Collection Guide

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Administrative Information

Access and Restrictions: This collection is open for research.

Digital Surrogates: Except where indicated, this document describes but does not reproduce the actual text, images and objects which make up this collection. Materials are available only in the Special Collections Department.

Copyright:  Please read The University of Iowa Libraries' statement on "Property Rights, Copyright Law, and Permissions to Use Unpublished Materials"

Use of Collections:  The University of Iowa Libraries supports access to the materials, published and unpublished, in its collections. Nonetheless, access to some items may be restricted by their fragile condition or by contractual agreement with donors, and it may not be possible at all times to provide appropriate machinery for reading, viewing or accessing non-paper-based materials. Please read our Use of Manuscripts Statement.

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Biographical Note

The Crosby Family Papers include documents concerning Leonard Ezra Crosby (1836 -- 1917), Abbie (Lake) Crosby (? -- 1903), and their son Frederic C. Crosby (1862 -- ?). Leonard lived in Painesville, Ohio, for one year as a child and moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he lived for much of his young adult life. He was married to Abbie L. Lake in 1857 and the couple had two children, a daughter and a son, Frederic. Frederic, also a resident of Janesville, was adopted by the Crosbys in 1869 at the age of seven. In 1864, one year before the end of the Civil War, Leonard enlisted in the 42nd Wisconsin Volunteer Army and received an Honorable Discharge when the fighting ended. The Crosbys moved to Iowa in 1875, living in Austinville, Aplington, and Cedar Falls. As an adult, Frederic eventually settled in Coggon, Iowa, and invented The Crosby Sliding Door Jack, a device for opening and closing the sliding doors of railroad cars, securing a patent in 1925.

A. Neville, September 2005

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Scope and Contents

Photographs: Box 1

The Crosby Family Papers contain a certificate of adoption, a United States patent, and a certificate of honorable discharge from the volunteer army. Also included are photographs and advertisements for The Crosby Sliding Door Jack, an obituary for Leonard Crosby, a small American flag, and miscellany.

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Acquisition and Processing Information

These papers were collected for the University of Iowa Libraries by George Sheets in the late 1950s.

Guide posted to Internet: November 2005

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Box Contents List

Certificate of adoption for Frederic(k) J. Coste (?) with letter from Rock County, Wisconsin judge, July 12,1869

The Crosby Sliding Car Door Jack materials, including two photographs

Miscellaneous

Small silk American flag

Card with political song (Goodbye, Grover, Goodbye) and mathematical figures on the reverse

Obituary for Leonard Crosby, The Parkersburg Eclipse, November 1, 1917

Patent certificate for door jacks with patent application, Frederic C. Crosby, March 17, 1925

Soldiers discharge certificate for Leonard E. Crosby, June 29, 1865

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