Cogswell's Grant

Description

This series relates to Bertram K. and Nina Fletcher Little's home in Essex, Massachusetts, Cogswell's Grant. This tidewater farm was the Littles' summer home from 1937 until their deaths in 1993. In 1962, Nina Fletcher Little initiated plans to bequeath the property, buildings, and the outstanding folk arts collection that furnished the home to the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), now Historic New England.

Topics well-represented in this series include: the transaction with the SPNEA; preservation and conservation restrictions placed on the buildings and the surrounding land; the financial aspects of maintaining historic structures and running a farm; and appraisals of the land, the buildings, and their contents. The Publications subseries presents a more narrative history of the property and its use through several booklets and articles. The Photographs subseries offers dozens of images of the property, providing a rich visual history of Cogswell's Grant. Researchers interested in the collection housed at Cogswell's Grant may want to consult the Little Collection Catalogues and Inventories series, while researchers interested in the Littles' Brookline home may wish to consult a binder compiled by Selina Fletcher Little on that subject, found in the Selina Fletcher Little Binders series.

Selina Fletcher Little stored this material together in two record cartons. The archival processor created the subseries structure. Additional papers related to Cogswell's Grant, not organized by Selina Fletcher Little, were added to this series by the archival processor, mostly into the Subject Files subseries.