HISTORICAL NOTE

The Gray Farm Collection consists of papers founding the house at 232 Salem Street, Andover, which was built in 1812 by David Gray. Most papers were generated by members of the Gray family, but there are also papers of unrelated individuals.

The collection is related to the Taft Collection in that it includes papers which would have been part of the collection of the Gray family papers originals, but were donated to the Andover Historical Society at a later date, by Rev. F. C. Taft.

For more extensive historical background, see Taft Collection (Ms S 134).

SCOPE AND CONTENT

In effect, the papers in this collection are part of the entire Gray family papers. The papers were given to the Society in 1984 (Accession Number 1984.78.1) the third in a series of gifts from Rev. Taft. These papers are the personal papers of the Gray family, whereas the Taft collection consists mainly of ledgers, daybooks, etc. The Gray Farm Collection rounds out the earlier donation (Accession number 1979.39 and 1982.34) and should be used in conjunction with the earlier collections.

As in the Taft Collection, the Gray family material is the most extensive. Again, it is divided by family member.

It appears that this collection also contains some loose papers gathered by Rev. F.C. Taft during his research of the family and preliminary organization of the papers.

The first material is secondary papers from other collections, copies of biographical data of Robert Gray, typescript notes of Charlotte Helen Abbott, (already on file in the Abbott Collection), various pieces of correspondence on the Grays, and several unrelated items, sucha s a letter from Caroline P. Rogers, 19 May, 1959, inquiring of Rev. Taft into possible donation of iron-monger’s cottage for the North Andover Historical Society.

Processed by Susan E. Keats, March 1986.