Merwin House collection

Description

The Merwin House collection (MS041) contains material which reflects the personal and social lives of the Doane, Merwin, and Wilson families who inhabited the Merwin House in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The majority of the collection is comprised of genealogical material focused on Marie Vipont deRiviere (Doane) Merwin (1878-1965) and her family line. The collection is arranged in three series.

Background:
In 1966, Historic New England acquired the Merwin House in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, through the bequest of Marie Vipont deRiviere (Doane) Merwin (1878-1965). The papers within the house at the time of acquisition formed the bases of the collection: Merwin House collection (now MS041).

Update: 2013-2014
In 2013-2014, through a National Historical Publications and Records Commission grant (Award Number: NAR13-RH-50051-13: "Family Manuscript Collections: Expanding Online Access to New England Heritage Project"), twenty-six Historic New England manuscript collections of family papers were re-evaluated and processed/reprocessed to meet current archival standards and "best practices;" corresponding finding aids were created/updated to be DACS-compliant and converted into electronic Microsoft Word document form; and the finding aids were made accessible/searchable online through the use of the Minisis M2A archival database of the Minisis Collections Management System. The Merwin House collection (MS041) was part of the grant project.

Prior to the 2013-2014 collection processing, the Merwin manuscript collection (now MS041) was comprised of two legal-size file boxes (approx. 0.83linear ft.): one box contained journals and notebooks and one box contained a collection of letters, clippings, and other documents. During processing, the collection was arranged according to record type; folder titles were created; and brief research was done to create a biographical/ historical sketch and genealogy. Preservation issues were identified and basic preservation methods were applied, as applicable; papers throughout the collection were removed from envelopes (if applicable), unfolded, flattened, and related pages were noted with corresponding information in brackets ([x-1/3], [x-2/3], [x-3/3]; and oversize material was rehoused appropriately (or materials were interleafed within file boxes), as applicable. The collection was rehoused (in acid-free folders and boxes), numbered, labeled, barcoded, and stored accordingly; subsequent accessions were tracked and noted with their corresponding items; and related collections held by Historic New England and other repositories were researched and noted. A DACS-compliant, electronic 2010-2013 Microsoft Word document finding aid was created (with corresponding paper finding aid) and entered into the collection record in the Minisis M2A online database.

NOTE: Processing/updating the collection and making the finding aid accessible online were made possible through grants from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (Award Number: NAR13-RH-50051-13), the Bedford Family Foundation, and an anonymous donor.