The Hale family was mainly centered in Boston, Massachusetts where they were significant figures in the city's political affairs and publishing world, especially during the first few decades of the nineteenth century. At the same time, several family members were noted clergymen, social reformers, and recognized artists. The Reverend Enoch Hale (1753-1837), brother of the American patriot Nathan Hale, served for more than five decades as a Congregational minister in rural Westhampton, Massachusetts. His son, editor and entrepreneur Nathan Hale (1784-1863) moved to Boston in 1808. In addition to his interest in the Boston and Worcester Railroad, Nathan and his wife, author and columnist Sarah Preston Everett Hale (1796-1866), published the Boston Daily Advertiser.

The Hale Family Papers contain 61 linear feet and document four generations of Hales and their Everett, Westcott, Gilman, Hooker, Stowe, Perkins, and Beecher relatives. While the collection covers the years from 1787 to 1988, the bulk of it spans 1810 to 1963. Types of material in this collection include diaries, correspondence, speeches, writings, artwork (including children's writings and artwork), scrapbooks, photographs, memorabilia, artifacts, and books. Topics include nineteenth century American popular culture; travel in Europe, Egypt, Palestine, Mexico, Jamaica, and the U.S.; artists, literary figures, intellectuals and social reformers in New England; plus many others.

Materials related to the activities of Nathan Hale (1784-1863), and his sons, Charles and Edward Everett Hale, document the social, political, and cultural life of nineteenth century Boston, Massachusetts. Materials of Susan Hale, Ellen Day Hale, and Philip and Lilian Hale document Boston's art world, the education of American artists in Europe from the 1870s to 1890s, and summer art colonies along the coast of New England. Included are photographs of their artwork as well as a few original pieces by Hales and some of their friends, and records of exhibitions and commissions. Notable correspondents include Louisa May Alcott, Alexander Graham Bell, Gabrielle De Vaux Clements, Frederick Edwin Church, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Julia Ward Howe, William Morris Hunt, Sarah Orne Jewett, Frederick Law Olmsted, May Sarton, Lucy Stone, Annie M. Sullivan, Elizabeth Cleghorn Stevenson Gaskell, Booker T. Washington, and Daniel Webster.

Finding aid to the Hale Family Papers