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Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers

Call Number

1995.002

Date

1818-1954, inclusive

Creator

Stabler, Louisa M. (Louisa Merritt)

Extent

3 Linear Feet in three record cartons.

Language of Materials

English .

Abstract

Louisa Merritt Field Stabler (1826-1914) lived with her husband and children in Brooklyn Heights at 135 Willow Street. The Stablers' children included a daughter, Louise Merritt (1868-1954), and a son, Edward. Louise Merritt Stabler was a member of the first graduating class of Barnard College in 1893. She later became active in the suffrage movement, and was married to zoologist George Howard Parker (1864-1955), a professor at Harvard College. The Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers chiefly consist of personal correspondence from Louisa Merritt Field Stabler to her daughter, Louise Merritt Stabler Parker. Some correspondence is also between various members of the Stabler and Parker families. The collection also includes notebooks, a copy of Louisa Merritt Field Stabler's will, various newspaper clippings, and ephemera.

Biographical Note

Louisa Merritt Field Stabler (1826-1914) lived with her husband and children in Brooklyn Heights at 135 Willow Street. Her husband, Edward Hartshorne Stabler (1813-1877), was a drug broker with an office at 44 Cedar Street in New York City. His commercial specialty was opium, at that time an import from Asia. He was originally from Baltimore and after his move to Brooklyn, his business never recovered. The Stablers' children included a daughter, Louise Merritt (1868-1954), and a son, Edward. The Stablers were Quakers with strong ties to the Brooklyn Meeting House and Mission, the Young Friends Society, and the Friends Seminary. The Stabler family was also highly involved with education on all levels, from local kindergartens to universities. The family had connections to Columbia College, and contributed financial support to the establishment of Barnard College, at the time one of the few institutions in the country to offer a college education to women.

The Stablers' daughter, Louise Merritt Stabler, graduated from Brooklyn Heights Seminary in 1886 and taught there before attending Barnard College. She was a member of the first graduating class of Barnard College in 1893. She later became active in the suffrage movement, and was involved with the League of Women Voters and the American Civil Liberties Union. In 1894, she married zoologist George Howard Parker (1864-1955), a professor at Harvard College and a member of the American Physiological Society. The Parkers lived in North Cambridge, MA at 6 Avon Place.

Scope and Contents

The Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers span the period 1818 to 1954 and consist of three linear feet of material, the majority of which is made up of correspondence between Louisa Merritt Field Stabler and her daughter, Louise Merritt Stabler Parker. There is also a considerable amount of correspondence amongst other members of the Stabler and Parker families, though a notable amount comes from Louise Parker's great aunt Hannah of Pine Cottage, the original Field family homestead in Port Chester, Westchester County. The collection also contains notebooks, a copy of Louisa Stabler's will, various newspaper clippings, and ephemera. To facilitate better access to the materials, the collections has been divided into three series:

Missing Title

  1. Correspondence from Louise Stabler to Louisa Parker, 1886-1914
  2. Additional correspondence of Louisa Stabler, 1833-1914
  3. Correspondence of the Stabler and Parker families, 1818-1954

Conditions Governing Access

Open to researchers without restriction.

Preferred Citation

Identification of item, date (if known); Louisa Merritt Field Stabler family papers, 1995.002, Box and Folder number; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift of Margaret B. Morse, 1995.

Related Materials

Louise Merritt Stabler Parker's wedding gown is housed in the Museum of American Textile History in North Andover, Massachusetts.

Letters from George Howard Parker to his wife, Louise Merritt Stabler Parker, are contained in the Papers of George H. Parker, 1881-1956, housed at the Harvard University Archives.

An account of George Howard Parker's courtship of his wife, Louise Merritt Stabler Parker, can be found in Chapter 15 of his autobiography, The World Expands: Reflections of a Zoologist (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1946).

Other Finding Aids

An earlier version of this finding aid, containing a detailed folder listing, is available in paper form at the Othmer Library. Please consult library staff for more information.

Collection processed by

Jillian Cuellar and Marilyn H. Pettit

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 11:16:46 +0000.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English.

Processing Information

Minimally processed to the series level.

Note Statement

change to complete_series_level

Repository

Brooklyn Historical Society

Container

carton: ARC.071 3 of 3 (Material Type: Text)
carton: ARC.071 1 of 3 (Material Type: Text)
carton: ARC.071 2 of 3 (Material Type: Text)
Center for Brooklyn History
128 Pierrepont Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201