Archives Directory for the History of Collecting in America
Archives related to: Perkins, Thomas Handasyd, 1764-1854
| title | Thomas Handasyd Perkins Papers, 1783-1892 | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | The Thomas Handasyd Perkins papers consist of the personal papers of Thomas Handasyd Perkins and the records of various Perkins trading firms, including correspondence, invoices, and other business papers related to late 18th-century and early 19th-century mercantile trade. Subjects include the Boston Tea Party, 18th-century slave revolts in Santo Domingo, and trade during the War of 1812. Among the significant correspondents are John Jacob Astor, Robert Bennet Forbes, and Georges Washington Motier de Lafayette. The bound volumes include diaries of Thomas H. Perkins; a letterbook of his grandson Thomas H. Perkins III (1823-1900); and account books, blotters, journals, ledgers, letterbooks, and waste books of the firms E. Bumstead & Co., J. & T. H. Perkins, J. & T. H. Perkins & Sons, and Perkins & Co. The collection is divided into three series: I. Loose papers; II. Oversize papers; and III. Bound volumes. This guide also contains an Select Index of correspondents in Series I (Loose papers), names mentioned in Series II (Oversize papers), authors and owners of the volumes in Series III (Bound volumes), and select individuals and subjects of historical significance found in the collection. |
| extent | 2 document boxes, 59 volumes, 11 extra-tall volumes, and 1 oversize box |
| formats | Business Records Personal papers Correspondence Diaries Account Books |
| access | This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| finding aid | A guide is in the repository and on the repository's Web site. |
| acquisition information | Gift of George Edward Cabot, 1922. |
| updated | 03/16/2023 10:29:47 |
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| title | Thomas Handasyd Perkins travel diaries, 1789 | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Diary kept by Thomas Handasyd Perkins, 22 March-10 September 1789, while serving as the supercargo aboard the merchant ship, Astrea, bound for Canton, China with a stop at Jakarta, Indonesia. Diary describes hunting birds, sharks, and dolphins, weather, sailing direction, location, and course, longitude and latitude, stops for wood and water and exploring, daily activities and rituals aboard ship. Diary kept at Jakarta, Indonesia, 13 July-17 August, 1789 describes meetings and dinners with people of importance, attempts at trading goods, tours of the city and countryside, local culture and customs, the Chinese in Java and their work ethic and culture, and daily activities Local notes: These diaries do not appear on the microfilm edition of the Thomas H. Perkins papers. |
| extent | 2 vol. |
| formats | Diaries |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Cary family papers II, 1778-1933; bulk: 1811-1900. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Correspondence of the Thomas Greaves Cary family, including Thomas Greaves Cary Sr. and his wife Mary Perkins Cary; his siblings William Ferdinand, Henry, and Margaret Graves Cary; his father-in law, Thomas Handasyd Perkins; and his children Thomas Greaves Jr., Richard, Mary Louisa Cary Felton, Elizabeth Cabot Cary Agassiz, and Caroline Gardner Cary Curtis. Frequent reference is made in the letters to T.G. Cary’s sons-in-law Louis Agassiz, Charles Pelham Curtis, and Cornelius Conway Felton. The predominant subjects of the letters are family matters, state and national politics, and Boston society, in which the Carys were prominent. T.G. Cary Sr. served several terms as Massachusetts state senator and wrote extensively on political issues of the 1850s. He and his wife and daughter traveled to Italy in 1857, generating a good deal of correspondence. Many folders are prefaced by letters from Emma Forbes Cary to her niece, explaining the contents of the correspondence. |
| extent | 7 boxes. |
| formats | Correspondence Writings |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Cary family papers III, 1769-1919; bulk: 1769-1870. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Correspondence of Cary family members, including Samuel Cary (1742-1812), his wife Sarah Gray Cary, his children Samuel (1773-1810), Henry, Lucius, Ann Montague, and Thomas Greaves Cary Sr.; also his grandchildren Thomas Greaves Cary Jr., Emma Forbes Cary, and Caroline Gardner Cary Curtis. Included is a series of letters from Mercy Otis Warren to Sarah Gray Cary. Most of the correspondence concerns family matters. The younger Samuel Cary discusses the Cary plantation in his letters from Grenada. Also included are copied records of births, marriages, and burials of Graves family members from 1571 to 1650; a few letters from Louis Agassiz to Thomas G. Cary Jr.; Emma Cary’s recollections of her 1857 trip to Italy and her memories of the actor Edwin Booth; and letters describing the death of Richard Cary at the Battle of Cedar Mountain, 1862. Also diaries of Caroline Curtis, 1849-1917; a letter from Thomas Handasyd Perkins giving advice to his son on how to conduct himself during a voyage to China, 15 Jan. 1813; and a scrapbook genealogy of the Cary family. |
| extent | 13 boxes and 1 vol. |
| formats | Correspondence Legal Papers Scrapbooks |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| bibliography | Some Sarah Cary letters have been published in "Women Writing Home, 1700-1920: Female Correspondence across the British Empire," edited by Klaus Stierstorfer and Susan Clair Imbarrato (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2006). |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Gilbert Deblois ledger book, 1769-1792 | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Ledger book kept from 1769-1776 by Boston, Mass. merchant and loyalist Gilbert Deblois records accounts with Boston residents and British Army and Naval officers for sundry goods, linen, fabric, and clothing. Of particular interest are the accounts with British Army and Naval officers during the Siege of Boston. The ledger was discontinued in 1776 with the evacuation of Boston and the removal of Gilbert Deblois to Halifax, Canada, however, entries were made by an anonymous person as late as 1788 upon the collection of outstanding debts. Daily cash book entries record the amount of cash received, 1773-1776. Also included is a petty debt record kept by George Deblois, Jr., 1788-1792, recording the sale of goods including fabric, ribbon, sundry items, and clothing to Boston residents including James Bowdoin, Jabez Hatch, David Cobb, Joseph Barrell, Thomas Handysyd Perkins, and Christopher Gore, among others. |
| extent | 1 vol. |
| formats | Financial Records |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Heath family papers, 1736-1887; bulk 1800-1865. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | The Heath Family Papers consist of six generations of letters, diaries, copybooks, account books, and other miscellaneous financial and legal papers of the Heath family of Brookline, Massachusetts. The collection consists primarily of correspondence between and diaries kept by the children and grandchildren of John (1732-1804) and Susannah (Craft) Heath (1738-1808), especially Ebenezer Heath (1765-1845), Susan Heath (1795-1874), Anna Eliza Heath (b. 1797) and Mary Heath (1804-1824). Also included are letters and diaries of related Craft, Goddard, Howe, and White families, including the diary of Elizabeth Craft White. The correspondence is rich in the detail and routine of social and domestic life and, since most documents were generated by women, the collection provides a wealth of material on the education, activities, and attitudes of women in the nineteenth century. |
| extent | 15 boxes. |
| formats | Correspondence Diaries Financial Records Legal Papers |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Nathaniel Cutting journal and letterbooks, 1786-1798. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Journal in 2 bound vols. and 18 folios, and 3 letterbooks of Nathaniel Cutting, shipmaster and commercial agent of Newbury (Mass.) merchant Nathaniel Tracy at Havre and confidential diplomatic agent for the Dept. of State. Journal, kept from 7 July 1786 - 12 Nov. 1793 (with gaps), includes observations on the French Revolution, his activities in the slave trade and other commercial interests, the slave insurrections in Santo Domingo (Hispaniola), and a 1793 mission as Vice-Consul with Colonel David Humphreys to the Dey of Algiers. The letterbooks (3 vols., 1789-1798) contain commercial letters; information on political affairs in France and Europe, including the French Revolution and the XYZ Affair; and letters from Santo Domingo about the slave insurrections. The bulk of the letters are written to Peter C. Brooks, Pierce Butler, Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, Thomas H. Perkins, Timothy Pickering, Edmund Randolph, James Swan, and Nathaniel Tracy. |
| extent | 1 box and 5 cased vols. |
| formats | Microfilm Journals Correspondence Business Papers Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| finding aid | Unpublished guide in the Library. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Papers collected by First and Second Church (Boston, Mass.), 1693-1858. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Miscellaneous papers collected by the First and Second Church (Boston, Mass.), 1693-1858. Includes a deed of sale of a slave from Abigail Davis of Boston to Thomas Nowell of Brookline, 1693; two Boston deeds of Mary Eliot, etc., and Elenor Clark, both to Samuel Clarke, 1695; Brookline town tax records for 1746-47 and 1792-93; church records, kept in part by Rev. William Nelson, probably of the Baptist Church of Christ in Taunton, 1747-84, including a covenant, baptisms, and deacon elections; an account of Rev. Abraham Jarvis of Christ Church, Middletown, Conn., with Ashael Johnson, 1783-86; a business letter from Thomas Handasyd Perkins to Elias Hasket Derby, 1792; a shipping record from the Astrea of Salem in the port of Cadiz, signed by Henry Prince and Nathaniel Bowditch, 23 Sep. 1798; and the bill of fare for a dinner for Boston city government in Faneuil Hall, 1858. |
| extent | 1 narrow box. |
| formats | Legal Papers Financial Records Ephemera Correspondence Business Papers |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Robert Starkey Pulsifer papers, 1765-1859. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Shipmaster of Boston, Mass. Correspondence and other papers (1817-33) relating to Pulsifer’s voyages to China, Europe, and South America, together with family papers. Letters (1837-39) from Dr. Morrill Wyman to his fiancee, Elizabeth Pulsifer, concern his medical practice and personal matters. Other correspondents include Samuel Aspinwall, John P. Cushing, Thomas T. Forbes, James H. and Thomas H. Perkins, his brothers Joseph and David D. Pulsifer, and his wife Betsy (Sprague) Pulsifer. |
| extent | 2 boxes and 1 oversize box. |
| formats | Correspondence Business Papers |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| finding aid | Unpublished guide in the library. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Samuel Cabot papers, 1713-1858. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | The papers of Samuel Cabot, 1713-1858, consist of three archival boxes of loose manuscripts and 12 bound volumes of account books, letterbooks and travel diaries. The collection contains the papers of Samuel Cabot (1759-1819), a prominent Boston merchant, his wife, Sally (Sarah) Barrett Cabot; his son, Samuel Cabot Jr. (1784-1863), a merchant engaged in the China trade; his wife, Elizabeth Perkins Cabot, and her father, Thomas Handasyd Perkins, Boston’s most prosperous China merchant. Other family members represented in the collection include: James Elliot Cabot; Joseph C. Cabot; Stephen Cabot; Thomas Handasyd Cabot and Eliza Lee Cabot Follen. The papers are primarily concerned with Cabot and Perkins China trade in opium and other items and Boston social life. Also important is a body of material dealing with the activities of the commission on British Spoliation Claims (1796-1800) on which Samuel Cabot served as Executive Secretary. In addition there are descriptions of England and France, Italy and the West Indies in diaries of the family traders. Other important correspondents are: John Singleton Copley, John P. Cushing, Charles Theodore Christian Follen, John Murray Forbes, Robert Bennet Forbes, Christopher Gore, James Madison, James Monroe, Timothy Pickering and Josiah Quincy. |
| extent | 3 boxes and 12 cased vols. |
| formats | Microfilm Financial Records Diaries Correspondence Business Papers |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| finding aid | Published guide in the Library. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Thomas Handasyd Perkins diaries, 1794-1854. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Diaries kept by Boston, Mass. merchant and philanthropist Thomas Handasyd Perkins, 1794-1854 (with gaps), mostly on voyages to England, Europe, Canada, and through the United States. Diaries describe ocean travel including weather, longitude and latitude, knots per day, wind direction, and temperature; daily activities aboard the ship; thoughts on the French Revolution while in Paris; cultural institutions visited; and social engagements with aquaintances. Travels in the United States describe trips to Saratoga Springs, and from St. Louis up the Mississippi River to Canada. |
| extent | 29 vols. |
| formats | Diaries |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| finding aid | See published guide in the Library. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Thomas Handasyd Perkins passport and letter, 1803-1849. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Passport dated 1803 for Thomas H. Perkins, James Perkins, James and Thomas Lamb, and Russell Sturgis, signed by Juan Stoughton, the Spanish consul to the New England states. Also, a social note from T.H. Perkins to Mrs. Brooks, dated at Temple Place, 13 Oct. 1849. |
| extent | 1 folder. |
| formats | Legal Papers Correspondence |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Thomas Tunno Forbes letterbook, 1825-1828; bulk: 1825. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Letterbook of Boston, Mass. merchant Thomas Tunno Forbes, 1825, kept while he was working in Manila, Philippines for J. and T. H. Perkins and Company. The letterbook contains retained copies of outgoing correspondence pertaining to the company's China trade business to Perkins and Company in Canton, China, and Thomas Handasyd Perkins, John Perkins Cushing, and Captain Robert Bennett Forbes, among others. Also includes a personal letter written by Thomas to his sister Emma Perkins Forbes, Jan. 1828, and a manuscript index to the letterbook. |
| extent | 1 narrow box |
| formats | Correspondence |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Memories: Old Temple Place [typescript], 1916. | repository | Massachusetts Historical Society |
| description | Typescript copy of an essay, 1916, written by Emma Forbes Cary, daughter of Thomas Graves and Mary Perkins Cary, entitled, "Memories: Old Temple Place." The essay pertains to her childhood on Temple Place in Boston, Mass., and includes detailed descriptions of her grandfather Thomas Handasyd Perkins' house, which was next door to her own and holidays celebrated there; and time spent with neighborhood children of the Gardner, Cabot, Cushing, and Savage families, among others. Descriptions of Perkins house include details of the layout, interior design, and collections of engravings and antiquities from China. |
| extent | 1 narrow box. |
| formats | Typescript |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.masshist.org/findingaids/ |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Almy Family Papers, 1649-1984 (inclusive), 1832-1984 (bulk). | repository | Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute |
| description | Correspondence, diaries, financial records, genealogical charts, composition books, speeches, poems, examinations, reports, photos, articles, pamphlets, clippings, and other material. Bulk of collection is correspondence among members of the Almy, Jackson, and Cabot families. The diaries and correspondence describe daily activities of individual women and the social network among upper-class Boston families. Civil War letters from Samuel Cabot, Jr., to his family, and courtship lettrs to Elizabeth Almy (1914-1916) are also included. Correspondents include Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, Charles W. Eliot, Ellen Tucker Emerson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Theodore Parker, and Charles Sumner. Also included is material on the Massachusetts Conference on Social Work, civil service in Massachusetts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Mothers' Discussion Club, Monday Lunch Club, and other organizations. Bio/History: Family collection centers on Helen Jackson (Cabot) Almy (1856-1938), a prominent Boston area woman who was daughter of a physician and wife of a judge, Charles Almy (1851-1934); on her parents, Samuel Cabot (1815-1885) and Hannah Lowell (Jackson) Cabot (1820-1879); and on her six children: Mary (1883-1967), a Boston architect; Helen Jackson (1884-1976), a medical social worker; Anna Cabot (1886- ); Charles (1888-1954); Elizabeth (1892-1984), a psychotherapist; and Samuel Cabot (1895- ). |
| extent | 4.5 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Diaries Writings Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record link | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00106 |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Electronic finding aid available (MC 235) http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00089 Electronic finding aid available (86-M238--87-M16) http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00106 Unpublished finding aid; see also Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library..., The Manuscript Inventories and the Catalogs...10v., (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984) |
| acquisition information | Original or duplicate materials: Original returned to donor. Associated materials: There is related material: Helen Jackson Cabot Almy Papers (A-84) at the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute. There is related material: Stanley Cobb Papers at Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Russell and Co./Perkins and Co. Collection, 1820-1891 (inclusive). | repository | Historical Collections, Baker Library |
| description | Incomplete series of order books, invoices, freight books, insurance, and letter books. The earlier material consists of letter books of Perkins and Company, Canton, 1820-1823; the rest of the material dates from after 1856. Also included are abstracts of letters of J. and T.H. Perkins made by James Elliot Cabot. Bio/History: Russell and Company was a firm of commission merchants which operated in Canton, China in 1824. Samuel Russell was the principal figure in the firm. Russell and Company took over the business of Perkins and Company. It went out of business in 1891. Other forms : Vols. 19-21 (letter books, 1820-1823, 1856-1863) are available on microfilm (2 reels, 35mm.) from Historical Collections, Baker Library, on loan. Order nos. 66-3871, 79-3734. |
| extent | 4 linear ft. (25 v., 1 case, 1 box) |
| formats | Correspondence Financial Records Ephemera |
| access | Appointment necessary to consult collection |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Unpublished finding aid in repository. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | John Perkins Cushing Papers, 1803-1864 | repository | Boston Athenaeum |
| description | Correspondence, diary, and other papers, of Cushing and other family members, relating to domestic affairs, shipping, trade with China, the weather, business dealings with R.B. Forbes and Bryant & Sturgis, shipping merchants, Boston, Mass., Massachusetts agriculture and horticulture, and other topics. Family members represented include Cushing's grandmother, Elizabeth Perkins, his uncle, Thomas Handasyd Perkins, and Robert M. Cushing. Bio/History: Merchant, of Belmont, Mass. |
| extent | 1 box. |
| formats | Correspondence Diaries Writings Business Papers Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record source | http://www.loc.gov/coll/nucmc/ |
| finding aid | Finding aid published in: National Inventory of Documentary Sources in the United States, microfiche 3.63.3#1. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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| title | Cabot Family Papers, 1786-1945 (inclusive). | repository | Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute |
| description | Collection contains correspondence, diaries, travel journals, and records, 1786-1840, of Thomas Handasyd Perkins concerning the slave, tea, and spice trades. His daughter, Eliza Perkins, married Samuel Cabot and her reminiscences of 19th century Boston are in the collection. The largest body of papers, 1840-1902, those of James Elliot Cabot and his wife Elisabeth Dwight describe life in 19th century Boston and discuss the Civil War. Correspondents include Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Charles Eliot Norton, Frederick Law Olmsted and Theodore Parker. Also included in the collection are early 20th century childcare diaries of Cabot mothers. Bio/History: Four generations of a prominent Boston area family. |
| extent | 4.5 linear ft. |
| formats | Correspondence Diaries Journals Business Papers Ephemera |
| access | Contact repository for restrictions and policies. |
| record link | http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00131/ |
| record source | http://hollis.harvard.edu/ |
| finding aid | Electronic finding aid available http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:RAD.SCHL:sch00131 Unpublished finding aid; see also Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library..., The Manuscript Inventories and the Catalogs...10v., (Boston: G.K. Hall, 1984) |
| acquisition information | Gift of Hugh Cabot, 1961. ; Gift of Hugh and Natalie Cabot, 1962. |
| updated | 11/12/2014 11:30:00 |
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