Coffin Family Correspondence

Collection

Identifier: SpC MS 1329

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The collection consists of correspondence to various members of the Coffin family. The largest number of letters are to Clara B. Coffin and date from 1928 to 1955; most are from various family members especially her daughters and her son Millard. The collection also includes letters to Clarine Coffin from 1925 to 1936 as well as letters from Clarine to John R. Gehring, 1931-1934. A few letters to Millard F. Coffin, Sr., H. Bartlett Coffin, Lloyd Coffin, and Millard Coffin, Jr. are also found in the collection.

Dates

1924-1943

Restrictions on Access

Kept at Fogler Library's offsite storage facility. One week's notice required for retrieval.

Terms Governing Use and Reproduction

Information on literary rights available in the repository.

Biographical Note

The Coffin family lived in Bangor, Maine. Millard Fillmore Coffin and Clara B. Coffin were married in 1903; Clara Coffin's family had moved from Canada to Bangor when she was a young girl. The Coffins had six children: Clarine, Lillian, Merle, Lloyd, Millard, Jr., and H. Bartlett. Clara Coffin died in 1977. Clarine Coffin, born in 1910, graduated from the University of Maine in 1932 and from the Hartford Seminary in 1938. She was a teacher, writer, editor, and Methodist minister. She and her husband, Rev. Jack Grenfell, lived in Connecticut and later in Orland, Maine. Clarine Grenfell died in 2004.