During the fall 2025, the Boone County Public Library’s Archive & History Center received a reference request from Dr. Rebecca Bailey at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) to work with one of her students in the Public History 689 course. Student Emily Stephens, from Covington, was interested in getting hands-on experience researching within the Caldwell Family, Robert Chambers House Papers, which were processed and ready for use.
These historical materials, rich with information, dated from the mid-1800s into the 2000s, and had belonged to the family of Dr. John A. Caldwell, Jr. and his wife, Orpha Featherstone Caldwell. This Burlington family’s collection of photographs, correspondence, documents, diaries and scrapbooks, were acquired by the AHC in the summer of 2022. The Honorable Anthony W. Frohlich, a retired Boone County Circuit Court judge and local historian, helped with facilitating the donation, which was given by longtime resident, Joyce McNeely.
The Caldwell family, originally from the Clifton area of Cincinnati, purchased the Thomas W. Rice farm on East Bend Road in Burlington in 1944, and moved across the river to Kentucky. Dr. John A. Caldwell, Jr. was an accomplished and recently retired surgeon, educator, and leader in the medical profession in Cincinnati and Ohio. His wife Orpha Featherstone Caldwell, a Canadian, was a nurse who had trained at the Lowell General Hospital in Massachusetts, and the Sloane Maternity and General Memorial Hospitals, both in New York.
John and Orpha had two children, Dorothy Annabelle and John Featherstone (“Jack”), who were in their early thirties and unmarried at the time they moved to Burlington. Tragically, Jack had been blinded in a gunpowder accident at age 13.
So, how did Emily get started with her Caldwell family research project? Emily scheduled several research visits to the Main library between September and November, working with AHC staff member, Tracey Howerton, to explore portions of the collection. Emily discovered that Dorothy Caldwell was good friends with Cincinnati Enquirer artist, Caroline Williams, for several years before both Williams and the Caldwells moved from Cincinnati to Boone County. Emily, an artist herself, decided to focus on aspects of Dorothy and Caroline’s lives, careers, and friendship.
Among their many adventures Emily found, was that Dorothy and Caroline took an ambitious month-long trip to Quebec, Canada in August-September 1941. They traveled in Caroline’s 1936 station wagon, with her large black French poodle, Noppy, in tow. They took photographs along the way, and Dorothy kept those black and white snapshots for many years. They also sent letters and postcards home to their families, keeping them updated on their whereabouts, and reassuring their worried loved ones over two single women traveling some distance from home.
Emily also discovered that Dorothy had volunteered with Kentucky’s Frontier Nursing Service in the 1930s and 1940s. Led by Mary Breckenridge, these heroic nurse-midwives on horseback provided much-needed healthcare services to rural Appalachians during the difficult years of the Great Depression and World War II. Dorothy, an experienced horsewoman, volunteered as a courier, a job which included among its duties handling and caring for the horses. She and others took plentiful photographs of daily life during their time at the Wendover site in Leslie County, Kentucky.
Emily’s research culminated in a final project and poster for her NKU course. About her research experience, Emily commented, “The library staff made research feel approachable and well supported. Having access to both archival materials and a strong circulating collection of secondary sources really enriched my experience.”
A physical display titled, “Dorothy Caldwell and Caroline Williams: Their Lives and Friendship in the Caldwell Family Papers” will be located at the Main Library through the month of March, in celebration of Women’s History Month.
The Archive & History Center looks forward to sharing more stories from the Caldwell Family, Robert Chambers House papers in the future.
Questions? Contact Tracey Howerton, thowerton@bcpl.org or ext. 8150.
Note: Images from the Caldwell Family, Robert Chambers House Papers, and BCPL staff, unless otherwise indicated
