1829-1944
Guide to the Collection
Abstract
This collection consists of the papers of lawyer William Minot III, his wife Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot, and other members of the Minot and Van Pelt families, including correspondence, diaries, financial papers, notebooks, and genealogical material.
Biographical Sketch
William Minot III was born on 7 May 1849 in West Roxbury, Massachusetts, to Katharine Sedgwick Minot and William Minot, Jr. He attended public schools as a child and graduated from Jamaica Plain High School. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1869 and was admitted to the Suffolk County Bar in 1870. He worked with his father at the family's 39 Court Street office in Boston, specializing in trusts, estates, and wills. He was a member of the St. Botolph Club and of the Boston Bar Association. He married Elizabeth Vredenburgh Van Pelt in 1882, and they had four children. He died in Boston on 30 November 1900.
Collection Description
The William Minot III papers date from 1829-1944 and contain personal correspondence, financial papers, diaries, school notebooks, letterbooks, account books, and genealogical material. The collection is arranged into three series: personal papers, financial papers, and Van Pelt family papers. Personal papers include correspondence of William Minot III; Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot; their children Katharine, William IV, Vredenburgh, and Sedgwick; Elizabeth's father Reuben Van Pelt; and William's father William Minot, Jr. (1817-1894). Also included is a letterbook containing letters from William III to Elizabeth, 1893-1894; a scrapbook of newspaper clippings; condolence letters on the deaths of William III and William, Jr.; diaries of William III and Katharine; and Minot family genealogical material.
William Minot III's financial papers consist of capital account investment books, account books, and receipt books. Van Pelt family papers include family correspondence and genealogical material; Elizabeth Van Pelt's college essays from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, 1879-1882; and Helen Vredenburgh's composition notebook from Van Doren's Collegiate Institute in New York, New York, 1829-1842. Also included are letters from Dr. Gertrude W. Van Pelt, a physician, Theosophical author, and sister of Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Minot family, 1953.
Detailed Description of the Collection
I. Personal papers, 1852-1931
The personal papers of William Minot III are arranged into four subseries: family correspondence, engagement letters, letters of condolence, and bound volumes.
A. Family correspondence, 1853-1915
The Minot family correspondence includes letters written to and from William III, Elizabeth, Katharine, William IV, Sedgwick, Vredenburgh, Henry D., and Laurence regarding family matters and news. Extensive correspondence between William and Katharine while she was traveling through Europe, 1898-1899, contains descriptions of her travels and her thoughts on the countries she visits.
1853-1878
1879-November 1898
December 1898-1915
B. Engagement letters, 1881-1896
This subseries consists of congratulatory letters to Elizabeth Van Pelt on her engagement to William Minot, as well as miscellaneous other correspondence.
C. Letters of condolence, 1894-1900
This subseries consists of letters of condolence to William Minot III on the death of William, Jr. in 1894 and to Katharine Minot on the death of William III in 1900.
D. Bound volumes, 1852-1931
This subseries contains volumes of William Minot III, including a letterbook of letters he wrote to Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot, 1893-1894; diaries, 1862-1898; a hunting log listing animals killed, weather, locations such as western Massachusetts and Maine, hunting party members and their accuracy, and daily activities; and a record of time spent in Cape Neddick, Maine. The subseries also includes journals and a household inventory of Katharine Minot, a children's game book, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings.
Letterbook, 1893-1894
Personal accounts including hunting log and journal entries, 1852-1889
Diary, 25 December 1862-21 January 1864
Diary, 23 February 1864-28 February 1865
Diary, 1 February-21 July 1865
Diary, 21 July-1 November 1865
Diary, 3 November 1865-5 April 1866
Diary, 5 April-31 December 1866
Diary, 19 May 1866–13 June 1867 (with gaps)
Diary, 1 January-9 December 1867
Diary, 10 December 1867-10 October 1868
Diary, 10 October 1868-29 March 1869
Diary, 1 September 1869-29 July 1870
Diary, 30 July 1870-15 April 1871
Diary, 17 April 1871-1898
Diary, 1890-1898
Diary, 1885-1892
Cased with Vol. 18.Diary, 1892-1898
Cased with Vol. 17.Diary, 1898
Cape Neddick, Maine, record, 1854-1867
Katharine Minot journals, 1912, 1924-1931
Four volumes cased together.Children's games book, 1890
Scrapbook, 1900
II. Financial papers, 1879-1912
Financial papers of William Minot III include two capital account books; two books of expenditures; a receipt book, and an undated cashbook.
Capital accounts, 1893-1899
Capital accounts, 1900-1912
Book of expenditures, 1879-1884
Bound with Vol. 30.Book of expenditures, 1884-1903
Bound with Vol. 29.Receipt book, 1896-1901
Bound with Vol. 32.Cashbook, undated
Bound with Vol. 31.III. Van Pelt family papers, 1829-1944
This series includes Van Pelt family correspondence; correspondence of Dr. Gertrude Van Pelt, Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot's sister; and genealogical material. Also included are Elizabeth Van Pelt's college essays, 1879-1882, from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; an undated typescript copy of a novel she wrote; and a composition notebook/commonplace-book of Helen Vredenburgh, her maternal aunt, kept in part at Van Doren's Collegiate Institute, New York, New York.
Van Pelt family letters, 1841-1894
Elizabeth Van Pelt (Minot) college essays, 1879-1882
Elizabeth Van Pelt (Minot) novel typescript, undated
Dr. Gertrude Van Pelt letters, 1881-1899
Included are letters by Dr. Gertrude Van Pelt describing her medical studies in Paris and Vienna; the art studies of her companion, painter Susan Mary Norton (1855-1922); and the activities of the children of William Minot III and Elizabeth Van Pelt Minot. Most of the letters were written to Katharine Minot (later the wife of Henry Morse Channing) while Katharine was traveling in Europe, 1898-1899.
Van Pelt genealogical material and correspondence, 1932-1944
Helen Vredenburgh’s composition notebook and commonplace-book, 1829-1876
Included are compositions and copies of letters by Helen Vredenburgh, as well as poetry. After Vredenburgh died in 1844, the volume was apparently continued by other family members.
Preferred Citation
William Minot III 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.
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Organizations:
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Materials Removed from the Collection
Photographs from this collection have been removed to William Minot III photographs (Photo. Coll. 385).