The Pemberton Papers

            Katherine Ann Pemberton (née Tennent) was born into an old, Puritan family of New England in 1872.  The Tennents settled in Connecticut in 1658 and was one of the families that transferred to the New World from the Old in that wave of pioneers known as the “Great Puritan Migration” of the mid seventeenth century.  The Tennent family was one with a great social conscience, and several members of this family were active in various social reform and political movements in American history, beginning with the Abolitionist movement during this country’s ante-bellum years, later joining in the temperance, women’s suffrage, and progressive movements later that century.  One of Katherine’s ancestors even attended the famed Seneca Falls Convention that initiated the women’s rights movement in 1849.  However, by the 1930s when these movements had achieved their goals, the reform spirit, so characteristic of this family, deteriorated to the extent that by the 1960s, when a new wave of social causes had emerged, the Pemberton spirit of reform had faded into disinterest.  Katherine Ann Tennent Pemberton, however, was very much a part of the reform movements of her day, including child labor legislation, the Populist political movement, the peace movement before American entry into “The Great War,” and especially the temperance and women’s suffrage movements.  Katherine Pemberton, who married a man as dedicated to social reform as herself, was determined that the society in which she lived would one day be sober, and where women would have a leading role.  In fact, she was so intent on her mission, that she was willing to resort to a modus operendi that was much more radical than those of her peers and would have led to her arrest, had they become publicly known.  Fortunately for her, her methods remained a secret and she and her movement achieved their goals “with no one the wiser.” 

The papers of Katherine Pemberton (a multi-volume diary spanning from 1889 to her death in 1934, papers concerning her membership and activities in the various organizations to which she belonged, scrapbooks, and photographs) were piled in a large steamer trunk, remaining untouched in the attic of the Pemberton family residence in Pawcatuck, Connecticut until 1996.  It was in that year that one of Katherine Pemberton’s descendants, a great granddaughter, discovered them.   Thinking that they might have some historical value, she donated this collection to the Southwick Historical Society—with no restrictions on access.

            This donation took place at the Southwick Historical Society at about 11:20 a.m., on April 23, 1996.  Glad to receive this collection, Jim Cameron, the SHS archivist, filled out a Deed-of-Gift form and prepared it for Kathy Smith’s signature.  Before long, Cameron began the process of arrangement and description for this collection of 4.4 cubic feet, completing the process in December of that year.  The result was a finely arranged collection, organized into two series (and a total of twelve subseries), stored in acid-free folders, which in turn were stored in ten gray, five-inch wide, acid-free, legal-size document cases, purchased from the Hollinger Corporation.  The box labels were carefully typed on white cards, inserted in clear plastic card-holders, affixed on each box.  The researcher’s guide to the Pemberton Papers (Collection 58) specified in clear, crisp Times New Roman type font, the collection name and number, the person who generated the papers, the inclusive dates, the collection’s scope and content, copyright information, access notes (copyright had been ceded from Kathy Smith to the SHS at the time of the donation), and finally, the collection’s contents list.

            Five years later, the previously mentioned elements of the information concerning this collection and its contents (as well as for many other historical collections) were made available on the new SHS web site for all to see.  The format for collection accessibility is known as EAD—Encoded Archival Description—and is the standard technique for placing collection guides on web sites.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: