The Prat Sisters: Free Spirits of the 1890s

Minnie notes that she is Evelyn Nordhoff's first apprentice. She writes that the Elephant Bindery "is located here on the corner of Fourth Street & Washington Square, where the sun pours in wide windows all day long & makes me almost forget that I am far from friends and beginning a strange new life in a strange land."
Minnie glued into the bindery book a draft of the contract setting out the terms of her apprenticeship. She also attached a note from Nordhoff, urging her not to feel obligated to keep the bindery open while she (Nordhoff) is away during the holiday: "I beg you seriously not to stay at all if you want to do something else. I think it unlikely that anyone will come." From the last sentence, it seems likely that the holiday mentioned was Christmas 1897. Evelyn Nordhoff unexpectedly in November 1898, at the age of 33, after a brief illness.

Date: 1897-1898

Reference: Prat, Starr family Nova Scotia Archives  MG 1 vol. 2627 no. 24