A regular exchange of letters between young White and his mother makes up most of this reel. It began when he left for school at Ballston Spa, and continued through a year at Geneva College (1849-50), two and a half years as an undergraduate at Yale (1851-53), and his years of travel and study in Europe. Clara Dickson White's letters picture the social and political life of Syracuse, and detail the domestic arrangements of a well.to·do Episcopalian family. Many letters are from school friends and fraternity brothers, Thomas Frederick Davies, Charles E. Fitch, Daniel Coit Gilman, Theodore Munger and George W. Smalley. Five letters from John F. Becker (1846-53) present a student's view of the early years at the University of Michigan.