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The Gridley Family papers contain the letters of a highly educated New York family, who were drawn to evangelical religion and progressive causes in the 1820-1830s. The letters are all personal in nature about daily family life and matters of religion, education, and travel.

The Gridley Family papers (212 items) are comprised of 210 letters, 1 legal document, and one speech. The Gridley family of Clinton, New York, maintained regular correspondence with relatives in Rochester, Aurora, Hamilton, and other towns in western New York. The 210 letters, spanning the years 1808-1885, are entirely personal in nature and document a highly educated New York family, who were drawn to evangelical religion in the 1820-1830s. The letters show a family that held abolitionist, temperance, and other progressive views.

The earliest items are a printed notice from 1798 directed to the inhabitants of Connecticut informing them of an upcoming property tax recently enacted by congress, and a deed transferring land in New York State to Orrin Gridley in [1807?].

Ten letters from 1815-1828 are from Orrin to his wife Fanny, written during his travels to Albany, New York, and Baltimore. He speaks of his business dealings and of religious services he attends. In one letter from April 17, 1820, he described a church service that included missionaries who were about to travel west to convert the Osage Indians "on the Arkensaw." Other letters from this period include nine items from Rachel Kellogg Strong, Fanny's younger sister, and a few from her husband S. Strong, addressed to Orrin. As with most of the letters in the collection, these discuss family, health, business, and religion.

Wayne Gridley's earliest letter is from 1825, written when he was 14 years old. His letters from Andover provide a sense of student life at the Seminary and include discussions of his education (such as learning about missionary work and encounters with "heathen Indians" from North America and the Pacific Islands), as well as his evolving thoughts on religion and social issues. In a letter from 1837, he voices anti-slavery sentiments to his parents. Wayne's letter from November 20, 1836, contains a large lithograph letterhead of Andover Theological Seminary; a letter from July 31, 1849, has a colorful letterhead depicting buildings in Hamburg, Germany.

Through 1849, most of the letters are addressed to Fanny and Orrin from their children, including ten items written to Fanny from her youngest son Charles, when he was in Saratoga Springs, New York, and when he traveled in Europe. In a long letter to Albert G. Gridley, a friend in Paris described his brother Charles' illness and death, and enclosed a carte-de-visite, presumably of Charles.

Letters written by Amos Delos Gridley and his wife Ellen, while on a tour of Georgia and Florida in 1851, include extensive commentary on slavery and the South. For instance, the Gridleys mention that rarely does one see anyone from the South being waited upon by a white person. They also discuss the issue concerning the conversion of slaves to Christianity. In one note, they remark about the steamboat Magnolia exploding on the Ohio River. The latter part of the collection contains many letters sent to George Bristol, Harriet E. Bristol, and Cornelia Bristol of Clinton, New York, from Ellen and Amos Delos Gridley.

The collection contains 48 undated family letters. In the last undated folder is an ink illustration of a house drawn by Amos Delos Gridley. This folder also contains an 18-page speech written upon the death of Adelaide G. Smith, the only daughter of Orrin Gridley.

The collection consists of correspondence related to the Griffin family of New York City and includes 58 letters that George Griffin and his family exchanged between 1833 and 1854 with author Lydia H. Sigourney of Hartford, Connecticut. Additional material includes letters written by Sigourney about her work and correspondence among members of the Griffin family that provides commentary on family life, two extended trips to Europe, Protestant theology, and higher education. The final series in the collection includes manuscript copies of several of Sigourney's poems, including one on the death of American poet John Trumbull and another on the "Death of a Missionary to Liberia."

The collection consists of correspondence related to the Griffin family of New York City and includes 58 letters that George Griffin and his family exchanged between 1833 and 1854 with author Lydia H. Sigourney of Hartford, Connecticut, as well as several other pieces of correspondence written by Sigourney and others. The second series of the collection includes several folders of correspondence among members of the Griffin family, especially letters of fatherly advice that George Griffin wrote to his sons Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830) and George Griffin, Jr. (1811-1880). In addition to narratives of family life, the bulk of these letters involve accounts of two extended trips to Europe as well as discussions of Protestant theology and higher education. The final series in the collection is a 3-page manuscript copy of Sigourney's poem on the death, in 1831, of American poet John Trumbull.

Sigourney Correspondence, 1833-1854: This subseries consists primarily of Lydia H. Sigourney's correspondence with her close friend and intermediary, George Griffin, and his family in New York City. Thee letters from Lydia Sigourney, dated in 1857 and 1858, may or may not have been to Douglas Smith. In them, she offered a brief remark on her own aging and disclaimed the notion of striving to appear young; content on shipping books to the U.S. Consul; and an interest in agricultural sciences.

Much of Sigourney's correspondence with George Griffin directly involves her work as an author and her position as a woman in that profession. She frequently sent him copies of her written pieces, some of which had already been published in periodicals, asking for advice about the content of the work and about how she might pursue publication. In the course of doing so, she remarked upon her writing and revision process. These letters also specifically address her negotiations, often through Griffin's work as intermediary, with the Key & Biddle, Harpers, Leavitt, Lord & Co., D. Appleton, and Van Nostrand publishing firms, as well as the publication of her Letters to Young Ladies (1833 and 1841), Poems (1834), Sketches (1834), Girl's Reading-book (1838), and Letters to Mothers (1838). Additionally, a small number of letters from 1840 deal with Sigourney's trip to Europe.

Griffin, in turn, kept Sigourney apprised of developments with publishing firms as well as on the sale and review of her work. He candidly offered his response to works she had sent him, as well as general advice on the direction of her literary career. As a writer himself, he too sought feedback for his work, which took the form of theological essays. A manuscript copy of one of the reviews of his book, The Gospel its Own Advocate , appears in this series. Both correspondents also reflected on the challenges facing the publishing industry during the financial crisis of the late 1830s (especially the Panic of 1837) and shared their opinions on the state of American literary culture.

This series also includes letters that Sigourney exchanged with George Griffin's wife, Lydia Butler Griffin, and daughter Caroline. These pieces tended to relate family news and household matters but also included reflections on reading and Sigourney's involvement in various charitable societies. She briefly remarked on her relationship with her African American servant, Ann Prince. In addition, Sigourney conveyed in her letters to George Griffin that she valued the responses of his wife and daughters to her work. Finally, the series contains 2 letters composed by Charles Sigourney, Lydia Sigourney's husband, and ten letters written by Lydia Sigourney relating to her work, public appreciation of it, school celebrations, and social matters.

Griffin Family Correspondence, 1807-1885: The Griffin Family correspondence contains over 150 letters, dated between 1807 and 1885, that relate to George Griffin (1778-1860) of New York City and his family.

Most of the letters from the 1820s deal with Edmund Dorr Griffin (1804-1830), the second son of George and Lydia Butler Griffin. A handful of these items chart his religious convictions and pathway to becoming an Episcopal minister. The bulk of these letters, however, are ones that Edmund exchanged with his parents, siblings, and friends during the extended trip he took to Europe between October 1828 and April 1830. George Griffin's letters to Edmund during this trip are full of advice and directives about where to travel, what to observe, and practicalities about money. He also kept his son informed about matters that were unfolding among the Episcopal churches in New York and at Columbia College. Although George Griffin was the primary writer of these letters, many of them include notes from other family members as well, with accounts of family life, including the courtship and marriage of Edmund's older brother Francis to Mary Sands.

Edmund's letters home narrate his journey and impressions of Europe in extensive detail. George Griffin actively compiled his son's epistles to have them published in periodicals, and upon Edmund's death in September 1830, these travel accounts (not all of which are included in the collection) made up the bulk of the "Remains" compiled by Francis Griffin and published in his brother's memory in 1831. Letters pertaining to the preparation and reception of this document, as well as a 12-page account of Edmund's final days, can be found in Series I and II of the collection.

Another group of letters from 1830 chart George Griffin, Jr.'s (1811-1880) sudden religious awakening and decision to pursue ministerial training under the care of his uncle, Edward Dorr Griffin (1770-1837), a Congregational minister and the president of Williams College. Later letters in the collection reveal that George Griffin, Jr., eventually became a farmer in Catskill, New York, and deal with his efforts to sell his hay. He would also travel to Europe, in 1850, with his ailing sister Caroline (1820-1861). While they were away, their father conveyed advice regularly and procured letters of introduction, some of which remain in the collection.

Additional materials include subjects related to male and female friendship; family financial matter; the births, deaths, or marriages of family members; education; Protestant theology; health and medicine; early telegraph communication; and family genealogy. The handful of items that date to the 1870s and 1880s include a printed piece called "Dear Erskie!" which contains a series of riddles, and a fifteen-page booklet that includes two poems titled "Picnic" and "Archery."

Lydia Sigourney Poems, Notes, and Photograph

This series consists of six items: a 3-page manuscript copy of Sigourney's poem on the death of American poet John Trumbull in 1831; a manuscript copy of "Death of a Missionary to Liberia" written for theColonization Herald; her poem "Tomb of Josephine"; Sigourney's manuscript copy of an 1849 printed notice regarding Whisper to a Bride that she sent to an autograph collector; a "List of L. H. Sigourney's published poetical works" (ca. 1857? in her hand); and a carte-de-visite seated portrait of Lydia H. Sigourney. The photograph was published by E. & H. T. Anthony & Co., New York, from a photographic negative in Brady's National Portrait Gallery. It is signed by Lydia H. Sigourney to her friend Mrs. E. Douglas Smith.