Family and Friends

A collection of correspondence, diaries, biographical notes, scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia and other papers. It concerns the emigration of the family of John Washington Keyes and his wife Julia Hentz Keyes to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, after the Civil War, and their subsequent travel all over the world. Of special interest is the diary Mr. Keyes kept during his trip from Montgomery to Rio de Janeiro and accounts by Julia Keyes titled "Our Life in Brazil," concerning the establishment of "Dixie Island" there. The correspondence also involves other members of the family and grouped into four categories: Alabama letters (1846-1865); Brazillian letters (1867-1935); American letters (1872-1944); and European letters (1900-1941).