Collection Description

The collection is divided into two main sections: Lamb family papers and Rotch/Lawrence family papers.

The Lamb family papers contain papers of James Lamb, Sr., dating 1749-1784, including accounts regarding shares in shipping ventures (1779) in the brigs Trio and Revenge; papers (1776-1782) pertaining to business matters in partnership with his sons James, William, Robert, and Thomas, conducted at Hartford; and papers relative to the settlement of his estate (1781-1784), administered by James Lamb, Jr.

The papers of James Lamb, Jr., date 1777-1822 and include correspondence with his brothers as agent for the family shipping and merchandising firm at Hartford (1776-1779), listing accounts, speculation opportunities, and activities at that city. A lengthy segment of papers concerns business transactions of the firm James & Thomas Lamb, successor to the parent firm James Lamb & Sons, and includes letterbooks, notes, receipts, account books, bank books, and other financial records (1787-1822), in particular detailed accounts of voyages of the ship Alert in 1801-1804 to Canton; exchanges with Thomas Lamb at Martinique (1785-1786) giving full descriptions of trade at that port; correspondence with agents and representatives, mainly members of the family, including letters from William Lamb describing transactions and markets at Savannah, Georgia (1782-1798); a full record of trading activities at New Orleans (1794-1805); accounts, receipts, and reports of Benjamin Waldo Lamb concerning transactions at Rotterdam (1798-1800), at St. Petersburg (1798), and at St. Croix (1810). Also included are papers relating to the unsuccessful partnership of John Maynard and Robert Lamb culminating in bankruptcy proceedings (1802-1810), such as accounts, ship manifests, correspondence, and papers relating to the purchase and sale of ships and properties.

The bulk of the collection concerns Thomas Lamb, Jr., and dates 1821-1887. His business activities at Boston are documented by papers concerning shipbuilding, voyages, trade, and commodity markets. Papers include letterbooks, accounts, and correspondence concerning shipping between the United States, Europe, China, and other ports. Papers kept by Captain Charles Hunt (1826-1853) while in the Lamb employ include reports and shipping accounts of trading voyages between Charleston, New Orleans, and France (1835-1847). Detailed records of the activities of the ship Napoleon may be found for 1853-1862. Also included are numerous marine insurance policies issued to Lamb ships indicating the broad scope of his activities.

Papers relative to his interest in the Washington Marine and Fire Insurance Co., Boston, date 1829-1842 and include an opinion by Daniel Webster and Charles P. Curtis (Oct. 1829) relative to the interpretation of New York legislation governing marine insurance abroad. The papers also contain correspondence regarding the rescue of the ship California from the rocks at Honolulu Bay (1841), including an exchange with King Kekuanaa (1843).

Lamb's long-term interest in the Boston Marine Society is reflected in treasurer's accounts, committee reports, and correspondence (1836-1887). Family investment in the Boston Pier and Long Wharf Co. is documented by deeds and accounts (1826-1829) and in minutes of directors' meetings (1837-1839, 1870). Correspondence with U.S. Commissioner George Bancroft regarding land taking for the new Custom House in 1839 is but one of many phases of Lamb's interest centering on the Boston waterfront. Continuing concern over improvements to the harbor is evidenced in correspondence relative to engineering surveys and dredging (1867), with George B. Emerson (1875) concerning development projects, and opinions on the problems of pollution (1885). Other major maritime interests are indicated by papers relating to the Boston Port Society, by records of the committee concerning Boston wharves (1843-1848), and by accounts of the maritime activity of Lubec and Eastport, Maine, submitted to a convention of Boston merchants, shipowners, and builders (Dec. 1842) chaired by Lamb.

There is a prospectus for the establishment of a seaport city for Brunswick, Georgia (1846), as an adjunct to investment in the Brunswick and Florida Railway. Papers of the Boston Sugar Refinery Company date 1829-1859 and detail financial arrangements, agreements, accounts, price indices, and correspondence dealing with early speculation opportunities in sugar (1829), as well as opinions from George T. Curtis on matters of funding (1844). Papers relative to Lamb's presidency of the New England National Bank date 1843-1885 and include correspondence, records of the directors, committee reports, and exchanges regarding proposed legislation for the taxation of national banks (1871-1872). There are letters (1879-1880) relating to the Boston and the New York Clearing House Committee action on deposit of gold coin for issue of clearing house certificates, including an opinion of John Sherman (Oct. 1879) and drafts of letters written by Lamb stating the general requirements of the national banks. Papers relating to Lamb's other interests and investments consist of deeds, certificates, and reports for the American Land Co. (1844-1847), the New England Worsted Co., Tremont Iron, Massillon Rolling Mills Co. (1840), Boston Theatre (1858), and East Boston Ferry Co. (1876-88), including correspondence and receivership papers.

Papers relating to Lamb's personal transactions include deeds for property at Boston, private expense ledgers, receipts, notes, a will, commissions, certificates of membership in organizations such as the Whig Republican Association and the American Unitarian Association, family letters, and papers relating to the administration of family trusts, including those of members of the Revere family, related by marriage.

The papers of Horatio A. Lamb (1882-1900) concern mainly the administration of Lamb and Revere family trusts and estates. Correspondents include John Codman Ropes (1882-1886) on legal matters and Edward Everett Hale (1900).

Other items in the collection include a commonplace-book of Caroline Lamb, soldiers' charity accounts of Hannah Dawes (Eliot) Lamb, Federal Street Church baptisms, an 1834 sermon of Ezra S. Gannett, financial records of shipmasters David Low and James Magee, and a memoranda/diary book of William Porter. In addition, there are receipts for sales of enslaved people to the Power family of Charleston (1816-1841), some genealogical materials, family photographs, and miscellaneous printed matter relating to the family.

Later additions to the Lamb family papers (which have been incorporated into the collection) include a notebook and documents pertaining to the China trade (1797-1806). An autograph collection assembled by Katharine Lawrence consists mainly of material extracted by Edward Everett from his personal files, the majority being letter covers and signatures of English personages, members of nobility and of the diplomatic corps stationed at London, with letters of Edward Everett (1837-1860) addressed to members of the Abbott Lawrence and Henry Sargent families. Other correspondence with these related families includes a number of Daniel Webster letters (1837-1843), mostly to Abbott Lawrence, relating to affairs at Washington.

Lamb family correspondence includes letters to Thomas Lamb and to Mrs. Horatio A. Lamb from Wendell Phillips (1870), James F. Rhodes (1918-1922), Herbert Hoover (1940), and letters to Rosamond Lamb from Louis D. Brandeis and Henry Cabot Lodge (1910).

Other correspondents include Rufus Choate, Robert Bennet Forbes, Edward Singleton Holden (1905), Edward Everett Hale (1898), Washington Irving (1843), Richard Olney, Andrew Preston Peabody (1868), Theodore Roosevelt, and William Roscoe.

The Rotch/Lawrence papers consist of one box of loose papers and seven boxes of volumes. The loose papers are mostly the correspondence of Annie B. (Lawrence) Rotch, both before and after her marriage, with other miscellaneous Rotch family papers. They include Annie's school grading certificates (1828-1830). The volumes comprise Annie Lawrence Rotch's diaries (1838-1856), commonplace book (1834-?), composition book (1837), and expense books (1849-1851); Edith Rotch's diaries (1875-1878), kept in Europe, and history notebook (1864-1865); typed transcripts of diaries of Katharine B. (Lawrence) Lowell before her marriage, kept both in Boston and abroad in Europe (1847-1852); Aimee (Rotch) Sargent's diaries (1874-1875), scrapbook, and newspaper clippings; and miscellaneous Rotch family volumes, including a commonplace-book of Joanna Rotch (1839-1866) and a volume of letters written by Francis Olmsted (1828-1829) to his daughter Caroline from Europe.

Some of the Rotch/Lawrence family correspondence, described above in the section regarding later additions to the papers, has been incorporated into the Lamb family correspondence.