Guide to the Manchester Family Papers
Open for research.
Herbert Alonzo Manchester was born in Hartland, NY in 1859. He graduated from Auburn Theological Seminary in 1890 and married Grace Dennison Smith of Syracuse. He spent one year as pastor of the Danforth Congregational Church in Syracuse, and in 1900 accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of East Boston. In 1914 the Manchesters went to Brazil under the auspices of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Herbert Manchester became pastor of the Union Congregational Church in Rio de Janeiro, and Grace Manchester established the first English-language religion classes for children in the city. Later, she was instrumental in the founding of the first English-language school. Due to her ill health, the Manchesters returned to the United States in 1916; Herbert Manchester became secretary of the Massachusetts Bible Society. Grace Manchester died in 1917.
This collection consists largely of correspondence; Herbert Manchester's letters to his fiancee written during a trip in 1889; Grace Smith's letters home from Germany, where she spent the year of 1887 studying; and condolence correspondence to Herbert Manchester on the death of his wife. The collection also includes a few official documents relating to Herbert Manchester's calls and appointments.
Collection processed and finding aid prepared: January 1993
Stephanie Muntone, Processing Archivist
| Box | Folder | Description | |
| 1 | 1 | Finding Aid to Record Group 354 | |
| 1 | 2-4 | Grace Smith Correspondence from Europe, 1887 | |
| 1 | 5 | Herbert Manchester Correspondence--To Grace Smith, 1889 | |
| 1 | 6 | Incoming, 1904-1916 | |
| 1 | 7 | Condolences, 1917 | |
| 1 | 8 | Auburn Seminary Attendance Record, 1889-90 | |
| 1 | 8 | Board of Home Missions Agreements, 1888-89 | |
| 1 | 8 | Call to Danforth Congregational Church, 1890 | |
| 1 | 8 | American Home Missionary Society Commission, 1890-91 | |
| 1 | 8 | Memorial Materials on Grace Manchester, 1917 |