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Mary Gorham Paine (b. 1843) of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, was married to Eben W. Paine (1835-1904) of Brewster, Massachusetts, a merchant ship captain in the trade between Boston and Zanzibar. They had one son, Allan Thatcher Paine (b. 1882). The collection consists of a single diary kept by Mary Gorham Paine as she traveled twice by ship from Boston to islands near Madagascar. Forty-six manuscript pages provide both a day-by-day account of her trip aboard the Sarah Hobart to Nossi-Be (present day Nosy Be) from December 25, 1879 to May 4, 1880, and a three-page, mid-journey synopsis of the passage with her young son to Reunion Island, begun on December 13, 1883. As is made clear by the text, the intent of both voyages was to join her husband who was probably located in Zanzibar at the time. Newspaper clippings chiefly concerned with literary topics, news and issues relating to Africa, and obituaries for her husband and others are pasted into 18 pages following the narrative portion of the diary together with a photograph of a man and another of a baby, most likely her husband and son. The diary as a whole provides some insight into the life of a sea captain's wife and a description of long-distance ocean travel aboard a barque such as the Sarah Hobart.

ALS. Letters from family friend Benjamin Waterhouse, W. Hiller, and brother Jackson Prescott give news of family and friends, inquire after the health of her father, Oliver Prescott (1731-1804), and touch upon the question of household finances. There is also a letter from Oliver Prescott to John T. Little regarding the estate of a George Pierce, whose financial affairs involve Judge Jackson Prescott.

ALS. Informs addressee that she is obliged to decline both the topics and manner of correspondence suggested.

Mary Rudge was a peace activist and poet. Collection comprises an unpublished typescript Share the Seed: A Farmworkers Anthology, containing a compilation of voices of the Farmworkers Movement, edited by Mary Rudge, dated 1979. There are at least one hundred items, including narratives and interviews, poems, songs, documents, sketches, and photocopied photographs, focusing on farmworkers in California, as well as elsewhere in the United States. The text features corrections and emendations. Signed by Rudge at the end of her foreword to the volume. Velobound in brown vinyl covers. Several pages missed the binding and are thus laid in. Also laid in are several ephemeral pieces from the farmworkers movement.

ALS. Informs Miss Butler of a slight change in travel plans due to a headache suffered by Mrs. Cogswell and relays Mrs. Cogswell's instruction to write and let them know how "Catherine and the rest are."

Circular letter, signed, soliciting contributions for the proposed institution from all towns within the Commonwealth. This examplar is addressed to the town of Leicester and signed by Thomas H. Perkins, Daniel Sargent, Joseph May, Josiah Quincy, Tristram Barnard and Richard Sullivan.

2 letters (ALS), 1 holograph note, and 2 clippings. Includes a prescription "for Dewar Esqr." and a note to "Richard Reeves Esq."

Mathew Thompson, a farmer in Fleming County, Kentucky with relatives in Greenville, Virginia. Letter from Matthew Thomson in Fleming County, Kentucky, dated August 24, 1835, to a relative John S. Thomson in Greenville, Virginia. Thomson relays news of his Aunt Rebecca's death and the health of other family members, comments on his crops and prices, and advises young men to marry at age 21 and have male children immediately to assist with farm work.

ALS. Letters of recommendation for a M. Tinville and a M. Gatteaux. The second letter is addressed to the Comte de Rambuteau and is co-signed by M. Cordier and M. Lavoint.