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COLLECTION Identifier: MS Am 2046

Coffin family papers

Overview

Papers of the Coffin family of Newbury and Newburyport, Mass.

Dates

  • Creation: 1793-1890

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

There are no restrictions on physical access to this material.

Extent

.5 linear feet (1 box)

Family papers of the Coffin family especially those of: Charles Coffin (1741-1821), Charles Coffin (1775-1853), and James Ayer Coffin (1806- 1871). Includes correspondence, financial records, holograph manuscripts, genealogies, notebooks, photographs, and printed materials. There is a holograph manuscript by Charles Coffin (1775-1853), A poem on the comparative beauties of nature and art, presented at the Harvard College Commencement, 1793; orations presented at Knoxville College, Tennessee, by James Ayer Coffin (1806-1871), and Louis McKinney, Address delivered on the occasion of the presentation of a portrait of Charles Coffin to the University of Tennessee, 189-. Includes materials relating to: the Christian family, Cornelius Worcester Coffin, Daniel Little Coffin (1814-1854), Dorothy Farnham Coffin (1774-1855), Hugh Martin Coffin (1840-1861), Sir Isaac Coffin (1759-1839), Joseph Coffin (1702-1773), Margaret Martin Coffin (1813-1865), Simeon Coffin (1731-1786), Susanna Woodbridge Ayer Coffin, Julia Ayer Coffin Harle, Hugh Martin, Margaret McKinney Coffin McKinney (1818-1845), Mary Farnham McKinney (1824-1871), and the Russell family. The penciled annotations on these papers are possibly in the hand of Julia Ayer Coffin Harle.

Biographical / Historical

The Coffin family was based in Newbury and Newburyport, Mass. Charles Coffin (1741-1821) was a Harvard College graduate and physician in Newburyport, Mass. His son, Charles Coffin (1775-1853), also graduated from Harvard College. He became a Presbyterian minister and served as president of Greeneville College in Greeneville, Tenn. and as president of East Tennessee College, in Knoxville, Tenn.

Arrangement

Arranged alphabetically.

Physical Location

b

Immediate Source of Acquisition

*86M-62. Gift of Mrs. Clifford V. Brokaw, Jr., in memory of Nannie Coffin Inman Brown; received: 1987. Mrs. Brokaw, Jr.'s first name unknown as of 2021.

Processing Information

Processed by: Bonnie B. Salt.

Title
Coffin family. Coffin family papers: Guide.
Author
Houghton Library, Harvard College Library
Language of description
und
EAD ID
hou00337

Repository Details

Part of the Houghton Library Repository

Houghton Library is Harvard College's principal repository for rare books and manuscripts, archives, and more. Houghton Library's collections represent the scope of human experience from ancient Egypt to twenty-first century Cambridge. With strengths primarily in North American and European history, literature, and culture, collections range in media from printed books and handwritten manuscripts to maps, drawings and paintings, prints, posters, photographs, film and audio recordings, and digital media, as well as costumes, theater props, and a wide range of other objects. Houghton Library has historically focused on collecting the written record of European and Eurocentric North American culture, yet it holds a large and diverse number of primary sources valuable for research on the languages, culture and history of indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Houghton Library’s Reading Room is free and open to all who wish to use the library’s collections.

Contact:
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