The Edith E. Caldwell Papers (2011-138-0) consist of personal papers of Edith E. Caldwell and her parents William A. Caldwell and Mary R. Caldwell, as well as legal correspondence and filings pertaining to a lawsuit between Edith E. Caldwell and Joseph Peszensky. Edith E. Caldwell was born in 1885, the daughter of William A. and Mary R. Caldwell.  She was raised in Litchfield and attended the Eastman National Business College in Poughkeepsie, New York around 1904.  She held various jobs in offices and stores in Hartford, Washington, D.C., Florida and Colonial Beach, Virginia.  Her father took work out-of-town and her mother entered into a verbal arrangement with Joseph Peszenski, a Russian immigrant.  This verbal arrangement became the basis for a drawn out legal battle between Edith E. Caldwell and Joseph Peszensky which endured from 1925-1934(?).  The stress of the trial caused Edith Caldwell to have a nervous breakdown and she was hospitalized in the state hospital in Middletown, CT for several months in 1933.  During that time, a conservator was appointed to her estate and settled the case. By 1940, Edith E. Caldwell is involved with a dairy farm where she is assisted by farm hands and sells her milk and other products in New Milford. Edith E. Caldwell died July 19, 1968.