Bookmark this page or copy and paste URL to Email message Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan Collection1935-1949NAU.MS.218 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Descriptive Summary | |
| Creator: | Tappan, Joseph Bean |
| Collection Name | Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan Collection, |
| Inclusive Dates: | 1835-1949. |
| Quantity: | 6 ft. |
| Abstract | The Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan collection consists of correspondence, pictures, and other papers of Joseph Bean Tappan (1858-1933) of Flagstaff, Ariz., which relate to his activities as a sheep rancher and as mine developer in La Paz County, Ariz., to his battles over water rights, and to his family in Gilmanton, N.H. It also includes correspondence, pictures and other papers of Tappan's wife, Laura Fulton Tappan (1849-1933), which relate to her career as a kindergarten teacher at Flagstaff, Ariz., and to members of her family, the Fultons and Howards, in Baltimore, Md., and Zanesville, Ohio. |
| Identification: | NAU.MS.218 NAU.PH.660 |
| Language | English. |
| Repository |
Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives
Department. Northern Arizona University Box 6022 Flagstaff, AZ 86011-6022 Phone: 928 523 5551 Fax: 928 523 3770 Email: Special.Collections@nau.edu |
Biographical Note
Joseph Bean Tappan was born on March 3, 1858, and died on March 29, 1933. He was one of Arizona's early sheep men, starting in the sheep business in 1879, and becoming the first president of the Arizona Wool Grower's Association, which had its headquarters in Flagstaff. In 1898, he developed his own ranch 60 miles west of Congress Junction, Arizona, with a water supply from the Bill Williams Fork river. Around 1915, he lost rights to his ranch, which was called The Alamo, and which is now the Alamo State Park (AZ).
Joseph Bean Tappan's wife, Laura Gordon Fulton (1849-1933), was the granddaughter of Samuel and Ariana (Cole) Howard, prominent members of the Howard family of Baltimore, Maryland, and she illustrates an emerging sign of woman's independence. At the age of 37, she was allowed by her family to travel West to teach kindergarten. In 1886, she established the first kindergarten in the West at Flagstaff, Arizona. She made her home with her brother, Harry Fulton, who had established himself in the sheep business in Arizona in the early 1880's. Joseph Bean and Laura had a daughter, Edith, who was born in Flagstaff in 1891. Edith's first husband, Vincent Montgomery Devine, was killed in Paraguay, leaving Edith a widow at the age of 24 with three children. She then moved to Phoenix where she ran a cotton-citrus ranch successfully and remarried, but with tragic financial and emotional consequences.
Scope and Content
The Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan collection consists of correspondence, pictures, and other papers of Joseph Bean Tappan (1858-1933) of Flagstaff, Arizona, which relate to his activities as a sheep rancher and as mine developer in La Paz County, Arizona, to his battles over water rights, and to his family in Gilmanton, N.H. It also includes correspondence, pictures and other papers of Tappan's wife, Laura Fulton Tappan (1849-1933), which relate to her career as a kindergarten teacher at Flagstaff, Arizona, and to members of her family, the Fultons and Howards, in Baltimore, Maryland , and Zanesville, Ohio.
The collection includes Joseph Bean Tappan's own handwritten notes of early life in Arizona and various trips taken during 1879 and 1881 by wagon and on foot between Prescott, Ashfork, Black Tanks, and the Little Colorado, Cataract Canyon, and Hell's Canyon. The notes contain a detailed description of the area besides the relationships between the white man and Indians at this time. This collection also contains papers, letters, and pictures of Joseph Bean Tappan's background and family in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, including his mother's (Ursula Bean Tappan, 1815-1889) "Common Book" that dates from 1838, and contains the Bean-Tappan family genealogy, accompanied by essays and poetry representing the period.
Laura Fulton Tappan's letters, pictures, and clippings are also part of this collection. Her correspondence consists mainly of letters to her family in Baltimore, Maryland, and Zanesville, Ohio, where the Howard-Fulton family had homes. The Flagstaff, Arizona, pictures and clippings in her collection date from the late 1880's through 1900, and they portrait the J. B. Tappan and Harry Fulton homes, families, and friends.
Much of the collection deals with the life of Tappan's only child, Edith. Her life is described through clippings, photographs (some taken by Edith herself at the Alamo ranch at the age of 7 and 8), and letters. Her papers show her bountiful courage, which helped her overcome the hard times in her life. Among her papers is an allegory of a blue appaloosa Shetland pony that was sent to her from Kansas City, Missouri, to the Alamo ranch. The collection contains 22 photographs of, or, related to the pony, Nellie, which played an important role in Edith's Life.
A few letters and clippings of Sharlot Hall, a close friend of Edith Tappan Devine Thomason are included in the collection, as well as an oral history tape recorded on April 14, 1982, by Marguerite H. Kurtz, born in Flagstaff in 1890, who was Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan's niece. In it, she describes early reminiscences of Flagstaff
In April of 1985, Alice Loebel, donated a typewritten biography (photocopy) entitled My Childhood in Southern Arizona - 1914-1928, that was added to the collection. Mrs. Loebel, is a granddaughter of Joseph Bean Tappan's. Her book retells the story of the Tappan family in 47 typed pages. It also contains a copy of Mrs. Loebel's birth certificate, and a manuscript collection copy of her biography.
The photographs in the collection document the Bean, Tappan and Fulton families and homes of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, their ranches and ranchlife in Northern Arizona, their Flagstaff homes, views of Flagstaff businesses as well as portraits of the families and friends.
Organization
Organized in 2 series.Restrictions
Restrictions
See curator for restrictions.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the Arizona Board of Regents for Northern Arizona University, its officers, employees, and agents from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of copyright.
Related Material
Administrative Information
Preferred Citation
Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan Collection, NAU.MS.218 and NAU.PH.680, Cline Library. Special Collections and Archives Dept.
Container List
| Joseph Bean and Laura Tappan Collection, series one, boxes 1-3, correspondence, albums, pictures, clippings, and books, 1835-1949. | |||||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | NUCMUC sheets and partial original inventory of the Joseph Bean Tappan Collection., | |||||||||
| 1 | 2 | Genealogy of the Fulton and Tappan families., | |||||||||
| 1 | 3 | Genealogy of Laura Fulton Tappan's family, the Howards., | |||||||||
| 1 | 4 | Obituary of Julia Fulton., | |||||||||
| 1 | 5 | Souvenir of the sixth grade class, Marguerite Fulton Kurtz, Emerson High School, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1904. | |||||||||
| 1 | 6 | Report card of Marguerite Fulton Kurtz from the sixth grade, Emerson High School, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1903-1904. | |||||||||
| 1 | 7 | Biography of Laura Fulton Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 8 | Letter from Laura Fulton Tappan to her brother Harry Fulton, 1879. | |||||||||
| 1 | 9 | Letter from Laura Fulton Tappan to Marguerite Fulton Kurtz., | |||||||||
| 1 | 10 | Letter from Laura Fulton Tappan to Marguerite Fulton Kurtz., | |||||||||
| 1 | 11 | Laura Fulton Tappan's graduation program from the Putman Seminary, July 2, 1868. | |||||||||
| 1 | 12 | Letter from Harry Fulton to Laura Fulton Tappan, 1916. | |||||||||
| 1 | 13 | Letter from the Arizona Wool Growers Association to Laura Fulton Tappan on the death of Joseph Bean Tappan, July 13, 1933. | |||||||||
| 1 | 14 | Calling card of Mrs. Joseph Bean Tappan (Laura Fulton Tappan)., | |||||||||
| 1 | 15 | Letter from Samuel Howard to his daughter Mary Eliza Howard Fulton, 1852. | |||||||||
| 1 | 16 | Letter from Ariana Cole Howard to one of her sons, 1935. | |||||||||
| 1 | 17 | Reprinted photograph of Edith Gordon Walker and newspaper clipping concerning her., | |||||||||
| 1 | 18 | Notes of Harry Fulton about his family and the Tappan family., | |||||||||
| 1 | 19 | Three obituaries of Samuel Howard Fulton who died in Flagstaff, Arizona, July 10, 1899. | |||||||||
| 1 | 20 | Letter from Samuel Howard to his grandchildren, 1853. | |||||||||
| 1 | 21 | Biography of Joseph Bean Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 22 | Letter from Charles Tappan to Joseph Bean Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 23 | Original notes of Joseph Bean Tappan's Early Life in Arizona, along with one photocopy., | |||||||||
| 1 | 24 | Two copies of transcribed notes of Joseph Bean Tappan's Early Life in Arizona., | |||||||||
| 1 | 25 | Marked map of journeys described in Joseph Bean Tappan's Early Life in Arizona., | |||||||||
| 1 | 26 | Letter from Joseph Bean Tappan to Mr. Howell Jones, 1924. | |||||||||
| 1 | 27 | Transcribed letter from Joseph Bean Tappan to Mr. Howell Jones, 1924. | |||||||||
| 1 | 28 | Letter from Joseph Bean Tappan to Julia Fulton, 1916. | |||||||||
| 1 | 29 | Letter from Joseph Bean Tappan to his wife when he was in Columbia, South America., | |||||||||
| 1 | 30 | Letter from Jacob Bean to Joseph Bean Tappan, February 27, 1900. | |||||||||
| 1 | 31 | Newspaper article by Sharlot Hall about Joseph Bean Tappan and Laura Fulton Tappan's move to Arizona pioneers' Home in Prescott, Arizona., | |||||||||
| 1 | 32 | Obituary of Joseph Bean Tappan, died March 29, 1933. Also photograph of the Alamo Ranch, and newspaper article on Arizona Wool Grower's Association meeting., | |||||||||
| 1 | 33 | Survey map of the Alamo Ranch, Arizona, 1912. | |||||||||
| 1 | 34 | Map showing Tappan Spring and Tappan Canyon., | |||||||||
| 1 | 35 | Copy of Joseph Bean Tappan and Vincent M. Devine's cattle brands., | |||||||||
| 1 | 36 | Transcribed copy of an 1861 letter from Curtis Coe Bean to his sister Ursula Bean Tappan, and a letter from May Dall to Edith G. Tappan Thomason, 1942. | |||||||||
| 1 | 37 | Letter from Curtis Coe Bean to his sister Ursula Bean Tappan, ca. 1850. | |||||||||
| 1 | 38 | Transcribed letter from Curtis Coe Bean to his sister Ursula Bean Tappan, ca. 1850. | |||||||||
| 1 | 39 | Letter from Charles Tappan to his mother Ursula Bean Tappan, 1871. | |||||||||
| 1 | 40 | Biography of Edith Tappan Devine Thomason., | |||||||||
| 1 | 41 | Edith G. Tappan's baby journal., | |||||||||
| 1 | 42 | Edith G. Tappan's scrapbook., | |||||||||
| 1 | 43 | Clipping from the Youth's Comanion about Edith G. Tappan's foal from Nelly, her Shetland pony, 1902. | |||||||||
| 1 | 44 | Letters from Edith G. Tappan to her daughter Alice., | |||||||||
| 1 | 45 | Letters from Edith G. Tappan to her daughter Eleanor., | |||||||||
| 1 | 46 | Letters from Edith G. Tappan to her daughters Mary, Alice, and Eleanor., | |||||||||
| 1 | 47 | Letter from Edith G. Tappan to her son Buddy., | |||||||||
| 1 | 48 | Letter from Edith G. Tappan to her daughter Eleanor about the death of her father, Vincent M. Devine., | |||||||||
| 1 | 49 | Letter from Edith G. Tappan to her aunt Julia Fulton., | |||||||||
| 1 | 50 | Letters from Edith G. Tappan to Sharlot Hall., | |||||||||
| 1 | 51 | Letter from Edith G. Tappan to Marguerite Fulton Kurtz., | |||||||||
| 1 | 52 | Letter from E. S. Clark to Edith G. Tappan Thomason on the death of her father, Joseph Bean Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 53 | Scenario "Driftwood" for a movie written by Edith G. Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 54 | Letter from William S. Hart to Edith G. Tappan Devine about a scenario she wrote, 1918. | |||||||||
| 1 | 55 | Letter from Thomas Devine to his granddaughter, 1935. | |||||||||
| 1 | 56 | Poem written by Edith G. Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 57 | Marriage license of Edith G. Tappan and Vincent M. Devine, 1910. | |||||||||
| 1 | 58 | Letters from Vincent M. Devine to his wife, Edith G. Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 59 | Letters from Vincent M. Devine to his wife, Edith G. Tappan, when away from the ranch., | |||||||||
| 1 | 60 | Letters from Vincent M. Devine to his father-in-law, Joseph B. Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 61 | Letter from Vincent M. Devine to his sister., | |||||||||
| 1 | 62 | Newspaper clipping of Vincent M. Devine's death in Paraguay., | |||||||||
| 1 | 63 | "Nellie, the Appaloosa Blue Shettland" by Eleanor Devine Higgins., | |||||||||
| 1 | 64 | Letters from Nellie Gardner to Eleanor Devine Higgins., | |||||||||
| 1 | 65 | Letters from E. S. Clark to Eleanor Devine Higgins., | |||||||||
| 1 | 66 | Letter from Agnes Devine to Eleanor Devine Higgins, 1935. | |||||||||
| 1 | 67 | Letter from Nellie Gardner to Eleanor Devine Higgins., | |||||||||
| 1 | 68 | Letters from Sharlot Hall to Edith G. Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 69 | Letters from Mrs. Charles Austin Dall to Sharlot Hall., | |||||||||
| 1 | 70 | "Ranch women of 50 years ago were thrown on own resources" by Sharlot Hall., | |||||||||
| 1 | 71 | Obituary of Sharlot Hall., | |||||||||
| 1 | 72 | Illustration of Miss Rex, champion saddle mare that belonged to Colonel Samuel Howard Fulton, 1896. | |||||||||
| 1 | 73 | Biography of Anna Blake Mezquida., | |||||||||
| 1 | 74 | Four badges from the Arizona Wool Growers Assn., | |||||||||
| 1 | 75 | Two newspaper clippings: one on the death of Anna Roosevelt Halsted, the other about the marriage of Julianna Edwards Roosevelt to Stephen Mac Donell Hargrove., | |||||||||
| 1 | 76 | Newspaper article and short monograph on the death of Mary E. Beckwith, 1909. | |||||||||
| 1 | 77 | Musical score: "Out of the Ages.", | |||||||||
| 1 | 78 | Newspaper article commemorating the 50th anniversary of Grand Canyon National Park., | |||||||||
| 1 | 79 | General felling about cotton in the Salt River Valley, 1917-1920. | |||||||||
| 1 | 80 | Newspaper clipping of Eastern businessmen's trip to the Copper Queen Mine, Bisbee, Arizona., | |||||||||
| 1 | 81 | Book published about Robert Fulton (1841-1914) by James t. Irvine and the Reverend C. E. MacKenzie., | |||||||||
| 1 | 82 | Book: The Ministering Children., | |||||||||
| 1 | 83 | Proceedings of John Bean (1660) Association at its Annual Reunion at Boston, 1900. | |||||||||
| 1 | 84 | The Arizona Rough Rider Monument and Captain W. O. O'Niel., | |||||||||
| 1 | 85 | Alice Devine Loebel's article "Who are the WOF's?" from the International Digest, 1944. | |||||||||
| 1 | 86 | Journal of Arizona History, Vol. 16, No. 1, Spring 1975. | |||||||||
| 1 | 87 | Arizona Historical Review, Vol. VII, No. 3, July, 1936. | |||||||||
| 1 | 88 | "The Common Place Book" by Ursula Bean Tappan., | |||||||||
| 1 | 89 | Journal of Arizona History, Vol. 19, No. 4, Winter 1978. | |||||||||
| 1 | 90 | Pen sketch by H. F. Meschwitz., | |||||||||
| 1 | 91 | Letters from Harry Fulton to his sister Laura Fulton Tappan (1875-1882), and autobiographical work, My Childhood in southern Arizona - 1914 to 1928 by Alice Loebel., | |||||||||
| 1 | 92 | Place card for Mrs. J. B. Tappan, National Woolgrowers Convention, 1929. | |||||||||
| 1 | 93 | Letters from Edith Tappan (Devine) to Mrs. A. A. Brigham, January 24, 1912. | |||||||||
| 1 | 94 | Mineral Survey of J. B. Tappan's mining claims, 1904. | |||||||||
| 1 | 95 | Property transactions copies from records at Coconino Courthouse, 1893. | |||||||||
| 1 | 96 | Plat Map (copy) T 11 N/ R 12 W., | |||||||||
| 1 | 97 | Arizona Pioneers Association certification for Joseph B. Tappan 1922 | |||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 2 | 1 | Willsie, Honore : The Enchanted Canyon., | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | Knight, William Allen: Peter in Firelight., | |||||||||
| 2 | 3 | Dresser, H. W.: The Power of Silence., | |||||||||
| 2 | 4 | McGrew, Jessica Jones: Twilight Embers., | |||||||||
| 2 | 5 | MacDonald, George: Weighed and Wanting., | |||||||||
| 2 | 6 | Jomes, Stanley E.: Christ at the Round Table., | |||||||||
| 2 | 7 | Abbott, Lyman: The Great Companion., | |||||||||
| 2 | 8 | Eddy, Mary Baker R.: The Christian Science Hymnal., | |||||||||
| 2 | 9 | The Holy Bible., | |||||||||
| 2 | 10 | Johnston, Mary: To Have and To Hold., | |||||||||
| 2 | 11 | Strickland, Earle: Representative Short Stories Analyzed., | |||||||||
| 2 | 12 | Bart, Sir Walter Scott: Ivanhoe., | |||||||||
| box | folder | ||||||||||
| 3 | 1 | Porcelain teapot from Ursula Bean Tappan's home in Gilmanton, New Hampshire., | |||||||||
| 3 | 2 | two Copeland "Spode Tower" soup bowls., | |||||||||
| 3 | 3 | Porcelain creamer from Ursula Bean Tappan's home in Gilmanton, New Hampshire., | |||||||||
| 3 | 4 | Brass single candle holder., | |||||||||
| 3 | 5 | Copper paperweight from the Cactus Queen Copper Mine., | |||||||||
| 3 | 6 | Two pins: American flag and Wreath pin., | |||||||||
| 3 | 7 | Large silver spoon with initials U. B., | |||||||||
| 3 | 8 | Silver napkin ring., | |||||||||
| 3 | 9 | Three silver spoons given to Harry Fulton by Lodge., | |||||||||
| 3 | 10 | Beaded purse made for Laura Tappan by a Native American woman, ca. 1895. | |||||||||
| NAU.PH.660, Tappan Photographs, 1850-1949. | |||||||||||
| 536 black-and-white photographs, tintypes, ambrotypes, daguerrotypes, and photo albums. Views include: Bellemont Ranch, 1901; Alamo Ranch, 1897; Santa Maria Ranch, Orme Ranch, 1934; Babbitt General Store, Flagstaff; Northern Arizona Normal School, ca. 1900; Coconino Courthouse, Weatherford Hotel, and Hubbell Trading Post. | |||||||||||
| This collection of images documents the Bean, Tappan and Fulton families and homes of Gilmanton, New Hampshire, their ranches and ranchlife in Northern Arizona, their Flagstaff homes, views of Flagstaff businesses as well as portraits of the families and friends. | |||||||||||
| Digital versions of these images are available here. | |||||||||||