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This collection contains correspondence related to the family of Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child, granddaughter of politician Theodore Sedgwick and wife of Harvard professor Francis James Child. The collection also includes several photographs and printed items.

This collection (1 linear foot) contains correspondence related to the family of Elizabeth Ellery Sedgwick Child, granddaughter of politician Theodore Sedgwick and wife of Harvard professor Francis James Child. The collection also includes several photographs and printed items.

The Correspondence series, which comprises the bulk of the collection, contains letters the Sedgwick family wrote to and received from family members and friends, as well as several poems. From 1826-1842, Robert Sedgwick, his wife Elizabeth, and their daughter Elizabeth ("Lizzie") corresponded with family members including Catherine Maria Sedgwick of Stockbridge and Lenox, Massachusetts, and Jane Minot Sedgwick of New York City. Most of the early correspondence pertains to the writers' social lives and family news, and to travel around New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. Catharine Maria Sedgwick also reported on acquaintances such as the actress and writer Fanny Kemble, whom she deemed "fated to suffer" (May 27, 1834), and the writer and social theorist Harriet Martineau (November 2, 1834).

The bulk of the remaining correspondence is dated 1855-1885 and pertains to the relationship between Lizzie Sedgwick and her husband, Frank James Child. Child wrote to Sedgwick from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Paris, France, and received letters from Sedgwick and others. The couple's other correspondents included at least one writer in Italy who commented on their relationship and health, family news, and the Civil War. Postwar correspondence includes letters to Susan Ridley Sedgwick Butler. Three late postcards to Mrs. G. A. Stanger of Springfield, Massachusetts, concern her son Herb's experiences in Georgia while serving in the armed forces during World War I.

The Photographs series (5 items) contains 3 photographs of Helen Child (later Sargent), a photographic print of Elizabeth Sedgwick Child, and a photograph of the Child family's home in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Printed Items (9 items) include a certificate regarding Francis Child's qualifications as an instructor of Greek at Harvard University (September 22, 1846), 2 illustrated Christmas cards (1881 and undated), a copy of the Boston Daily Advertiser (August 1, 1884), an obituary for Francis Child from The Nation (September 17, 1896), and copies of the poems "From My Arm-Chair" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and "The City of the Living" by Elizabeth Akers Allen. The series also includes a biography of Oliver Wendell Holmes that George B. Merrill presented to the Harvard Club of San Francisco on October 18, 1894, and an advertisement for the Massachusetts Association Opposed to the Further Extension of Suffrage to Women.

The Howe family letters are made up of personal correspondence related to the family of Dr. Estes Howe of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. Family members and friends wrote about subjects such as domestic and international travel, their social lives, and family news and health.

The Howe family letters (95 items) are made up of personal correspondence related to the family of Dr. Estes Howe of Cincinnati, Ohio, and Cambridge, Massachusetts. The bulk of the collection consists of letters by and to Dr. Howe in Cincinnati; Pomeroy, Ohio; and Cambridge, and to members of his family, particularly his wife Lois and their children James Robbins ("Robb") and Lois.

The collection includes letters to Lois Howe from a niece in Pomeroy, Ohio, in 1885, and undated correspondence from James Robbins Howe ("Robb") to his sister, Lois, pertaining to his experiences at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. In a bundle of around 35 letters, Chester Wright wrote to "Louis" about his travels in Germany, England, and Scotland from July 7, 1892-May 14, 1893. Other items are personal letters to Mary White from Maria Denny Fay about her life in England in the 1850s. Fay commented on her transatlantic voyage and reported on dances and other social activities around "The Moor." Mary White’s letters are accompanied by typescripts. The collection includes a single newspaper clipping with an illustrated poem entitled "The Sultan."

Willard T. Perrin kept this pocket diary while attending Harvard University in 1869. Perrin wrote about daily activities such socializing with friends and family, attending church, playing baseball, and traveling around Massachusetts.

Willard T. Perrin kept this pocket diary while attending Harvard University in 1869. The diary contains supplemental printed information and labeled sections for each date, laid out 3 entries to a page. Perrin wrote irregularly throughout the year; the final pages contain additional notes and memorandums such as addresses, a debate question, an illustrated geometry problem, and Perrin's body measurements.

Most of Perrin's entries pertain to his social life and activities, such as Sunday school and services in Methodist, Congregational, and Unitarian churches. He frequently visited with members of his family and sometimes traveled to Waltham, Lowell, and other Massachusetts towns, often as a member of Harvard's baseball team; the diary records several results from games in which Perrin participated. Perrin sometimes noted events of interest such as a birthday party for his 80-year-old aunt (January 16, 1869), a viewing of the Aurora Borealis (April 15, 1869), the National Peace Jubilee and the dedication of a soldier's monument (July 15-20, 1869), and the inauguration of Charles W. Eliot as President of Harvard University (October 19, 1869).