Approximately 85 photographs and real photo postcards of female and male College of

Emporia students, circa 1909-1915.

Likely the collection of DELLA PEASE and/or JOHN ELLIOTT ROSS, as most of the photos are of her and her friends, and some others are of him and his friends. The two College of Emporia students may have taken these snaps of each other and their friends, and then combined the photos into this gathering when they later got married. The marriage turned Della Pease into Della Pease Ross. They both graduated from the College of Emporia in 1912. Most of the photos seem to be from that year or earlier. One photo is very old, the backside info indicates it is a photo of the parents of one or the other. Della Pease and John Ross were married in 1916, a few years after graduating.

The photos are various sizes, from very small up to 3.5x5.5 inches. Included are many real photo postcards that are truly RPPC because the images are mostly of the students themselves. Good condition, some with edge wear, some fading, signs of light handling, overall clear images and legible information where found on the backsides and margins.

Rich in KANSAS GENEALOGY. What makes this Emporia Kansas photo collection interesting is that many have the FULL NAMES of the people in the photo written on the backside, and sometimes information about where they are and what they are doing.. Some of the names include: Della Pease, John E. Ross, Katherine Polk, Claire Boyle, George Merritt Polk, Grace Smith, and many, many more. Some of the photo postcards are unused, others were sent and have writing on the backsides, all relate to Della Pease, John E. Ross, or others of the College of Emporia.

In the photos Della Pease and her friends seem to be doing the usual fun college stuff. The back of one of the photos reads: "A picnic supper at the Chautauqua grounds at one of the girls' tents. We had a great time. Can you find me?" After graduating in 1912 it wouldn't always be fun for Della Pease or her school mate and future husband John Elliott Ross...

About JOHN ELLIOTT ROSS (from his Obituary in the Princeton Theological Seminary Alumni Report of 1920-1929):

JOHN ELLIOTT ROSS, b.1883 d.1925, was born near Smith Center, Kansas, son of Wilson Erskine and Mary Frances (Elliott) Ross. He made a public confession of his faith in the United Presbyterian Church of Sterling, Kansas. His preparatory studies were pursued in the Franklin Academy, Kansas, and he graduated from the COLLEGE OF EMPORIA in 1912. He entered the Seminary at Princeton in the fall of the same year, remaining more than two years. He completed his theological course in the Western Theological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1916. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Osborne and ordained by the same Presbytery, September 19, 1916. He sailed for India October 10, 1916, and engaged in missionary work at Ludhiana, India, and then at Saharanpur, from 1918 to 1923. He returned to this country on furlough, remaining a year from 1923 to 1924. He died January 15, 1925, in Kasur, Punjab, India, of heart failure, while sleeping, in the forty-second year of his age. He was buried at Ferozepur, India. He received the degree of A.M. from Princeton University in 1914. He was married August 17, 1916, in Pittsburg, Kansas, to Della Pease, who with two sons survives him.

About DELLA PEASE ROSS (from her Obituary in the EMPORIA GAZETTE of 10 February 1930):

Word has been received in Emporia of the death of Mrs. Della Pease Ross, a graduate of the College of Emporia, in 1912. She died Friday, February 7, at the Lahore hospital in India. Her husband, the late John E. Ross, was also a member of the College graduating class of 1912. They had been doing missionary work in India for about 15 years.

To be clear, the photos in this collection are all pre India missionary work, when there was lots of laughter in their and their friends' eyes.