This subseries contains correspondence between David Richard, his wife Etta Richards, and their children Augustus Richards and Esther Richards. Correspondence from 1871 to 1878 consists of courtship letters between David and Etta, written primarily by David. During the majority of this time David was a student at Harvard College, and he encloses several of his exams. This correspondence concerns life at Harvard College, David’s professional aspirations, family issues, and David’s trip selling books in New Hampshire. David’s letters from 1878-1884 concern his employment as a teacher and his business travels in North Carolina.

Correspondence from 1899-1906 is to Augustus at Harvard College and Law School from the rest of the family, mainly from their farm in Sherborn, Massachusetts. Subsequent correspondence to and from Esther at Mount Holyoke College, the University of Wisconsin Madison, Johns Hopkins University and the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic concerns her education, daily life, church attendance and roles as a professor, lecturer, consultant, researcher, and doctor. Correspondence in 1908 and 1916 to 1918 focuses on Etta’s mental and physical health and care, sometimes enclosing Esther’s correspondence with Etta’s doctors.

Augustus’s letters after graduation from Harvard Law School concern his father’s business matters, especially David’s North Carolina lands and dispute with the Ritter Lumber Company, and sometimes enclose correspondence with the principals of that case. Augustus also writes about his law work in the firm of Hughes, Rounds, and Shurman. Throughout the subseries, David writes to his family while on business trips to North Carolina, Oklahoma, and other locations. Other topics commonly found in the family correspondence include current events, family issues, farm life, and Welsh ancestry.

This subseries contains the correspondence of the extended family, friends, and associates of David Richards, his wife Etta Richards, and their children Augustus Richards and Esther Richards.

The most frequent family correspondents are David’s brothers Jonathan, Owen, and Lewis, and their wives. Jonathan in particular is a heavy correspondent, and writes, sometimes with his wife Huldah, about his education at Wesleyan University and life as a pastor in Michigan. Other family correspondents include David and Etta’s mothers, Ann Richards and Hannah K. Loring, and their niece Anne Coleman. Extended family correspondence concerns professional, educational, and daily lives, business including Hannah K. Loring’s “Loring Loan” concern, and family issues such as lawsuits, disputes over money, and funding children’s education.

Correspondence with friends includes David’s correspondence with old classmates, especially Oliver R. Howe. Esther’s friend and co-worker at the Henry Phipps Psychiatric Clinic, Elizabeth B. Cross, also corresponds with David. David writes to a number of people in the course of his investigations on his Welsh ancestry, and writes to his old friend Margaret Williams about her legal concerns, involvement in the Sixty Acre Cemetery Association, and buying her farm. Etta corresponds with a number of friends, especially Mary Cutler and Matilda Bent. She also corresponds with people involved with the running of the Sherborn farm, on small business matters and the activities of their families. Augustus receives many courtship letters from Julia Neale Daniels, referred to in the letters as Dorothy, who attended Northfield Seminary. He later corresponds with old classmates. Esther receives letters thanking her for her lectures. All members of the family correspond with family lawyer John M. Batchelder about legal and business issues, Etta’s health, and family activities.

A large number of letters concern Etta’s mental and physical health. Correspondents on this topic include John M. Batchelder, extended family, Etta’s friends, and doctors A.J. Stevens, A. M. Ring, Fuller, and Cooke. Correspondence is particularly heavy around Etta’s stays at Ring’s Sanatorium in Arlington Heights, Mass. from December 1907 to January 1908 and at Adams Nervine in Jamaica Plain, Mass., supervised by Dr. Fuller, from January to approximately June 1908. She then stays in Boston until returning home in December 1908. Correspondence again focuses on Etta’s health from 1915 to 1918.

The personal papers of David Richards consist of school papers, diaries, and miscellaneous papers. School papers include passages copied from books, his essays from Wesleyan Academy and Harvard College, Harvard College paperwork, and letters to his graduating classes by him and others. Also present are David’s employment records as a classics high school teacher at Maynard and Westfield Public High Schools from 1880-1882. David’s diaries describe daily life as a student, including his exams and professional aspirations. David’s miscellaneous papers consist of his account of the history of Etta’s mental health and related papers, as well as David’s writings about Etta’s inheritance and family legal issues, genealogy, and his early memories.

The personal papers of Etta Richards consist of materials related to crocheting lace.

The personal papers of Augustus Richards consist of paperwork such as report cards from his time at Boy’s Latin School from 1894 to 1897 and at Harvard College and Law School from 1899 to 1903 and 1903 to 1906.

The personal papers of Esther Richards consist of a medical exam page and Mount Holyoke paperwork.

The miscellaneous papers include notes and passages copied from books.

The receipts in this subseries are for household expenses, elder care, funerals, travel, farm supplies, business costs, banking, taxes, and other financial transactions. There is one folder that contains educational receipts and one that contains Etta’s medical receipts.

The farm records consist of correspondence concerning David’s farms in Macon County, North Carolina; Sherborn, Massachusetts; and Gilmantown, New Hampshire; as well as other financial correspondence. David negotiated extensively with the Addington family to buy roughly 6000 acres of timber land in Macon County, near the Nantahala River, starting in 1882. His correspondence concerns his plans for the land, such as making it into a demonstration dairy farm, and selling rights to use it, as in the case of W.D. Patterson, who wanted to prospect for corundum there. He received many offers to buy the land. Etta copied correspondence on George S. Powell’s extensive negotiations to buy it, with the mediation of lawyers Robertson and Benbow, and sent the copies to John M. Batchelder and Augustus asking for advice on the matter. Etta’s copies of this correspondence are filed by the letter’s original date, but a list of the correspondence she copied out is also included in this series. Other records relate to David’s legal dispute with one of the lumber companies that wanted to buy the land, the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company of Columbus, Ohio (previously Nantahala Lumber Company). The land was sold sometime between 1913 and 1916. David bought the Sherborn, Massachusetts farm in 1888 and began living there in 1890. Correspondence about the Wilson Farm in Gilmantown, New Hampshire is often with the farm manager J.W. Sanborn and mostly between 1905 and 1908. David corresponds on general farm business, including such topics as buying and selling livestock and equipment, selling milk, taxes, and asking for advice on difficulties such as frozen potato seed.

This subseries consists of the records of David’s farm loan business with Etta’s mother Hannah K. Loring, “Loring Loan.” The records include correspondence and other material like advertisements related to the business, which gave small loans to farmers, concentrating in the Dakotas and in Iowa. Correspondents include farmers, as well as cooperating banks, loan agents, and registers of deeds.

This subseries includes documents relating to legal disputes over money, estate settlements, and land ownership; mortgages; and wills and related documents, including the wills of Etta’s father John Loring and David’s mother Ann Richards.