1864-1934
Guide to the Collection
Restrictions on Access
The Annie Haven Thwing scrapbooks are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Abstract
Scrapbooks of correspondence compiled by Boston historian Annie Haven Thwing.
Biographical Sketch
Annie Haven Thwing was born in Roxbury, 4 July 1851, the daughter of Supply Clap Thwing, a Boston merchant, and his wife, Anne Shapley (Haven) Thwing. She resided in Boston and Roxbury her entire life and, after the death of her father in 1877, devoted her time to research of Boston history and genealogy. During the course of her research, she amassed a collection of over 20 volumes of typescript Boston deed extracts, as well as the "Thwing Index," a card file comprising over 125,000 cards with biographical and property information on early Boston inhabitants which were given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1916. Her book The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston 1630-1822, published in Boston in 1920, marked the culmination of her research. Annie Haven Thwing died on 5 June 1940 and is buried with her parents and brother in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain.
Sources
Travers, Len. "'You see I am addicted to facts': Annie Haven Thwing and the Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston." Massachusetts Historical Review, vol. 1 (1999), pp. 114-126.
Collection Description
Scrapbooks complied by historian and author Annie Haven Thwing of Boston and Roxbury, Mass., include letters and postcards received, 1864-1934, from Horace Howard Furness, Edward Everett Hale, Miles Hanson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Fanny Bowditch Dixwell Holmes, Alice James, Catherine and Isabella Scott, and Charles F. Thwing, among others. Letters pertain to personal and business matters, including the death of her father; philanthropic activities; her historical interests and research; and the publication of her book The Crooked and Narrow Streets of the Town of Boston, 1630-1822. Scrapbooks also include photomechanical prints and newspaper clippings of portraits of American political figures; clippings, postcards, and sketches pertaining to the history of Boston; photographs of Thwing, the Thwing family home on Orrs Island, Me., and other subjects; and newspaper reviews of her book.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Annie Haven Thwing, April 1935.
Restrictions on Access
The Annie Haven Thwing scrapbooks are stored offsite and must be requested at least two business days in advance via Portal1791. Researchers needing more than six items from offsite storage should provide additional advance notice. If you have questions about requesting materials from offsite storage, please contact the reference desk at 617-646-0532 or reference@masshist.org.
Detailed Description of the Collection
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. I, 1864-1931
Volume 1 includes miscellaneous letters sent to Annie Haven Thwing, 1864-1931, including condolence letters sent on the death of her father in 1877. Correspondents include Horace Howard Furness, Jr., Edward Everett Hale, and Alice James. The volume contains an index to the letters, arranged by author and date. A photograph of Annie Haven Thwing, aged 36, is mounted on page [2] of the volume.
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. II, 1882-1928
Volume 2 includes letters sent to Annie Haven Thwing, 1882-1928. Correspondents include John Graham Brooks and his wife Helen, Rev. Walter Swicher, and many others. The volume contains an index of correspondents and notes that "Many letters in this volume from Miss Scott and Mrs. Holmes were taken out and put together with others in a separate volume."
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. III, 1920-1932
Volume 3 includes letters received by Thwing on the publication of her book The Crooked and Narrow Streets of Boston in 1920 and on her seventieth birthday in 1921.
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. IV, 1888-1922
Volume 4 includes letters from Catherine Scott (1836-1930), whom Thwing met in London in 1887, establishing a regular correspondence. Scott's brother C. P. Scott was the editor of the Manchester (Eng.) Guardian. Catherine and her sister Isabella were the authors of A Family Biography, 1662 to 1908, Drawn Chiefly from Old Letters (London, 1908).
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. V, 1892-1929
Volume 5 comprises letters from Catherine Scott between 1922 and 1927 and letters from Justice and Mrs. Oliver Wendell Holmes from 1892-1927. Letters have been removed from the scrapbook volume and placed in folders.
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. VI, 1819-1928
Volume 6 comprises letters from Rev. Miles Hanson, minister of the First Church in Roxbury. The volume also contains a letter from Smith Robertsway, dated 18 January 1923.
Friendly letters to A.H.T. vol. VII, 1929-1934
Volume 7 contains letters from Catherine and Isabella Scott (1929-1930) and Miles Hanson (1929-1934), as well as notes from other friends.
Old Boston, ca. 1844-1920
Volume 8 consists of newspaper clippings, maps, photographs, engravings, and postcards of Boston.
Portraits
Volume 9 contains clippings from newspapers and magazines with portraits of notable figures, including British and American politicians, judges, explorers, artists, and Civil War soldiers.
Preferred Citation
Annie Haven Thwing scrapbooks, 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.