Material created and accumulated by Sophie Emma Schantz. Includes school notebooks.

An envelope addressed to Orpheus Moyer Schantz when he was living in Hawksville from Uncle Jacob (Jacob Nash Moyer).

Small painted drawing of the back of a woman wearing a pink bonnet by Carrie Flagler Schantz.

One formal studio portrait of Dorothy Etta Russell (nee White) as a child, taken prior to her entrance into high school.

Two business cards of Orpheus Moyer Schantz from when he was employed by Carson, Pirie & Company (now Carson, Pirie, Scott & Company). One card is professionally printed and shows the company's office, the other has been hand lettered on a small piece of painted canvas. In 1890 the company became Carson, Pirie & Scott, and in 1904 they moved to the landmark Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building. Now called Carson's, the company continues to be an important Chicago business.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of Sophie Schantz seen looking at camera and wearing a top with leg of mutton sleeves.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of unidentified child looking off camera in partial profile.

Photograph of an unidentified child reading while seated in a rocking chair in a residential home. An upright piano is visible against the wall in the background.

Photograph of an unidentified woman seated in a rocking chair in a residential home. Framed items hang on the wall behind her and a table with a tea set is visible against the wall on her left side.

Studio portrait of two young children. Dressed in similar outfits, one is seated in a highchair and the other is standing with left hand on chair arm.

Head and shoulders studio portrait of two unidentified teenagers seen looking at camera. Both are wearing outdoor coats and fancy hats.

One photograph of Orpheus Moyer Schantz with his granddaughter Joan Elizabeth Schantz on his shoulders.

Included are 19th-century Canadian imprints, books on horticulture, early school textbooks, scarce local imprints, such as the 1886/89 County of Waterloo Gazetteer and Directory and the Assessment Roll of 1897 of the Town of Berlin, and a selection of Victorian literature. There are extensive runs of early 20th-century periodicals, such as The Youth's Companion, St. Nicholas, The Ladies' Home Journal, and the Canadian Forestry Journal. The Schantz/Russell Family library offers a unique insight into the reading habits and the interests and activities of a Canadian family in Berlin, Ontario during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Tobias Schantz (1842-1925) worked as an itinerant book salesman at the end of the 19th century, and more than 40 examples of books known as "salesman's dummies" are present in the collection. These books were made up by the publishers as samples for their salesmen to show to potential customers. Each one displays the most noteworthy features of the book offered for sale, including the table of contents, the illustrations, selections from the text, and examples of the variety of elaborate binding styles available. Blank pages at the end of each sample book were used by the itinerant salesman to record his orders and, in this collection, some of the dummies contain up to as many as 8 pages of hand-written lists of local subscribers to the books that Tobias marketed in his trips around the region.

7 letters.

Date and Place from: September 22, 1919 Toronto [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: No envelope.

Date and Place from: October 23, 1919 Toronto [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: Contains directions for making a baby sweater. Baby sweater directions were folded up with the letter, but not mentioned in the letter.

Date and Place from: November 23, 1919 Toronto [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: No envelope. Written on paper with the letterhead "Normal School Toronto."

Date and Place from: December 6, 1920 Kitchener [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: No envelope.

Date and Place from: June 13, 1921 Kitchener [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: Contains a stamped envelope.

Date and Place from: January 24, 1921 Kitchener [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: No envelope.

Date and Place from: May 11, 1921 Kitchener [Ontario] To White, Dorothy Etta, 1900-2005 From Snyder, Viola Attachments: Contains a stamped envelope.