1654-1950
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of the personal and official documents of Francis Dana, Massachusetts revolutionary leader, minister to Russia, and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court; Richard Henry Dana, noted poet and essayist; Richard Henry Dana, Jr., author and United States attorney for Massachusetts during the Civil War; Richard Henry Dana III, civil service reformer; and other family members.
Biographical Sketches
Francis Dana (1743-1811), Massachusetts revolutionary leader, Continental Congressman, unofficial United States minister to the Russia of Catherine the Great, and chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.
Richard Henry Dana (1787-1879), son of Francis Dana, poet, essayist, literary scholar, and editor of the periodical Idle Man.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (1815-1882), anti-slavery lawyer, United States attorney for Massachusetts during the Civil War, and author of Two Years Before the Mast (1840).
Richard Henry Dana III (1851-1931), lawyer, civil service reformer, and author of the Massachusetts Ballot Act of 1888, the first Australian ballot law enacted in the United States.
Collection Description
The Dana family papers, 1654-1950, consist of 89 boxes, 293 bound volumes, and 2 oversize boxes of 17th, 18th, and 19th century official documents. The collection contains primarily the papers of four generations of the distinguished Dana family: Francis Dana, Richard Henry Dana, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and Richard Henry Dana III. Other family members of importance represented in the collection include: Richard Dana (1700-1772), Edmund Trowbridge (1709-1793), Edmund Dana (1739-1823), Luther Dana (1763-1832), Washington Allston (1779-1843), Edmund Trowbridge Dana (1779-1859), Martha Remington Dana Allston (1784-1862), Elizabeth Ellery Dana (1789-1874), Sarah Ann Dana (1791-1866), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882), Ruth Charlotte Dana (1814-1901), Sarah Watson Dana (1814-1907), Edmund Trowbridge Dana, Jr. (1818-1869), Elizabeth Ellery Dana II (1846-1939), Frances Longfellow Dana (1853-1915), Helen Sherwood Ford Mumford Dana (1865-1934), Richard Henry Dana IV (1879-1933), Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana (1881-1950), and Edmund Trowbridge Dana III (b. 1886). Also in the collection is a small body of papers of statesman Harrison Gray Otis (1765-1848), a Dana client and friend.
As the Dana papers were acquired over a period of 41 years, the Massachusetts Historical Society has elected to maintain the integrity of each donation by arranging the material into twelve distinct series, organized mostly by family member.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Dana family.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Dana family papers I, 1654-1933
This series consists of correspondence, legal documents, miscellaneous notes, lectures, speeches, clippings, and printed material. Subseries A contains general family correspondence. Subseries B-G are arranged by family member.
A. General correspondence, 1654-1933
Box 1 of this subseries contains 17th and 18th century legal documents, including some belonging to Richard Dana and Edmund Trowbridge. Boxes 2-4 contain almost exclusively the correspondence and legal papers of Francis Dana. Among his more notable correspondents were: John Adams (1735-1826), Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), Robert R. Livingston (1746-1813), and Theophilus Parsons (1750-1813). Some Francis Dana material can also be found in boxes 1 and 5.
Boxes 5-15 contain primarily the correspondence of Richard Henry Dana, 1811-1860. His letters are mostly to and from Dana family members, although there is also correspondence with William Cullen Bryant (1794-1878), Edward Tyrrel Channing (1790-1856), Caleb Sprague Henry (1804-1884), George Ticknor (1791-1871), and Gulian Crommelin Verplanck (1786-1870). In addition, there are Richard Henry Dana letters in boxes 16-23.
Boxes 6-23 contain the correspondence of Richard Henry Dana, Jr., with the greatest concentration of his letters in boxes 16-23. His important correspondents included: Charles Francis Adams (1807-1886), Louis Agassiz (1807-1873), George Douglas Campbell, Duke of Argyll (1823-1900), George Bancroft (1800-1891), William Maxwell Evarts (1818-1901), William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898), Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894), James Russell Lowell (1819-1891), William Henry Seward (1801-1872), Charles Sumner (1811-1874), and Anthony Trollope (1815-1882).
The papers of Richard Henry Dana III are located in boxes 16-33. The bulk of his letters is concentrated in boxes 25-33 and covers the years 1884-1931. His most notable correspondents were: Charles Francis Adams, Jr. (1835-1915), Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851-1921), Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), Henry Lee Higginson (1834-1919), William Lawrence (1850-1941), Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), Abbott Lawrence Lowell (1856-1943), and Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919). Roosevelt's letters, 1885-1896, are especially important on the issue of civil service reform.
B. Francis Dana papers, 1749-1810
C. Richard Henry Dana papers, 1812-1854
D. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., papers, 1832-1915
E. Edmund Trowbridge Dana, Jr., papers, 1837-1850
F. Richard Henry Dana III papers, 1862-1931
G. Washington Allston papers, 1801-1929
This subseries contains the correspondence and writings of Washington Allston. Among Allston's correspondents were: John Stevens Cogdell (1778-1847), Richard Henry Dana, James McMurtrie, Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872), and Francis Bayard Winthrop (1754-1817).
Also on microfilm, P-202.
H. Miscellaneous Dana papers, 1800-1932
II. Dana family papers II, 1658-1926
III. Dana family papers III, 1731-1930
IV. Dana family papers IV, 1658-1840
V. Dana family papers V, 1861-1866
VI. Bound volumes, 1724-1931
This series contains the Dana bound volumes, originally numbered 1-193 and arranged by individual. Additions to the collection have been placed under the appropriate individual and have been designated by decimal points and additional numerals, e.g. 1.1, 1.2, etc. The bound volumes consist of diaries, journals, letterbooks, notebooks, account books, law minutes, writ books, and assorted other items of Richard Dana, Francis Dana, Richard Henry Dana, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Washington Allston, Richard Henry Dana III, Edmund Trowbridge Dana, Edmund Trowbridge Dana, Jr., and Elizabeth Ellery Dana.
A. Richard Dana volumes, 1724-1785
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 1.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 1.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 1.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 2.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 2.
B. Francis Dana volumes, 1772-1918
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 3.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 4.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 4.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 4.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 4.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 5.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 5.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 5.
Cases adjudged by Francis Dana include (in alphabetical order): Amory vs. Gilman (1806); Commonwealth vs. Lord (1792); Hooper vs. Pagan (1792-1793); King vs. Munson (1803); Larken vs. Sisson (1801); Leavit vs. Goold (1799); Libby vs. Johnson, Swett, et al. (1801-1804); Libby vs. Marshall (1792); Livermore vs. Newburyport (1804); Lock vs. Maine Fire and Marine Insurance (1803); McIntire vs. Parker (1791); Mandel vs. Rowe (1773); Masurey vs. Putnam (1791); May vs. Calder (1806); Mendon vs. Wrentham (1791); Montgomery vs. Partridge (1786-1788); Morgan vs. Westfield (1793); Otis vs. Otis and will of Job Otis (1805); Palmer vs. Donner (1799); Parsons vs. Lovejoy (1795); Parsons vs. McMasters (1794-1796); Payson vs. Payson (1804); Pomeroy vs. Crocker (1793); Pond vs. Metcalf (1802); Porter vs. Bussey (1803-1804); Prince vs. Prince (1791); Ray vs. Ensliss (1799); Robertson vs. Ker (1793); Rogers vs. Winslow (1799); Rollins vs. Emery (1799); Ross vs. Bailey (1796); Waite vs. Brigham (1788); Willard vs. Brigham (1797); Laws of Inheritance (n.d.)
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 5.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 6.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 6.
Also on microfilm, P-646, reel 6.
C. Richard Henry Dana volumes, 1821-1863
D. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., volumes, 1840-1882
Note: This collection also contains six volumes of Richard Henry Dana, Jr., that were not included in the original arrangement and description of the Dana family papers. They are shelved at the end of the collection. See the Appendix for a description of these six additional volumes.
E. Washington Allston volumes, 1818-1842
Also on microfilm, P-202.
Letters and poems, 1818-1842
Correspondence from Washington Allston to Charles R. Leslie in Volume 182 includes letters dated: 23 Aug. [1818]; 15 Nov. 1819; 31 May 1820; 20 May 1821; 7 Sep. 1821; 13 Nov. 1821; 8 May 1822; 23 July 1822; 7 Feb. 1823; 25 Mar. 1823; 28 July 1823; 29 Sep. 1824; 6 June 1825; 9 Nov. 1826; 12 Aug. 1827; 6 Nov. 1833; and 11 Oct. 1842.
Note: Volume 182 has been disbound and moved to a separate folder.
F. Richard Henry Dana III volumes, 1865-1931
Note: This volume has been disbound and moved to Box OS 2 in Series XII (Oversize items).
G. Edmund Trowbridge Dana volumes, 1813-1822
H. Edmund Trowbridge Dana, Jr., volumes
I. Elizabeth Ellery Dana volumes, 1847-1867
J. Miscellany
VII. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Dana papers, 1947-1950
VIII. Richard Henry Dana papers
IX. Richard Henry Dana, Jr., papers, 1834-1895
A. Legal papers, 1847-1892
This subseries consists primarily of the legal papers of Richard Henry Dana, Jr. (boxes 76-78), and Richard Henry Dana III (boxes 77-80). Also included in this subseries are papers concerning civil service reform and galley proofs of Charles Francis Adams' Life of Richard Henry Dana.
B. Personal correspondence, 1834-1895
C. Official correspondence, 1863-1865
X. Printed material, 1812-1878
XI. Addenda, 1806-1875
This series contains printed volumes, framed letters, and index cards which belonged to the Dana family, including two volumes of Idle Man, edited by Richard Henry Dana, and some copies of his Poems and Prose Writings.
XII. Oversize items, 1683-1875
This series consists of some oversize legal and official documents of Edmund Trowbridge and Francis Dana.
Included are four documents of Francis Dana, previously framed: his appointment as Middlesex County Justice of the Peace (1779), his appointment as United States minister to St. Petersburg (1780), his selection as a Presidential Elector (1792), and his appointment as United States Minister Plenipotentiary to the French Republic (1797).
Note: This scrapbook, previously bound as Vol. 188.57 and located in Series VI.F. (Richard Henry Dana III volumes), has been disbound and is shelved here.
Appendix
The following seven volumes were not included in the original arrangement and description of the Dana family papers. Six of the volumes belonged to Richard Henry Dana, Jr., and one belonged to Rev. Samuel Dana (1778-1864). They are shelved at the end of the collection.
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., volumes
This is a printed volume with blank pages for a subject index. It is filled in by Dana with legal terms.
Preferred Citation
Dana 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.