Corban Society. Records, 1811-1850

Records, 1811-1850

RG 0721

1.5 linear feet

Processed October 1995 by archive staff.

Copyright: requests for permission to publish material from this collection should be discussed with the archivist or librarian.

• Historical Note
• Scope and Content
• Series Description / Container List
• Bibliographic Note
• Appendix A. Corban Society Officers and Membership
• Appendix B. Correspondence

Historical Note

Founded in 1811, the Corban Society was an all-female benevolent society that provided clothing and funds to local theological school students, most notably Andover Theological Seminary in Andover, Massachusetts. The birth of this society reflects the growth of charitable institutions in New England between the latter part of the 18th-century and the first part of the 19th-century: during this period, the number of Bible societies, missionary societies, Masonic lodges, orphanages and other charitable organizations in New England grew from approximately 50 to approximately 2000(1). These organizations were significant in women's history, since they allowed women to serve in management and leadership roles that were otherwise not permitted to them (2). It was argued during this period that women were "too frail, inexperience, and frivolous to manage the affairs of a charitable corporation"(3); other New Englanders believed that the very nature of women made them better suited to serve those in need (4). In any case, the Corban Society was one of many women's charitable organizations.

The 1811 founding officers were: Mary Bowers, president; Dorcas Homes, vice president; Elizabeth Haskins, secretary; Martha Colhoun, Mary Ingraham, Mary Perry, Susan Huntington, Sarah Parker, Elizabeth Devens, Lucy M. Ingalls and Mary Webb, assistants. The annual meeting was held the last Monday in September of each year. Please see Appendix A for a list of the members and officers for other years; please note that many of the women were active in the organization for a very long period of time. Also note that many of the members of the Graham Society were also members of the Corban Society.

The Corban Society was committed to the idea of supporting missionaries or missionaries in training. The organization believed that it was the member's duty to promote this work and to do so "by casting their money into...[the] treasury..." (1-IA-2). The Society accumulated funds from member's annual subscription fees of $2 per year, as well as donations from auxiliary groups and sewing circles (see scope and content note below). The subscription money, as well as donations from members and those outside of the organization, was invested in "permanent funds" (2-III-2).

In 1831 the Corban Society absorbed the Graham Society, another Boston, Massachusetts women's benevolent group. Despite this growth, however, the Corban Society's membership decreased by 1848 and the financial resources dwindled. "In depressed and...[straitened] circumstances our wants yearly increasing, while our means are constantly decreasing" (1-IA-2). In 1848 "...only after repeated efforts that a sufficient membership could be gathered together to transact the necessary business...the founders and early patrons have gone to their rest and reward and none have arisen to fill their places" (1-IA-2). Although the records indicate that the organization was disbanded in 1848, there is some correspondence dating to 1850.

Many of the women in the Corban Society were married to or related to founding members of the Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor. See Boston, Massachusetts. City Missionary Society (Boston Society for the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Poor. Records, 1820-1991) for biographical information on these men.

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Scope and Content Note

Series I consists of materials generated by the Board of Directors. Subseries A includes material that documents the history of the Society and includes the Board of Directors minutes from 1811-1848 and the Corban Society raison d'être, constitution, original membership list, minutes of meetings and reports of the Board of Directors from 1811-1848. The September 26, 1836 minutes (Series A, folder 2) contain a reading of a letter from Mr. Grout, a missionary in Eastern Africa, which the Society apparently assisted; the minutes were not carefully read, so it is unclear is there was other similar support. Minimize handling the material in folder 3, as it is extremely delicate.

Series 1 subseries B contains material from the Office of the Secretary. This includes the order of accounts, which provides: 1) an index to the Corban Society Secretary's Book Volume 1, and 2) an alphabetical index to members, as they are listed in the Corban Society Secretary's Book Volume 1. Subseries B also includes the aforementioned Corban Society Secretary's Book Volume 1, which provides the following information:

Series I subseries B also contains a single sheet with the minutes for the September 26, 1842 meeting, which was originally folded and tucked inside the previously mentioned volume.

Series I subseries C contains material from the Office of the Treasurer. The Corban Society Treasurer's Accounts Volume 1 contains the treasurer's records from 1811-1848 and the Treasurer's Receipts contains the 1812-1848 record of the amount received from subscribers of the Corban Society. This series also contains the Corban Society financial records, which also lists those assisted from 1838-1848. The President's Orders on the Treasury was a receipt book kept by the treasurer, in which she noted the president's orders on the treasury. It also contains the treasurer's reimbursements to the president from 1811-1819.

Folders 4-15 contain the actual treasurer's receipts. These were found stored loose in an acid free folder; originally some of these receipts were bundled together with paper "ties," fastened with a metal push pin. The pin was discarded and the tie and the bundle were attached with a plastic clip. Bundles were typically grouped by year, although if the bundle contained receipts from multiple years, they were left as they were found and filed in the earliest year noted in the bundled. All other loose receipts were arranged chronologically by year.

Series II contains printed matter related to the Corban Society. Subseries A contains ten copies of the constitution printed in 1824 as 3-3/4 x 5-3/4 inch pamphlets for the Society members; there are several examples of different types of marbled covers included. Subseries B contains eight copies of a form for members to fill in; the form is titled "You are requested to attend a meeting. Subseries C contains printed material that was included in Series I, Subseries A, folder 2. The three items are "order of exercises" for Phillips Academy in 1860. These items are described in further detail in the series description.

Series III contains correspondence to the Corban Society. The letters were originally folded up into rectangles and bundled together with string or ribbon. Several of the bundles were fairly loose and some of the correspondence appeared to be intermingled. There was not an obvious order to the bundles, so the string or ribbon was cut and the letters were placed in chronological order and separated by year. The original order of the bundles is documented in the collection file.

The majority of the correspondence is addressed to "Dear Ladies" or "Dear Members"; in some cases the officer's name is on the outside of the letter, although the contents is directed toward the entire membership. The majority of the correspondence is from students at Andover Theological Society thanking the Society for gifts or from Andover contacts recommending those in need. A small section of the letters are from members of other auxiliary groups or other "branches" of the Corban Society. Appendix B provides a list of the correspondents and the dates of their letters; if the letter was addressed to a particular person, this is also noted. There is also a fair amount of correspondence from Ralph Emerson, a professor of ecclesiastical history at Andover Theological School from 1829-1854 and second cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson (5), who often wrote the Society with lists of appropriate recipients.

If the correspondent was not positively identified, the name was placed in small brackets. A small section of the letters did not have dates and could not be dated; this correspondence was placed at the end of the series.

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Series Description / Container List

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Bibliographic Note

Conrad Edick Wright. Transformation of Charity in Postrevolutionary New England . (Boston, Mass.: Northeastern University Press, 1992), p.5.

See p. 270-276 for a listing of other primary sources relating charitable organizations in New England.
See p. 228-269 for a Census of Charitable Organizations.

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Appendix A -- Corban Society Officers and Members

Officers by year
Membership list

Please note that the records typically list "Mrs." and "Miss"; first names have been filled in from the membership list which follows. If there is more than one member with the same last name, the author did not attempt to fill in the first name. Officer lists are taken from the minutes of the annual September meeting (6), although the meeting does not specify these are newly elected officers. Please note that the minutes do not mention the election of assistants, although they are listed for each meeting. The assistants mentioned in the officer list are those assistants who attended the annual September meeting.

There are no minutes from 1849 onward.

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Appendix B -- Correspondence

The letters listed below were originally folded up into rectangles and bundled together with string or ribbon; they now comprise series III or correspondence to the Corban Society. Several of the bundles were fairly loose and some of the correspondence appeared to be intermingled. There was not an obvious order to the bundles, so the string or ribbon was cut and the letters were placed in chronological order and separated by year. The original order of the bundles is documented in the collection file.

The majority of the correspondence is addressed to "Dear Ladies" or "Dear Members"; in some cases the officer's name is on the outside of the letter, although the contents is directed toward the entire membership. The majority of the correspondence is from students at Andover Theological Society thanking the Society for gifts or from Andover contacts recommending those in need. A small section of the letters are from members of other auxiliary groups or other "branches" of the Corban Society. There is also a fair amount of correspondence from Ralph Emerson, a professor of ecclesiastical history at Andover Theological School from 1829-1854 and second cousin of Ralph Waldo Emerson (8), who often wrote the Society with lists of appropriate recipients.

If the correspondent was not positively identified, the name was placed in small brackets. It is assumed that Mrs. Bowers that many of the letters are addressed to is Mary Bowers, due to her extensive involvement in the Corban Society. A small section of the letters did not have dates and could not be dated; this correspondence was placed at the end of the series.

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Endnotes:

(1) Wright, Conrad Edick. Transformation of Charity in Postrevolutionary New England. (Boston, Mass.: Northeastern University Press, 1992), p.5.

(2) Ibid., p. 206.

(3) Ibid., p. 156.

(4) Ibid.

(5) Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College. Volume 4, September 1805-September 1815. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1912.

(6) It appears as if the Society did not have formal annual meetings after a certain point; if no September meeting is provided, officer lists are compiled from the meeting closest to September meeting.

(7) Dorcas Homes is specified as the first vice president of the Corban Society; up until 1819, "Mrs. Homes" is listed as the vice president. The processor is assuming this is Dorcas Homes until 1820, when Isabella Homes is listed as vice presdent.

(8) Dexter, Franklin Bowditch. Biographical Sketches of the Graduates of Yale College. Volume 4, September 1805-September 1815. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1912.

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