Scope and Content Note
The papers of Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814) span the years 1772-1901 with the bulk of the documents concentrated between the years 1776 and 1814. The collection consists mainly of correspondence, but includes a few miscellaneous items, most of which relate to his mission to France in 1797-1798. Approximately two-thirds of the documents are photostatic and typewritten reproductions of original material held by others. Most of these are from the Gerry Estates Collection in New York, New York, comprising original and transcribed documents owned by members of the Gerry family. Some of the photostatic copies are faded and difficult to read.
The collection is illustrative of all phases of Gerry's public career, touching on his membership in the Massachusetts General Court and the Provincial Congress where he was active with the committees of correspondence and safety and chairman of the Committee of Supply, his service in the Continental Congress and in the United States House of Representatives, his governorship of Massachusetts, and his tenure as vice president. However, the largest segment of the correspondence centers around Gerry's mission to France. The collection contains correspondence and memoranda relating to these negotiations, two letterbooks which were apparently used interchangeably, two issues of Le Publiciste, May 6-7, 1798, and the safe conduct pass issued to Gerry, July 17, 1798. Later correspondence and papers also relate to Gerry's activities during the mission.
Reproductions for the period 1817-1836 are typewritten copies of originals in the Gerry Estates Collection transcribed for the biography of Gerry written by his son-in-law, James Trecothick Austin.
Correspondents in the Gerry Papers include John Adams, Samuel Adams, Sylvanus Bourne, Francis Dana, Clement Humphreys, Rufus King, James Madison, William Vans Murray, Samuel Allyne Otis, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, James Warren, Mercy Otis Warren, and John Wendell.
Documents added to the collection in 1996 consist largely of letters, including copies and drafts, written by Gerry between 1774 and 1814. They cover a wide variety of subjects including partisan politics, patronage appointments, commercial treaties, the War of 1812, and family matters. There are several communications from Gerry while governor to the Massachusetts legislature. The 1996 Addition also includes letters to Gerry from Francis Dana, James Lovell, James Sullivan, and James Warren as well as committee reports from the Continental Congress in 1779 and the Massachusetts General Court in 1780. The 2019 Addition is a letter, with transcript, dated February 4, 1791 from Gerry to his wife, Ann, discussing family matters and referencing the debate on the national bank proposed by Alexander Hamilton.