Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about finances and the start of the school year at the Ursuline Convent and Academy in Valle Crucis and of her upcoming trip to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. To get to Tuscaloosa, she informs the Bishop, she will have to travel "via Montgomery per R.R., Selma per steamer, to Marion per R.R. and to Tuscaloosa per stage coach for 60 miles." 12p.
Letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch describing her plans to travel with a couple of the Ursuline sisters to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to help start an academy. Madame Baptiste writes that she has yet to tell the sisters which ones she has chosen to accompany her to Alabama. 4p.
Letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch describing her plans to travel with a couple of the Ursuline sisters to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to help start an academy. 6p.
Madame Baptiste writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch about the Ursuline sisters' annual retreat, the start of the school year and plans to set up an academy in Alabama. 7p.
Letter from Henrietta Lynch to Bishop Patrick Lynch inquiring about purchases the Bishop had made in Europe during the war that had finally arrived in Charleston. 2p.
Long letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch keeping him apprised of the news from the Ursuline Convent and Academy. Madame Baptiste asks the Bishop to help them procure more lay sisters "small in person - healthy and between 18 and 21" and choir sisters aged "18 to 30". She also discusses plans with the Bishop to open a day school in Columbia but doesn't know if they will be able to secure a building before the start of the school year. 12p.
Letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch discussing a new candidate for the Ursuline sisterhood. According to Madame Baptiste, the 58 year old woman has changed her opinion "respecting widows and old ladies becoming nuns." 4p.
Short letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch about the ongoing effort to solicit funds for a new convent including writing a letter to General Sherman to "recommend our cause at Washington." 2p.
Francis Lynch writes to Bishop Patrick Lynch detailing his plans for the season's crops. Francis informs the Bishop he is planting 650 acres in cotton and corn and writes of his plan to mix crushed bones with sulfuric acid to create his own fertilizer. 2p.
Letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch describing springtime at Valle Crucis. She writes that the sisters have created a "month of May altar" and have decorated it with a small statue saved from the convent on the night of the Columbia fire. 4p.
Letter from Madame Baptiste to Bishop Patrick Lynch with news from the Ursuline Convent and Academy. She writes that the Bishop's former slave, Daniel, is in a "half-starved condition" and has been visiting the convent for handouts. She mentions that she has read about former Union prisoners who praised Bishop Lynch for his kindness during the war and writes of her fears of a cholera epidemic that "will no doubt decimate the whole country this summer." 8p.
