Biography of Gladys Flint
Gladys Lamphere (circa 1866- ) was a Mystic, Connecticut, writer and entrepreneur who was the daughter of David Lamphere and Mary Anne Houche, and the niece of Lucy Houche. Sometime around 1900 she married Charles Flint, and the couple rented rooms in their Pearl Street home to boarders. Gladys ran a mail-order corset business and wrote short stories and poetry. She also had a short novel published.
The Houche family ran a liquor distribution business in Mystic. Many family members migrated to California, where they settled around Stockton and the San Joaquin valley. Edward Houche had a juggling act that he performed at the Stockton Theater. James Houche travelled near the Apache, and reported their attacks on settlements in Arizona
Scope and Content
The Houche papers consist mainly of family correspondence about the liquor distribution business, and correspondence between family members on the east and west coasts. The main correspondents are Lucy and Edward Houche. Of special interest are a letter from James Houche describing the threat of Apache attacks and a letter from P.T. Barnum to Edward Houche concerning a question about juggling.
The Flint papers contain the writings and business papers of Gladys Lamphere Flint. They include drafts of numerous short stories as well as correspondence with publishers. The business papers include correspondence, inventories, invoices, and printed material relating to the household business run by her and her husband, Charles, out of their large Pearl Street home. These businesses included corset sales, a general store, and a boarding house. The papers also include a various magazines collected by Gladys, forms for her enrollment in a correspondece school, papers indicating her interest in the woman’s suffrage movement, a Lamphere genealogy, and printed ephemera.
Restrictions
Restrictions on Access
Available for use in the Manuscripts Division.
Restrictions on Use
Various copying restriction apply. Guidelines are available from the Manuscripts Division.
Index Terms
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the G. W. Blunt White Library. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
Persons:
Flint, Charles Flint,
Gladys Lamphere Houche,
Charles H. Houche,
Edward Lawrence Houche,
George Sumner Houche,
James Houche,
John Baptist Houche,
Lucy Jane Lamphere,
David Lamphere,
George Lamphere,
Julius Lamphere,
Mary Anne Houche
Corporate Bodies (Including Vessels):
International Correspondence Schools
Mystic River National Bank
San Joaquin Valley Bank
Steadfast Mills
Stockton Theatre
Places:
Boston (Mass.)
Fort McDowell Indian Reservation (Az.)
Mystic (Conn.)
New York (N.Y.)
San Francisco (Ca.)
Stockton (Ca.)
Subjects:
Boardinghouses
Corsets
Liquor industry
Mail-order business
Selling
Document Types:
Correspondence
Invoices
Manuscripts
Printed ephemera
Occupations:
Women writers
Administrative Information
Coll. 329, Manuscripts Collection, G. W. Blunt White Library, Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc.
Detailed Description of the Collection
The following section contains a detailed listing of the materials in the collection.
| Houche family and business correspondence; 1853-1926 | |||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | Family and business correspondence. Letter from brother James about Apache unrest in Arizona; 1853-1867 (41 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Family correspondence, personal and family business; 1868-1869 (29 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Family correspondence; January to August 1870 (25 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Family and liquor distribution business correspondence; Sept. to Dec 1870 (21 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Family and business correspondence; January to July 1871 (22 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Family and business correspondence; August to December 1871 (20 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Family and business correspondence. A letter from Barnum’s Great Museum Menagerie and Circus also a broadside from the Stockton CA Theatre; 1872-1875 (23 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Family Correspondence, a letter mentions Diphtheria epidemic in Mystic; 1876-1877 (36 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Family and business correspondence; 1877 to October 23, 1881 (49 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Family and business correspondence; Oct 24, 1881 through 1887 (53 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Family and business correspondence; 1888-1893 (39 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Family correspondence; 1896-1898 (36 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Correspondence from family and friends; 1894-1895 (45 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Family and business correspondence; n.d. (20 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Business papers, postcard Ocean Beach New London, invoices for liquor business and old insurance policies; 1860-1926 (31 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Gladys and Charles Flint family and business papers. Gladys’ manuscripts, published works and home business papers; 1909-1948 | |||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | Correspondence from family and friends; n.d (11 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Correspondence from family and friends including a letter from the administrator of Lucy Houche’s estate; 1909-1915 (20 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Letter to Gladys from Fuller and Company and a booklet entitled Memorial -Sarah Cecelia Lamphere; 1916 (6 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Family correspondence; 1917 (17 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Family correspondence; 1918 (32 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Correspondence from family and friends; 1919 (26 pieces) | |||||||||||||
| 7 | Correspondence from family and friends; 1920 (23 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Correspondence from family and friends; 1921 (28 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Correspondence from family and friends; 1922 (29 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 10 | Correspondence from family and friends; 1923 (19 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 11 | correspondence from family and friends; 1924,1925,1929 (13 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 12 | correspondence from family and friends; 1930-1944 (10 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 4 | 1 | Correspondence concerning Gladys Flint’s writing career; 1914-1929 (33 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Invoices and insurance policies; 1896-1941 (33 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Various Lamphere family papers. Henry C. Mell’s draft card from World War 1, Julius Lamphere’s Typographical Union Certificate of Membership and insurance policies. Also a small leather bound notebook belonging to Julius Lamphere; 1863-1878 (8 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Correspondence from family members about Houche and Lamphere genealogy. Also there are Comstock and Stanton pedigree charts; printed material about Lazare Hoche written by William B. Scofield; 1902-1929 (31 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 5 | 1 | Two working notebooks filled with stories and poems and an early story written by Gladys Lamphere; n.d. (3 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Published book Where is Brother Robert; 1927 (1 piece) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | A Mother’s Dilemma; n.d. (37 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Two short stories, The Cleaning Up Place and Man or Brute; n.d. (20 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Two short stories, In Disguise at Camp Cedar Crest and Little Night Bird; n.d. (34 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Two short stories, a Square Deal and a Fine Personality; n.d. (40 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 7 | Two short stories, Your Sins Will Find You Out and a Loosing Game; n.d (26 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 8 | A short story entitled Gustavus; n.d. (9 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 9 | Numerous unfinished manuscripts; n.d 68 pieces | ||||||||||||
| 10 | International Correspondence school material, letters, grades and Certificates; 1904-1905 (75 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 6 | 1 | Correspondence and invoices concerning Gladys’ corset business; 1913-1923 (63 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | checking account statements and canceled checks. A few receipts and invoices. A letter about rent money owed Gladys; 1906-1948 (143 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Household invoices addressed to Charles Flint; 1904-1912 (50 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Household invoices; 1913 (29 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Household invoices; 1914 (48 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 6 | Household invoices; 1917-1948 (77 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| 7 | 1 | 1889 copy of Young Ladies’ Journal and a souvenir booklet of the 1922 Tournament of Roses; 1889-1922 (2 pieces) | |||||||||||
| 2 | Printed material concerning plays and submitting articles for publication; n.d. (17 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 3 | Printed trade papers and advertisements including a small Wesson cooking oil cookbook; n.d. (40 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 4 | Blank forms, Mystic National Bank, Gilbert Corset Co., Houghton and Dutton Co., Travelers Ins Co Accident Report and an Individual Income Tax Return for 1921. Postcards Christmas Cards, and photographs of Gladys and friends; 1921, n.d (32 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| 5 | Miscellaneous scraps of paper. Correspondence School Certificates and Suffrage printed material. recital pamphlets of Orville Harrold and Clyde Burrows, 1895-1923 (31 pieces) | ||||||||||||
| Box | Folder | ||||||||||||
| HF | 1 | Stockton California Broadside. The New London Telegram; August 20, 1878 (2 pieces) | |||||||||||