Archival Donations

Winter 2007

The Society has recently had two very exciting donations of historic papers.  Thus we continue to grow our archival collection, and the need for a proper place in which to store these treasures (a need soon to be met) grows ever more important.

The Hoyt Family has given two trunks of very old papers belonging primarily to Capt. Samuel Delano of Duxbury.  Mr. Franklin Hoyt used the most interesting of these documents, one of Capt. Delano’s logs, to write a fascinating paper which he has read for many organizations.  The historical significance of the log is best summarized in Mr. Hoyt’s words, as quoted from his paper, “The Delano Sealing Expedition to the South Seas, 1803-1808:”

I have here beside me an old, dilapidated trunk covered with moth-eaten sealskin. It came into the hands of my father-in-law, Clifford Potter, when he found it in the attic of an old house in Duxbury that he purchased in 1910. It looked out onto Duxbury Bay and was at the end of a lane which they named Plumfield Lane because there was a field of beachplumbs around the house. Mr. Potter found that the trunk was filled with old faded letters, tattered account books, and several ship-captain's logs, belonging to Samuel Delano. I asked Gershom Bradford to look over the contents of the trunk to see if he thought there was anything in it that I might use in preparing an interesting paper. So one evening when he came to my house, I spread out the entire contents of the trunk on our dining room table for him to look over. It didn't take him long to spot this old ship's log. After examining it for a few minutes, he exclaimed, "Here is a wonderful source for your paper." It was a log, written in Captain Samuel Delano's own handwriting.

As I learned to read Samuel Delano's old script, I pieced together a most amazing voyage that the Delanos took to the South Seas, in vessels they built in their own shipyard in Duxbury. It was a sealing expedition that was filled with almost daily exciting adventures. This was one of the most interesting bits of research that I have ever undertaken, based in part on an original source nearly 200 years old that few people had ever before laid their eyes on.

The Delano papers represent the most significant archival donation the Society has received in many years, and we are most grateful to the Hoyt Family.  For those wishing more information about Capt. Delano’s fascinating travels, a copy of Mr. Hoyt’s pamphlet may be obtained at the Society’s office.

The second major archival donation came just a day after the donation of the Delano papers when Sarah Chase gave to the Society a wonderful collection of letters, photographs and two large portraits pertaining to the Drew and Smith families of Duxbury.  The most significant portion of the collection is several folders of very rare letters written by Captain Jonathan Smith to his wife Zilpha Drew Smith while at sea in the 1810s.  Also interesting are many letters belonging to the McLaughlins, a branch of Capt. Smith’s descendants, who lived in East Boston and Jamaica Plain.  Sarah Chase carefully consolidated these papers, saving them from destruction, and transferred them to the Society.  We are most grateful for all her efforts.

We hope that many others will follow the example of the Hoyt Family and Sarah Chase.  If you have papers relating to Duxbury’s history, please consider donating them to the Society.  Archival donations will receive the most professional of care in the new Drew Archival Library.  If you would like to contact the Society in this regard, please call Patrick Browne at 781-934-6106.#

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