediate situation — classes and classmates — she was also interested in keeping up with events at home and abroad. As the letters were sent in 1940, a particular concern of the whole family was Hitler’s invasion of Norway, where some of her mother’s family still lived.
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., March 4, 1940
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., April 24, 1940
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., May 4, 1940
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., May 20, 1940
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., circa 1940
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Ashley Hall School, Charleston, S.C., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., circa 1940
Marriage (1950)
In this section is a letter that discusses Elise Ayers’s relationship with her future husband, a chemical engineer named Phillip Sanguinetti, as well as telegrams from far-off friends congratulating her on her marriage.
Handwritten letter, Elise Ayers, Anniston, Ala., to Edel Ytterboe Ayers, Honolulu, Hawaii, April 25, 1950
Telegram, Dick, Jerusalem, Israel, to Elise Ayers, Anniston, Ala., November 23, 1950
Telegram, Cato Aal Ginni and Leif Willars Dahl, Oslo, Norway, to Harry Mell Ayers, Anniston, Ala., November 24, 1950
Telegram, Nancy and Estes Kefauver, Washington, D.C., to Elise and Phillip Sanguinetti, Anniston, Ala., November 24, 1950
Telegram, Osca and Pokie, New York, N.Y., to Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers, Anniston, Ala., November 25, 1950
Telegram, Esther and Russell Jenkins, Rockville, Md., to Elise Ayers, Anniston, Ala., November 25, 1950
Near St. Louis, Mo. (1955)
In this section, letters discuss Elise and Phil setting up house in Clayton, Mo., a small town at the edge of St. Louis, as well as the purchase of a car and Phil’s emergency appendectomy.
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., May 9, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to All, Anniston, Ala., May 17, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., June 16, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe) and Brandy (Harry Brandt) Ayers, Anniston, Ala., July 26, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to All, Anniston, Ala., July 29, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to All, Anniston, Ala., August 31, 1955
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Clayton, Mo., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Anniston, Ala., September 21, 1955
In Pittsburgh, Pa. (1961-1962)
This section includes letters from their time in Pittsburgh, where she continued writing and began her career as a published writer. Some of her earliest correspondence with Mademoiselle and with her first agent and publisher are here, as they were sent as enclosures in letters to her parents. (These items also appear separately in the sections on professional correspondence.)
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), September 1961
Contains the following enclosures: (1) Typed letter, Candida Donadio, Russell & Volkening, Inc., New York, N.Y., to Elise Sanguinetti, September 27, 1961 and (2) Handwritten letter, Tracey Brigden, Mademoiselle, New York, N.Y., to Candida Donadio, Russell & Volkening, Inc., New York, N.Y.
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), September 27, 1961
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), January 16, 1962
Contains the following enclosure: Handwritten letter, Lucy Daniels, Raleigh, N.C., to Elise Sanguinetti, January 7, 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), Feburary 4, 1962
Contains the following enclosures: (1) Typed letter, Barbara Lee Collins, Assistant Editor, McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y., to Philip and Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburg, Penn., January 23, 1962; (2) Handwritten letter, Mrs. Richard J. (Barbara) Collins, Clayton, Mo., to Elise Sanguinetti, circa January 1962; (3) Typed letter, Sara Henderson Hay, Pittsburg, Penn., to Elise Sanguinetti, Jan. 31, 1962; (4) Typed letter (carbon), Sally (Sara Henderson Hay), Pittsburg, Penn., to Mary O’Hara, Pittsburg, Penn., January 31, 1962; and (5) Typed letter (carbon), Sara Henderson Hay, Pittsburg, Penn., to David Bollinger, Book Review Editor, Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburg, Penn., January 31, 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), March 9, 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), April 4, 1962
Handwritten note, Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), May 21, 1962
Contains the following enclosure: Typed letter, Minnie Hite Moody to Elise Sanguinetti, May 1962
Handwritten letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), June 2, 1962
Contains the following enclosures: (1) Handwritten note, Marguerite and Jim Hillman to Elise Sanguinetti, circa May 1962 and (2) Handwritten letter, Florence Lamb to Elise Sanguinetti, May 24, 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), June 15, 1962
Contains the following enclosure: Typed letter, Daisy B. Dudley, Seale, Ala., to Elise Sanguinetti, June 9, 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), circa 1962
Typed letter, Elise Sanguinetti to Mother and Daddy (Harry Mell and Edel Ytterboe Ayers), circa 1962
Father’s death (1964)
In this group are messages written to Elise upon the death of her father, Harry Mell Ayers. He suffered a stroke in September 1964, and he died the following month. Sympathy was extended to the family even from those who did not know the man well but admired his politics and the way he ran his newspaper, the Anniston Star.
Typed letter, George Lang, Tuscaloosa, Ala., to Elise Sanguinetti, September 26, 1964
Sympathy card with handwritten note, Anna Kay to Elise Sanguinetti, October 1964
Sympathy card with handwritten note, Patsy to Elise Sanguinetti, October 1964
Sympathy card with handwritten note, Camilla to Elise Sanguinetti, October 1964
Handwritten letter, Margaret Wade, St. Louis, Mo., to Elise Sanguinetti, October 1964
Handwritten letter, Sally to Elise Sanguinetti, October 1964
Typed letter, Claude Dear, Mayor, City of Anniston to Elise Sanguinetti, October 8, 1964
Typed letter, E. L. Holland, Jr., Editorial Page Editor, Birmingham News, Birmingham, Ala., to Elise Sanguinetti, Anniston, Ala., October 12, 1964
Handwritten letter, Mary B. [Mills/Wells] to Elise Sanguinetti, October 21, 1964
Typed letter, Grover Craig Shropshire, St. Louis, Mo., to Elise Sanguinetti, October 27, 1964
Card with handwritten note, Prickett to Elise Sanguinetti, October 28, 1964
Card with handwritten note, Lalee(?) K. to Elise Sanguinetti, October 29, 1964
Typed letter, George Wallace, Governor, State of Alabama, Montgomery, Ala., to Elise Sanguinetti, October 30, 1964
Typed letter, Ralph Hammond, Arab, Ala., to Elise Sanguinetti, October 30, 1964
Handwritten letter (air mail), C. Aall, Nairobi, Kenya, to Elise Sanguinetti, November 30, 1964
Handwritten letter, Gertrude, Rome, Ga., to Elise Sanguinetti, November 30, 1964
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