Papers, 1816-1918.

  1. Resources
  2. View Resource

ArchivalResource

Papers, 1816-1918.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/191259276

This collection contains thirty-two octavo volumes which cover most of the years 1844 to 1875 and 1884 (the years in which Ben was away in the Army are notably missing). The diaries record Anna's daily activities and news of the extended Thaxter-Cushing family. Many members of this family lived in Dorchester and nearby Hingham. Though Anna had relatives living in Bolton, Deerfield, and Cambridge, they were near enough to be a vital part of Anna's life. Anna was an intelligent, articulate, and sympathetic observer of her world. She saw herself as a homemaker, mother, and wife. When her domestic duties were completed--although she noted the sewing was never finished--she liked to visit friends, read, sing, play the piano, and attend lectures and concerts. The diaries reveal a woman of charitable disposition anxious to be of service to her family and community, grateful for her blessings but sometimes wishing to escape from the confines of the cult of domesticity--"Oh dear I wish I had the faculty of turning off work a little more." Despite the work Anna seemed to be more than a little satisfied with Wednesday's spotless sugar bowls, castors and saltcellars, Friday's clean swept house and the jars of pear preserves on the shelf. This collection also contains two folders of correspondence to or from various members of the Thaxter-Cushing family, including early letters from Anna's mother, Susan Joy Thaxter, to her mother, Anna Thaxter; letters from Benjamin Cushing to Anna shortly before their marriage; letters of condolence regarding the deaths of Susan Joy Thaxter, Thomas Thaxter ( -1839), and Edward Thaxter; and a letter dated 4 August 1918 written in German. There is a folder of photographs including: two of Benjamin Cushing; one each of Mr. and Mrs. Darius Brewer, grandparents of Joseph Richmond Churchill; two of Joseph Richmond Churchill; and one each of Mary Thaxter Cushing and Mary Cushing Churchill. There are six folders of materials of Joseph R. Churchill while he attended Harvard University. The folders include lecture notes, compositions, and exams. Additionally, there is a folder which contains Churchill's certificate for passing the bar. The collection also contains a folder of newspaper clippings regarding the death of Dr. Benjamin Cushing and the long career of Joseph R. Churchill, as well as a folder containing a memoir of Mary Thaxter Cushing written by her granddaughter, Mary Cushing Churchill, in 1932. The final two folders are notes of, and genealogical materials gathered by, the processor.

32 v. ; octavo.1 box (14 folders)

Gadsden Public Library

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 6957436

Gadsden Public Library

Related Entities

There are 15 Entities related to this resource.

Harvard University

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64n9x97 (person)

Harvard College was founded by a vote of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts on October 28, 1636 that allocated “400£ towards a schoale or colledge.” Subsequent legislative acts established the Board of Overseers, but it was the Charter of 1650 that created the Harvard Corporation as the College's primary governing board and defined its composition and authority. The College Charter became a contentious target for College officials, the Massachusetts Governor and General C...

Cushing, Anna Quincy Thaxter, 1825-1900.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6k0911c (person)

Anna Quincy Thaxter Cushing (1825-1900), the daughter of Edward Thaxter (1784-1841) and Susan Joy (Thaxter) Thaxter (1791-1837), was born on 24 October 1825 in Hingham, Massachusetts. Both Anna's family and that of her husband's, Dr. Benjamin Cushing (1822-1895), son of Jerom Cushing (1780-1824) and Mary (Thaxter) Cushing (1784-1867), were among the first settlers of the town of Hingham. After the untimely death of her parents, Anna left Hingham to attend school in Cambr...

Desmond, Mary

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6tf1std (person)

Peters, Annie Quincy Cushing, b. 1857.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w62r5nkd (person)

Peters, Edward Dyer, 1849-1917

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6vh7jfv (person)

Thaxter, Edward Thomas, 1832-1859.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6p867hp (person)

Churchill, Mary Cushing, b. 1848.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6544j0w (person)

Churchill, Joseph Richmond, b. 1845.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6001xxg (person)

Peters, Susan Barker Thaxter, 1827-1849.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6b011fj (person)

Cushing, Mary Thaxter, 1784-1867.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6pk2bpr (person)

Cushing, Benjamin, 1822-1895.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6t74d6v (person)

Peters, Henry Hunter, 1825-1877.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6fr0vkd (person)

Per note with collection: Henry Hunter Peters (1825-1877) went to California from New York in the 1850s, intending to deal in lumber. From the guide to the Henry Hunter Peters diary, 1850, (Oregon Historical Society Research Library) Per note with collection: Henry Hunter Peters (1825-1877) went to California from New York in the 1850s, intending to deal in lumber. He ultimately ran a sucessful small banking business in San Francisco and Sacramento. ...

Cushing, Susan Thaxter, b. 1863.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w64766kv (person)

Gately, Margaret.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w61r8kzb (person)

Gately, Mary Sue

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6s19z26 (person)