Scope and Content Note
The Samuel A. Dysart Papers house correspondence, typescript and holograph essays, and a printed report dating from 1896 to 1982. The bulk of the collection consists of family correspondence dating from 1896 to 1903.
The first item in the collection is a short story in Samuel Dysart's hand entitled Bread and Meat
. It decries the boredom of country life and the relentless greed and domination of a demanding husband and father. The Dysart family correspondence consists primarily of letters from Samuel to his son Louis regarding family affairs and the state of Samuel's health. Many of the letters contain Samuel's thoughts on symptoms believed to be related to tuberculosis. Of particular interest are letters from Samuel to Louis dated 1897 April 20 and 1903 August 4 describing sterilization and surgical procedures performed on two occasions in the Dysart home and a letter from Fred Dysart to Birney and Eva dated 1899 February 20 regarding Christian interpretations of the evils of urban life and greed. A letter from Samuel dated 1900 October 18 includes floor plans for the Dysart home and a proposed addition. Correspondence written during November 1902 contains Samuel's comments on local politics, including references to a secret meeting
with Carl Hayden at the Commercial Hotel in Phoenix.
The Decision and Decree
is a published summary of Hurley vs. Abbott, the Arizona territorial court case known as the Kent Decision
, that established the law of prior appropriation in water rights for Arizona. The Phoenix Dysarts
is a typescript family history written by Merwin L. Murphy. The Diary of a Trip to the Grand Canyon...
is a typescript of an original diary written by Zella Dysart and transcribed by Merwin L. Murphy.
Dates
- Creation: 1896-1982
Creator
Language of Materials
Material in English
Access Restrictions
To view this collection, make an appointment at least five business days prior to your visit by contacting Ask an Archivist or calling (480) 965-4932. Appointments in the Wurzburger Reading Room at Hayden Library (rm. 138) on the Tempe campus are available Monday through Friday. Check the ASU Library Hours page for current availability.
Copyright
Arizona State University does not own copyright to this collection. Distinctive Collections recognizes that it is incumbent upon the researcher to procure permission to publish information from this collection from the owner of the copyright.
Biographical Note
Samuel Andrew Dysart was born in Tennessee on October 13, 1843. The family moved to Iowa in 1854 and in 1861 Samuel Dysart enlisted in the Union Army. He was wounded at the Battle of Pea Ridge and was mustered out with an honorable discharge.
The Dysart family later established their home in Phoenix, where Samuel Dysart worked as an abstractor. His business later merged with the Phoenix Title Guaranty and Abstract Company and the Dysarts moved from their city residence to a thirty acre farm that Dysart managed with the help of the family. Samuel Dysart died in Phoenix on November 6, 1903.
Samuel Dysart married Eliza Higby (1850-1886) on June 2, 1868 and the couple had seven children: Birney (1869-1932), Louis (1871-1946), Frederick (1873-1963), May (1877-1877), Winifred (Dysart) Murphy (1879-1966), Zella (Dysart) Vaughn (1881-1973), and Arthur Samuel (1886-1975). After Eliza Dysart's death, Samuel married Ida May Roberts (1861-1918) on August 27, 1887. The couple had four children: Milton (1888-1888), Nathaniel Martin (1889-1957), Mildred Maurine (Dysart) Schimfessel (1893-1959), and Samuel Roberts (1904-1961). Winnifred Winnie
Dysart taught school before marrying Ralph Murphy. Louis travelled to Chicago to complete an internship at Cook County Hospital. He finished this program in 1896 and returned to the Southwest, where he set up a practice as a mine doctor at Jimulco, Mexico and married Mabel Palmer.
Full extent
1 Box(es)
Full extent
0.25 Linear Feet
Abstract
The Samuel A. Dysart Papers house correspondence, typescript and holograph essays, and a printed report dating from 1896 to 1982. The bulk of the collection consists of family correspondence dating from 1896 to 1903.
Arrangement
This collection consists of a single box.
Provenance
The Samuel A. Dysart Papers were received from Merwin L. Murphy with a collection of Murphy family papers in 1976 (ACC# 1976-00021). At Mr. Murphy's request the Dysart Papers were processed separately from the Murphy Papers. Merwin L. Murphy's typescript The Phoenix Dysarts
was received separately in 1983.
Subject
Geographic
Occupation
Topical
- Title
- Samuel A. Dysart Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Processed by Marion L. D'Luzansky and Robert P. Spindler in 1983; machine-readable finding guide created by Stephanie Stegman in 2004.
- Date
- 2011
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding guide encoded in English.
Repository details
Part of the Greater Arizona Collection Repository
Contact
Arizona State UniversityP.O. Box 871006
Tempe AZ 85287-1006 United States
(480) 965-4932
archives@asu.edu