Middleton/Collier Family Papers

Archive

-

Groton Public Library

Shipping label for two dresses sent to Barbara Williams of Old Mystic from her cousin, Anne Collier in Yokohama, Japan, 1933.
Shipping label for two dresses sent to Barbara Williams of Old Mystic from her cousin, Anne Collier in Yokohama, Japan, 1933.

Name/Title

Middleton/Collier Family Papers

Entry/Object ID

2026.040.109

Scope and Content

Collection of correspondence, customs forms and receipts from the Middleton and Collier families from Yokohama, Japan and Montreal, Canada, c. 1933-1939. Includes a postage tag for 2 dresses mailed to Barbara Williams in Old Mystic from Anne Collier in Yokohama, Japan, signed by Marjory Collier, December 2, 1933 and a letter written by James Douglass Collier to Josephine Cottrell Middleton, November 30, 1933.

Context

George Wallworth Middleton and Josephine Williams Cottrell (of Mystic) were married in New York on June 4, 1889. In 1893 the couple sailed to Japan, where George spent the next seven years working in the silk business. In 1900 they returned to Mystic and purchased "the old stone house" on Quoketaug Hill in Old Mystic, which they maintained as a summer residence. The house, which is on the National Register of Historic Landmarks, was destroyed by a fire in November 1925, and was fully restored years later by the Middleton's granddaughter, Anne Collier. George and Josephine's daughter, Marjory Middleton, was born in Japan in 1896 and spent summers growing up in Old Mystic. She married James Douglas Collier c. 1920, and the couple spent several years in Yokohama, Japan, where James worked as a manufacturer. The couple later moved to Montreal, Canada, but maintained close ties to Old Mystic. Their daughter, Anne Collier, was born in Japan in 1929, lived in Old Mystic in the 1940s, and returned to Mystic as an adult.

Collection

Carol Kimball Collection

Acquisition

Accession

2026.040

Source or Donor

Carol Kimball

Acquisition Method

Transfer

Lexicon

Nomenclature 4.0

Nomenclature Secondary Object Term

Letter

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Correspondence

Nomenclature Primary Object Term

Receipt

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Other Documents

Nomenclature Sub-Class

Financial Records

Nomenclature Class

Documentary Objects

Nomenclature Category

Category 08: Communication Objects

Archive Details

Date(s) of Creation

1933 - 1939

Archive Size/Extent

1 folder

Provenance

Notes

Part of a collection of records collected by Carol Kimball during her tenure as the Town of Groton Historian; given to the Groton Historical Society following her death; stored for several years at the Avery Copp Museum; donated to the Groton Public Library 2026