Leland Alfred Anderson Collection

Mr. Leland Alfred Anderson was born on May 12, 1899 on a farm near New Harmony in the area known variously as Winfield, Stillwell, Rapture and Bugtown. He went first to the small one-room local schools, and then transferred to the New Harmony schools. He was married to Marie L. Mann September 27, 1922.

His occupations have been mainly farming and store-keeping, and he was for many years proprietor (for a period with his brother, Jesse) of the Anderson Grocery Store at the east end of New Harmony.

Mr. Anderson’s papers reflect his many civic interests and his positive participation in the activities of his community. They are particularly valuable for the information available about real estate transactions in the environs of New Harmony, and records of persons and events in the Winfield vicinity.

This collection was given to the Working Men’s Institute at three different times: August 14, November 21, and December 14, 1979

It covers the years 1816-1978 and contains approximately 770 items.

Guide to the Leland Alfred Anderson Collection

Anderson Family

Folder 1           Genealogical information, 1816-1933, mainly pages of a family Bible

Folders 2-4      Legal papers, 1842-1970, warranty deeds and real estate transactions, mortgages, contracts, oil leases, estate affairs, fire insurance

Folder 5           Business receipts, 1875-1912

Folder 6           Tax receipts, 1850-1965

Folder 7           Miscellany

Folder 8           Clippings

Folder 9           William J. and Mary Florence Anderson Family, 1885-1918. Columbian Business college (Evansville, Indiana) card; bills and receipts for various funerals; right-of-way agreement with Evansville and New Harmony Railway Company, 1881, bill for Maxwell Touring car from Keck-Gonnerman Co. for $936.40, Aug. 7, 1918

Leland Alfred Anderson 

Folder 10         Personal papers, 1903 – ca.1945. School report cards, World War II classification cards

Folder 11         Writings and notes, information covers 1816-1978, most of it recorded probably late 1970s. Material gathered together by Mr. Leland Anderson for a work to be entitled “This and That,” much of it compiled from the diary (now destroyed) in which his mother, Mrs. Florence Anderson, kept her records of local happenings, mainly death dates of persons living in the Stillwell-Bugtown and New Harmony environs. Mr. Anderson also included family data, information about land transactions, information concerning the Posey County Agricultural Society and Fairgrounds (New Harmony) transfer of property, lists of New Harmony area businesses ca. 1970.                  

Folder 12         Personal and business papers, 1946-1951. Bills for family (mother, Mary Florence, and sister Lucille) funerals.

Folder 13         Business papers, 1923-1965. Invoices for Anderson grocery store and other businesses; Micro-Lab Industries, Inc.; petition to blacktop Stillwell Rd., 1957

Folder 14         New Harmony plans, ordinances, etc., 1959-1970, gas utility, zoning, master plan, sewage system

Folder 15         Photograph of Leland Anderson in infancy (on glass)