Revere Family Papers 1746-1964 Guide to the Microfilm Edition

Table of Contents Collection Summary Collection Description Reel List Volume Descriptions Year Index to the Bound Volumes Preferred Citation

Collection Summary

Collection Description

The microfilm edition of the Revere Family Papers, 1746-1964, consists of 15 reels of microfilm containing loose manuscripts, additional family papers, and bound volumes of business records. The microfilm combines three manuscript collections at the Massachusetts Historical Society: Revere family papers, Revere family papers II, and Paul Joseph Revere papers.

Loose papers, 1746-1964, from Revere family papers, on REELS 1-3, contain family correspondence and private papers of more than a dozen members of the Revere family over more than three generations. Included are the personal papers of Paul Revere (1735-1818), Revolutionary patriot, silversmith, bell maker, and copper industrialist; papers of his two sons, Joseph Warren Revere (1777-1868) and John Revere (1787-1847); papers of his grandsons, Edward Hutchinson Robbins Revere (1827-1862) and Paul Joseph Revere (1832-1863), both of whom served with the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War. Other family members represented are Joshua (1774-1801), Harriet (1783-1860), and Maria (1785-1847), all children of Paul Revere (1735-1818), and Mary Robbins Revere (1794-1879), wife of Joseph Warren Revere. Each item is individually described in the MHS card catalog and those item descriptions are reproduced in a bound guide to the Revere Papers which is available in the Society's Reading Room.

REEL 4 contains additional family papers: Revere Family Papers II, 1775-1864; transcripts of Paul Revere correspondence with the Rivoire family, 1775-1816; P. Revere papers, 1816-1907; Paul J. Revere papers, 1849-1902; Mary Robbins Revere (Mrs. Joseph W. Revere) journals, 1840-1842, 1843-1844, 1850-1861; Mary Robbins Revere notes on the Forbes and Robbins Families, 1875; and two journals of General Joseph Warren Revere (1812-1880): an account of the Rivoire family, 1875, and notes on the Revere and Rivoire family, 1884.

With the exception of the Revere family papers II and Paul J. Revere papers, all of the materials on Reel 4 are part of the Revere family papers collection. NOTE: the P. Revere papers, 1816-1907, appear together on the microfilm but the originals are interfiled with the loose manuscripts in the Revere family papers.

The Revere Family Papers II on Reel 4 contain a few letters between Paul Revere and his wife Rachel W. Revere (1745-1813), (including one letter from 1778 describing the siege of Newport, Rhode Island); a receipt signed by Daniel Vose for payment by Revere for paper used in making money for Massachusetts Bay; and a few miscellaneous letters to Paul and other family members. It also contains papers of Paul's grandson, John (1822-1886) including letters written to his father, Joseph W. Revere; his journal kept in the bark Kasan on a voyage to Sweden (15 Apr. - 30 May 1843); and his letters home to his parents on the same trip from Konigsburg, Sweden, Germany, Denmark, St. Petersburg, Paris, and London describing his travels and surroundings, particularly at Konigsburg. All items in Revere family papers II are individually described in the MHS catalog and are identified as Revere II.

Paul Joseph Revere was an officer with the 20th Regiment, Mass. Volunteer Infantry, and Assistant Inspector General under Gen. Edwin V. Sumner. The Paul J. Revere papers on Reel 4 chiefly consist of letters from Paul Joseph Revere to his wife, Lucretia, relating to the Battle of Ball's Bluff (1861), where he was taken prisoner; his life as a hostage in Richmond, Va.; Confederate privateers held in New York; military activities at Yorktown and during the Seven Days' Battles (1862); the Battle of Antietam (1862); and marches on the way to the Battle of Gettysburg (1863). Other correspondents include Charles F. Adams Jr., Robert B. Forbes, John M. Forbes, and Theodore Lyman. All items in Paul Joseph Revere papers are individually described in the MHS catalog and are identified as P.J. Revere.

REELS 5-15 contain 57 volumes of business records of the workshop, foundry, and mill of Paul Revere (1735-1818) and, after he was joined by his son, Joseph Warren Revere (1777-1868), of the firm Paul Revere and Son. Business records begin in 1761 with entries for silver and gold work. Paul Revere began casting bells in 1792, and started the copper rolling business in 1800. In June 1804 Joseph W. Revere became a business partner with his father, and in 1807, the co-partnership was incorporated. Joseph W. Revere took over the copper business in 1811.

Each of the 57 volumes are individually described below in the order that they appear on the microfilm. Volumes 1-31 are arranged by place (Boston or Canton) and further subdivided into wastebooks, journals and/or memoranda. Volumes often contain information on both the Boston and Canton branches of the business. Beginning with Volume 32, the books are arranged by format in rough chronological order (i.e. cash books, invoices, receipt books, letterbooks.) Dates of the volumes often overlap. Consult the year index to find all of the volumes for a particular year.

Eighteenth century bookkeeping methods do not follow modern standards. As a result it is difficult and in some cases impossible to follow the lines of record keeping in the Revere volumes. In the early years of his business transactions, Paul Revere kept inconsistent daily records in wastebooks. The entries were then transferred into ledgers. By the 1780s Revere's bookkeeping methods changed; he continued to use wastebooks, but began to keep journals, account books, and memoranda books as well. Records for each business are scattered among various record books. Journal, account, and memoranda entries were transferred into ledgers and/or cash books which show daily credits and debits and cash on hand. Numbers in the left hand column of wastebooks and memoranda books refer to the page numbers of the ledgers or cash books where the entries were transferred. Despite this information, it is often impossible to match the entries from one form of record keeping to another. When evidence of entry transfer is obvious, it has been noted in the individual volume descriptions. To find entries for a particular year in all financial volumes, consult the year index (Appendix A).

REEL 15 contains papers relating to the title and purchase of Penobscot lands in Maine, sold by the trustees of the estate of William Bingham, 1793-1809. (The connection between Paul Revere and the Bingham-Penobscot purchase is unclear.)

Also filmed in sections at the end of Reel 15 is the plan of the mill property and dwelling-house of Paul Revere on the East Branch of the Neponset River in Canton, formerly the government powder mill. An undated, oversize map (22 x 44 cm.) shows Revere's home, dams, fences, bridges, raceway, and Leonard & Kingsley's forge and grist mill. An undated pen and ink sketch of the Revere property on Neponset River in Canton (6 x 12 cm.) is also included.

Reel List

Volume Descriptions

Year Index to the Bound Volumes

Preferred Citation

Revere family papers microfilm, Massachusetts Historical Society.