This subseries contains correspondence between members of the Fay family and related families, primarily letters of two generations, those of Joseph Story Fay and his children. Related families include the Bryant, Spooner, Torrey, and Nicolson/Nicholson families.

The bulk of the subseries consists of correspondence of Joseph Story Fay, 1835-1890, including letters from his parents Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay and Harriet (Howard) Fay and his siblings Samuel Howard Fay, Richard Sullivan Fay, Charles Fay, Harriet Howard (Fay) Greenough, and Maria Denny Fay. Also included is extensive correspondence between Joseph Story Fay and his father-in-law John Bryant of Bryant, Sturgis & Co., 1838-1858, about personal matters, politics, and the cotton, railroad, and steamship businesses in Savannah, Ga. Some letters contain detailed tables of cotton prices, as well as correspondence from Edward Padelford written jointly with Fay. Among the personal subjects covered in this subseries are Fay's proposal to Sarah Smith Bryant, his prospects, family births and deaths, health, and household matters. Letters written during the 1840s and 1850s discuss events leading up to the Civil War and the issue of slavery, including the question of whether Fay should become an enslaver. Bryant family members represented in the correspondence include Mary Cleveland (Smith) Bryant, John Bryant, Jr., and Henry Bryant. A few letters from Henry Bryant were written during his Civil War service as surgeon of the 20th Mass. Regiment, 1861-1862.

The subseries also contains correspondence of Sarah (Bryant) Fay with family members, 1832-1880, including her mother Mary (Smith) Bryant, her grandmother Susan Smith, and her brother Henry, as well as undated letters from Maria Denny Fay. In one long letter to her mother, dated 28 July 1858, Sarah Fay describes her experiences during a hotel fire.

Correspondence of the next generation consists primarily of letters to and from Henry Howard Fay, his sister Sarah Bryant Fay, and his wife Elizabeth Elliot (Spooner) Fay. Correspondence of Henry Howard Fay includes letters to his parents and sister from Europe, 1865, 1870, and to Elizabeth "Lizzie" Spooner during their courtship, 1874-1875. Papers of Sarah Bryant Fay include correspondence with her parents and letters she wrote to Alice Nicholson, possibly one of the Nicholson/Nicolson relatives of Elizabeth (Spooner) Fay. Some of these letters to Nicholson contain sketches. Also included in this subseries are letters from Ellen Otis Spooner in Macao and Singapore to her young niece Lizzie Spooner, 1857-1861.

This subseries contains correspondence between members of the Mixter family and related families, primarily letters of two generations, those of William R. Mixter and his son Samuel Jason Mixter. Related families include the Ruggles, Galloupe, and Cutler families.

The bulk of the correspondence to 1863 consists of letters to William R. Mixter, with a few to his wife Mary (Ruggles) Mixter. Also included are several letters from William's brother, Boston merchant Charles Mixter, to William and their father Jason Mixter on business. Additional correspondents are George Mixter, David R. Stevenson, Daniel Ruggles, and others. Most of the letters relate to family matters, including estates, but also include references to events before and during the Civil War and to family members serving.

Correspondence of the next generation, primarily between Samuel J. Mixter, his parents William and Mary (Ruggles) Mixter, and his siblings George, Mary Ann ("Mamie"), and Fanny Louise Mixter, begins in 1857. Included are letters to and from Samuel J. Mixter at boarding school in Amherst, Mass. and from Fanny L. Mixter at school in Stamford, Conn., as well as many letters from Samuel and Wilhelmina "Willie" (Galloupe) Mixter while they lived in Vienna after their marriage, 1879-1881, mostly to William R. Mixter, Mary (Ruggles) Mixter, and Wilhelmina's aunt Helen "Nell" Maria Kittredge (1831-1902). These letters discuss social activities and sightseeing; trips to Greece, Turkey, France, England, and other places in Europe; Samuel's medical studies; and family matters, including the birth of William Jason Mixter in 1880.

Joseph Story Fay's personal correspondence up to 1861 consists primarily of letters on business and political matters from L. H. Brigham, Edward Padelford, and Alexander Dallas Bache, superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey. Many letters discuss the Civil War and secession. Other correspondents include Isaac Scott and Edwin Parsons. This subseries also contains letters documenting disputes with newspaper editors, including Fay's public denial of support for abolition; a letter from Minda Campbell (1793?-1886) about her children and grandchildren enslaved by Fay, 28 Aug. 1860; papers related to the constitution of the Union Club of Boston, 1863; two letters from George B. McClellan, 6 July 1863 and undated; and papers related to Fay's protest of the suspension of habeas corpus in the case of the Charleston, Ill. rioters in 1864, including a letter of support from Amos A. Lawrence.

This subseries contains papers related to Joseph Story Fay's business interests of Brigham & Fay and Padelford, Fay & Co., primarily letters to and from people other than Fay. Also included are papers related to the slave-trading vessel Wanderer.

This volume contains Joseph Story Fay's personal and business accounts in Savannah, Woods Hole, and Boston. Accounts beginning in May 1865 are kept in another hand.

Included are memoranda on legal cases and other miscellaneous notes.

This subseries contains personal (non-family) correspondence of members of the Fay and related families, primarily Sarah Smith (Bryant) Fay, but also Mary (Cleveland) Bryant, Sarah Bryant Fay, Elizabeth (Spooner) Fay, and Ellen Spooner. Included are letters from Mary Jackson, who had been wet nurse for the Fay children, and letters from Grace (Fletcher) Webster, Joseph Story, Francesca "Fanny" Alexander, and Dorothea Lynde Dix. Sarah (Bryant) Fay's record of household staff documents her dealings with servants, including Mary Jackson and the enslaved man Scipio, with notations of start dates, pay and expenses, disputes and dismissals, etc. The subseries also contains letters related to Daniel Webster, receipts of Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay, reports on school exercises of Sarah Smith Bryant at the Boston Lyceum for the Education of Young Ladies, and a subscription book for the New England Refugees' Aid Society listing contributions by Fay, Spooner, and Bryant family members. The New England Refugees' Aid Society was a charitable organization founded in 1865 "for the relief of the Unionists in the Border States who are suffering from the devastations of the war."

This subseries contains personal (non-family) correspondence of members of the Mixter and related families, including letters to Jason and William R. Mixter on business, financial, and political matters. Correspondents include John Milton Niles, Jabez C. Howe, and Horace Greeley. The subseries also contains a long letter from James Warren Sever about the Hoosac Tunnel, recent Massachusetts elections, and related political subjects, 1857; a letter from Civil War officer Henry H. Granger asking for a loan, 1863; and three letters from Phillips Brooks to members of the Galloupe family.

The Samuel J. Mixter World War I papers relate to Madame Marie (Picard) Depage and the Belgian Red Cross. In 1915, Depage traveled to the United States to raise money for Belgian field hospitals, and Dr. Mixter served as treasurer of the Boston fund. Included are letters from Depage and others, newspaper clippings, and lists of donations. Depage was killed in the sinking of the Lusitania on 7 May 1915. The Wilhelmina (Galloupe) Mixter papers document her World War I relief work with the Special Aid Society for American Preparedness and Emergency War Relief. Included are detailed notes of meetings and lectures, newspaper clippings, and sewing patterns for hospital clothing. The subseries also contains the 1903 passport of William Jason Mixter, signed by John Hay, and a scrapbook of clippings, invitations, and other material related to the debut of Elizabeth Elliot Mixter.

John Bryant (1780-1865) was the father of Sarah Smith Bryant, who married Joseph Story Fay. This subseries contains receipts, bills of lading, insurance policies, acknowledgements of gifts, and other personal papers. Included is a receipt signed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1 Jan. 1825, for instruction of Bryant's daughter Mary Cleveland Bryant (1808-1876). Receipts from Canton, China, dated Sep.-Nov. 1809, include Chinese characters.

Boston merchant Daniel Nicolson Spooner (1819-1869) was the father of Elizabeth Elliot Spooner, who married Henry Howard Fay. Spooner had been a China trade merchant in the 1840s and 1850s. This letterbook contains copies of his outgoing correspondence on business and financial matters to William Sturgis, J. B. Pearson, Samuel Hooper, members of the Torrey and Spooner families, and many others. Also included are letters related to the recruitment of the 5th Mass. Cavalry, an all-Black Civil War regiment, and to the Massachusetts Soldiers Fund (of which Spooner was treasurer), as well as letters written to or about Spooner's young brother-in-law Rollins Torrey, who died in Dec. 1865. Many of the letters in this volume are faded and difficult to read.

This subseries includes an 1868 autograph of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and other miscellaneous personal papers.

Included are wills of Edward Ruggles, Jonathan Fay, Daniel Ruggles, John Bryant, Joseph Story Fay, Joseph Story Fay, Jr., Henry Howard Fay, Sarah Bryant Fay, and Elizabeth Elliot (Spooner) Fay, as well as legal notes related to Sarah B. Fay's inheritance rights. Some wills are photocopies, typed transcripts, or printed copies.

This subseries consists primarily of typed transcripts of original documents, including a letter from Sally (Mason) Lyman to her sister Hannah (Mason) Bryant, 14 Oct. 1797; letters and diary entries by Samuel Prescott Phillips Fay, 20 June-20 Aug. 1813; and letters from Maria Denny Fay to her cousin Mary Green (White) Elliott, 15 Oct. 1851-25 Feb. 1852. Also included are manuscript copies of letters of Frances Theodora Apthorp, 1788.

This subseries contains a letter from William Mixter to the editor of the Barre Gazette in Barre, Mass. about the family's name change from Mixer to Mixter, 1871; a printed volume entitled The Record of My Ancestry, filled out in manuscript by Dorothy (Fay) Mixter, ca. 1960; family trees; and genealogical notes.