The Chipman Papers are predominantly correspondence, with photographs and newspaper clippings as occasional enclosures. There is also a series of photograph albums. The letters are arranged in three series for the major correspondents, Dorothy, Hope, and Jean Chipman. Chronological arrangement of each series does reveal gaps. Because the sisters lived together or with their mother for most of the period covered by the collection, it is only reasonable for their correspondence to illuminate those times (vacations, work assignments) when they were apart. During those periods when they did correspond, they did so on a daily basis. Correspondence from their brothers and other family members or friends is more sporadic. The content of the letters is largely descriptive of the daily events of their lives, occasionally mentioning co-workers, work environments, and more rarely, events in the world-at-large.
Dorothy (b. 1896) and Hope Chipman (1900-1982), the principle correspondents in this collection, were born in Ames, Iowa. Their mother, variously addressed as Jean or Janet, is also represented in the correspondence. As children, the sisters lived in a variety of places as their father made his living in the early automotive industry. In 1907 the family moved to Constantine, Michigan where the father worked for a firm which made magnetos. In 1912 the family moved to Ann Arbor where he worked for a truck manufacturer, Annacar. In 1923 they returned to Ames.
Dorothy and Hope Chipman each graduated from the University of Michigan. Their brothers, Edgar and James (dates unknown), attended Iowa State University. In 1925, when this collection begins, Hope enrolled at Columbia University to pursue a Master's Degree. In May 1926 she received and accepted an offer to teach in Ann Arbor at University High School. Dorothy was living in Ames with their mother and working in the business manager's office at Iowa State College. In 1926 she moved to Rochester, New York where she was employed by the Eastman-Kodak Corporation. Dissatisfied with her situation she joined Hope in Ann Arbor in 1927 and worked at the William L. Clements Library. Their mother joined them in Ann Arbor, becoming a member of the First Presbyterian Church, while their brothers married. James settled in New Jersey with his wife Georgia and daughter Ellen Janet, working as an engineer. Edgar was an owner/operator of a gas and service station in Ypsilanti, Michigan, where he lived with his wife Katherine and children John and Janet.
In 1936-1937 Hope went to Spokane, Washington as an exchange teacher. In 1939 she again entered an educational program, this time in Ames, Iowa, to study food preparation and management. Dorothy spent the summer of 1940 at the University of Michigan Biological Station in Cheboygan, Michigan where she pursued an interest in jewelry making. In 1949 the sisters moved to Everett, Washington for a year to ease the effects of Dorothy's allergies. Ann Arbor remained their home, however until their retirement. Dorothy and Hope each took summer vacations individually and together during which they traveled through various regions of the United States. In 1962 they toured Europe together. Each of their trips, and indeed at each step of their lives, they shared events and perceptions in their correspondence.
