Correspondence, M-O, April-July, 1898

The Batchelder Collection documents the collected correspondence of John M. Batchelder and his son, John K. Batchelder from 1894 to 1951. The collection includes both business and personal correspondence. The business correspondence includes letters to business partners, business customers, sales staff and clients. Also contained in the papers are invoices, business receipts, business telegraphs, transport records and bills. There are several hundred oversized documents in the collection, which include blueprints, pencil and ink drawings of monuments, memorials, a complete layout of land parcels sold by the Gulf Coast Development Company, and a large family tree. These supplemental materials are stored separately from the letter files in the oversized map cabinet. The collection also contains a book that lists the monument companies registered in the United States in the year 1920. The personal correspondence includes love letters, letters from various relatives, and a notable, long standing correspondence with a business partner and friend named Claude Bacchus. Mr. Bacchus managed the affairs of the Gulf Coast Development Corporation. During the 1920s, Mr. Bacchus traveled extensively in Japan, China, Singapore, Sri Lanka, India and Hawaii and conducted his correspondence with J.M. Batchelder from there. The collection also includes personal receipts, bills, tax returns, personal business correspondence, and personal correspondence. The papers document a longstanding land acquisition deal and development plan centered in Algoa, Texas called the Gulf Coast Development Corporation. For a time, John M. Batchelder was the president of the corporation. The development plan existed from at least 1910 through the year 1951. This documentation includes lists of the shareholders in the plan, maps of the properties involved, and some of the correspondence in regards to it. A full obituary of J.M. Batchelder is on page 18 of The American Stone Trade Monthly in Box 34, Folder 39.