Converted to EAD3 : Encoded Archival Description (EAD), Version 3 : Release: 1.1.1 : Release Date: 2019-12-16. Validating against latest version of schema.
Contact information: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.mss/mss.contact
Catalog Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/mm75039610
Collection material in English
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the LC Catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically.
The papers of the Shaw family were purchased by the Library of Congress in 1947 and 1964.
The Shaw Family Papers were processed in 1975. The finding aid was revised in 2012.
A genealogical guide to names represented in the Shaw collection is available for use in the Manuscript Division Reading Room. The guide is also available as a PDF document.
The status of copyright in the unpublished writings of Shaw family is governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.).
The papers of the Shaw family are open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Manuscript Reading Room prior to visiting. Many collections are stored off-site and advance notice is needed to retrieve these items for research use.
A microfilm edition of these papers is available on four reels. Consult reference staff in the Manuscript Division concerning availability for purchase or interlibrary loan. To promote preservation of the originals, researchers are required to consult the microfilm edition.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: Container or reel number, Shaw Family Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
The papers of the Shaw family span the years 1636-1892, with the bulk of the material from 1770 to 1870, during the lifetimes of Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody and Joseph Barlow Felt, whose papers make up the largest proportion of the collection. The latter’s papers alone comprise about three-fourths of the collection. The material consists of family and other letters sent, business papers, records, receipts, notes, copybooks, writings, research materials, and miscellany. Nearly half of the collection consists of Felt’s handwritten sermons. The papers are arranged by type of material under a family member’s name and therein chronologically.
The papers provide source material for studies in New England ecclesiastical history and genealogy, as well as biographical studies of Abigail Adams and her family.
The collection originated with Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, a sister of Abigail Adams, wife of President John Adams and mother of President John Quincy Adams. Elizabeth Smith Shaw (later married to Stephen Peabody), was mother of William Smith Shaw, who served as secretary to John Adams, and of Abigail Adams Shaw Felt, who married Joseph Barlow Felt, a minister (1821-1833) and antiquarian of Hamilton and Boston, Massachusetts. The last section of the collection originated with Felt’s nephew, Joseph Barlow Felt Osgood, a Salem attorney who served his town as councilman, state representative, state senator, mayor, and judge.
Although there are handwritten notations on some of the documents that indicate the papers remained in the family for a number of years, there is no record of the location of the papers from 1892, the last date in the collection, until 1947, the year they were acquired by the Library of Congress.
An important part of the collection is a series of letters from Abigail Adams beginning in 1784, when she went to Europe to join her husband in Holland, and ending in 1818, the year of her death. These letters are addressed to her sister Elizabeth and to her niece and nephew, Abigail Adams Shaw Felt and William Smith Shaw, and may be found in the files of those individuals. Related material, letters from Abigail Adams to her sister, Mary Smith Cranch, are owned by the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Mass.
In the Peabody and Shaw papers are letters and letter drafts from Elizabeth to her sisters Abigail and Mary and to her son William. These letters describe some of the activities of the Adams children and grandchildren who stayed with the Shaw family or attended school under the Reverend Peabody. John Quincy Adams also stayed with his aunt the year he was preparing for Harvard, and there are candid comments about the character and personality of the future president.
Although there is a small section of family correspondence in the Joseph Barlow Felt papers, most of the letters in this section relate to Felt’s professional activities. Felt was the author of more than a dozen books of New England history and records, with primary emphasis on colonial and ecclesiastical history of Massachusetts. None of his manuscripts, except for a few essay drafts, are included in the collection. There are, however, research notes and source materials for studies concerning Massachusetts towns, churches, and families. One section, the series of correspondence from May to November 1840, contains information from all of the states in the Union on past and current practices and laws regulating religious fasts and feasts, particularly Thanksgiving. Other papers discuss various aspects of ecclesiastical history, including theological trends such as antinomianism and Arminianism.
The Felt papers also include handwritten sermons that are dated 1822-1832. The earlier sermons were delivered in Sharon, and the later ones in Hamilton, Massachusetts, as well as in surrounding towns. Some of the sermons are incomplete or fragmented, but most of them are in good condition, and may were used several times in various churches. Also included in the Felt papers are records (1849-1852) of the New England Historic Genealogical Society; court records (1731-1733) of the case of Woburn, Mass. vs. Rev. John Fox; Salem town records (1636-1728); and a review of manuscripts (1622-1820) concerning American colonies in the London State Paper Office.
The Joseph Barlow Felt Osgood file is relatively brief and provides limited information on Osgood, his family, and the town of Salem.
This collection is arranged by type of material under a family member’s name and therein chronologically.
Available on microfilm. Shelf no. 16,453