Emma Laurette (Holmes) Cummings Collection
DESCRIPTION
This small collection is comprised of correspondence sent by Emma L. Borden and Lizzie A. Borden to their dressmaker, Mrs. William Cummings, née Emma Laurette Holmes (1852-1925).
HISTORICAL NOTE
Mrs. Cummings was a successful dress and corset maker in Fall River, Massachusetts, active from the 1880s to the early-twentieth century. She counted among her patrons an elite clientele including members of the city’s leading families, who visited her workrooms at her residence at 27 (later 142) Elm Street.
Lizzie Borden maintained a friendship with Mrs. Cummings and subsequently made the acquaintance of members of the latter’s family, including her niece, Mabel Holmes Little (1884-1961); in an 1897 letter, Lizzie inquires after the child, asking, “… has your little niece been to visit you?” Another of Mrs. Cummings’ nieces, Grace Estelle Quimby (1890-1972), recalled visiting Lizzie at her residence in Fall River.
PROVENANCE
Mrs. William Cummings; to her niece, Mabel Holmes Little (1884-1961); to the FRHS, 1953, Accession Number: 1953.047.
INVENTORY
EC001 – Letter: Emma L. Borden to Mrs. William Cummings, March 23, 1894.
Holograph letter, signed; wove paper, 4 ½” x 7”; imprinted “7 French Street”; one sheet, single fold, inscribed in ink on three sides.
Subject: Dressmaking
Object Identification Number: 1953.047.001
EC002 – Letter: Lizzie A. Borden to Mrs. William Cummings, December 12, 1896.
Holograph letter, signed; wove paper with watermark of W. Joynson & Son, Joynson Mills, St. Mary Cray, Kent, England, retailed by John Glenn & Company, New York, New York, 4” x 5 ½”; imprinted “306 French Street, Fall River Mass.”; one sheet, single fold, inscribed in ink on three sides, with holograph envelope, 4 ½” x 3”.
Subject: A false rumor then circulating about Lizzie’s impending nuptials
Object Identification Number: 1953.047.002
EC003 – Letter: Lizzie A. Borden to Mrs. William Cummings, August 22, 1897.
Holograph letter, signed; wove paper, 4 ½” x 7”; imprinted “7 French Street.”; one sheet, single fold, inscribed in ink on two sides.
Subject: Pleasantries
Object Identification Number: 1953.047.003
