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Pierce family collection

 Collection
Identifier: Coll. 2703

Scope and Content note

The collection includes original documents such as letters (including Civil War and WWII), diaries, photographs and negatives, newspaper clippings, certificates, a guest book, scrapbooks, account books, charts, court cases, as well as transcriptions of letters and diaries, and research materials. There are Houlton town records, as Leonard Pierce, Sr. was a Justice of the Peace, as well as being the postmaster. Some of the transcriptions are in electronic format.

Dates

  • Creation: 1741 - 2011

Creator

Access

Unrestricted

Copyright

Access to collections at Maine Historical Society is not an authorization to publish. Rights and reproduction requests may be submitted in writing to the MHS Image Services Coordinator or Research & Administrative Librarian, subject to format.

Biographical note

In this collection, Alice Mary Pierce (1925-2011) (AMP) traces both sides of her family, which came from Massachusetts and then to Houlton, Maine, where they purchased land originally granted to New Salem Academy. This is where Alice Mary's parents, Leonard Augustus Pierce and Anna Putnam Pierce, met. Later, in 1919, the Pierces moved to Portland, and Leonard Augustus Pierce became one of the founders of what is now Pierce Atwood, the prominent Portland law firm.

Specific family members include Alice Mary Pierce and her six siblings, Leonard Augustus, Jotham, Francis, Benjamin, Jane and Lucia; her parents Leonard Augustus Pierce and Anna Mitchell Putnam Pierce; her grandparents Clarence H. Pierce, Frances Madigan Pierce, Frank Lewis Putnam, Anna Jane (Jennie) Donnell Putnam; and great-grandparents Leonard Pierce, Elizabeth Kendall Pierce, James Cottrill Madigan, Mary Anna Whittier Madigan, Jotham Donnell, Maria E. Mitchell Donnell, Amos Putnam, and Christiana Wormwood Putnam. Other family names include Madigan, Whittier, Cottrill, Smith, Mitchell, and Hammatt. This was a family of prolific letter writers, including letters from Jotham Donnell (1814-1889) to his family that reflect his duties as surgeon in the 15th Maine during the Civil War; love letters during courtship and after marriage between Leonard Augustus Pierce and Anna Mitchell Putnam Pierce; letters to and from Leonard Pierce Jr. (1828-1872) the son of Leonard Pierce (1793-1873), who served as United States Consul at Matamoros, Mexico. There are also five boxes of legal documents, briefs, and summons spanning the legal career of Leonard Augustus Pierce, Sr. Esquire (1793-1873) of Houlton, Maine, who also served as postmaster and Justice of the Peace.

Alice Mary Pierce (1925-2011), the family historian and compiler of this collection, was born in Portland, attended Waynflete School (graduated 1942), and then Smith College, where she graduated with a history degree in 1946. She also attended Katharine Gibbs School in Boston (certified in 1947), and studied at the University of Maine in Portland in the summers (1964-1969) to obtain her teaching certificate. Alice Mary worked in the Displaced Persons Branch of the U.S. Army from 1947-1948, and for various other institutions as secretary such as Canal National Bank, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and National Shawmut Bank. After receiving her teaching certificate she taught at Waynflete School from 1964-1970. Her final position was as the Assistant Director for Administration at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, in the 1970s, before retiring to Maine.

Alice Mary was involved in many organizations, including the Maine Historical Society, where she served on the Library Committee from 2005 to 2007. She was given the Elizabeth Ring Award for volunteer service in 1998. An avid genealogist, Alice Mary Pierce was the family collector of photographs, letters, business records, and family treasures from her parents, grandparents and great grandparent's generations. She was methodical in her genealogical research and not only researched the people but also the communities and times within which the people lived.

Extent

37 Linear Feet (78 boxes + 1 oversize)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

  • 1. Family papers (Box 1-64)
  • 2. Genealogical research (Box 65-80)
  • 3. Oversized materials (Box 81)

Arrangement note

Due to a rehousing in 2019, the following box numbers are absent from the collection: 5, 12, and 23.

Provenance

Gift of the estate of Alice Mary Pierce, via her niece Lucia Kittredge, the Personal Representative for the Estate of Alice Mary Pierce, July 27, 2012 (acc. no. 2013.061).

In museum

  • .001 Jotham Donnell's Civil War uniform coat, circa 1862
  • .002 "Drawing Book," Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, circa 1872
  • .003 Portfolio with 15 loose sketches of various sizes, Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, circa 1872
  • .004 Sketch on yellow paper, "Old Honey in the rocking chair," not signed, but possibly Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, n.d.
  • .005 Painting on academy board of geraniums, not signed, but possibly Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, n.d.
  • .006 Painting on academy board of a building near a stream with geese, not signed, but possibly Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, n.d.
  • .007 Painting on academy board of a building near a stream with boat, not signed, but possibly Anna Jane "Jennie" Donnell Putnam, n.d.
  • .008 Jotham Donnell's Civil War uniform vest, circa 1862
  • Sons in Service flag (flag used in WWII to indicate how many sons were serving – this flag has three stars, probably representing Leonard, Jotham, and Benjamin)

Processing note

There was very little original order to the collection, so order was created by the project archivist. The collection begins with Alice Mary Pierce, the compiler, and then goes back through the generations (her parents, grandparents, etc.). In the case of the letters, one should look in various places. Mostly the letters to and from are in the boxes pertaining to the subject, but it’s worth a glance at the entire collection (or doing a keyword search in the electronic document) to find all the letters or items pertaining to certain individuals. Within each person’s box the items are often arranged chronologically, with some exceptions where types of materials, such as letter or photographs are separated out.

In 2019, due to space issues, some of the folders were rehoused, and boxes condensed, which resulted in some of the box numbers being omitted.

There may be some duplication of Alice Mary Pierce's transcriptions – the archivists did their best to match up transcriptions with the original letters. Some newspaper clippings need to be photocopied at some point.

Series II, the genealogical research, could be further processed at some point. Many of these documents, created by Alice Mary Pierce, were originally in notebooks, and there is some duplication.

Some of the papers (documents created by Alice Mary Pierce) are on discs (CD and DVD) – see source file.

Related Names

Subject

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Guide to the Pierce family collection
Status
Completed
Author
Nancy Noble, MHS Archivist, and Jane Cullen, MHS volunteer, October 2012 - February 2015
Date
October 2025
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Maine Historical Society Repository

https://www.mainehistory.org
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