III. Elizabeth Kirkpatrick VanderVeer

The 1.2 cubic feet of documents which make up the Gaston family papers consist mostly of holograph correspondence. The dates range from 1808 to 1960, although the bulk of the material dates from 1837 to 1946. The correspondence covers at least four generations of the Gaston family. However, not all family members are included in these papers to the same degree. The first group consists of the Hugh M. Gaston papers. These include his own correspondence, as well as letters to and from his brothers, and a letter to his father. These letters only span the years 1837 to 1847, with most of them dating from 1838 and 1839.

The next group consists of the Evelyn Gaston VanderVeer papers. These letters really form three distinct parts. There are letters from 1869-1882, from 1901-1906 (including Elizabeth VanderVeer's years at Vassar), and from 1918-1919 (Elizabeth's years with the Y.M.C.A.). Even within these sections the letters are uneven, with all three sections containing more letters from their later years than their earlier ones. This section also contains letters written by Evelyn VanderVeer, as well as printed picture postcards.

The third group contains the papers of Elizabeth VanderVeer. Her documents date almost exclusively from her Vassar years (1902-1906). The only exceptions are a 1907 recommendation, a 1919 American Expeditionary Forces Y.M.C.A. movement order, and a 1960 letter concerning her aunt, Dr. Mary E. Gaston.

The final group consists of the papers of Frances Mallet-Prevost Gaston, as well as those members of her family whose own papers were so few as not to warrant a separate group. This group includes letters received by Louis P. Gaston from 1889-1891, letters received by Frances P. Gaston between 1884 and 1914, and again from 1936 to 1946, and letters received by Dr. Mary E. Gaston between 1874 and 1906. Most of these sets of correspondence are small. The letterbooks in this group record two trips to Europe, one in 1894, and another in 1901. This group also contains several early letters, from the years 1808-1809, 1818, and 1821. The diary contained in this group is very short, and covers only two months, February and March of 1897.

The bulk of the correspondence found in this collection has to do with Frances Mallet-Prevost, Evelyn Gaston VanderVeer, and Elizabeth Kirkpatrick VanderVeer. There are very few letters written to, or received from, the men of the family, with only several exceptions. These are the H.M. Gaston group as a whole, the early letters to Frances Mallet-Prevost Gaston (from Hugh M. Gaston), and the 1881-1882 correspondence between Evelyn Gaston and Augustus VanderVeer.

There is almost no information on Hugh K. and Louis P. Gaston, who made significant contributions to Somerville.