Welcome to the online catalog of the Saltonstall family papers at the Massachusetts Historical Society. This catalog describes letters and other papers of the Saltonstall family of Massachusetts, as well as the Sanders, Leverett, Cooke, and other related families, from 1603 to 1880. Represented in the catalog are Leverett Saltonstall (1783-1845), Mary Elizabeth (Sanders) Saltonstall, Leverett Saltonstall, Jr. (1825-1895), and many others. Also included are financial, legal, estate, and other papers related to the family.

All of the papers listed in the catalog are part of the Saltonstall family papers (Ms. N-2232) at the MHS, though the collection also contains material that is not included in this catalog. For a complete description of the Saltonstall family papers, as well as biographical information about members of the Saltonstall family, see the collection guide.

Each of the approximately 3,000 records in this catalog contains information on the author, recipient, and date of an individual document, as well as where that document has been printed by the MHS and its former location (the collection was originally arranged in volumes and folios that have since been disbound). Some records also contain item descriptions, select subjects, or links to related records. While the catalog does not include the text of the original documents, a small number of select items from this collection have been digitized, transcribed, and made available for viewing at the MHS website: Highlights from the Saltonstall Family Collections.

Click on the tabs to search by name and/or date, perform an advanced search, or go directly to a specific record using its unique ID number. To search subject descriptions by keyword, use the Advanced Search tab.

This catalog was built from a paper slip file created almost 40 years ago when documentary editions of the Saltonstall family papers were first being published by the MHS. The digital conversion was funded by a grant from the Richard Saltonstall Charitable Foundation and individual contributors to the William L. Saltonstall Memorial Fund.

For questions about this catalog or the Saltonstall family papers, contact the MHS library at library@masshist.org.