1834-1953
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of the papers of the Higginson family of Boston and Lenox, Mass. and Winnetka, Ill., primarily those of George Higginson (1864-1936), as well as papers of the related Barker, James, and Gould families and records of Trinity Church in Lenox. Included is family correspondence, personal papers, legal and financial papers, and printed material.
Biographical Sketch
These brief biographical sketches highlight the individuals most prominently represented in the collection.
George Higginson (1833-1921) was born in New York on 6 August 1833, the son of George Higginson (1804-1889) and Mary Cabot Lee (1811-1849). His family moved to Boston in 1838, and he was educated in Boston public schools. He was employed as a merchant in Boston in the East India trade until 1857 when the company failed. In 1860, he moved to Lenox, Mass., purchasing and restoring an 18th-century home and creating a 160 acre "gentleman's estate" where he lived and worked until his death. George was an active member of the Episcopal Church and Republican Party. On 17 December 1862, George married Elizabeth "Lili" Hazard Barker (1836-1901), and the couple had three children: George Higginson (1864-1936), Augustus Barker Higginson (1866-1915), and Jeanette Barker Higginson (1868-1903). He died in Stockbridge on 19 June 1921.
Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919) was born in New York on 18 November 1834, the son of George Higginson (1804-1889) and Mary Cabot Lee (1811-1849) and the brother of George Higginson (1833-1921). He graduated from Boston Latin School and began attending Harvard in 1851, but withdrew due to eye problems and traveled to Europe for his health. Upon his return, Henry worked as a company clerk to India merchants Samuel and Edward Austin. He joined the Union Army in May 1861 as a 2nd lieutenant in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry and fought in the First Battle of Bull Run. He was commissioned as a major in the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry on 26 March 1862 and was wounded in the Battle of Aldie. In 1865, Henry worked for the Buckeye Oil Company in Ohio, but after the business failed he began working at Lee, Higginson and Co., an investment banking firm founded by his father, becoming a partner in 1868. In 1881, he founded and supported the Boston Symphony Orchestra, managing the organization until it incorporated in 1918. Henry also served as the first president of the Harvard Club of Boston and as trustee of the New England Conservatory of Music, receiving an honorary M.A. from Harvard (1882) and LL.D. from Yale (1901).
Henry married Ida Agassiz, the daughter of Harvard professor Louis Agassiz and his wife Cécile Braun, on 5 December 1863. The couple had two children: Cecile Pauline Higginson (1870-1875) and Alexander Henry Higginson. He died in Boston on 14 November 1919.
George Higginson (1864-1936), the son of George Higginson (1833-1921) and Elizabeth Hazard Barker (1836-1901), was born in Stockbridge, Mass. on 3 September 1864. Following his graduation from Harvard in 1887, he worked in the railroad business in Memphis and Kansas City. In 1892, he relocated to Chicago to work for the West Side Elevated Railway Co., moving to Winnetka, a suburb of Chicago, in 1894. In 1902, he became the Chicago representative of Stone and Webster, a company out of Boston that built power plants and offered financial advisory services. He served as a member of the Winnetka village board, as a senior warden of Winnetka's Christ Church, and, in 1909, as a founder of the Winnetka State Bank. From 1904 until his retirement in 1924, George was Winnetka's largest landowner. After his retirement, he left Winnetka for Lenox, Mass., where he lived at his estate, "The Ledge."
George married Edith Green Griswold (1859-1906) on 20 May 1891, and the couple had one child, Roger Griswold Higginson (1894-1903). Roger died at age 9 in the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago on 30 December 1903, along with his aunt Jeanette Higginson. Edith died due to complications of childbirth in 1896. George then married Emily Waken (1864-1941) on 7 September 1898 and had three children: George Higginson (1899-1903), Theresa Higginson Rucellai (1901-1973), and Emily "Lee" Higginson Gould (1903-1979).
Collection Description
The George Higginson family papers consist of three document boxes and one oversize box of manuscript and printed material. They are arranged into four series that document the Higginson family of Boston, Lenox, and Winnetka, Ill., including family correspondence, personal and professional papers, legal and financial records, Civil War papers, genealogical records, and printed material.
Family correspondence includes the letters of George Higginson (1833-1921); his parents George Higginson (1804-1889) and Mary Cabot Lee Higginson; his brother Henry Lee Higginson; his wife Elizabeth Barker Higginson; and his son and daughter-in-law, George Higginson (1864-1936) and Emily Wakem Higginson. Correspondence reflects the family's various academic and business pursuits, family finances, daily life, and social activities. Henry Lee Higginson's letters to family describe his European travels in the 1850s and his impressions after the Battle of Antietam in Sharpsburg, Md. with the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry in September 1862. Other Civil War letters discuss Henry's injuries sustained at the Battle of Aldie in June 1863. Additional family correspondence includes letters of George Higginson (1864-1936) while a student at Harvard and courtship letters between George and Emily Wakem.
The papers of George Higginson (1833-1921) include correspondence related to his early work as a merchant in the India trade in Calcutta, the establishment of his farm and estate in Lenox, and legal and financial papers. The papers of his son George Higginson (1864-1936) contain personal and business correspondence; family legal and financial records; World War I speeches and correspondence related to George's work selling Liberty Bonds; printed material, largely related to George's student and alumni activities with Harvard; and records of the Trinity Church in Lenox, for which George served as treasurer.
Related family papers include those of the Barker, James, and Gould families. They contain correspondence, including two letters from William James Temple, captain with the 17th U.S. Infantry; the papers of Elgin R. L. Gould, professor, U.S. Labor Dept. specialist, and New York City politician; and genealogical papers.
Acquisition Information
This collection was acquired through a combination of the gift a Dr. Thomas Zaccheo and purchase, Dec. 2017.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Family correspondence, 1856-1923
Arranged chronologically.
This series contains correspondence between members of the Higginson family, including George Higginson (1833-1919); George's parents George Higginson (1804-1889) and Mary Lee Higginson; George's brother Henry Lee Higginson; and George's son George Higginson (1864-1936). The letters of Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919) discuss his travels to Florence, Rome, Vienna, Dresden, and Eastern Europe between 1857 and 1859; his later work in the India trade; and advice for his brother George on finances, George's farm, and family matters. Civil War letters include two from Henry in Sharpsburg, Md. on 23 September 1862 with the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry describing the aftermath of the Battle of Antietam; letters between family members discussing injuries sustained by Henry at the Battle of Aldie in June 1863; and the fate of other family members and friends who served during the war. The engagements of George Higginson (1833-1921) to Elizabeth (Lili) Barker in 1862 and Henry Lee Higginson to Ida Agassiz in 1863 were also widely discussed.
Letters of George Higginson (1864-1936) include those written while at Harvard, including an October 1883 letter describing a boat house accident in which many were seriously injured. The bulk of the series is courtship letters from Emily Wakem to George Higginson (1864-1935) in 1897 and post-marriage letters from George to Emily. Also included are letters from Mariana Van Rensselaer (1851-1934), the sister of George's first wife, Edith Griswold, related to the family's grief over the deaths of Edith and her son Roger Griswold Higginson.
II. George Higginson (1833-1921) papers, 1841-1902
Arranged chronologically and by record type.
This series consists of letters written to George Higginson as he left Boston for Calcutta in 1856 and upon his engagement to Elizabeth Barker in 1862, correspondence regarding George's Lenox farm, genealogical correspondence, letters from William Ellery Sedgwick related to the management of Higginson's property in New York, and two brief undated letters from actress Fanny Kemble. A December 1862 letter from James Jackson reminisces about the relationship between the Higginson and Jackson families. Legal and financial papers include an 1894 copy of the will of George's wife, Elizabeth Barker Higginson, and a 1902 statement related to a family trust.
Also included are an 1841 sketchbook, an 1856 passport, and a notebook chronicling changes at George's Lenox farm (primarily interior renovations), including 1861 floor plans.
Loose papers, 1856-1902
Sketchbook, 1841
Passport, 1856
"Changes in farm" notebook, ca. 1861
III. George Higginson (1864-1936) papers, 1881-1935
Arranged chronologically.
This series contains personal and business correspondence, World War I speeches, financial and legal documents, Harvard newspaper clippings and ephemera, and records pertaining to Trinity Church of Lenox, for which Higginson served as treasurer.
A. Personal and professional papers, 1898-1935
Arranged chronologically.
Included in this subseries are many letters of congratulations to George and Emily Wakem upon their 1898 engagement, as well as condolence letters on the death of George's son Roger, who died along with his aunt Jeanette Higginson in the Chicago Iroquois Theater Fire of 1903. Financial records include receipts, family trust records, and records related to the estate appraisal of George's father George Higginson (1833-1921). 1912 papers are related to a charitable property management case in Chicago on behalf of Edward Waldo Emerson. Other papers consist of business correspondence related to George's work with Stone and Webster, World War I speeches and correspondence related to George's work selling Liberty Loan Bonds, and a small amount of genealogical correspondence. 1933 papers are related to the rental of a villa in Florence, Italy. This subseries also includes a small amount of correspondence addressed to Emily Wakem Higginson.
B. Volumes, 1892-1928
Arranged chronologically.
George's "Sporting News" scrapbook contains newspaper clippings of various Harvard sporting events, additional Harvard-related events, obituaries of friends and notable persons, and other miscellaneous clippings. Also in this subseries are George's "Catalog of Books," which he listed in Chicago in November 1892, and his 1922 and 1928 passports.
"Sporting News" scrapbook, 1881-1886
Book journal, 1892
Passports, 1922-1928
C. Trinity Church records, 1923-1934
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries contains records of Trinity Church in Lenox, for which George served as treasurer from 1926 to 1934. Included are printed treasurer's reports, historical notes, donor lists, pew rentals, and correspondence about church fund investments. The bulk consists of correspondence related to the church's search for a rector upon the death of Rev. Latta Griswold in 1931.
D. Printed material, 1886-1934
Arranged chronologically.
This subseries contains Harvard ephemera including three Nov. 1886 issues of The Daily Crimson and programs for Harvard Club of Chicago dinners and the Harvard Class of 1887 30th anniversary celebrations. Also included is a 1921 Family Settlement Agreement outlining the trust of Theresa and Lee Higginson; materials related to the Lenox School, to which George financially contributed; and miscellaneous newspaper clippings.
IV. Related family papers, 1834-1953
This series contains the papers of the Barker and James families, related to the Higginsons through Elizabeth Hazard Barker's marriage to George Higginson (1833-1921) in 1862. Also included are papers of the Gould family, related by the marriage of John H. P. Gould to Emily "Lee" Higginson in 1927; genealogical records; and miscellaneous family papers.
A. Barker-James family papers, 1834-1931
Arranged chronologically and by record type.
Barker family correspondence includes the letters of Elizabeth Barker Higginson; Elizabeth's mother Jeannette James Barker; Elizabeth's brother William James Barker; and Elizabeth's cousin William James Temple. William Temple, who served in the Civil War as a captain in the 17th U.S. Infantry, wrote to Elizabeth in June and July 1862 that his company had been called up and described his activities at Fort Preble in Portland, Maine. He died at the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.
Other papers include letters of congratulation to Elizabeth upon her engagement and marriage to George Higginson (1833-1921) in 1862 and poetry written by Francis Burr James. The mathematics notebook of Augustus James Barker, Elizabeth's brother, contains two diary entries: a 1 January 1859 entry describing his difficulty preparing for Harvard at Phillips Exeter Academy and an 1863 entry as a Harvard sophomore.
Barker Society records include printed newsletters, a small amount of correspondence, and newspaper clippings related to Barker family genealogy. The Society was founded in 1928 to encourage Barker family reunions and genealogical research.
Correspondence, 1834-1868
Augustus Barker mathematics notebook and diary, 1857-1859
Barker Society records, 1928-1931
B. Gould family papers, 1890-1953
The Gould family papers contain the papers of Elgin R. L. Gould, the father-in-law of Emily "Lee" Higginson Gould, who served as an expert in European labor conditions at the U.S. Department of Labor and later as professor of social sciences and New York City Democratic politician. His papers include an 1890 letter of recommendation from the U.S. Minister in Brussels, a program for his 1897 Columbia University lectures, a small amount of correspondence, and a 1912 certificate for his contributions to Woodrow Wilson's presidential campaign. The papers of John H. P. Gould, Elgin's son and Emily's husband, include a 1914 letter from a classmate describing his experiences with the 10th Battalion of Royal Fusiliers in Colchester, England; 1916 ephemera from the Knickerbocker Greys; and a 1925 Yale commencement program. Also included in this subseries is a small amount of family correspondence and an undated inventory of the New York City apartment of Emily Higginson Gould.
C. Genealogical material, 1854-1921
Included are printed obituaries and memorials of members of the Higginson, James, and related families, various genealogical notes, and a rolled oversize genealogical chart illustrating the Higginson family ancestors.
Loose papers, 1854-1921
Genealogical chart, n.d.
D. Miscellaneous family papers, n.d.
This subseries contains a small amount of unidentified writings, poems, and notes.
Preferred Citation
George Higginson family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.
Access Terms
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.