Scope and arrangement
The papers include correspondence, diaries, notebooks, scrapbooks of memorabilia, photographs, and printed matter belonging to members of the Bigelow family.
The papers of Grace Bigelow consist of letters (1867-1932) to family and friends; diaries (1865-1932); school notebooks; and financial papers. The papers reflect family and social life, relationships with brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews; her education at The Friends School, Providence, R.I.; travels in Europe; social life in Germany (1873-74); her romance with a Russian officer; and the management of her Father's affairs. Correspondents include John Bigelow, Jr., Poultney Bigelow, Jenny Bigelow (Tracy), Annie Bigelow (Harding), Flora Bigelow (Dodge/Guest), Jane Poultney Bigelow, Lucy Bigelow Dodge, Louisa Cox Benedict, Walter von Etzel, Macintosh Kellogg, and Robert Porter Keep.
The papers of Jane Poultney Bigelow predominantly contain correspondence with prominent persons, including William Cullen Bryant, Roscoe Conkling, Wilkie Collins, Preston King, and others; and correspondence (1840s-1860s) with her mother, Jane Poultney of Baltimore. Her diary (1873-74) and scrapbooks reflect European travels and social life.
The papers of Annie Bigelow Harding include correspondence with her father, mother, and other family members and friends; a diary (1908-20); and her recollections of her father.
The Charlotte Kenner Harding papers consist of letters (c.1898-1950s) from family and friends including her mother, John Bigelow, and her uncles John and Poultney Bigelow, Anne Tracy Eristoff, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, and Bryan Conrad. Her journals, which include photographs and memorabilia, reflect the childhood and early womanhood of a lady of fashionable society in New York. Scrapbooks contain postcards of places visited in Europe, clippings, and photographs. Additionally, there is a small quantity of financial material, and school notebooks kept at Miss Chapin's School for Girls.
John Bigelow's papers include correspondence with family and others, typed transcript copies of his diaries (1843-1911), financial and legal papers, and printed matter containing his published writings and speeches.
Also present in the collection are guide books, photographs, artifacts and miscellaneous papers of various Bigelow family members.
The Bigelow family papers are arranged in six series: