Saturday Club Records

1864-1995; bulk: 1885-1965

Guide to the Collection

Table of Contents

Collection Summary

Historical Sketch

Collection Description

Acquisition Information

Organization

Detailed Description of the Collection

Preferred Citation

Access Terms

Materials Removed

Collection Summary

Creator:	Saturday Club (Boston, Mass.)
Title:	Saturday Club records
Dates:	1864-1995
Bulk Dates:	1885-1965
Physical Description:	13 boxes, 1 cased volume, and 1 oversize box
Call Number:	Ms. N-879
Repository:	Massachusetts Historical Society 1154 Boylston Street Boston, MA 02215 library@masshist.org

Abstract:

This collection contains the records of the Saturday Club, a Boston social and literary organization, including correspondence, membership records, financial records, drafts and research for the club's published books of biographical sketches, and printed material.

Table of Contents

Historical Sketch

The Saturday Club was informally founded in Boston in 1855 on the initiative of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Samuel Gray Ward, and Horatio Woodman. Other notable founders and early members included Louis Agassiz, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The club met for dinner and conversation at 3:00 pm on the last Saturday of every month at the Parker House. The club gradually became more formalized until it incorporated in 1886, for the purpose of "having conversation and discussion upon historical, literary, scientific, and artistic subjects." The monthly meal was changed to a 1:30 pm lunch in 1898, and the club changed its primary meeting location to the Union Club in 1902. Besides conversation and club business such as the nomination of members, meetings could include occasional guests, lectures, readings, and polls on current events. The other major activity of the Saturday Club was the publication on a regular basis of books containing biographical sketches of deceased members, detailing their lives and their involvement in the Saturday Club. The first published book, Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1855-1870, was written by Edward Waldo Emerson. In succession are: Later Years of the Saturday Club, 1870-1920, edited by M.A. de Wolfe Howe; Saturday Club: A Century Completed, edited by Edward W. Forbes and John H. Finley, Jr.; The Saturday Club, 1957-1986, edited by Thomas B. Adams and Paul Brooks; and Saturday Club: the 150-Year Milestone, 1986-2006, edited by James Engell and Michael Sinagel. The Saturday Club continues to this day.

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Collection Description

The Saturday Club records date from 1864 to 1995, with the bulk dating from 1885 to 1965, and are divided into three series: administrative records, publication drafts and research, and printed material.

The administrative records include correspondence, meeting and membership records, legal records pertaining to the club's incorporation, and financial records. Correspondence relates to the administration and activities of the club including discussion of meetings, nominations of members, club finances, and publication of the club's books. Primary correspondents are club secretaries, presidents, and book editors, including Charles E. Norton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Edward Waldo Forbes, Edward Waldo Emerson, Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe, Charles W. Eliot, Bliss Perry, and John H. Finley, Jr. Meeting and membership records consist of bound record books, meeting minutes and attendance records, members' signature and portrait records, attendance cards, and lists of members. Financial records include account books, financial reports and statements, banking records, securities records, bills and receipts, and royalty statements from Houghton Mifflin for the club's books.

Publication drafts and research include biographical material about members that was gathered for publication of the club's books. Biographical research material ranges from newspaper clippings and excerpts from correspondence to notes, memos, and drafts related to the books' production and their introductory chapters.

Printed material includes annual members' pamphlets, members' memoirs, book reviews, membership charts, Bliss Perry's Recollections of the Saturday Club (1942), and miscellaneous printed materials.

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Acquisition Information

1864-1927 records deposited by Mark A. DeWolfe Howe, 1929

1927-1965 records deposited by Thomas Boylston Adams and Elliot Forbes, various dates.

1965-1995 records deposited by the Saturday Club, July 2009.

Table of Contents

Organization of the Collection

The collection is organized into the following series:


	I. Administrative records, 1864-1965
		A. Correspondence, 1885-1963
		B. Meeting minutes, attendance, and membership records, 1864-1963
		C. Legal records, 1885-1927
		D. Financial records, 1889-1965
	II. Publication drafts and research, 1906-1963
		A. Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1906-1918
		B. Later Years of the Saturday Club, 1921-1927
		C. The Saturday Club: A Century Completed, 1941-1958
		D. The Saturday Club: 1957-1986, 1960-1963
		E. The Saturday Club: 150-Year Milestone, 1957-1963
		F. Publication memoranda, ca. 1910-1963
	III. Printed material, 1896-1995
		A. Annual members' pamphlets, 1896-1955
		B. Members' memoirs, 1905-1928
		C. Book reviews, 1918-1958
		D. Bliss Perry, Recollections of the Saturday Club, 1942
		E. Membership charts, 1949-1995
		F. The Saturday Club: A Century Completed illustration mock-ups, ca. 1957
		G. Miscellaneous printed material, 1920-1960

Table of Contents

Detailed Description of the Collection


Box	Folder	Volume	Contents
			I. Administrative records, 1864-1965 This series includes correspondence; meeting minutes, attendance, and other membership records; legal records; and financial records. The correspondence concerns administration and activities of the club, such as meetings, new members, elections, finances, and book production. . Prominent correspondents include Charles E. Norton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Edward Waldo Forbes, Edward Waldo Emerson, Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe, Charles W. Eliot, Bliss Perry, and John H. Finley, Jr. Membership records include bound record books, attendance cards, and lists of members. Meeting minutes include committee reports, and describe such activities as nomination of members, votes, and discussions. Legal records are primarily records of the club's incorporation. Financial records include an account book, treasurer's annual reports and statements on expenditures and income, banking records, bills and receipts, and royalty statements from Houghton Mifflin and Company.
				A. Correspondence, 1885-1963 Arranged chronologically. This subseries contains correspondence related to the administration and activities of the Saturday Club. Correspondence throughout the subseries concerns attendance at meetings, nominating new members, acceptance of membership, and election of officers. From 1870 to 1890, Charles E. Norton, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Richard Henry Dana, Jr. were central correspondents in their roles as club administrators. Other early correspondents include Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Dean Howells, John A. Andrew, Phillips Brooks, George F. Hoar, and Charles Francis Adams. Topics of correspondence include club issues such as ensuring attendance and discussion, as well as current events. Edward Waldo Forbes became secretary in 1910, and was a major correspondent from that point until his resignation in 1961. Much correspondence concerns his project to collect autographs of club members who had not signed the second Saturday Club record book, as well as portraits of all club members. Other frequent topics from 1910 to 1961 include member resignations, bylaws, club meeting agendas, and luncheon arrangements. Another major topic is the club's finances, such as trusts, donations received and given, and securities. Correspondents include the Cambridge Trust Company, J.M. Forbes and Co., and members of the club's Financial Committee such as Edward W. Forbes's brother Cameron Forbes. Correspondence related to the Saturday Club's books includes discussion of production and finances with publisher Houghton Mifflin, assignment of biographical sketches to club members by Saturday Club editors and presidents, and thank-you notes from recipients of the books. Writing The Early Years of the Saturday Club was proposed in 1906, and from 1916 to 1919 correspondence centered on its production and reception, with editor Edward Waldo Emerson a major correspondent. Planning for The Later Years of the Saturday Club then began, and correspondence focused on it from 1926 to 1928, with editor Mark Anthony DeWolfe Howe and club presidents Charles W. Eliot and Bliss Perry major correspondents. Correspondence related to preliminary preparation for The Saturday Club: A Century Completed dates from 1948 and 1950, while that related to its production dates from 1955 to 1958, primarily with editors Edward Waldo Forbes and John H. Finley, Jr.
Box 1					1885-September 1926
Box 2					October 1926-1934
Box 3					1935-1947
Box 4					1948-1963
				B. Meeting minutes, attendance, and membership records, 1864-1963 Arranged chronologically and by record type. This subseries contains Saturday Club record books, minutes and attendance records, and lists of members. The Saturday Club record books consist of two bound volumes with typescript copies. The first record book contains attendance records by meeting, notes on the adoption of club rules, and lists of people nominated and chosen for membership. The second record book includes the 1886 records of incorporation, charter, bylaws, club election reports, and summaries of meetings from 1886 to 1925. Also present are attendance cards mailed to the Union Club by members to indicate that they would be present at the next luncheon. Membership records include lists of members and material from Edward Waldo Forbes's project to collect portraits of all club members, as well as autographs of club members who had not signed the second Saturday Club record book.
					i. Saturday Club record books, 1875-1925
Box 5	Folder 1					Volume 1, 1875-1887
Box 5	Folders 2-3					Volume 1 typescript, 1875-1887
		Cased Vol.				Volume 2, 1886-1925
Box 5	Folders 4-9					Volume 2 typescript, 1886-1913
					ii. Loose records, 1910-1959
Box 5	Folders 10-36					1910-1950
Box 6	Folders 1-10					1951-1959
Box 5	Folders 10a-10b				iii. Members' signatures and portraits records, 1910-1959
Box 6	Folders 11-24				iv. Attendance cards, 1918-1947
Box 6	Folder 25				v. Membership lists, 1864-1963
Box 6	Folder 26			C. Legal records, 1885-1927 Arranged chronologically. This subseries consists of incorporation papers including the 1886 agreement of association and notice of first meeting, along with the 1927 publishing agreement with Houghton-Mifflin for The Later Years of the Saturday Club.
				D. Financial records, 1889-1965 Arranged chronologically and by record type. This subseries contains an account book, financial reports and statements, banking records, securities records, bills and receipts, and royalty statements. The account book was kept from 1889-1912 by Oliver Wendell Holmes and club treasurers W.W. Goodwin and Edward W. Forbes. The financial reports and statements include treasurer's annual reports and statements by W.W. Goodwin, Edward W. Forbes, and William H. Claflin. Securities records contain Edward W. Forbes' records of shares and bonds, including stock receipts and letters to stockholders. Starting in 1930, J.M. Forbes and Co. handled the club's securities, and the securities records consist only of statements from them. The securities records also include a bound volume kept by Edward W. Forbes that shows security accounting by company. Bills and receipts are for routine club activities such as lunches.
Box 6	Folder 27				i. Account book, 1889-1912
					ii. Financial reports and statements, 1909-1965
Box 6	Folder 28-32					1909-1931
Box 7	Folders 1-6					1932-1965
Box 7	Folders 7-19				iii. Banking records, 1901-1930
					iv. Securities records, 1918-1961
Box 7	Folders 20-28					1918-1935
Box 8	Folders 1-24					1936-1961
Box 8	Folders 25-28				v. Bills and receipts, 1921-1946
Box 8	Folders 29-31				vi. Royalty statements, 1922-1959
							Table of Contents
			II. Publication drafts and research, 1906-1963 This series consists of notes, memos, drafts, and research for the biographical sketches in the club's books Early Years of the Saturday Club, Later Years of the Saturday Club, The Saturday Club: A Century Completed, The Saturday Club: 1957-1986, and The Saturday Club: The 150-Year Milestone. The drafts are typed or handwritten and contain edits.
				A. Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1906-1918 This subseries includes general notes and memos on producing Early Years of the Saturday Club, as well as drafts and research for introductory chapters, chapters on individual years in the club's history, and biographical sketches of members. Notable biographical subjects in this subseries include Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry James, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Charles Francis Adams, and John Greenleaf Whittier.
Box 9	Folder 1				i. Notes and memos, ca. 1906-1918
Box 9	Folders 2-8				ii. Chapter drafts, 1906-1918 Arranged chronologically.
					iii. Biographical drafts and research, 1906-1918 Arranged alphabetically.
Box 9	Folder 9					Adams, Charles Francis
Box 9	Folder 10					Appleton, Nathaniel
Box 9	Folder 11					Andrew, John A.
Box 9	Folders 12-16					Brimmer, Martin
Box 9	Folder 17					Brownell, Henry H.
Box 9	Folder 18					Cabot, James Elliot
Box 9	Folders 19-20					Dana, Richard Henry, Jr.
Box 9	Folder 21					Dwight, John S.
Box 9	Folders 22-23					Emerson, Ralph Waldo
Box 9	Folder 24					Felton, Cornelius
Box 9	Folder 25					Fields, James T.
Box 9	Folders 26-27					Forbes, John Murray
Box 9	Folder 28					Gurney, Ephraim W.
Box 9	Folder 29					Hedge, Frederick H.
Box 9	Folders 30-31					Hoar, Ebenezer Rockwood
Box 9	Folder 32					Holmes, John
Box 9	Folders 33-35					Holmes, Oliver Wendell
Box 9	Folders 36-37					Howe, Samuel Gridley
Box 9	Folder 38					Hunt, William Morris
Box 10	Folders 1-2					James, Henry
Box 10	Folder 3					Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
Box 10	Folders 4-5					Lowell, James Russell
Box 10	Folder 6					Motley, John L.
Box 10	Folders 7-9					Norton, Charles Eliot
Box 10	Folder 10					Peirce, Benjamin
Box 10	Folder 11					Sumner, Charles
Box 10	Folder 12					Ward, Samuel Gray
Box 10	Folder 13					Whipple, Edwin P.
Box 10	Folder 14					Whittier, John Greenleaf
Box 10	Folder 15					Wyman, Jeffries
				*B. Later Years of the Saturday Club, 1921-1927* This subseries consists of notes and memos from production of Later Years of the Saturday Club, and drafts and research for book chapters, including biographical sketches of club members. Notable biographical subjects in this subseries include Charles Francis Adams, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, Richard Henry Dana, Sr., Charles W. Eliot, William Dean Howells, Henry James, Jr., William James, and Francis Cabot Lowell.
Box 10	Folders 16-18				i. Notes and memos, ca. 1921-1927
					ii. Chapter drafts, ca. 1921-1927 Arranged chronologically.
Box 10	Folders 19-21					Published chapter drafts
Box 10	Folders 22-30					Unpublished chapter drafts
Box 11	Folders 1-9					Unpublished chapter drafts
					iii. Biographical drafts and research, ca. 1921-1927 Arranged alphabetically.
Box 11	Folders 10-11					Adams, Charles Francis II
Box 11	Folder 12					Agassiz, Alexander
Box 11	Folder 13					Aldrich, Thomas Bailey
Box 11	Folder 14					Amory, William
Box 11	Folder 15					Bowditch, Henry P.
Box 11	Folders 16-17					Brooks, Phillips
Box 11	Folder 18					Clarke, James Freeman
Box 11	Folder 19					Codman, Charles Russell
Box 11	Folders 20-21					Dana, Richard Henry Sr.
Box 11	Folder 22					Eliot, Charles W.
Box 11	Folder 23					Endicott, William Jr.
Box 11	Folder 24					Everett, William
Box 11	Folder 25					Field, Walbridge A.
Box 11	Folder 26					Fiske, John
Box 11	Folder 27					Gibbs, Oliver Wolcott
Box 11	Folder 28-29					Godkin, Edwin L.
Box 11	Folder 30					Goodwin, William W.
Box 11	Folder 31					Gray, Asa
Box 11	Folder 32					Gray, Horace
Box 11	Folder 33					Gray, John Chipman
Box 11	Folder 34					Higginson, Henry Lee
Box 11	Folder 35					Hoar, George Frisbee
Box 11	Folder 36					Hoar, Samuel
Box 11	Folder 37					Hooper, Edward W.
Box 11	Folder 38					Howells, William Dean
Box 12	Folders 1-2					James, Henry Jr.
Box 12	Folders 3-4					James, William
Box 12	Folder 5					Lowell, Francis Cabot
Box 12	Folder 6					Lowell, John
Box 12	Folders 7-8					Lyman, Theodore
Box 12	Folder 9					McCall, Samuel W.
Box 12	Folder 10					Maclaurin, Richard C.
Box 12	Folder 11					Olmstead, Frederick Law
Box 12	Folder 12					Parkman, Francis
Box 12	Folder 13					Peabody, Robert S.
Box 12	Folder 14					Perkins, Charles C.
Box 12	Folder 15					Perkins, Edward N.
Box 12	Folder 16					Pickering, Edward C.
Box 12	Folder 17					Quincy, Edmund
Box 12	Folder 18					Richardson, Henry H.
Box 12	Folder 19					Sampson, William T.
Box 12	Folder 20					Sargent, John Singer
Box 12	Folder 21-22					Story, William W.
Box 12	Folder 23					Thayer, William R.
Box 12	Folder 24-25					Walker, Francis A.
				*C. The Saturday Club: A Century Completed, 1941-1958* This subseries consists of notes and memos from production of The Saturday Club: A Century Completed, and drafts and research for biographical sketches of club members. Notes and memos include assignments of authors to biographical sketches, a book review of the completed book, suggested chapter mottoes, and Bliss Perry's 1942 notecards on the progress of research for the book. Notable biographical subjects in this subseries include William C. Endicott, Edward Waldo Emerson, and Alfred North Whitehead.
Box 12	Folders 26-28				i. Notes and memos, ca. 1941-1958
					ii. Biographical drafts and research, ca. 1941-1958 Arranged alphabetically.
Box 12	Folder 29					Cushing, Harvey
Box 12	Folder 30					Edgell, George Harold
Box 12	Folder 31					Emerson, Edward Waldo
Box 12	Folder 32					Endicott, William C.
Box 12	Folder 33					Haskins, Charles Homer
Box 12	Folder 34					Grant, Robert
Box 12	Folder 35					Loring, William Caleb
Box 12	Folder 36					Lowes, John L.
Box 12	Folder 37					Lyman, Theodore
Box 12	Folder 38					Maginnis, Charles Donagh
Box 12	Folder 39					Moreland, Edward L.
Box 12	Folder 40					Walcott, Henry Pickering
Box 12	Folder 41					Warren, Bentley Wirt
Box 12	Folder 42					Whitehead, Alfred North
				*D. The Saturday Club: 1957-1986, 1960-1963* This subseries contains lists of members for whom biographical sketches were to be written, Edward W. Forbes's writings on the history of the club, newspaper obituaries of Robert Frost, and biographical research materials on Edward Motley Pickman.
Box 13	Folder 1				i. Notes and memos, ca. 1960-1963
					ii. Drafts and research, 1960-1963
Box 13	Folder 3					Frost, Robert
Box 13	Folder 4					Pickman, Edward Motley
Box 13	Folder 5					Miscellaneous members
Box 13	Folders 6-7			*E. The Saturday Club: 150-Year Milestone* research, 1957-1963** This subseries contains newspaper clippings on James R. Killian and biographical research and drafts on various other members.
Box 13	Folder 8			F. Publication memoranda, 1906-1963 This subseries includes notes from the publication of the club's books, lists of possible biographical sources, suggested mottoes, and research material on unidentified biographical subjects.
							Table of Contents
			III. Printed material, 1896-1995
Box 13	Folders 9-13			A. Annual members' pamphlets, 1896-1955 Arranged chronologically. Member pamphlets produced for annual meetings contain lists of club officers and present members with their addresses, recent club votes, the charter and bylaws, and lists of past members with their dates of death. Sometimes the lists have been used to keep track of tasks, such as finding portraits of all members.
				B. Members' memoirs, 1905-1928 Arranged chronologically. This subseries contains printed memoirs of club members. Some of the memoirs are also authored by club members, such as Edward Waldo Emerson and Moorfield Storey. Some were printed for private circulation, and others were published in periodicals or by historical or professional societies.
Box 13	Folder 14				Woodward Hudson, Memoir of Samuel Hoar, 1905
Box 13	Folder 15				Edward Waldo Emerson, Memoir of Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, 1907
Box 13	Folder 16				Moorfield Storey, Charles Francis Adams, 1915
Box 13	Folder 17				Robert S. Rantoul, William Endicott, 1915
Box 13	Folder 18				Exercises in Sanders Theatre . . . Celebrating the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Richard Henry Dana, 1916
Box 13	Folder 19				Allen Winter Rowe, Theodore W. Richards: A Great American Chemist, 1928
Box 13	Folder 20			C. Book reviews, 1918-1958 Arranged chronologically. This subseries consists of book reviews of The Early Years of the Saturday Club and The Saturday Club: A Century Completed, from publications such as Harper's Monthly, The New York Times, The Boston Sunday Globe, and Newsweek. Also included is an advertising mock-up of The Later Years of the Saturday Club.
Box 13	Folder 21			*D. Bliss Perry, Recollections of the Saturday Club, 1942* This subseries contains two printed copies of Bliss Perry's Recollections of the Saturday Club, written in 1942. Perry describes his memories of his interactions with the club and its members, atmosphere, discussions, and lunches over time.
				E. Membership charts, 1949-1995
Oversize Box					1949-1965
Mss. Large					1995
Box 13	Folder 22			*F. The Saturday Club: A Century Completed* illustration mock-ups, ca. 1957** The subseries consists of illustration mockups for The Saturday Club: A Century Completed. The illustrations contain measurements, captions, and descriptions of where they will be placed in the book.
Box 13	Folders 23-25			G. Miscellaneous printed material, 1920-1960 Arranged chronologically. Included are invitations; a program for Moorfield Storey's funeral service; addresses, including one by Moorfield Storey; a memoir of club member George Santayana by Joel Porte; articles, including one inscribed to Edward W. Forbes, obituaries; genealogical material; and material related to the Union Club of Boston.

Table of Contents

Preferred Citation

Saturday Club records, Massachusetts Historical Society.

Table of Contents

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.


	Persons:
		Dana, Richard Henry, 1815-1882.
		Eliot, Charles William, 1834-1926.
		Emerson, Edward Waldo, 1844-1930.
		Finley, John Huston, 1904-
		Forbes, Edward Waldo, 1873-1969.
		Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 1809-1894.
		Howe, Mark De Wolfe, 1906-1967
		Norton, Charles Eliot, 1827-1908.
		Perry, Bliss, 1860-1954.


	Subjects:
		American literature--Societies, etc.
		Biography--Collections.
		Clubs--Massachusetts--Boston.
		Men--Societies and clubs.
		Science--Societies, etc.

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Photographs Removed from the Collection

The following photographs were removed from the collection to the MHS Photo. Archives:

8 x 10 black and white portrait of Edward W. Forbes, 1873-1969, autographed

6 x 8 black and white portrait of Ellery Sedgwick, 1872-1960, autographed.

6 1/2 x 9 1/2 black and white portrait of William Henry Claflin, Jr., b. 1893, autographed.

7 x 9 black and white portrait of William James, 1882-1961, autographed.

6 1/2 x 8 1/2 albumen portrait of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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Send reference questions to library@masshist.org.

Collection processed by Elizabeth Henry and Katherine Meyers, August 2011
Encoded by Katherine Meyers, August 2011