Brooke Family papers

Series 1: Day Books, 1852-1954 (9.25 linear feet)

This series includes diaries, journals, travel journals, mother's journals, camp logbooks, and a "chicken book." The bulk of the diaries document the lives of sisters Edith F. Brooke Green and Mary B. Brooke. The volumes Edith wrote earlier in her life reflect her daily activities on the farm, including farm chores, Quaker religious meetings, local social gatherings, and visits from relatives and friends. Edith's later diaries trace her transition from girlhood to being a doctor's wife and her experiences as a housewife and mother. She documents the everyday activities of cleaning, cooking, and raising her two children (one of whom, Meredith, died in 1910 at the age of nine). After the death of her husband, Edith spent time with friends in Washington, D.C., and at "Falling Green" with her sister. She stayed in touch with relatives, reminisced, and followed the life and career of her daughter.

Edith kept several mother's journals documenting her experiences and the early lives of her children, Meredith and Mary. These journals are of special note for the vivid, detailed account they give of Edith's feelings about motherhood. Edith's daughter, Mary, began writing her own diaries at the age of ten. Mary F. Green's entries reflect her experiences at school and summer camp as well as her reading progress in the Bible and girl's novels. In 1920, Mary composed translations of French stories in the back of a journal that originally belonged to Henry Brooke.

The early diaries of Mary B. Brooke provide a view of daily farm life that is similar to that of her sister, Edith. Mary's later volumes show an increasingly reflective mood as well as concerns over money, loneliness, dependence on others, ill health, and the deaths of relatives and friends. Travel journals kept by Mary document trips to Atlantic City, New Jersey, New York City, Washington, D.C., Harper's Ferry, and the 1893 and 1933 Chicago World's Fairs. Mary also recorded the gifts she gave and received in little notebooks.

In 1900, Mary kept a logbook for "Camp Pine Knot," which referred to a week of summer leisure that friends and cousins shared at "Falling Green." Her cousin, Alice V. Farquhar, composed a similar logbook for 1901.

The sisters' grandmother, Mary Brooke Briggs Brooke, penned thirteen diaries between 1864 and 1875, the year she died. Mary's diaries reflect her daily life at "Falling Green," including gardening, visiting family and friends, attending religious meetings, and following the activities of her grown children. This series also contains journals that belonged to her daughter, Eliza Brooke. Eliza kept short notes to document her daily farm chores and social activities. A "chicken book" kept by Elizabeth Brooke in 1893 and 1894 tracks the egg production of her hens.

Arrangement is alphabetical by day book author's name.

Series 2: Correspondence, 1815-1954 (2.25 linear feet)

This series consists of the correspondence that circulated among Brooke, Farquhar, and Green family members as well as their extended family networks. The surnames Briggs, Hallowell, Hopkins, and Stabler have been identified as related to various branches of the Brooke family. Four family trees, tracing Brooke, Farquhar, Hopkins, and Snowden-Thomas genealogies, appear as an appendix to this guide.

The bulk of the correspondence was written between 1820 and 1910. The nineteenth-century letters illuminate family ties and family events, such as births, marriages, and deaths. Frequent topics include farm and city life, social activities, Quaker religious concerns, courtship, and vacations and travel. The many letters sent between sisters or mothers and daughters reflect attention to women's household duties (sewing, quilting, dress making, baking, and cleaning), visiting, shopping, and farm chores. The letters written by and to children often include rhymes or amusing anecdotes.

The twentieth-century exchanges primarily take place between sisters Mary B. Brooke and Edith F. Brooke Green and their correspondents. Edith composed a number of letters concerning the study of astronomy and eclipses. The latest letter in the series is a circular penned by Roger Brooke Farquhar, Jr., following his 1953 trip to the Middle East with his second wife, Sarah. This travel account originally contained a number of photographs, now located in the photograph series.

Of particular note is the exchange between the Hopkins sisters of Baltimore and the Brooke sisters of Sandy Spring. Deborah, Elizabeth, and Sarah Hopkins sent news and gossip to their cousins, Mary M. Brooke and Sarah Brooke (Farquhar). This group of forty letters, all numbered, covers the period from March 1824 to December 1826. Letter 13 makes a reference to General Jackson and his new wife, Rachel; letter 20 comments on General Lafayette's last visit to Baltimore; and letter 22 features a brief account of a slave auction.

Arrangement is alphabetical by recipient and then alphabetical by sender. When a letter is addressed to more than one person, the letter is placed under the heading of the first recipient mentioned. When there is not a clear first recipient, then the letter is filed under the heading of the recipient with the most singly addressed correspondence from that sender. (A letter from Mary Pleasants Brooke to Sarah Brooke Farquhar and her husband Charles Farquhar, addressed "Dear Children," for example, can be found as "To Sarah Brooke Farquhar with Charles Farquhar - From Mary Pleasants Brooke." There is significantly more correspondence from Mary Pleasants Brooke to her daughter than to her son-in-law.) When letters include sections written by multiple senders, the letter is placed under the heading of the first sender. (A number of letters to Sarah Farquhar Brooke include sections from both her mother Mary Pleasants Brooke and her sister Mary M. Brooke. Letters begun by the mother are filed as "From Mary Pleasants Brooke with Mary M. Brooke," while letters begun by the sister are filed as "From Mary M. Brooke with Mary Pleasants Brooke.") Recipients with unidentified last names and completely unidentified recipients (in cases where the letter is simply addressed to "Cousin," for example) are at the end of the series.

Series 3: Manuscripts and Printed Materials, 1841-1954 (0.5 linear feet)

Schoolwork, scrapbooks, sketches, essays, poetry, printed materials, and ephemera comprise this series. An 1841 school textbook, The Scholar's Companion, belonged to Elizabeth Stabler. Memorabilia glued into and transcriptions of schoolgirl compositions written into a ledger book by Edith F. Brooke Green compose a scrapbook. A folder of the loose, original school essays Edith wrote is placed before the scrapbook; the essays may have originally been interleaved or placed at the front of the ledger. Edith also copied into the scrapbook an account of her trip to the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, with side trips to Indianapolis and Niagara Falls.

On January 1, 1894, the Brooke family hosted a reception for Sandy Spring residents who had visited the World's Fair. The group gathered at "Falling Green" to reminisce and to record their memories in a notebook. At the end of the World's Fair commemorative book, there is a list of visitors for Charles H. Brooke's eightieth birthday celebration at "Falling Green" on July 26, 1911.

Around 1885, Mary B. Brooke participated in the common social practice of keeping an autograph book to collect the signatures of friends and family. Handwritten poems in this series reflect the leisure writing of some Brooke family members and relatives.

This series also includes several humorous sketches of Brooke family members made by Benjamin Abraham. A Civil War soldier and family friend, Abraham may have courted Eliza Brooke.

Printed ephemera, including flyers, pamphlets, news clippings, and cards, were separated from diaries and correspondence. Arrangement is alphabetical by document type or title.

Series 4: Business and Legal Records, ca. 1748-1866 (17 items)

This series includes financial documents from the Brooke family. An account book, probably kept by Richard Brooke, documents business transactions made between 1821 and 1866. Many of the papers are account records of tobacco sales made by Roger Brooke IV.

Arrangement is alphabetical by document type.

Series 5: Oral Histories, 1972-1980 (2 items)

Richard Farquhar, the Brooke Family Papers' donor, recorded an oral history in 1977. He discussed his family's history and the history of Sandy Spring, Maryland, in addition to his experiences as postmaster of Ashton, Maryland. The other oral history transcript documents the reminiscences of Richard's brother, Roger Brooke Farquhar III, about similar topics, including his career as a journalist and editor of the Montgomery County Sentinel.

Arrangement is alphabetical by individual.

Series 6: Memorabilia, ca. 1900 (4 items)

The memorabilia items include bookmarks and samples of yarn that were originally tucked into Edith F. Brooke Green and Mary B. Brooke's diaries.

Arrangement is alphabetical by item type.

Series 7: Photographs, 1864-1953 (50 items)

The photographs feature Brooke family members and friends. A significant number of the photographs document Roger Brooke Farquhar, Jr.'s trip to the Middle East with his second wife, Sarah, in 1953.

The bulk of the photographs were originally filed with the Photograph Collection's Portrait Files in nine files under "Brooke Family," and they have assigned item numbers. The remaining four photographs are filed at the beginning of the series in the first folder. The photographs in this collection have been removed from their original locations among the paper documents. Each item's original location is listed after its description.

Arrangement is by item number.