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Sergeant family papers

 Collection
Call Number: MS 806

Scope and Contents

Correspondence and other papers of several members of the Sergeant family of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Major correspondents include George Sergeant (1822-), of Northampton, Massachusetts; his sister, Catharine Sedgwick Sergeant De Forest, married to Dr. Henry A. De Forest; and his daughter, Catharine De Forest Sergeant (1848-). The collection contains correspondence on female education in Syria and education of women in the United States. Later letters, mainly in the 1870s, describe the experiences of women as students and as teachers in Princeton, New Jersey, Chicago, West Haven, Connecticut and elsewhere.

Dates

  • 1751 - 1953

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

The materials are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright status for collection materials is unknown, though much of the material in this collection is likely in the public domain. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.C.) beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owners. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of the estate of Katharine S. White, 1977-1978.

Arrangement

The material is arranged as received from the donor.

Extent

5.92 Linear Feet (6 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Catalog Record

A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/mssa.ms.0806

Abstract

Correspondence and other papers of several members of the Sergeant family of Massachusetts and Connecticut. Major correspondents include George Sergeant (1822-), of Northampton, Massachusetts; his sister, Catharine Sedgwick Sergeant De Forest, married to Dr. Henry A. De Forest; and his daughter, Catharine De Forest Sergeant (1848-). The collection contains correspondence on female education in Syria and education of women in the United States. Later letters, mainly in the 1870s, describe the experiences of women as students and as teachers in Princeton, New Jersey, Chicago, West Haven, Connecticut and elsewhere. Also includes family photographs and daguerreotypes.

Biographical / Historical

George Sergeant was a resident of Northampton, Massachusetts and Seymour, Connecticut.

Catharine Sedgwick Sergeant De Forest (approximately 1817-1896), sister of George Sergeant, was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She was a descendent of John Sergeant (1710-1749, Yale 1729), a missionary to Native Americans in western Massachusetts who established a boarding school for Native American children in Stockbridge. De Forest and her husband, Henry De Forest (Yale 1832, MD 1835), established and administered the first school for girls in Syria in the 1840s and early 1850s, where Henry De Forest was stationed as a medical missionary. John W. De Forest, author, also spent several years at the school in Syria.

Processing Information

The materials were arranged by the donor. Manuscripts and Archives created the collection level description and did minimal level description in the 1970s or 1980s. In 2018, staff of Manuscripts and Archives augmented the description of the collection and the description of the files.

Title
Guide to the Sergeant Family Papers
Status
Completed
Author
compiled by C. Anthony Myrans and staff of Manuscripts and Archives
Date
April 2018
Description rules
Finding Aid Created In Accordance With Manuscripts And Archives Processing Manual
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository

Contact:
Yale University Library
P.O. Box 208240
New Haven CT 06520-8240 US
(203) 432-1735
(203) 432-7441 (Fax)

Location

Sterling Memorial Library
Room 147
120 High Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Opening Hours