Benjamin Kendall Emerson Family Papers 1708-1921 Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents Collection Summary Biographical Sketch Collection Description Acquisition Information Summary Description of the Collection Preferred Citation Access Terms

Collection Summary

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Benjamin K. Emerson (1843-1932), Amherst (1865), Gottingen (Ph.D. 1869), Professor of Geology and Zoology at Amherst and Smith Colleges, Assistant Geologist on the United States Geological Survey, Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vice-President (1896) of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences.

(Mary) Annette (Hopkins) Emerson (1848-1889), wife of Dr. Benjamin K. Emerson.

Dr. (Benjamin) Kendall Emerson (1875-1962), son of Dr. Benjamin K. and (Mary) Annette (Hopkins) Emerson, Amherst (1897), Harvard Medical School (1901), Major in the British Army Royal Army Medical Corps. (Harvard unit) serving in France and Belgium (1916-18), Major, U.S. Medical Corps on duty in U.S. Surgeon General office detailed to the American Red Cross with split duty in Siberia (1918-19); Deputy commander and Medical Director, American Red Cross in Europe (1920-22); Director, American Hospital in Paris (1920), Chief of Surgical Staff, Memorial Hospital, Worcester, Massachusetts {1903-1916; 1922-1928), Managing Director, National Tuberculosis Association (1928-1947).

Collection Description

The Benjamin K. Emerson Family Papers consist of the personal papers and correspondence of members of the Emerson and allied families over an extended period of several generations, but primarily between 1860 and 1921. There are some manuscript letters and printed items from earlier and later periods.

The collection contains an autograph receipt (1708) of Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), the merchant and colonial magistrate. There are also 29 letters from Edmund Quincy Sewall, while on a trip to Europe between 1844 and 1846, to his father, Henry Devereux Sewall.

The collection includes several hundred personal letters from and to Dr. Benjamin K. Emerson (1843-1932), while he was Professor of Geological Survey. This is, for the most part, family and personal correspondence for the period 1870-1890.

The collection contains several hundred miscellaneous Emerson, Kendall, Hopkins, Allen and Sewall family letters for the period 1860-1890. These letters include several from and about the Edward Dickinson family of Amherst, Massachusetts --the family of Emily Dickinson (1830-1886).

The bulk of the collection consists of personal letters exchanged by Mrs. Benjamin K. Emerson (Mary Annette Hopkins Emerson, 1848-1897), and her mother, Charlotte Frelinghuysen (Allen) Hopkins, between 1860 and 1895. Both mother and daughter lived in the Connecticut Valley of western Massachusetts, but traveled extensively, including journeys outside the United States, during this period.

There are typed letters, typescript copies of letters and newspaper clippings from the Worcester Telegram concerning the service of Dr. (Benjamin) Kendall Emerson (1875-1962), with the Harvard Medical Unit of the British Army in France during 1916-1917, along with a substantial amount of letters written to his wife while on active duty with the unit.

Also included is Emerson's typewritten log (26 Feb. - 16 April 1919) of a journey by train across Siberia and Manchuria while working for the American Red Cross, his passport, and letters written home (1920-1921) from Paris as Deputy Commander and Medical Director of the American Red Cross in Europe.

The collection also contains a commonplace book of undetermined origin, written during the 1870's. Printed items include single issues and clippings from early 19th-century and Civil War-era newspapers, memorial and genealogical pamphlets, missionary and Bible tracts, educational and medical circulars, and broadside descriptions of college class exercises.

Acquisition Information

The Benjamin Kendall Emerson family papers were a gift of the Reverend Sewall Emerson, November 1979. Additions to the collection were the gift of Dr. Kendall Emerson Jr., May 1991.

Summary Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Benjamin Kendall Emerson family papers, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Access Terms

This collection is indexed under the following headings in ABIGAIL, the online catalog of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related persons, organizations, or subjects should search the catalog using these headings.