The papers in this collection primarily document the maternal side of Caroline Chamberlain's ancestry and are concentrated in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They include correspondence, diaries, sermons, and other materials.
The correspondence is mostly original and chiefly between family members. However it does include photostat copies of a letter from John Adams to William Custis, July 15, 1812, and a letter from his daughter, Abigail Adams Smith, to her cousin Elizabeth Cranch, 1788; a typed copy of a letter from William E. Channing to Jacob Norton, April 14, 1814, reacting to a theological manuscript by Norton; and a few photostat copies of certificates of appointment.
The diaries, some of which are available only on microfilm, were kept by various family members. Richard Greenleaf Norton kept one in 1849-1850 while sailing on the ship Reindeer from Boston to San Francisco and recorded in the back his expenses while prospecting for the next couple of years; some associated papers are also present. Jacob Porter Norton recorded in a diary his War of 1812 experiences in the 4th U.S. Army Regiment and subsequent events; also entered in this same volume is a copy of a genealogical essay written in 1820 by his uncle, jurist William Cranch. Several diaries by Elizabeth Cranch record her courtship by Jacob Norton, refer to her uncle John Adams and her cousin John Quincy Adams, and document the social, domestic, and intellectual life enjoyed by a well-bred educated Massachusetts woman of the period. One diary, 1826-1827, was kept by Elizabeth Cranch Norton (1802-), daughter of Jacob and Elizabeth Norton, while she was a school teacher at Hingham, Massachusetts.
The other papers in the collection from the maternal side of the family include several handwritten sermons by Jacob Norton, a printed Discourse by the Reverend Peter Whitney delivered at the burial of Judge Richard Cranch and his wife Mary; and a volume of music composed or copied by Elizabeth Smith, believed to be Mary's mother.
Items documenting the ancestry of Henry Cullen Adams consist of photostat copies of genealogy charts prepared by Howard P. Moore on the descendants of Henry Adams and Isaac Ward Adams, and a pocket-size account book of expenses of Benjamin F. Adams while a student at Hamilton College, 1841-1845.
The photographs include three images of Richard Greenleaf Norton: one daguerreotype, one carte-de-visite, and one tintype; and one daguerreotype of Jacob Porter Norton.
