The Irwin Marriage Library Collection

The Irwin Marriage Library Collection

Theodore Irwin Jr. in the Irwin House library. The “Irwin House” at 150 East Sixth Street in Oswego, New York was an Italianate style mansion built by Theodore Irwin Sr. around 1861; the mansion acted as a family home for 75 years and housed Theodore Sr.’s large private library of rare books, artworks, and artifacts. It was demolished in 1936 after the deaths of Theodore Irwin Jr. and his wife Molly Craig Hobbs Irwin. Typed on verso: “I have much better ones, but wanted you to see the picture of mother. Yours will be ready in short time. Few Days. The others are OVER nine days old.” Handwritten on verso: “Theodore Irwin Jr. Oswego NY. In an envelope dated ‘Aug 5’ no year. Addressed to Neahtawanta, Michigan, probably 1926?” Additional information from Nanine Hilliard Greene’s family history book “Theodore Irwin, Jr. 1858-1933” Book 17, 1996, page 86: “Theodore Irwin Jr. in the library at 150 East Sixth Street. His favorite picture of Molly in the red feathered hat is on the table. He and Molly and the girls moved into Theodore Sr.’s house between 1903 and 1905 when the house at 77 East Utica was sold. It was a move just across the street to the house which Theo Jr. had grown up in, in which he and Molly had spent the first three years of their marriage, and in which Nanine Sherley Irwin was born.” See the Irwin-Hilliard Collection family history books “The Irwin Collections” Book 16, volume 1 and 2 for more information about the art and furnishings in the Irwin House.