Letters from James E. Mahoney are primarily written to his brother, Jeremiah T. Mahoney, from the Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1878; aboard the U.S.S. Richmond in Panama in 1881; aboard the U.S.S. Swatara in Japan in 1882; aboard the U.S.S. Marion in Portsmouth, New York, Saudi Arabia, and Korea in 1885; in China and Japan in 1886; and in Japan, Korea, Mexico, and Panama in 1887. Beginning in 1889, James writes to his nephew Robert M. Mahoney from Portsmouth and Rio de Janeiro, and to his brother from Buenos Aires on the U.S.S. Tallapoosa in 1890 and 1891 from California and Valparaiso, Chile on the U.S.S. Charleston in 1892. Later letters include those to Edith Colby Mahoney, widow of his nephew Robert, from the naval hospital in Washington, D.C. during his final illness in 1926.

Also included is a bound copy of James's service record in the Navy and Marine Corps and newspaper clippings related to his career and death.

Jeremiah's personal and professional papers include July 1888 letters from Essex County lawyers encouraging him to pursue a probate judgeship and a petition nominating him for a judgeship in Essex County. Also included are letters from Abby Choate, widow of Judge Choate; and several letters from George B. Ives, who Mahoney represents in a criminal suit.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

Loose papers include postcards from friends, a list of books in Robert's law library, and house specifications for 39 Warren St., Salem.

A biographical scrapbook compiled by Robert's daughter, Elinor Mahoney Smith, includes school records; newspaper clippings; concert and theater programs; correspondence with his father, Jeremiah T. Mahoney, and his future wife, Edith Coffin Colby; Harvard ephemera; photos; correspondence with officers of the Salem Savings Bank; appointments to corporate boards; elections to various clubs; retained copies of Robert's outgoing correspondence; Ropes Memorial material; papers related to his hobbies such as boating, fishing, and golfing; and many tributes and memorials. Included are photos of Robert throughout his life as well as family photos and clippings about the family.

Memorials include typescripts of letters and remembrances as well as newsclippings related to Robert's death.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

Correspondence include letters and postcards from family and friends; typescripts of letters written to Edith upon the death of her husband, Robert M. Mahoney in 1924; and letters to her son, Robert C. Mahoney, at Phillips Exeter Academy in 1931.

Papers include postcards from relatives, letters from school friends, letters from bank trust officers regarding Robert's finances after his mother's death in 1932, and an engagement announcement.

Printed material includes newspaper clippings, magazine articles that reference members of the Mahoney family or their Warren St., Salem home; bookplates; Christmas cards; postcards of Salem buildings; and other ephemera.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

Notable correspondence includes a letter from Georgiana Smith Crosby (later Reynolds) to her sister Susan A. Smith from Hong Kong in 1869, describing her capture by Chinese pirates and the ensuing court case, along with a newsclipping of the incident. The letter explains that she, along with her first husband John Crosby, a China trader and captain of the barque Arthur, were wrecked on the Pratas Shoals, and captured by pirates on their lifeboat on their way to Hong Kong. Other correspondents include Alice St. Claire Smith, Arthur C. R. Smith, and Helen St. Claire Smith.

This subseries contains the papers of John Smith, including an 1848 handwritten marriage certificate, Salem property deeds, an 1850 construction contract for a house in Salem, an 1878 grant from a Salem charitable organization to help with expenses of his illness, and Smith's 1879 estate papers. Papers of Georgiana Smith Reynolds include Salem mortgage documents, her will and the will of her second husband, Moses C. Reynolds, and her 1913 estate papers. Alice St. Claire Smith's papers include a quitclaim deed for land and buildings in Salem, and estate papers. Arthur C. R. Smith's papers include stock certificates, primarily of mining companies, receipts, an 1899 notary public certificate of appointment, and probate records. Also included are the estate papers of Susan A. Smith.

Included are several pages of vital records from a family Bible, newspaper clippings of obituaries, family charts and pedigrees, an application for the Society of Mayflower Descendants, and miscellaneous genealogical notes.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

This subseries contains the papers of Henry Gardner Bridges (1798-1849) and his son, Henry Gardner Bridges (1835-1912). The Bridges were cousins of Josephine T. Chadwick Smith, the mother of Philip Horton Smith.

This subseries primarily contains the papers of John Clark Chadwick (1833-1904) and his wife Mary Tillinghast Snell Chadwick (1836-1914), the maternal grandparents of Philip Horton Smith, including records of their estates.

Included is genealogical correspondence and printed material related to the history and genealogy of the Coffin family.

This series primarily contains the papers of the William Roberts Colby (1845-1922) and Caroline Norris Colby (1848-1931), the maternal grandparents of Elinor Colby Mahoney Smith. It includes the correspondence of Caroline with her daughter, Edith Coffin Colby (Mahoney); a resolution of the New England Insurance Exchange on the death of her son, Charles Norris Colby; wedding invitations; and calling cards. Also included are William's cash books, including an 1861 cash book of Salem expenses, and a post-1891 book of purchases and sales.

William's scrapbook, dating from 1893 to 1917, contains newspaper clippings about the Salem militia, the 1901 opening of the New Salem Theater, and the Essex County Homeopathic Hospital; Hacker School reunion material; tickets and programs to Salem lectures, concerts, and events; clippings related to William, his family, and his insurance business; passenger lists and newspaper clippings about his 1899 cruise to the Caribbean; and the wedding invitations of his children.

An undated commonplace book, containing recipes for food, sauces, medicine, stove cleaners, and other household items, along with several narrative entries, is most likely the book of Caroline Norris Colby. Genealogical and biographical material includes an 1885 history of the Colby family; and a 1936 genealogical notebook compiled by Elinor C. M. Smith about the Colby family's ancestral home in Suffolk, England, with photos. Also included are genealogical notes and printed material, newspaper clippings including obituaries of William R. Colby, and historical columns from the Salem Evening News that mention him.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

The scrapbooks in this subseries were compiled by Annie (Nan) Dodge Gannon (1860-1936), a second cousin of Philip Horton Smith. They include the papers and correspondence of Nan's grandfather, Joseph Roderick (Rodrigues), a seaman, as well as papers of her parents, John Porter Dodge and Andrea dela Mater Roderick Dodge, and those of Andrea's brother Bartholomi. Also included are calling cards, newspaper clippings, photos of the wedding of Nan Dodge and Charles E. Gannon in 1927, and programs and tickets to Salem events.

This subseries largely consists of the papers of Benjamin Henderson (1761-1836), the father of Mary Henderson Snell, who was the great-grandmother of Philip Horton Smith. Also included are papers from the family of Benjamin's wife, Mary Bray Henderson (d. 1853).

Papers include a 1725 deed to mariner Benjamin Bray for property in Salem; a 1793 ship's passport for Benjamin Henderson, master of the schooner Polly, to travel to the Turks Islands; a 1795 deed from John Bray to Benjamin Henderson for the schooner Thomas and Eliza; 1808 guardianship papers for the grandchildren of Daniel Bray to Capt. Benjamin Henderson; Benjamin's 1819 pension claim for service in the Revolutionary War; an 1828 letter from Benjamin to his son Ephraim telling him of the death of his brother Daniel; Benjamin's undated testimony about his service during the Revolutionary War; and other financial, legal and genealogical papers.

Papers include 1792 receipts signed by Edward Norris, the town clerk of Salem and the great-grandfather of Caroline Norris Colby, who was the maternal grandmother of Elinor Mahoney Smith. All other records in this subseries are printed genealogical and biographical material, including newspaper clippings related to the Norris family.

William Roberts (1783-1872) was the great-great-grandfather of Elinor Mahoney Smith. A Salem architect, he married Sally Sanderson, the daughter of Salem cabinetmaker Elijah Sanderson. His daughter, Susan Sanderson Roberts, was the mother of William Roberts Colby. This series consists largely of printed material related to William Roberts's work, including postcards of Salem buildings he designed; a 1974 booklet about East India Marine Hall, which he helped construct; and other magazine and newspaper articles that mention his work.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

This series primarily contains papers related to Elijah Sanderson (1752-1825), a Salem cabinetmaker, and ancestor of Elinor Mahoney Smith. Papers include typed transcripts of the 1775 Journals of Congress that contain Sanderson's testimony about the Battle of Lexington, a typed transcript of his 1824 deposition about the capture of Paul Revere in 1775, and a typed transcript of his 1825 obituary from the Salem Gazette. It also includes copies of various articles about Sanderson and his family, particularly about his cabinetmaking, along with some genealogical notes. A notebook compiled by Elinor Mahoney Smith, entitled "Elijah Sanderson: Salem Cabinet Maker," includes biographical information and photographs of his furniture. Drawings and specifications of a Sanderson chair sketched by Philip Horton Smith in 1951 are also here, as is printed material about his pieces and auction catalogs.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

This series includes the papers of Nicholas Tillinghast Snell (1810-1880), a master mariner who was the great-grandfather of Philip Horton Smith. They include detailed correspondence related to the voyage of his ship Sophia to Valparaiso in 1840 and to Calcutta in 1841 and 1842; for the barque Altorf to England, France, and Havana in 1846; and other correspondence related to voyages and trade from 1840 to 1860. Also included are Salem property deeds and other legal documents and financial records, including Nicholas's 1880 will.

Nicholas Snell's account book contains records kept from 1840 to 1844 for the barque Altorf on its voyages to Havana and Marseilles, including names of crew and their pay. Many pages have been covered with newspaper clippings about Civil War topics and poetry when the volume was used as a scrapbook, most likely compiled by Snell's wife, Mary Henderson Snell, from 1864 to 1881. Also included in this series are the estate papers of Annie E. Snell; a small amount of genealogical and biographical material, including correspondence and research about Nicholas Snell and his ships; biographical essays; newspaper articles; and family Bible pages.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

This series largely consists of the papers of Aaron Wait (1742-1830), a merchant with the company Wait and Peirce of Salem, and an ancestor of Philip Horton Smith. Papers include a copy of a 1778 letter dismissing Wait from military duty because of illness; a 1795 letter to Aaron from his daughter, Lydia Wait (Williams); and Aaron's 1825 will. Also included is an 1825 agreement dissolving his partnership with Wait and Peirce, and an 1857 account of the trust from his estate.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.

This series primarily contains the papers of Israel Williams (1771-1831), the great-great-grandfather of Philip Horton Smith. A master mariner, Williams was the first captain of the Friendship of Salem, which was owned by his father-in-law's company, Wait and Peirce. Williams married Lydia Wait, the daughter of Aaron and Elizabeth Call Wait, in 1796, and had 10 children, the oldest of whom, Elizabeth Wait Williams (1798-1870), married John Chadwick. A son, John Brown Williams (1810-1860) was the first American consul assigned to the Fiji Islands.

This series includes papers of unidentified authorship and or those in which the relationship to families in this collection is unclear. They include an 1826 port warden's report for the city of Boston; a copy of Richard Crowninshield's 1830 letter to his sister Sarah from a Salem jail where he was held on suspicion of murder; an 1862 certification of inaccuracies in the log of the ship Golden Cross; a letter to John Greenleaf Whittier from J. D. Charbonnier; and an 1883 Franklin School valedictory address.

Printed material includes a 25 April 1775 copy of the Essex Gazette; a 28 Sept. 1813 copy of the Salem Gazette; a 15 Apr. 1865 copy of the New York Herald reporting Lincoln's assassination; a 325th anniversary program of the First Church of Salem in 1954; and other miscellaneous material.

See also Series IV, Oversize material.