Collins Family papers

The Collins Family Papers consist of correspondence dated 1889-1987 that comprises about one-third of the collection. The majority of the letters are between Sophronia A. Collins Easley and her brother Malachi C. Collins and husband Willis Easley, in addition to communication with other family members and friends. Of note are the letters sent to Sophronia A. Collins Easley from various evangelical and ecumenical lay persons and clerics in the United States and Canada.  Also included are the intercessory prayer records Sophronia A. Collins Easley kept for over fifty years, the second largest type of records in the collection.

The collection additionally contains the journals and essays of both Sophronia A. Collins Easley and Malachi C. Collins. These records provide insight into the daily lives, spiritual beliefs, and religious work of the siblings. Of note among the collected items, is a variety of religious literature, programs, and pamphlets, tracts of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and the yearbooks of the Mary Church Terrell Literary Club, dating from 1929-1978.

Also of interest is the first ledger book of George A. Walker and Company, a grocery and mercantile owned by the relatives of Mary Augusta Rayford Collins. The ledger contains the original copy of the founding members' partnership agreement and records of customer accounts that illustrates the practices of the business while offering a glimpse at the social and economic life of its patrons

The papers will be of particular interest to students of blacks in business; the United Methodist Church; ecumenical and evangelical religion; and women’s history.