Collection Description

The Heath family papers consist of six generations of letters, diaries, copybooks, account books, and other miscellaneous financial and legal papers of the Heath family of Brookline, Mass. The collection consists primarily of correspondence between and diaries kept by the children and grandchildren of John and Susannah (Craft) Heath, especially Ebenezer Heath, Susannah Heath, Ann Eliza Heath, and Mary Heath. Also included are letters and diaries of the related Craft, Goddard, Howe, White, and Williams families of Brookline, Mass. and Portsmouth, N.H.

The correspondence describes the details and routine of social and domestic life--education, births, deaths, marriages, religious services, travels, visitors, parties, reading, local personalities, and current events. Additional materials relate to Susannah Craft's inoculation for smallpox, 1792, and a Shaysite-related mob, 1786, and a series of letters from James J. Higginson describes the siege of Petersburg, Va. in 1863 and 1864. Correspondence of Grace Heath discusses the activities of her friend Robert G. Shaw in the Civil War. Also of interest are school notebooks, religious extracts, a recipe book, and the 61-volume diary of Susannah Heath kept between 1812 and 1874.