Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: MC 282

Papers of the Carter-White family, 1818-1944

Overview

Papers of the Gray, Carter, Nichols, and White families of New England and New York.

Dates

  • Creation: 1818-1944

Language of Materials

Materials in English.

Conditions Governing Access

Access. Unrestricted.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright. Copyright in the papers created by the Carter-White family is held by the President and Fellows of Harvard College for the Schlesinger Library. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns.

Copying. Papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures.

Extent

.42 linear feet (1 file box)

The collection consists of the papers of members of the Gray, Carter, Nichols, and White families.

The collection begins with William Shepard Gray, who wrote a letter to his wife in 1818. He may have been the father of Ann Augusta Gray. Ann was an artist and writer of children's books. She married Robert Carter (1819-1879), author and editor of several newspapers, including the Boston Commonwealth, Boston Telegraph, Daily Atlas, Democrat, Rochester, New York, and Appleton's Journal. They had three children, two of whom are represented in this collection: Alice (Carter) Vaughan and Charles Moreland Carter (1852-1922) director and treasurer of the St. Joseph Union Depot Company, St. Joseph, Missouri; his wife was Ada Fedora (Hunter) Carter and one of their daughters, Marjorie Carter, is represented in these papers. Robert Carter's second wife, Susan (Nichols) Carter, editor and author of art handbooks and articles for periodicals was for twenty years head of the Art Department of Cooper Union in New York City. A few papers derive from members of the Nichols family, the mother and siblings of Susan (Nichols) Carter. Her sister, Lucy Nichols, married John E. White, a captain in the 99th N.Y. Infantry. They had six children, two of whom are represented in this collection: Anna (White) [Mrs. Herbert A.] Sherman and George Nichols White, a lawyer. George married Marjorie G. Carter, an artist and the daughter of Charles Moreland Carter and Ada Fedora (Hunter) Carter. Their children were George Nichols White, Jr. and Marjorie (White) [Mrs. Charles F.] Swift, one donor of these papers.

Susan (Nichols) Carter's papers consist of incoming letters from various correspondents, including C. A. Dana, Helena (de Kay) Gilder, her husband, Richard Watson Gilder, editor of The Century, Julian Hawthorne, C. E. Norton, and Robert Dale Owen. Many of the letters concern Susan Carter's administration at Cooper Union or articles by her. The other Carter family correspondence deals primarily with family news as do the Nichols family papers, which focus mainly on illness, children, and the engagement of Marjorie G. Carter and George Nichols White. The White family correspondence discusses news of the family, household matters, travel, social events, and invitations.

There are also wills and correspondence relating to them, drawings, writings (most of them anonymous), news-clippings, and miscellaneous items.

BIOGRAPHY

The Carter, Gray, Nichols, and White families were related by marriage. Members include Ann Augusta Gray, an artist and writer of children's books; her husband, Robert Carter, author and newspaper editor; and his second wife Susan Nichols Carter, author, editor, and for twenty years the head of the Art Department of Cooper Union in New York City. Susan Carter's sister Lucy married John E. White, a captain in the 99th New York Infantry.

Physical Location

Collection stored off site: researchers must request access 36 hours before use.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Accession number: 76-91

The Carter-White family papers were given to the Schlesinger Library by Marjorie (White) Swift [Mrs. Charles F. Swift] and David H. Swift, in March 1976.

Processing Information

Processed: April 1979

By: Gay Gibson McDonald

Title
Carter family. Papers of the Carter-White family, 1818-1944: A Finding Aid
Author
Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
sch00132

Repository Details

Part of the Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute Repository

The preeminent research library on the history of women in the United States, the Schlesinger Library documents women's lives from the past and present for the future. In addition to its traditional strengths in the history of feminisms, women’s health, and women’s activism, the Schlesinger collections document the intersectional workings of race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class in American history.

Contact:
3 James St.
Cambridge MA 02138 USA
617-495-8540