Brewster Papers – MS064
Provenance: Donated by the Rev. Charles Tredick Brewster in 1992. The papers has descended through the Brewster family to the donor.
Citation: Brewster Papers (MS064), Manuscript Collections, Portsmouth Athenaeum
Size: 1.5 Hollinger Boxes (9 linear inches)
Access: No restrictions
Processed by: Finding aid revised by Susan Stowe Kindstedt in 2009
Scope and Content
The collection is mainly related to the writing career of Edith Gilman Brewster. The second part of the collection includes materials related to Lewis W Brewster’s involvement with the North Church. Included in the North Church materials are chapel talks which Lewis delivered at the church between 1901 and 1914.
Biographical Notes
Edith Gilman Brewster (1873-1960) was the daughter of Charles Gilman Brewster (1832-1880) of Portsmouth, NH and Mary Anne Hill of Bangor, Maine. Edith was born in 1873. She spent her early childhood in Boston. In 1880 her father was killed in a collision of the steamboat “Narragansett” on Long Island Sound. Following his death, Edith moved to Portsmouth with her mother and two siblings. They lived in the home of her paternal grandfather, Charles Warren Brewster (editor of the Portsmouth Journal and author of Rambles About Portsmouth), on Islington Street. Edith was well known locally as a writer, children’s storyteller and a volunteer at the Neighborhood House in Dover. She died in Portsmouth in 1960.
Lewis Waterbury Brewster (1830-1915) was the uncle of Edith Gilman Brewster. He married Annie Greene of Seabrook, NH. He succeeded his father, Charles Warren Brewster, as publisher and editor of the Portsmouth Journal, and also served in the NH State Legislature. He was a member of the North Church, where the Friday evening “Chapel Talks” in the collection were delivered between 1901 and 1914.
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1 Undated Edith G. Brewster to “Batty Boo” funny story about a marriage proposal
Folder 2 1908-1953 Notebook listing stories and poems written, publishers solicited, whether the work was published, and how much was paid
Folder 3 1908-1917 Notebook with verses
Folder 4 1917-1926 & 1905-1917 Notebook listing stories told
Folder 5 1955-1958 Story hour notebook from Newington Public Library
Folder 6 1926-1942 Dover Neighborhood Association – Notes and clippings on volunteer work
Folder 7 Illustrations by Josephine Bruce of “Some 300 yrs ago”
Folder 8 Miscellaneous Notes
Folder 9 Miscellaneous Stories
Folder 10 Miscellaneous Poems
Folder 11 Miscellaneous Stories including “Bridging the Gap”
Folder 12 Miscellaneous Printed Stories and Poems
Box 2
Folder 1 1901-1906 Lewis W Brewster, Chapel Notebooks 1 and 2
Folder 2 1906-1911 Lewis W Brewster, Chapel Notebooks 3 and 4
Folder 3 1911-1914 Lewis W Brewster, Chapel Notebook 5