The administrative records for the Davis family businesses, mainly Brockton Public Market and Shaw's Supermarkets, consist of correspondence regarding daily operations, compiled histories, Board of Directors' meeting minutes, company goals and strategies, and notes kept mostly by Stanton Walker Davis. The material mostly pertains to various mergers and acquisitions by Brockton Public Market and later Shaw's Supermarkets.

The financial records of the Davis family businesses consists of stock records and reports, earning reports, operation costs, and receipts for Brockton Public Market and Shaw's Supermarkets.

This subseries contains mortgage loan agreement documentation between the Maynard A. Davis Real Estate Corporation and the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company for $250,000.

This subseries contains material pertaining to the merger and purchase of the wholesale grocer E. C. Hall by Brockton Public Market.

The documents in this subseries relate to the merger of Brockton Public Market and the George C. Shaw Company, where Shaw's would merge into BPM, convert outstanding Shaw's stock into common stock of BPM, and continue operation of both businesses under the name Shaw's Supermarkets, Inc. The subseries includes correspondence, evaluations, analyses, and appraisals of stock. Also included is the merger documentation and plans.

This subseries contains material relating to the stock purchase agreement between Sainsbury and Shaw's Supermarkets. Sainsbury made a tender offer to Shaw's stockholders for up to 25% of shares of outstanding common stock at $100 per share. Documents include correspondence, appraisals, tender offer, purchase agreement, and notes mainly from Stanton Walker Davis assessing the offer at various stages.

This subseries contains material pertaining to the succession of Shaw's Supermarkets and future ownership of the company and its stock by members of the Davis family. It includes correspondence, notes, and a preliminary evaluation.

The material in this subseries pertains to a leveraged buyout option that was considered by the Davis family and Shaw's Supermarkets shareholders. It includes reports, reviews, and analysis material, as well as notes compiled by Stanton Walker Davis.

This subseries contains material relating to the Initial Public Offering of Shaw's Supermarkets' stock. It consists of correspondence, analyses, agreements, prospectus, valuations, reviews, and official paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This subseries contains material relating to the buyout of Shaw's Supermarkets by Sainsbury, when it acquired a majority share of Shaw's stock and thus a controlling interest. Material consists of correspondence, reports, notes, meeting minutes, printed and published material, and official paperwork filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

This subseries contains the correspondence and personal and professional papers of Stanton Walker Davis. The bulk of the correspondence is from Elisabeth Peck Kaiser Davis while she was attending Wellesley College and Stanton was at Dartmouth College. They discuss visits, school, social events, friends, and family. Other correspondents include Howard Halsey Davis, Joan Davis Wheeler, and Peter Kaiser Davis. Personal papers consist of printed material from Dartmouth College and Harvard Business School, and professional papers consist of publicity Stanton Walker Davis received for the various professional roles he held within the supermarket industry and civic life in Brockton.

This subseries contains correspondence, personal papers, and volumes of Elisabeth Kaiser Peck Davis. The bulk of the material is correspondence between Elisabeth and Stanton Walker Davis while she was attending Wellesley and he was attending Dartmouth College. The letters mainly discuss visits between the two, school, social events, friends, and family. Other correspondents include Alice Louise Peck Kaiser, Edward Peck Kaiser, Helen Monell, Peter Kaiser Davis, and other extended family. Included are condolences from friends, family, and prominent members of Brockton and the supermarket field on the death of her husband. Of interest are letters from Peter Kaiser Davis while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Letters cover his aviation training and service at the United States Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida; United States Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Meridian, Mississippi; Naval Auxiliary Air Station in Kingsville, Texas; Marine Air Corps Station, El Toro in Santa Ana, California; and Vietnam. Travel diaries cover trips to the British Isles.

This subseries contains the correspondence, personal and professional papers, and volumes of Peter Kaiser Davis. Correspondents include Anne Davis Peterson, Joan Davis Wheeler, Howard Halsey Davis, Frank Andrew Kaiser, and Stanton Walker Davis. The scrapbook outlines his military training and career as an aviator in the United States Marine Corps. It includes photographs, certificates and citations, orders, news clippings, and printed material. Of interest is Peter's diary (2 April-16 December 1967), which covers a tour of duty in Vietnam. In it, he discusses duties, everyday activities, fellow soldiers, and flights he made from Chu Lai Air Base in Vietnam flying an A-4E Skyhawk while serving in the Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 121 (VMA-121).

For Peter Kaiser Davis's correspondence while attending aviation and flight training and tour of duty in Vietnam, see Series II.B.

The papers of Adeline Little Davis consist of correspondence, personal papers, and financial papers. Correspondents consist mainly of members of the Ricker family of Poland, Maine, Kansas, and Colorado, who refer to Adeline as a cousin and niece, as well as numerous friends from the Freewill Baptist Church and mills where she had previously worked throughout Maine and Massachusetts. They include Ardelia Marston Ricker Webster, Cordelia Ellen Ricker Wright, Ann Clementine Ricker Stanton, Martha Emma Ricker Cozzens, Sarah Ricker Dockum, Luella Dockum Adams, Charles Dockum, Edward P. Ricker, Isotta Sims Howe, Sarah E. Little, Moses Little, Paul Little, Prudence Hodgkins Meserve, William Augustus Hodgkins, Mary A. Cumming, Josephine Hodgkins Bond, Eben W. White, John Alonzo Goff, Maynard Gardner Davis, Nelly E. Davis, and Maynard Alton Davis. Of interest are letters from James Judson Chase and James Mower Jackson, both officers in the 32nd Maine Infantry Regiment, Co. D, writing to provide details of the death of her husband at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House. Also of interest are letters from her cousins living in Kansas before and after the Civil War, as well as letters from friends telling her of work opportunities and working conditions in mills.

Personal papers include deeds for a house and land in Poland, Maine; a bond of guardianship; and a photocopy of her obituary from The Gospel Banner, Vol. L No. 12, 20 March 1884. Financial papers include pension documents.

The correspondence of Maynard Gardner Davis consists of letters from Sarah A. Davis; M. E. Davis; and Shubael Davis. The letters mainly discuss news from home and updates on family and friends. Of interest is the letter from Henry D. Chamberlain of the 3rd Vermont Infantry Regiment, Co. B, writing from Chain Bridge in Washington, D.C. (9 August 1861). In it, he describes camp headquarters, regiments nearby, soldiering, and updates on friends.

This subseries contains the correspondence, legal documents, financial and real estate records, and personal and professional papers of Maynard Alton Davis. Correspondents include Donzetta Irving Davis, Dellazon Augustus Davis, Adeline Little Davis, Emma Smith Walker Davis, and Hiram Weston Ricker. Of interest are letters from members of the Colfax Lodge #20 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in Anaconda, Montana, detailing the death of his brother Donzetta.

Legal documents include letters of guardianship putting Maynard under the care of his brother Dellazon following the death of their mother, trust under indenture paperwork filed by Maynard to maintain family control over Brockton Public Market through his sons, and his will. Real estate records consist of lease agreements between Maynard and Jon M. Burgess, as well as various warranty deeds and sale agreements, mostly for property in Seekonk, Massachusetts. Of interest in the personal papers is a letter (29 November 1886) from the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society to educators endorsing certain texts that they believed should be used in schools in support of temperance.

This subseries contains correspondence, personal papers, and volumes of Emma Smith Walker Davis. Correspondents include Sarah Ann Burgess Walker, Almira Miller Reed Walker, Marian Edna Davis, Elizabeth Hadley Burgess Stone, and Florence Newell Barbour. Included in her personal papers is a warranty deed for a parcel of land in Seekonk, Massachusetts, from Sarah Anna Burgess Walker (1915). Her diary contains brief entries of her daily activities (January-June 1879) and was later used to mark birthdays and deaths. Emma's travel covers her trans-Atlantic journey on the SS Scythia to Samaria and back through Europe and England (May-July 1927); a cross-country car trip from New Jersey down the east coast, through Texas and Arizona to California, then back east through Colorado, Kansas, and Ohio (March-May 1930); and a car trip through Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, Kansas, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York (April-May 1934). Her notebook contains recipes, a class register, examination results, visitor lists, and a travel diary for a trip to Maine and New Hampshire (23 August-3 September 1886).

Included in this subseries is a book recording life events of members of the Davis family and genealogical research on the family. Also included are the papers of various Davis family members. They include pages from an account book for goods sold (1773); printed material from the Sunday School Union of the Methodist Episcopal Church, A Story About Fish and Fisheries (1846), Among the Wounded: Experiences of a Delegate (1864) from the United States Christian Commission, and other printed material; a letter to Dellazon Irving Davis from Sadie Ricker (1883); Donzetta Augustus Davis's will (1889); a letter from Marian Edna Davis to Elsie Gardner (1906) and a letter of condolence sent to the Davis family from the Brockton High School Class of 1907 on the death of Marian; and letters to Mabelle Esther Davis Morrow.

The papers of George Peck (1797-1876) consist of personal papers, diaries, and a ledger. Personal papers include a covenant between George and George W. Peck to work land owned by George in Kingston, Pennsylvania (1843); a Valentine's Day poem to his wife (1849); a letter to George from M. M. Peck discussing attending the Church Anti-Slavery Society meeting where they heard Theodore Ledyard Cuyler, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and Parker Pillsbury speak (May 1859); a report from the Committee on Slavery at the Wyoming Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church held in Scranton, Pennsylvania (April 1860), where anti-slavery resolutions were submitted for adoption; an article by George to the Record of the Times (1868); the lease of George's property in Scranton to William Brock following George's death (1877); and a note written by George. Diaries include brief entries on his daily activities. George's ledger contains personal accounting and salaries paid to others.

This subseries contains George Myers Peck's personal and professional papers and transcripts of accounts of trips he made to New England on his way to Wesleyan University and a vacation to visit family in New York and Pennsylvania. Personal papers include his license to exhort for the Methodist Episcopal Church (1843), as well as an indenture agreement between Peck and Melchior Abplanalp for Josephine Abplanalp to train as a housekeeper and then live and work for the Pecks until 1865 (1856). Subsequent documents for the indenture include an inventory of Josephine's possessions and letters from her father Melchior and aunt Anna Dykman arranging for Josephine to be taken in by her aunt (1864). Also included is a letter from Jesse Truesdell Peck; photocopies of an article written by Peck on the "Onondaga Man" (1869), now known as the Cardiff Man, a hoax that claimed the petrified remains of an ancient ten-foot-tall man had been discovered; and Peck's last will and testament. Professional papers mainly consist of material relating to Peck and Butler's Butter Worker, a device to make butter. Included is a printed advertisement and an indenture to appoint agents to sell the device.

The Kaiser-Peck family papers contain the correspondence and personal papers of various Kaiser and Peck family members, including Saidee Estelle Kaiser, John Jacob Kaiser, Martin Luther Kaiser, Paul Christian Kaiser, William Emory Kaiser, William Henry Peck, Grace Arminda Peck Gregory, and Thomas Wilbur Kyte.

Included in this subseries is The DeWitt Family of Ulster County, New York, by Thomas G. Evans (1886); printed material from the DeWitt Family Historical Society; and various genealogical notes of the DeWitt and Kyte families.

This subseries contains the diaries of Frank Andrew Kaiser. They cover his six-day trip to the Chicago World's Fair (September 1893) and his time attending Penn State University (1894-1898). Entries discuss classes, student life, and school athletics, particularly track and field.

This subseries contains a photocopy of the diary William Kaiser kept during his second enlistment in the Civil War when he was serving in the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry Musician Regimental Band in the 92nd Pennsylvania Volunteers. The brief entries mainly track his regiment's movement and letters he received from friends and family. At the back are some sketches, two of which are of a camp. Also included in this subseries is a photocopy of a letter from William to his wife Sallie Meixell Kaiser while he was in Philadelphia. He writes of missing her, attending a Methodist Episcopal Church meeting and singing there, seeing an old friend from Wilkes-Barre, and some news about other friends.

The papers of John M. Burgess consist of his correspondence, personal and professional papers, financial records, and legal documents. Correspondence mostly pertains to his business affairs and includes a sworn statement by Aldrich Payne regarding the financial standing of Dr. William P. Bonney in 1850, before he left the mines in Agua Fria, California (1853); a letter from A. J. Bowen of Maine Prairie seeking Burgess's assistance in getting their affairs in order (1863); a letter from P. I. Perrin discussing three plots of land in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, previously owned by Samuel Perrin that Burgess was apparently interested in buying (1873); a witness statement by Joseph Brown on the signing of a deed over to Burgess by Hannah B. Larchar, sister of Abigail Carpenter of Seekonk, Massachusetts (1881); and a description of the acquisition of the Loring Cushing property in Seekonk by Burgess and other adjoining lots.

The professional papers of John M. Burgess mostly pertain to his ownership of shares for the schooner Allen Middleton, Jr. and the dividends he earned from it. Also included is a document granting Burgess power of attorney for Joseph R. Brown of Mariposa, California, to sell Brown's interest in the Allen Middleton, Jr. schooner (1864) and a record of this sale (1872). Personal papers include a transcript of Burgess's last will and testament (1884). The deeds and warranty deeds that comprise Burgess's documents are for numerous tracts of land mainly in Seekonk, Massachusetts, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The land often adjoins each other or other parcels of land owned by Burgess.

This subseries contains the correspondence and personal papers of Lydia Butterworth Baker Burgess. Correspondents include John M. Burgess, Elizabeth Hadley Burgess Stone, and Sarah Ann Burgess Walker, and letters discuss when each of them visited or lived in Agua Fria and Princeton, California. Lydia's personal papers consist of her calling cards and a deed conveying two separate lots of land in Seekonk, Massachusetts, to her by Abel Whitaker. One lot had previously been owned by Simon Walker.

This subseries contains the papers of George Halsey Walker. They consist of correspondence, land documents, and his obituary. Correspondents include Mary Colburn of Lawrence, Kansas (1859); Sarah Ann Burgess Walker on a trip back to California visiting their son Clarence Howard Walker and discussing many of the places they knew when they lived there (1892); and a friend in California, possibly near what is known today as Mt. Bullion, trying to convince George and Sarah to come back. Land documents pertain to property records for lots in Seekonk, Massachusetts.

The papers of Sarah Ann Burgess Walker consist of correspondence, diaries, and news clippings. Correspondents include Emma Smith Walker Davis; Samuel F. Babbitt; George Halsey Walker; Sarah Emeline Walker Tompson; Isaac Chesborough Burgess providing a detailed account of his boarding house owned by the Van Wagenens of Tattnall Street in Savannah, Georgia (1901); and I. M. Lazell in Mt. Bullion, California, discussing their life and work in the mines there. Sarah's travel diary covers trips to California, where she mainly stayed in the Berkley area and went on day trips. Her travel notes describe Agua Fria, California, and Texas Creek, Colorado.

The Walker family papers consist mostly of correspondence, including letters from Howard Burgess to Clarence Howard Walker (1885); Clarence Howard Walker to Minnie Alice Walker (1892); Sarah Ann Burgess Walker to Sarah Emeline Walker Tomson (1902); and Sarah Ann Burgess Walker her family (1902). Also included is a lease agreement between John B. Shirzenegger and Leonard Walker giving Walker the use of a piece of Shirzenegger's land in San Francisco, California, for six months (1849), as well as tax bills owed by the heirs of the Moses Walker estate to the town of Attleborough.