Collection Description

This collection contains the personal and family correspondence of the related Everett and Peabody families of Massachusetts, including Rev. William Bourn Oliver Peabody, Unitarian minister of Springfield, Mass.; Alexander Hill Everett, diplomat to Russia and Spain and editor, as well as his wife Lucretia Orne Peabody Everett; Francis H. Peabody, Boston banker and co-founder of Kidder, Peabody & Co.; Oliver William Bourn Peabody; Moses White, Revolutionary officer, and his family of Rutland, Mass.; and William S. Atlee of Philadelphia. Included are letters of Lt. Col. Oliver Peabody while serving with the 45th Regiment of Massachusetts Infantry at New Bern, N.C. in the Civil War.

The earliest papers consist of correspondence between the family of William S. Atlee of Philadelphia and Moses White of Boston, 1778-1782, including correspondence between White and Eliza Atlee during his service as an Army captain during the Revolutionary War. Of interest is a letter describing the quarters of Gen. Moses Hazen at Pompton, N.J., 4 Dec. 1782.

The bulk of the collection consists of the papers of Alexander Hill Everett and his wife Lucretia Orne Peabody Everett, 1809-1862. Included is a letter from Samuel Webber, 20 July 1809, asking Everett to give the English oration at Harvard commencement. Letters written during Everett's diplomatic service include correspondence from Russia and Sweden, 1810-1811, mainly letters from John Quincy Adams, and at Holland and Belgium, 1815-1823, from Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, and George Ticknor. Among Everett's correspondence while he was minister to Spain, 1825-1829, are letters from Rufus King; the Marquis de Lafayette; Martin Fernandez Navarrete on literary matters; William Hickling Prescott, 1826-1827, about his work on Spanish history; and Washington Irving, 1828-1829, concerning travel in Spain, work on the history of Columbus's voyages, and the conquest of Grenada. Scattered throughout this period are official and semi-official letters from various foreign diplomats and notables concerning diplomatic and social matters. Everett's papers while at Boston serving as editor of the North American Review, 1830-1835, include letters from James Madison, Washington Irving, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, and Henry Clay. Among Everett's correspondents during his term as president of Jefferson College in Louisiana are Orestes A. Brownson, Jared Sparks, and John C. Calhoun. Letters concerning his appointment as U.S. commissioner to China, 1845-1847, include official State Department documents from James Buchanan and Richard Rush. A letter from John C. Calhoun, 8 Oct. 1846, contains a request for tea plant seeds to initiate tea growing in America.

Letters from Lucretia Orne Everett to her family, 1816-1847, describe in detail the activities and social life of diplomatic families in various foreign capitals and at Washington, D.C. Included are letters to her father Oliver Peabody, as well as her brothers William Bourn Oliver Peabody and Oliver William Bourn Peabody and their wives, about customs, dress, official and social functions, gossip, and family news. Her correspondents include George Ticknor, Daniel Webster, Peter Parker, Edward Everett, William Hickling Prescott, and Abbott Lawrence.

Peabody family papers, 1812-1897, include correspondence with Alexander and Lucretia Everett and correspondence of William Bourn Oliver Peabody, 1815-1847, mainly with members of the Peabody and Everett families. Letters from Amelia White Peabody describe Peabody family activities. Papers of Francis H. Peabody, 1857-1897, include letters related to investments while he worked as a clerk in the shipping firm of John E. Thayer & Brother, Boston, 1850-1862, and letters from Daniel Webster, George Bancroft, Francis Lieber, and Gov. John A. Andrew. In 1865, Peabody joined with W. P. Kidder, a fellow employee at Thayer, to found the investment firm of Kidder, Peabody and Co. The collection contains letters to the company in that year from John Andrew and Francis Lieber. Peabody's correspondence also includes letters from Edward Everett; his brother Everett Peabody while serving in the Civil War; Peter Parker on the death of Lucretia Orne Everett in 1862; George T. Shipley while serving onboard the Vandalia describing defense measures at Tybee Island and Fort Pulaski, Georgia, 1862-1863; Alexander Turner; Asa Gray; W. P. Kidder; Samuel C. Cobb; Phillips Brooks; and Julia Ward Howe. The collection also contains a copy of a letter from Peabody to President Benjamin Harrison concerning silver purchases by the United States and the president's reply. An 1896 letter from Edward Charles Pickering to Charles Francis Adams relates to Peabody's resignation from the visiting committee of the Harvard Observatory.

The collection includes papers related to William Bourn Oliver Peabody (1799-1847) and his family; correspondence of Moses and Eliza Atlee White of Rutland, Mass., 1784-1804, about family matters; a journal by Eliza A. White of a trip to New York, Nov. 1791; and letters from Judge William Atlee of Lancaster, Pa. to his daughter describing family and professional activities at Philadelphia, 1787.

Peabody family papers, 1824-1847, consist of correspondence between William Bourn Oliver Peabody, his wife Eliza Amelia White Peabody, and children Oliver, Francis H., and William B.; drafts of sermons prepared while Peabody was pastor of the Unitarian Church at Springfield, Mass.; sketches of Springfield, 1825-1827; and a book of watercolors of birds, presumably from Peabody's work on an ornithology of Massachusetts for Gov. Edward Everett around 1837. Peabody's letters to Alexander Hill Everett, 1830-1832, concern journalistic matters, his contributions to the North American Review, and his literary efforts and ambitions. Included is a collection of calling cards received by Lucretia Everett while her husband was serving at various diplomatic posts, 1820-1847.

Papers of Oliver Peabody (1834-1896) include letters written during his service as lieutenant colonel of the 45th Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, 1862-1863, describing military activities at New Bern, N.C. One letter, 20 Dec. 1862, details skirmishes during the expedition against Goldsboro, N.C. Also included are letters from his wife Mary L. Peabody describing the occupation and social life of New Bern in Feb. 1863.

Correspondence of Francis H. Peabody includes letters from his brother Everett while working as an engineer in St. Louis, Mo. building a railroad for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad Co., 1850-1857. Letters from Francis to his wife Ada, 1855-1867, are primarily related to personal matters.