Title Repository Date Material Type Call Number Unit ID Restrictions Biographical Sketch

Goodwin/Curnow/Bell Family Papers Kansas Historical Society 1875-1957 Manuscripts Ms. Coll. 884 304908 None

The Goodwin/Curnow/Bell Papers encompass materials from several individuals, all of whom are related, who lived in Pittsburg, Kansas. The first member of the family to reside in Pittsburg was Benjamin Franklin Goodwin, a Civil War veteran born in 1934 in Steubenville, Ohio. Goodwin was married in Illinois and moved with his bride to Pittsburg in the 1860s. A blacksmith by profession, Goodwin was also known for the pranks he would play on locals, as well as being personally acquainted with Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas. B.F. Goodwin had several children, including two sons, Charles W. and Harry F., and a daughter, Pearl. He passed away in 1926. It was Pearl who would eventually marry Frank Curnow. The couple had two children: a son, Carl, and a daughter, Elizabeth. The family was very active in Pittsburgs First Methodist Episcopal Church, which would eventually become the First United Methodist Church. Elizabeth Curnow also led a very active life while in college in the 1920s, participating in many sorority functions. Elizabeth Curnow married Harold Bell, who, like her, attended the Kansas State Teachers College in Pittsburg. Their daughter, Polly Lou Bell, would also go on to attend Pittsburg High School and the Kansas State Teachers College (now Pittsburg State University). Abstract This collection holds the papers of B. F. Goodwin and several of his descendants. It is divided into two series; the first series has ten sub-series. Materials included in this series include scrapbooks, autograph books, receipts, cookbooks, college course schedules, church programs, photographs, and school notebooks. There are materials from B. F. Goodwin's two sons and his daughter, Pearl. Frank Curnow, Pearl's husband, and their two children, Elizabeth and Carl, are also represented in this collection, as is Elizabeth's husband, Harold Bell, and their daughter, Polly Lou. Series II is a collection of yearbooks from Crawford County High School (Cherokee, Kan.), Pittsburg High School (Kan.), and the Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg (now Pittsburg State University). Scope and Content Note

This collection contains the papers of several family members, and spans four generations. Series 304953 consists of papers belonging to B. F. Goodwin and his children, grandchildren, and great - granddaughter. These include scrapbooks, autographs books, notebooks, photographs, and ephemera. Series 304975 is a collection of yearbooks from two public high schools and one college in Crawford County. The oldest documents in the collection belong to Benjamin Franklin Goodwin. B. F. Goodwin was born in Ohio, but, after his Civil War service, he moved to Pittsburg, Kansas, in the 1860s. Receipts from the late 19th and early 20th century that Goodwin signed are in the collection. Goodwin had at least three children. There were two sons, Charles W. and Harry F. Goodwin, and a younger daughter named Pearl. An old photo album in the collection has pictures of all three children. Receipts signed by C. W. Goodwin, and a record of a tax audit for H. F. Goodwin, are in this collection as well. Pearl was given an autograph album on her ninth birthday in 1888; it is in a separate folder. Another folder holds cookbooks printed during the first decades of the 20th century, which may have belonged to her. Pearl Goodwin married Frank Curnow. There are several items related to F. A. Curnow in this collection, including receipts and a photograph of the young Frank Curnow pasted on to cardboard. They had two children: a daughter named Elizabeth, and a son named Carl. Elizabeth Curnows scrapbook, which contains materials related to her high school and college activities, as well as newspaper clippings about her grandfather, B. F. Goodwin, are in the scrapbook. A folder with high school commencement programs, a picture of Carl Curnow and several classmates at a fifty-year college reunion, and a postcard Carl received from a cousin during World War I are in another folder. The Curnow family was active in the First Methodist Episcopal Church in Pittsburg, now the First United Methodist Church, and both Frank and Carl Curnow served as stewards there. A folder in this collection holds materials relating to the church throughout several renovations, including programs and dedicatory brochures. Elizabeth Curnow married Harold Bell. Some of Bells possessions, such as his architects license and medals received while working at the Military Chemical Works in Baxter Springs, Kansas, are in his folder. Harold and Elizabeths daughter, Polly Lou Bell, also has several items in this collection. Her autograph book, a scrapbook with ephemera from a hospital stay, a high school notebook, and several materials from her college years at Kansas State Teachers College of Pittsburg, eventually Pittsburg State University, are some examples. Some items in this collection did not clearly belong to any of the individuals listed above, or may have belonged to more than one family member. These include pamphlets, a Buick handbook from 1914, a 1939 booklet listing post offices in Kansas, a 7-inch vinyl record, and materials from the University of Wichita in Kansas in the 1950s. A total of seven folders hold this material. There are also several yearbooks in this collection, which comprise Series II. They are from Cherokee High School in Crawford County, Kansas; Pittsburg High School; and the Kansas

State Teachers College of Pittsburg. Carl Curnows senior class picture is in the 1919 Pittsburg High School yearbook, and though he is not pictured or named in the other yearbooks, his name is hand-written in some of them. Polly Lou Bells 1948 and 1950 Pittsburg High School yearbooks have been moved to the library. Her signature is in both of them, and the 1950 yearbook is signed by many of her classmates. Related Records or Collections The Carl Goodwin Curnow Collection (Unit ID 44613) holds the business records from Carl Curnows smelter and lumber businesses. During processing, a receipt from the Standard Mercantile Co. was removed from the family papers and moved to the Carl Goodwin Curnow Collection per the request of the donor. Yearbooks from Pittsburg High School (Kan.) -- 1913, 1915-17, 1922, 1948, and 1950 -- are in the Historical Society's library collection, call no. K 379 P687 U, as is the 1921 yearbook from Kansas State Manual Training Normal School (present Pittsburg State University), call no. SP 371.42 U K13. A 7 record, Pittsburg, Who Drew Your Plan! was removed during processing and is now stored with the KHS audio-visual materials. Container/Folder List and Series Descriptions Series I: Family Papers Box 1 Subseries A: Benjamin Franklin Goodwin Folder 1 Receipt from Land Department of MO. R. Fort Scott & Gulf R.R. dated Oct. 14, 1875, for $109.32 to B.F. Goodwin. States it is for taxes for 1872, 1873 & 1874. Receipt for $5 dated July 24, 1889 Property tax receipts from Crawford County, Kansas treasurer dated: o Nov. 29, 1889, $9.83 o May 10, 1898, $23.08 o May 15, 1899, $28.19 o Aug. 20, 1902, $25.85 o May 12, 1905, $12.69 o May 9, 1906, $29.06 o June 19, 1909, $13.97 Photocopy of Civil War discharge dated August 26, 1865. Indicates Goodwin was a 2nd Lieutenant in Captain Thomas Currys company in the 119th Illinois Infantry regiment and lists his occupation in the military as a blacksmith.

Subseries B: Charles W. Goodwin Folder 2 Receipt from P.F. & S. Ry, Light and Power Co. dated December 1, 1897, for four lamps and wiring materials, $4.67 Property tax receipt from Crawford County, Kansas treasurer dated December 20, 1904, $30.23 Deed from city of Pittsburg for part of the west wall of Fire Station Building No. 1. 6 inches wide east to west by 90 feet long north and south

Subseries C: Harry F. Goodwin Folder 3 Audit of 1923 state income tax return. Deduction for horse and buggy team for business was disallowed due to lack of receipts. Goodwin wrote back and asked state to deduct the amount they considered correct to maintain a horse and buggy team.

Subseries D: Pearl Goodwin Curnow Folder 4 Autograph book with writing stating it was given to Pearl on her 9th birthday, June 30, 1888 Receipt from the Social Order of the Bureaucrat dated March 8, 1926 for dues, $5

Subseries E: Frank Curnow Folder 5 Photograph on card stock of group of young men. One man with guitar, another with mandolin. Frank Curnow is identified on the back, along with J. Patmore, son of founder of First State Bank. Handwritten notes detailing construction plans for mothers house Letter from W.N. Breen dated May 25, 1903 discussing possible sale of stock owned by Curnow Letter from Breen dated April 4, 1903, discussing sale of shares of America Stock Receipt for purchase of War Savings Stamps, $30 Advertisement for Ford cars, with Curnows Car hand-written on it, dated February 11, 1926

Subseries F: Carl Goodwin Curnow Folder 6

Postcard from cousin stationed in Germany dated January 2, 1919 Invitation and program from Pittsburg High School graduation ceremony dated June 19, 1919 Photograph of Kansas State Teachers College Class of 1924 reunion dated May 18, 1974

Subseries G: Elizabeth Lou Curnow Bell Folder 7 Box 3 Scrapbook containing newspaper clippings, dance cards, programs, sorority ephemera, and photographs from high school and college years Paper and notecards written for Constructive Writing college class from March 1926, notebook with General Psychology college class notes from January to May of 1927

Subseries H: Harold Bell Folder 8